GOD’S PLAN OF REDEMPTION

By Ed Stevens

In our last article we surveyed the big picture of redemption, giving an eight point outline which hits the high points of salvation history:

1. God’s plan before creation

2. The world that God created

3. Adam’s privilege and responsibility

4. Adam sinned which brought death and separation

5. Man was spiritually dead and destined to die physically

6. The disembodied souls of all the dead were held in Hades

7. The Old Testament period (Adam to Christ) was a tutor to help us recognize Christ

8. Jesus is the Promised One who came to consummate redemption

We will now look more closely at what the Bible says about the first of these points. Unless otherwise noted, all Scriptures are from the NASB95.

God Pre-planned Redemption

In eternity, before the world was created, God had a plan. It was an infinitely wise plan, and a mystery which was hidden and only gradually revealed throughout the Old Testament. This plan (to bring us to glory) was not a secondary plan that was invented after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, nor after Christ was crucified, but rather was God’s original plan which was “predestined before the ages”:

. . . my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past . . . (Rom 16:25).

. . . but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined (Gk. proorizo, “decide upon beforehand, predetermine”) before the ages to our glory (1Cor 2:7).

This wise plan of redemption was not only “pre-destined” (which means it is “unchangeable”), but also “unsearchable” and “unfathomable”:

. . . unchangeableness of His purpose . . . (Heb 6:17).

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways (Rom 11:33)!

God knew the end before the beginning. He created the heavens and the earth to operate from the very beginning according to His predetermined plan. He did not have two or more different plans. He knew (and knows) all things, and was able to project that knowledge ahead to the end, so that he not only knew what the end would be, but used all of his power and attributes to accomplish that particular end. Because He knows all and is immutable (unchanging), God knew all the contingencies before creation and set a plan into motion that could not be defeated, and which would not need to be changed or adjusted or modified in any way for the rest of eternity.

God declared the end (the crushing of Satan’s head) from the beginning, but He did not explain the details of how that redemption would be accomplished. God makes it clear that His predestined plan could not fail to be accomplished:

. . . I am God, and there is no one like Me . . . (Isa 46:9).

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’ . . . (Isa 46:10).

So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it (Isa 55:11).

We see that very “end” predicted (the first hint of a coming Redeemer) at the beginning of creation when God told Eve that one of her descendants would crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15). This promise of redemption was repeated throughout the Old Testament to all the major patriarchs (Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David, et al.) and clearly fulfilled in the arrival of Jesus Christ. All nations would be blessed in Him (Gen 12:3; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14; Isa 49:6ff; 56:6-8).

God Predestined a Redeemer

God’s plan called not just for an easy gift of forgiveness, but for a Redeemer to come to earth and pay the sacrificial price for that redemption with his own blood. This Redeemer was “foreknown before the foundation of the world,” and not merely introduced later as “Plan B” after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden. The fall of humanity did not surprise God. The cross was foreknown and planned even before creation:

. . . knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things . . . (1 Pet 1:18).

. . . but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ (1 Pet 1:19).

For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world . . . (1 Pet 1:20).

The purpose of this wise, mysterious, and predestined plan was to sum up all things in Christ, which he brought about at the “fullness of the times.” It happened right on schedule, according to God’s original plan that had been granted to us in Christ Jesus “from all eternity”:

He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him (Eph 1:9).

. . . with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ . . . (Eph 1:10).

. . . who has saved us . . . according to His own purpose . . . granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity (2 Tim 1:9).

God Predestined a People

Scripture teaches that God not only predestined a plan of redemption and a Redeemer to accomplish it, but also a “specific” group of individuals to be redeemed. The Old Testament declared that the Gentile nations would share in this redemption, so when redemption came, certain chosen ones from all the nations were enabled to hear the gospel and turn to Christ in faith and obedience. In Ephesians 3:6, Paul states that those Gentiles who believe the gospel (along with a remnant of believing Israelites - cf. Rom 9:24 and Rom 11) would be “fellow heirs, members, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.” This was in accordance with “the eternal purpose” of God (Eph 3:11):

. . . also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will . . . (Eph 1:11).

. . . to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel . . . (Eph 3:6).

This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord (Eph 3:11).

So, it was not just a plan that was predestined, but also a people (and individuals). The best expression of this is found in Romans 9:11-24, which we do not have room here to quote, but it is summed up nicely in the following passages:

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren . . . (Rom 8:29).

. . . He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. . . . In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself . . . (Eph 1:4-5).

Conclusion

Three attributes of God relate directly to His plan of redemption—all-knowing, all-powerful, and unchanging.  We have noticed in the biblical texts above how all three of these attributes are related to His wise, unstoppable, and unalterable plan to redeem man. God foreknew that man would fall and need a Redeemer. God provided a wise plan by which redemption would occur. This plan was formed before creation, so it not only foreknew, but predestined both the fall and redemption.

In our next lesson we will look more closely at the world that God created and how He laid the foundation for the redemption of His predestined people.