by Grover Gunn
http://grovergunn.net/andrew/andrew.htm
Romans 8:28-30
8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 8:29 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. 8:30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. God is not a God of chaos but of order, and this is true in regard to the acts of salvation. There is a logical and chronological orderliness to them, and we call this the ordo salutis, which is Latin for the order of salvation. And the classic text on the ordo salutis is our text, Romans 8:28-30, where we have five acts of salvation arranged for us in an orderly procession:
First God in eternity past decided to be our Friend, if indeed we are one of God's people. That is foreknowledge, which we looked at last week. Then He decreed and ordained that this friendship would indeed be our eternal destiny. He planned this with a certainty of accomplishment that is as sure as His divine powers are omnipotent. That is predestination, which we are going to look at today.
- foreknowledge
- predestination
- calling
- justification and
- glorification
The Meaning of Predestination Now let's look at predestination in more detail. We'll begin by stating what predestination is not. It is not blind, impersonal fate.When I think of fate, what comes to my mind are images of Charlie Chaplin in one of his classic silent films. You might remember the silent picture where Charlie Chaplin gets caught up in the cogs and gears of a giant machine. He is helplessly caught and is carried along a pre-programmed mechanical path against his will. The machine cares nothing about him. The machine is not even aware of his presence. It just grinds away at its pre-programmed task without thought and without concern. This machine represents the impersonal forces of life that capture people and force them along paths they have not chosen. That is fate, but that is not what we mean by predestination.
Predestination is not a mechanical process resulting from impersonal forces. Rather predestination is the personal intervention of a divine Friend in one's life. It is not limiting but liberating, not frustrating but fulfilling, not impersonal and uncaring but rather rooted in the eternal love of God.
The Greek word translated predestine is the word from which we get our English word horizon. This Greek word could be literally translated pre-horizon. The horizon is the great boundary between the earth and the sky, and the Greek word horizo means to establish boundaries. And to set the boundaries, to draw the lines, to establish the limits, is to determine what will be. And to do that ahead of time, in eternity past, is predestination.
I think of Woodrow Wilson at Versailles after World War I, kneeling upon huge maps laid out on the floor and drawing the new national boundaries for Europe. He was, to a degree, determining the future of Europe by drawing those lines. This, of course, is an example of ham-handed human predestination with all its ignorance and fallibility. Woodrow Wilson's intentions were good. As he drew those lines upon those maps, his intention was to insure that World War I would indeed be the war to end all wars. The reality was, of course, quite otherwise, as evidenced by the coming of World War II. That was a human effort to control the future. It is different with God. God has more than good intentions. He has the power and wisdom to carry them out.
The predestination of Romans 8:29 means that in eternity past, God drew some lines. He established an horizon around each person He had foreknown -- a set boundary marking him off, a circle of destiny. And the purpose was not to limit in any bad sense of the word but to protect and to empower.
I am reminded of the book of Job where Satan complained that God had put a hedge around Job on every side. God established a ring of protection around His servant Job. And this is true for all the redeemed.
Predestination means that God determined from eternity past to put the hedge of His protecting love around the lives of all the redeemed. Predestination means that one's destiny is in the protective hand of the One who said, "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:28).
Psalm 5:12 For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield. Psalm 34:7 The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Zechariah 2:5 "For I," says the LORD, "will be a wall of fire around [Jerusalem], and I will be the glory in her midst." Here is another way to look at it. We can envision the horizon of destiny as a target, a bull's eye, and predestination is God's aiming the arrow of our lives at that target of destiny as opposed to shooting the arrow haphazardly into the air. And this is the target at which God flawlessly aims the lives of His people: their good and His glory. Such a divinely predetermined destiny is not a curse but a blessing. To have God aim our lives at this bull's eye, at this circle of destiny, is to give our lives eternal significance, meaning and purpose.
The horizon of predestination is the circle of destiny and the ring of divine love. It is the hedge of divine protection and the bull's eye of meaningful existence.
God's Immediate Purpose in Our Predestination Now the text tells us God's immediate purpose in our predestination, and that is our conformity to the image of Jesus. God predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son.If you are indeed a Christian, God has from eternity past established this as your destiny: you will be conformed to the image of Christ. That is a limitation but not in any bad sense of the word. This is a liberating limitation, not something to chafe at or complain about but something in which to rejoice. To be limited to the good is to be freed from the bad. God has predetermined that you will progressively and ultimately conform to the image of Jesus.
There are two words in the Greek for conformity. One refers to superficial conformity, and the other refers to substantial conformity. The one used in Romans 8:29 is the one that means substantial conformity. The other word, the one that means superficial conformity, is found in Romans 12:2 in the exhortation, "Do not be conformed to the world."
