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Existing from eternity, the kingdom was purposed and promised by God,
foretold by the prophets, prepared by John the Baptist and perfected by
Jesus Christ. The revelation of that purpose had its inception in the
statement concerning the seed of woman and from that germinal promise
sprang all Messianic and kingdom prophecies. "And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy
head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15).
The focal point of all divine revelation, Christ's work of redemption was purposed in God's eternal counsel. Central to that work is the church or kingdom which is the locus of salvation and the instrument by which Jehovah accomplished His eternal purpose. Christ was the Logos with the Father by whom the worlds were created, (John 1:1-3) and in him was all prophecy concerning the kingdom fulfilled (Heb. 1:1-4). Existing in promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, illustrated in the types and shadows of the Mosaic covenant, foretold by the Old Testament prophets and prepared by John the Baptizer, the kingdom was perfected on the day of Pentecost, (Acts 2:22-28). Contained in the germinal promise of Genesis 3:15, God's eternal purpose comprehended Christ's Virgin Birth, his struggle with the powers of hell, his death, burial, resurrection, triumphant exaltation to the throne of David and the salvation of Jew and Gentile in one body. "The Genesis record introduces 'the seed of woman' - one who was not to be the offspring of man. Here is the germ of all prophecy. As the oak is in the acorn and the eagle in the egg, all Messianic prophecies are here in germ" (Foy E. Wallace, Jr., The Certified Gospel, Foy E. Wallace, Jr. Publications, Oklahoma City, 1951, p. 16). God purposed salvation in the kingdom and only in that realm can we obtain justification and partake of all spiritual blessings, (Eph. 1:3). The kingdom is the church, the house of God and the body of Christ. One who is not under the divine government of Christ's kingdom is neither in the house of God nor a member of the church of which he is the Saviour, (Eph. 5:23). The kingdom of God and the church of Christ are the same institution, (Matt. 16:16-18). Each term is illustrative of the relationship which those who constitute it sustain to God. The church, in which men of every nation are reconciled to God, is the ecclesia. That New Testament word translated as "church" means "the called out" or "a called out body," indicating that its members have been called out of the world to serve Jesus Christ. The appellation "kingdom" defines the nature of its government. It is an absolute monarchy over which Jesus reigns as King and its citizens are his subjects. It is a creation of God the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit, decreed from eternity and destined for eternity. That is the meaning and theme of Paul's epistle to the church at Ephesus. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according 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: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the pleasure of his good will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved: in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will..." (Eph. 1:3-11). What the Protestant world calls predestination today is the concoction of 16th century Reformer, John Calvin. Taught by Paul in the Ephesian epistle, predestination in God's eternal purpose is a Biblical subject which was perverted by Calvin's theology. Born in Noyon, France July 10, 1509, Calvin devoted his life to theological pursuits. In 1536 he published his views on man's redemption in a volume entitled the Institutes of The Christian Religion. As a leader in the Reformation, Calvin wielded a tremendous influence and his philosophy was warmly received by the Protestant world because it attacked many of the peculiarities of the Church of Rome. The enthusiasm with which Protestants accepted his views is paradoxical since many of them were borrowed from the Catholic Augustine (354-430 AD). Calvin claimed man was "created to that misery to which he is subject" and "the necessity of sinning is laid upon the reprobate by the ordination of God." (John McClintock and James Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vol. II, p. 43). Divesting man of free will and perverting the Biblical concept of grace with its twisted theories of predestination and election, Calvin's theology renders man a mindless entity in the hands of a sadistic God. Calvinistic election is attributed to God's arbitrary predestination of individuals. While the Bible teaches the children of God are the elect (1 Peter 2:9), it speaks of a class of persons, not individuals. Calvinism says the elect are those who were individually selected to salvation ("a certain number") and the non-elect are those eternally condemned individuals, both of whom were predestined to those ends before the world began. Predestination and election are Biblical terms, but Calvin perverted them in formulating his doctrine. Electing individuals to salvation, before the world began, God thereby predestined certain persons to salvation and others to damnation, according to Calvin. Holding that God's grace is only for the elect, Calvinism says certain individuals were arbitrarily chosen as recipients of it. But biblical predestination is concerned not with individuals, but the locus of salvation for election of a certain class of persons. That's the thrust of Paul's teaching in Ephesians 1:3-11. As God predestined creatures with gills to life in water, so those in Christ were predestined to eternal life in him. God does not choose who will enter Christ, but says that all who do are classified as His elect. A creature of free will, man chooses to obey or disobey God and when he chooses God, he is thereby elected to salvation in Christ Jesus. God's elect is constituted of all who elect to enter Christ through obedience to the gospel, (Romans 6:3-6). That is salvation by "grace... through faith," (Ephesians 2:8). God's grace provides salvation in Christ and man's faith appropriates the blessings thereof in that same location. Beginning the Ephesian