It gives great rest to the Christian's heart to know on the authority of the Word of God that our place, our portion, and our prospect all flow from the eternal purpose of God; all is according to the love of His heart, and all to the glory of His great name.
These three facts, God's purpose, God's love and God's glory form the solid foundation of the believer's peace and rest. They are presented with uncommon force and fullness in Eph. 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3): "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places [in the heavenlies J.N.D. Trans] in Christ."
What a place we have "in the heavenlies," "in Christ." What a portion we have-"all spiritual blessings." What perfect security we have! It is not like Israel of old, placed in the land of Canaan, in the enjoyment of an earthly inheritance, but surrounded by enemies, liable to be dislodged from their position and robbed of their portion, holding both the one and the other on the slender and slippery condition of their obedience.
How different is our case! Instead of certain temporal blessings, we have all "spiritual blessings." There is nothing missing, not a single blessing omitted. And it is in the heavenlies, beyond the reach of every enemy and every hostile influence. We can truly say that "there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent" (1 Kings 5:44But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent. (1 Kings 5:4)) in the sphere of our blessings. Certainly we have to wrestle with spiritual wickedness to make good our position and to enjoy our portion. But we are blessed according to all the fullness of that expression used by the Holy Spirit, "all spiritual blessings," and these blessings are not temporal or earthly, but spiritual and in heaven, in Christ.
Our blessings are heavenly, eternal, divine. Nothing can spoil them; no power on earth or hell, men or devils, can wrest a single one of our blessings out of the hand of Him in whom we possess them. Our Lord Christ has won them for us; won them by His death on the tree; won them in pursuance of God's eternal counsels, according to all the love of His heart.
`He bath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." Eph. 1:44According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: (Ephesians 1:4). Here we are conducted to the very source of our blessings. And what a marvelous source! It is God's choice, God's purpose, placed in Christ before the foundation of the world. Can anything occurring in time, anything in us or about us mar this? Can anything hinder the accomplishment of God's purpose? Impossible! That purpose was formed in eternity, and founded in Christ, the eternal Son of the Father.
Surely God will make good His own purpose in spite of every opposing influence. The devil thought to hinder by leading the first man to commit sin; he thought he had gained his end by getting him put out of paradise. But God was above him. His purpose, blessed be His name, was not based on the first man in paradise, but on the Eternal Son, and hence the first man's sin, and his expulsion from the garden, only furnished the occasion for God to bring forth from the treasury of His eternal counsels His purpose of love toward us. It was not possible that any creature, man, devil, or other, should hinder the accomplishment of the blessed purpose of God. Eden itself might be overrun with thorns and briars; the man who had been set there in innocence to dress it and to keep it might be turned out a complete, hopeless moral ruin. But Eden was not to be the sphere, nor the first man the instrument, of our blessing. God's counsels could not find a solid foundation amid the dust of the old creation, or in the doings of the first man. This could never be; hence, when sin entered, our ever-gracious God took occasion thereby to display the riches of His grace in His kindness toward us by Christ Jesus.
Now, we hear nothing of grace amid the bowers of paradise or throughout the fields of the old creation. We see power, wisdom and goodness, but not grace. There was no need. However, when sin entered, when the first man had fallen irretrievably, the divine purpose in grace was unfolded. This purpose was not to restore the ruin of the first man and of the old creation, but to introduce the second man, and in Him the new creation in which all things are of God, and in which (all praise to sovereign grace and redeeming love) we who are believers have our place forever.
What a mistake the devil made in meddling with man in the garden of Eden! How completely he missed his mark! If indeed the purpose of God had been founded on Adam, if the sphere of its display was to be the first creation, then the enemy would have triumphed. But, thank God it was not so! Adam was not the man, nor was Eden the sphere, but the Man Christ Jesus, and the new creation (1 Tim. 2:55For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (1 Timothy 2:5); 2 Cor. 5:1717Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)).
The true knowledge of God's purposes, we repeat, gives perfect rest and settled and everlasting repose to the heart. The matter is taken completely out of our hands, and off the ground of mere nature, whether innocent or guilty, fallen or unfallen. The whole fabric of the divine counsels and of our blessings rests only and altogether on the imperishable ground of accomplished redemption. The ruin has been met, and met in such a way as to bring everlasting glory to God, and to put us on a better, higher ground than Adam in innocence could ever have occupied. With joyful emphasis, therefore, we can repeat the Apostle's doxology: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (not merely the God and Creator of Adam) "who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ" (not temporal blessings in Eden): "according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy" (not merely innocent) "and without blame before Him in love."
How magnificent it all is! How it exceeds all human thought! It brings us back to the unfathomable depths of God's eternal mind, and unfolds before our eyes His marvelous counsels concerning us. Here we learn, to our unspeakable joy and deep consolation, that it was God's purpose to have us in His presence, "holy and without blame," even as His own beloved Son; and He has "predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved." vv. 5, 6.
Can anything exceed the moral grandeur and glory of all this? What can the devil do here? What can sin or death, or anything else do? Who or what can prevent the almighty God from accomplishing His eternal purpose? Can anything in the whole wide range of creation interfere in the smallest degree with the divine determination to have us in His presence, according to His own choice, and according to the love of His heart?
Every believer will do well to get a very firm grasp of the truth on which we have been dwelling. It is the eternal purpose of God to have us in His presence "holy and without blame." And not only so, but it is the joy of His heart to have us there before Him "in love." We hear Him saying, "It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad." Luke 15:3232It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found. (Luke 15:32).
The sense of this must assure the believer's heart and set it at perfect liberty for "perfect love casteth out fear." 1 John 4:1818There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18). God would not have us in His presence with a single trace of fear or misgiving in our hearts. He must have us perfectly at home, perfectly at ease, and therefore He makes us fit to be there (Col. 1:1212Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: (Colossians 1:12)).
We must remember that it cost God something to carry out His purpose and gratify His heart with respect to us. We were sinners, guilty, ruined, hell-deserving sinners, "dead in trespasses and sins," walking "according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Eph. 2:1-31And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (Ephesians 2:1‑3).
Now the question is, How can a holy, sin-hating God, who is of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on iniquity (Habbakuk 1:13), how can such a One have anything to do with me? If He cannot allow a single taint of sin in His holy presence, how can we be there? This is the very question the enemy of our souls would raise. He would use the truth of divine holiness and human guilt and vileness as an insuperable barrier to the carrying out of God's eternal purpose to have us in His presence, "holy and without blame." But blessed forever be the God of all grace! He has triumphantly and gloriously answered this question. He has removed every barrier and has silenced forever the enemy and the avenger; "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16).
The other side of this great subject is given in John 3:1414And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: (John 3:14): "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." Here the full, glorious truth shines before us. The Son of God was given in perfect love, but the Son of man was lifted up in perfect righteousness. This is the solid foundation of the whole matter. God "loved the world," but sin must be judged, must be utterly and eternally condemned. It will not do to take up merely one side of this stupendous question; we must have both sides. If God were to bring us to heaven in our sins, where were the righteousness? If He were to send us to hell because of our sins, where were the love?
There is a glorious answer to the question, a triumphant solution to the difficulty! God gave His Son in love and bruised Him in righteousness. He loved the world, but He hated sin, and when we behold the Son of God and Son of man hanging on the tree, we read in characters divinely deep and broad God's love to sinners and His eternal hatred and condemnation of sin. Thus it is that "grace reign[s] through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Magnificent utterance! The very gist and marrow of the gospel! "Grace reign[s]" not at the expense of righteousness, but "through righteousness," and this "unto eternal life," and all "by Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 5:2121That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:21).
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."