God’s Work From Beginning To End

James Montgomery Boice

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. . . . (Ephesians 1:3-5)

James Montgomery Boice said this of predestination:

Any interpretation of this mysterious doctrine that detracts from the love of God is rightly suspected. Predestination is thoroughly grounded in the love of God. God is saying, “I must rescue these human beings from the dark pit of sin. They cannot help themselves so I must pull them out”. . . .

One day we are truly going to praise Him for the plan of salvation! Can you believe that God has predestined you and me to be holy before Him? Can you really believe that He planned this from all eternity? How can we not be praising Him for all that He has saved us from?

In the verses above, the phrase “in love”, leads to the phrase, “He predestined us”. What does this mean? Election is God’s choice and God’s choice alone, of man to salvation. Predestination, however, is in advance of this. To be predestined you must have a destination that has been preordained. If you look at Romans chapter 8, verse 29 you will read: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” God’s predestination ultimately conforms us to the image of Christ. One day, you and I will be like Christ. Predestination is the guarantee that if we believe in Christ, someday we will be completely like Christ.

There is a lot of “once saved and you can be lost” nonsense going around in the church today. It was the hand of God that saved you and do you believe His hand may be forced to let you go? Predestination means that when you are saved a process has been set in motion for you to become like Christ. This is a God decision that was made before the world began! Once started, there is no stopping. God has willed it to come to pass. This is predestination. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30) This is the golden chain of salvation.