letter with the assertion that all spiritual blessings are in Christ, Paul enumerates those blessings in the verses following. God chose to save those in Christ before the world began, (v. 4). God predestined those in Christ to be his children, (v. 5), and that they would be acceptable to him, (v. 6). He predestined redemption in Christ through Christ's blood, according to his grace, (v. 7) and those in Christ have an inheritance, (v. 11). God did not arbitrarily choose "a certain number" to salvation. Verse 4 says he determined from eternity to save all those in Christ, but there is no intimation that he decreed who or how many would enter into Christ. All who accept Christ by obeying his will are chosen by God to salvation but the choosing is in him (Christ). It is in Christ where God has placed all spiritual blessings, (Eph. 1:3) and no one is chosen to salvation outside of Christ. God chose to offer salvation in him and gives man the option of entering Christ by baptism. "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:3-4). "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27-29). Baptism puts one into Christ where God has placed all spiritual blessings and in that act of obedience we enter the kingdom of God which is his church, (Matt. 16:16-18). As we were chosen to salvation in Christ, so we become the children of God by our relationship to Christ. God predestined us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, (Eph. 1:5). It was foreordained that all who would be in Christ would be the children of God. There was no "immutable" decree that certain individuals would be his children, but that all those in Christ would sustain that relationship to him. "For ye are all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise" (Gal. 3:26-29). Those who are in the church — the body, (Eph. 1:22-23) — are in Christ and members of the household of God, (1 Tim. 3:15). They are, therefore, the heirs of eternal life. This was God's purpose from eternity and members of the body of Christ today are the heirs. Salvation, according to God's purpose, is in Christ and if we are in Christ we enjoy the blessings of the forgiveness of sin and hope of eternal life. That is predestination as revealed in Holy Writ — not according to the false doctrine of Calvinism. All mankind lies under the curse of sin, (Rom. 3:23), from which human wisdom cannot save, (Jer. 10:23; I Cor. 1:18-21). What man did not know and could not know without revelation was the plan by which God chose to save him. That plan involved the reconciliation of Jew and Gentile unto God in one body. That is the plan Paul calls "the mystery." "How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery... which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto us his holy apostles and prophets by the pirit: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel" (Eph. 3:3, 5, 6). The mystery of which Paul writes is not something that is unknown and unknowable. It is the scheme of redemption, purposed by God before the world began and revealed in the fullness of time. (Galatians 4:4). "The use of the word 'mystery' in Revelation comports with the same meaning of the word as used elsewhere in the New Testament — that is, the spiritual truths not discoverable by human reason; understandable, but hidden from human knowledge until revealed. The word has the connotation of 'secret doctrine,' hence prior to revelation it was a hidden thing; but when revealed, it was brought within human intelligence and understanding. "The gospel mystery embedded in the old dispensation, as in Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3:3-9, and Col. 1:26, was hidden beneath the types and sacrifices of the law and the prophecies and promises which were radiant with hope and joy to a guilty world, but were rather concealed than revealed, because of the metaphorical costume and figurative style they could not be discerned and had to await revelation. "The word mystery did not mean 'mysterious.' It meant that which could not be known until it was made known, or revealed, and in the references cited, it meant the gospel plan of salvation. The doctrine of the New Testament is, in this sense, called a mystery — 'the mystery of the gospel,' as in Rom 11:25; 16:25; I Cor. 15:51; I Tim. 3:9; Eph. 3:9. The truths thus requiring revelation and elucidation are classed as mysteries, as numerous passages could be used to exemplify. But let it be emphasized that in all these examples the basic meaning inherent in the word 'mystery' is that which cannot be known by the human mind until, by superhuman force, it is made known to it" (Foy E. Wallace, Jr., The Book of Revelation, Sec. II, Part IV, p. 82). The "mystery of his will" in Eph. 1:9 is explained in verse 10: "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ." The reconciliation of Jew and Gentile unto God in the body of Christ is the mystery which is now revealed in the apostles' teachings. "Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world: but now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby; and came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to them that were nigh" (Eph. 2:11-17). God's eternal purpose is the salvation of all who accept his terms of pardon in his kingdom. The kingdom is God's plan of salvation! The church is the body of Christ, (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18), of which he is the Saviour, (Eph. 5:23). The "mystery" that Paul reveals to the Ephesians is that the everlasting kingdom—the church—purposed from eternity, was not to be limited to the Jews. "That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel," (Eph. 3:6). The salvation of mankind was God's purpose before the world began and the church of Christ, the kingdom of God, is the divine institution in which that purpose is accomplished. In it the fullness of Christ dwells, (Eph. 1:22-23). One cannot be in Christ without being in his church and one who is in the church is in Christ. It is instrument of salvation for which Christ was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, (1 Pet. 1:18-19) and only within that one church are all the spiritual blessings that heaven bestows, (Eph. 1:3). |