We are to avoid even a superficial, outward conformity to the world. We are not to conform to the ways of the world even if it is just acting, the wearing of a mask and not a true reflection of our heart and character. And we are to seek an inward and substantial conformity to Jesus. The true Christian is not a washed pig who still loves to wallow in the mire (2 Peter 2:22). The true Christian has been transformed inwardly as well as outwardly. God has removed not only the mud but the inner piggish love for the mud.
Predestination means that God has destined us to be substantially conformed to the image of Jesus. Let's consider a little what that means. There are many ways in which we can be conformed to the image of Jesus.
Conformity to His Character There is conformity to the character of Jesus. That means that we come to approve what He approves, to disapprove what He disapproves, to desire what He desires, and to reject what He rejects.Jesus possessed both a full divine nature and a full human nature. His human nature perfectly reflected on a creaturely plane the very character of God. Through our salvation experience, we are increasingly conformed to this very character of God as found in Jesus. This character transformation begins with the miracle which Scripture calls the new birth (John 3).
When a baby is born, he is given two things apart from anything he has done: the gift of life and the family traits. These are the points of comparison in the new birth. We who were dead in sin are given spiritual life. And we who were by nature children of wrath are made a new creation. Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. In the new birth, we are given the family trait of a new character that progressively reflects the human character of Jesus.
Conformity to His Position We are also conformed to the position of Jesus, and this is called adoption. The new birth is a heart transformation to conform us to the character of Jesus. Adoption is a legal change in family standing to conform us to the position of Jesus. Adoption is an act of God's free grace whereby we are received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. In Christ, we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. The Christian has the legal status of a son of God with a heavenly inheritance.Conformity to His Life Experience The true Christian will also experience conformity to the basic life experience of Jesus. This is a very challenging thought. The life experience of Jesus is well summarized by Hebrews 12:2 where it says,"for the joy that was set before Him, [Jesus] endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."That was His experience, and that will also be our basic life experience if we truly are His people. Our joy in life will be doing the will of the Father, keeping covenant with God. And if we live that way, we will experience the opposition of Satan and the hatred of the world. We will have crosses to bear, but there are two things to sustain us. First there is our joy in doing the will of the Father. And second there is our hope, our conviction that just as surely as God raised up Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His right hand, He will also reward and vindicate us. We know our labor in the Lord will not be in vain.Conformity to His Destiny We will be conformed to His character, to His position, to His life experience, and also to His glorious destiny. The same word translated conform here in Romans 8:29, the Greek word meaning substantial conformity, is found also in Philippians 3:21, where we read"[Jesus] will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body."This is the ultimate end of our conformity to the image of Jesus. At the time of our death, our soul will be made perfect in holiness. And at our resurrection from the dead, our body will be raised and transformed into a glorious resurrection body. This will be a body immortal and incorruptible, a body not subject to sickness or death, a physical body like unto the resurrection body of the Savior.The Final Purpose of Our Predestination The immediate purpose of our predestination is our conformity to the image of Jesus in every possible way. But beyond that we have a final purpose in our predestination. The final purpose is something beyond our immediate good, something grander, something greater, something more important. The final purpose is the glory and honor of Jesus. We read in Romans 8:29 that God predestined us to be conformed to the image of Jesus so that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brethren. That is why God chose us as unworthy sinners and transformed us into conformity to the image of Jesus. It is so that we could become the new redeemed humanity, a great multitude beyond numbering with Jesus at its head and with Jesus as its firstborn.The firstborn is a position of privilege and priority within the family structure. And Jesus has this position of supremacy in the family of faith. The final purpose for our predestination is so that Jesus can for all eternity have under Him a great and glorious multitude of holy and redeemed people who will sing His praises. We will cry out in eternity:
Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever. For you were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God.The immediate purpose for our predestination is our good. The final purpose is Christ's glory. In one sense, the final purpose is beyond our own good. In another, it is even more profoundly for our good. For what can be better than to be used by God to bring honor and glory to Jesus?Conclusion Beloved, I leave you with this final thought. This passage tells you what your destiny is if you are indeed the people of God. Your destiny is to be conformed to the image of Jesus for the honor of Jesus. You see here what God has predestined you to be. I challenge you to live in the light of your destiny, to aim at it, to work for it, and to avoid anything that detracts from it. Daily fellowship with the Savior, for communion is the key to conformity. Fellowship with Christ, and you will become like Christ. Jesus is the Vine, you are the branches. Abide in Him, and He in you, and you will bear the fruit of Christ-conformed living. And do this not as an end in itself but for His honor and glory. I challenge you today: live true to your destiny as the people of God.