God’s Plan for Us “In Christ”

The blessings we possess at the point of salvation were provided for us before the foundation of the world. All of our blessings were planned before we were here and given to Christ. He held them for us until the day we accepted Him and were “in Christ.”  He did not need redemption, eternal life, an inheritance, or glorification, we did. He was simply chosen by God as our representative.

We possess nothing on our own but share all our blessings with Christ. Only because we are “in Him” do we have any blessing from God. This is the theme of the first chapter of Ephesians. Verses 1-14 form the longest single sentence in the New Testament. Each verse tells us what God did for us before the foundation of the world.  God gave them to His Son to hold until the day we became one with Him.

Ephesians 1:3 says, “…who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…”  Verse 6 “He made us accepted in the Beloved.”  Verse 7, “…In Him we have redemption.” Verse 11, “…In Him also we have obtained an inheritance.”

God Planned All of This for Us Before We Were Created

In the Garden of Eden, God created and made everything in six days and then made man at the end of the sixth day. Everything was made and prepared for man before he was ever placed in the Garden. Man could not add one thing to God’s completed plan. This is grace.

You are probably wondering why God did not make man first or at least before the last day. It was so man could not help. Grace is God creating a perfect plan and faith is man receiving that perfect plan. God anticipated every need man could have before putting him on earth. Long before man ever faced a problem, God made every answer.

God’s Redemption Plan Was Complete Before the World’s Foundation

It is the same with redemption. Millions of years before Lucifer or Adam fell, God planned every answer for every problem. God was not taken by surprise when His highest-ranking angel fell and became Satan. He was not surprised when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit. God cannot be surprised. He knows everything. He is omniscient. Because He is omniscient, He created a plan for every sin and failing of angels or man.

Once Jesus went to the cross and accomplished God’s plan for man’s redemption, He will never have to go back to the cross to redeem us from a sin God did not know about, forget or anticipate. “Christ dies no more” (Romans 6:9). God’s plan was and is complete. What has happened to us since we believed on Christ, what happens to us daily and what will happen to us into our future and eternity is already complete.

In fact, God sees His plan as complete in our life no matter how far from now it is. God is assured today we will be with Him and Jesus in heaven ten million years from now. In fact, He saw us “in Christ”, equipped for every problem and obstacle we would ever face before He created anything, including angels, heaven, earth, Adam or us. Every plan God had for angels, Satan, Adam, or us was based on His foreknowledge. Because He knew what would happen, He made His plans. Nothing can happen to us God has not already foreseen and planned for. Before temptations came, God made a way of escape. Our answers were here before our problems existed. And, our problems are temporary. Our answers are eternal.

I Am Already Glorified

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, them He also called; whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” (Romans 8:29, 30)

It is called “predestination” because all of God’s answers for my life are based on His foreknowledge. His plan for my destiny was created before the foundation of the world.  God not only knew I would receive His Son, Jesus, He foresaw it happen and planned for success in my life every day. This is also why he chose or “elected” me (1 Peter 1:2). He chose me because He knew I would choose Him.

According to our verse here in Romans 8, He also saw me justified and glorified. I am presently justified, but glorification is yet to come. Yet, glorification, like all the other blessings listed, is in the past tense. God already sees me glorified and has since His plan was created. My resurrection body and home in heaven for eternity is more than a guarantee, it is an accomplished fact. So much so, that God already sees me in heaven now.  Because I am in Christ, I can be just as sure I will be in Heaven as I am sure Jesus is already there.

Because of God’s foreknowledge and eternally settled plan, it was possible for God to tell Old Testament saints their sins were remitted before Jesus had come to die and bring them salvation.

“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7)

Everything in all these verses comes to us from God’s grace including glorification, our resurrection body. We cannot even imagine God’s grace. We can only accept it.

God’s Plan for Eternity Brings Us Comfort Today

Romans 8:30 does not say, “He will glorify those He has justified.” But it says, “Whom He has justified (past tense), them He also glorified (past tense).”

We do not have to live our life wondering if God will keep His word. He has not only accomplished what He has given to us but also what will be given.

Again, because we are in Christ and Christ is in heaven, we can be just as sure we will be in Heaven as we are sure Jesus is already there.

How does this bring comfort to us today? If God sees me already in heaven and in a resurrection body, then I must be going to make it through my present problem. In fact, I will not only make it through this problem, but everyone after this. If God sees me past the finish line, that’s how I need to see myself.

What Does A Redeemed Body Look Like?

John says, “…it has not yet been revealed what we shall be” (1 John 3:2).  You cannot look at your present body and even imagine what your resurrection body will be like. Many who saw Jesus after His resurrection did not recognize Him immediately. By looking at scripture we can see glimpses of our resurrection body. “So is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body (us) and there is a spiritual body (Jesus).  (1 Corinthians 15:42-44)

Our resurrection body is a reaping of a natural body sown into the dust of the ground. In every case we see our body is sown first then raised in harvest time. All believers will die, except for those living at the time of the resurrection. But we will all be harvested at the same time, at the rapture of the Church. At that time our natural body will become a spiritual body, incorruptible, glorious and powerful. It will permanently replace our physical body. Though it is presently made of unredeemed and cursed dust, it is still the temple of the Holy Spirit.

A Unique Position

In Resurrection, we will be given a unique position higher than Old Testament saints.  No man or angel has ever had a position like we will have in eternity. The Church Age is unique to all ages before it. We live in a time the prophets could only see glimpses of and angels desire to see and understand what we know and often take for granted.

You have made him a little lower than the angels, You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish that pass through the paths of the seas (Psalm 8:5-8).  According to Psalm 8, Adam was a creation unlike anything before him with a unique position under God, over angels and over creation.

Our glorified state will be greater than that of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It will also be greater than any Old Testament saint. Even the greatest of the prophets were servants in God’s house. But Jesus and those who are born again are sons in God’s house (Hebrews 3:5,6).

Adam and Eve were never family, but servants in the house of God. They were not, and are not, seated with God on His throne. Adam and Eve were never “in Christ”.

All Old Testament saints were forgiven of their sins and accounted righteous, but never “made the righteousness of God in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21).