Seeking a Revival Culture. Allen M. Baker
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what God had in mind for you and your loved ones. Furthermore, God is not merely one who set this in motion in eternity past and sits back and watches it unfold in today’s world. He continually works in and through you to accomplish His well intentioned, gracious, most wise will for your life.
It is clear that the doctrine of foreordination, that God plans everything that happens in eternity past, is meant to evoke praise from us. After developing this doctrine in great detail in Romans 9–11, Paul says, “O the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” Praise and adoration is the order of the day for those who understand and embrace this doctrine. It also follows that the doctrine of providence is vital to our living with peace and security in the world. In Matthew 10:29–30, Jesus says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are numbered.” And in Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill he says, “And God made from one every nation of mankind on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,” (Acts 17:26). In other words, God planned the nation in which you would be born, who your parents and siblings would be, and the century in which you would be born. He planned everything, and He directs, or carries out everything in your life.
I know what you are thinking—that sounds like we are not necessary, that we are merely robots with no freedom, no decision making power. Theologians refer to this as concurrence. God foreordains everything that comes to pass, but these things work themselves out in a real world where we make decisions everyday that impact our world, decisions for which we are directly responsible. The classic text on this is Acts 2:23 where Peter, preaching on the day of Pentecost says, “This Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.” There we find both God’s foreordination and man’s human responsibility. At the end of the day we must simply confess this to be one of many mysteries in the Bible, one of His complementarities of truth.
What does foreknowledge mean practically for you? This doctrine means three things. First, learn that God’s plan for your life is not misery or calamity. His plan is for your welfare. It has a future and a hope, (see Jeremiah 29:11). I am not saying you do not experience misery or calamity. I am saying that God works all things together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose. Are you focusing on your calamity, not seeing the good the infinitely wise and gracious God is bringing or will bring to your life? Second, learn to see God in the details of your earthly journey. Joseph finally came to understand this truth after the turmoil of his brothers’ abuse. He said to them, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good,” Genesis 50:20. I am not saying you do not experience sorrow and confusion. I am saying you must learn to see God in the details, to trust Him, and to wait on Him. And third, learn to wait until that great day when God will make all things clear to you, (see 1 Corinthians 2:9). When you enter the glorious presence of our exalted mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, then all the confusion, the sorrow, the misery and calamity, the injustice in your life will all make sense to you. You will see how the sovereign, gracious, all wise God of predestination, foreordaining providence, was behind everything and you will be able to say, “This was very good for my soul.”
5. Piper, Contending for Our All: Defending Truth and Treasuring Christ in the Lives of Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen, 87ff.
Pre-hoping in Christ
. . . to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 1:12
Athanasius was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 298 A.D., converted to Christ as a young man and was made Bishop of Alexandria at the age of thirty, in 328 A.D. As John Piper notes in his brief biography of Athanasius, the people of Egypt viewed him as their Bishop for forty-five years until his death at the age of seventy-five. The Roman authorities exiled Athanasius five times for a total of seventeen of those forty-five years as Bishop, but throughout his absence the people still trusted him and honored him. What was it that brought such hatred and opposition to Athanasius? In 319 A.D. a priest named Arius said that if Jesus is God’s Son then He must have had a beginning. Some within the church immediately saw where such thinking would take people concerning the Trinity and the person of Jesus Christ. If Jesus were created, then He must be less than God; and if He is less than God, then the Trinity must be a corrupt concept. This view finds expression today in the heresies of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons who both deny the deity of Christ. Constantine, the Emperor of Rome (who set up the reign of his kingdom in Byzantium, then called Constantinople, modern day Istanbul, Turkey) was concerned about the political upheaval this controversy was causing in his kingdom and summoned the leading theologians in the church to clear up the matter. The result was the Nicene Creed of 325 A.D., still used today by millions of Christians around the world as an orthodox statement of the Trinity and deity of Christ. In part it says, “I believe . . . And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father . . .”6
Though the theologians almost unanimously agreed with the Nicene Creed, it was mere lip service to many of them. The controversy continued, and Athanasius entered the fray. He constantly wrote against and debated Arianism, and this riled religious and political authorities in the Roman Empire. He was maligned, falsely accused, attacked, and exiled, but he always stood firm. Finally, eight years after his death, at the Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D. the church ratified and expanded the Nicene Creed (and the church gained a consensus concerning the deity of Christ and the Trinity).
You may ask, “So what? What difference does this make in my life?” Well, how do you think Athanasius was able to stand firm, to delight in the Lord, to hold fast to the truth of Christ’s deity amidst such degradation, accusation, and exile? One thing mightily helpful to him was the truth of Ephesians 1:12. Most English translations of this verse do not do it justice. Consider my literal translation, keeping in mind the Greek word order, “to the end or purpose of His praise glory, we who were pre-hoping in the Messiah.” You must read verses ten through twelve as one thought. Christ Jesus is the household manager, the Chief Operating Officer, the Economist who will sum up again all things in Himself, the One who will make all things right on that great day. More specifically, the lot you have received from the Father, the details of your life, were foreordained by Him who is constantly working in your life to bring about His purpose, a purpose that ultimately is for His own praise and glory. In order for us to live this out, to trust what God is doing, it is vital that we pre-hope in Christ, that we hope with a future expectation of fulfillment. We see this idea constantly taught in Scripture, (see Romans 8:24–25, Romans 15:12, 1 Corinthians 15:19). Like a woman in labor, like a tri-athlete finishing the Iron Man competition, so we endure present pain and suffering looking for the payoff, the time of fulfillment and joy, the final redemption of our bodies.
The only way you can pre-hope in the Messiah, the Lord Jesus our Prophet, Priest, and King, is to know God better, to trust Him in His attributes. Consider three of them. First is His aseity (from the Latin a se, meaning from Himself). God is self-existent, independent of us, (see Psalm 115:3, Isaiah 45:6–7, Acts 17:24–25). God is not helped or hindered by anything we do or do not do. He does as He pleases because He is sovereign. If we stop here, however, then God seems capricious, arbitrary, austere, cold, like the god of the Muslims. Second, our God is also filled with goodness, meaning that all He is and does is worthy of praise, (see Psalm 100:5, Psalm 145:14–16). Everything God does is motivated by His goodness. Ultimately we must say that all He does is good. But we must go further, which brings us to the third attribute. God is also wise, meaning He always does the right thing at the right time, the first time, every time. He makes no mistakes. His timing and execution are impeccable, (see Isaiah 40:13–14, Job 12:13).
What is your lot in life? Suffering is normative. It is not the exception but the rule. Are you willing to pre-hope in Christ