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"Your eyes have seen my
unformed substance; And in Your book they were all
written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet
there was not one of them." Psalm 139:16
This passage reminds me of Paul’s letter to the Romans
when He told them that He loved Jacob and hated Esau
even before they were born, and before either of them
had done anything right or wrong. Because He had already
seen and written the days of both, He chose Jacob in
order that His purpose would stand. God declares the end
from the very beginning.
God saw us before He formed us. He formed us
according to what He saw. We are becoming what we
already are. Jesus stepped out of eternity into time so
that we could step out of time and into eternity.
Ephesians 1 says that we were chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world.
The Church of God is the Bride of Christ and like the
first woman who was chosen out of Adam, the Bride was
chosen out of Christ and is being formed into the
likeness of what God has already seen we are - we are
becoming what we already are. Ephesians goes on to say
that we are chosen to be holy and blameless before the
Lord, and that we have a pre-determined destiny to
become the children of God, -"having
been predestined according to His purpose who works all
things after the counsel of His will."
Why are the first-fruits destined to be the children of
God and the Bride of Christ? Because we are His choice.
Why are we His choice? Because He declares the end from
the beginning and has already seen and written our days
and is pleased with what He sees.
In the book of Esau’s days God had seen that he would
not value the birthright blessing and would sale it to
his brother Jacob for a bowl of soup. If you only read
the Old Testament story you might conclude that Jacob
and his mother were dishonest and stole the firstborn’s
blessing. But Romans 9 tells us that God had already
informed Rebekah of His choice saying, -"The
older will serve the younger."
Isaac, however, was determined to bestow the
greater blessing upon Esau which would have been against
the will of God. Rebekah was yielding to God’s will when
she helped Jacob trick Isaac into blessing him, and in
effect, was helping Jacob become what she knew he
already was.
The Bible says that it is not God’s will that any
should perish, but that all would come to repentance and
live. The Bible also says that hell was not created for
man but for Satan and his demons. It is the faithful who
are predestined to be saved and glorified in Christ and
the disobedient who are predestined to perish in the
Lake of Fire.
Before the creation God had determined that the
obedient would live and the rebellious would perish -
each chooses his own destiny. The Bible says that God
has set before each of us life and death and counsels us
to choose life, so each person has the power to choose
life.
Cain was the first man to commit murder and is called "of
the evil one." (1 Jo.3) While
he was contemplating killing his brother, God appealed
to him saying, -"Why are
you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you
do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if
you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door: and
its desire is for you, but you must master it." (Gen.4) Cain’s
destiny would be determined by his choice. Sadly he
chose evil and became what he already was in his heart. "As
a man thinks in his heart, so he is." (Prov.23)
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