IN the previous two verses the apostle speaks of Christ as our redeemer, who has redeemed us from the useless life of worldliness and sin which is the truth about all humanity living in this world by human birth and by nature; and redeemed us by shedding his precious blood (that is giving his life unto death on the cross) as a pure sacrifice for our sin. This wondrous work of Christ is continually held up before us in the Scriptures as the only way eternal salvation has been won for us whose sin deserves everlasting damnation in hell. The gospel is that Christ, the only pure sacrifice for sin, gave his life to take the punishment of our sin in our place. This is the glorious gospel which we have been taught by the Holy Spirit to believe unto the salvation of our souls. This verse 20 tells us an incredible truth and reality about this work of Christ, which, on the one hand is totally incredible and unimaginable, and on the other hand one which Christians find so hard to believe and accept for the comfort of their souls.

In my old age I have impressed upon my soul by the Holy Spirit the truth embodied in this verse, which is that in all things concerning my salvation, every part of it, and always continuing, is that I am saved entirely and completely by God in Christ alone, and that I stand and persevere solely because God is working in my life of his good pleasure of grace, which he has sovereignly decided to work in me to the glory of his holy Name. I have impressed upon my soul that I have contributed nothing to this work of grace, and that it is God working grace in me according to his eternal good pleasure. I know that I owe my salvation, and my continuing in salvation, to God alone in Christ, and I find such strong comfort and strength and assurance in this revelation of truth which has been made known to me by the Spirit, through the Bible and by the gracious work of the Spirit day be day in my soul. All I know of myself is that if this sovereign grace of God was not God's blessing on me every day and every hour, I would not persevere in faith one moment, for all I see in myself is constant failure in all directions of faith, service and love.

Because of this work of God in my soul I come to this verse before me in joy at what it reveals, and wonder at the amazing wisdom and love of God in salvation. So what does this verse tell us. We need to face clearly what is revealed in it, before we seek to apply the truth to our lives.

The words of our text tell us that Christ was chosen before the creation of the world. When we ask the question what Christ was chosen for it is clear that what he was chosen for is declared in the previous two verses, which tell us that Christ was chosen to be our redeemer from sin and death, and that he was chosen before creation to perform this by shedding his precious blood as a pure sacrifice for sin. That he was a lamb for sacrifice without any defect, tell us that in his earthly life, Jesus lived an absolutely sinless life, whereby he could die to suffer the pains of eternal death in the place of others. When we ask the question who these 'others' are, we find it clearly expressed in verses like Ephesians 1: 4-8 where we read 'For he (God) chose us in him (Christ) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, according with his pleasure and will - to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves (Christ). In him we have redemption through his blood for the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding'. I make no apology for quoting in full these verses in Ephesians, and I do it to show that it was the sovereign purpose of God before creation to send Christ into this world of sin, in order that he might be our redeemer.

What we have revealed in this verse is that Christ as redeemer of sinners was according to the purpose of God before he created the world. This means that redemption for sinners through the gift of God's only begotten Son to suffer and die in the place of sinners was decided by God before ever sin entered the world, and before he created this world.

So when God created the world and saw that all he had created was good, and before he created man in his own image, and gave him paradise as long as he abided by one test of obedience, that is that Adam should not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, redemption for sin had been planned in the eternal wisdom of God.

So we conclude that God was not taken by surprise by the fall of Adam into disobedience and sin, and that he had this terrible disaster in his sovereign control. This sovereign eternal rule and dominion of God is further revealed, because as soon as sin entered the world, God made known his eternal purpose in the promise that the seed of the woman should crush the serpents head, that is that Satan would be defeated and God's sovereign purpose would prevail.

What this reveals is what is known as the eternal counsel of God in eternity, whereby the three persons of the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, held counsel together to plan the purpose of God for all eternity. This counsel was that the Father planned redemption of sinners; that the Son accepted the role of redeeming sinners, and the Holy Spirit accepted the role as the one who would apply salvation to all God in three persons predestined for life.

When we read the Gospels we find Christ expressing this truth that he had come by the will of the Father, and in obedience to the Father would give his life a ransom for sinners, so that God would be just when he justified those who are brought to faith in Jesus.

We find this truth expressed by Christ continually. In Matthew 20: 17-19 Jesus tells his disciples that he, the Son of man must go to Jerusalem and suffer death and then rise again. Again and again Jesus told his disciples that the Son of man must suffer death, rise again and returned to the Father. Jesus rebuked Peter when he took Jesus aside and told him that he should not give his life in this way, and Jesus told Peter to get out of his way saying 'Get behind me Satan; you do not mind the things of God, but the things of men'. (Matthew 16: 21-23).

Then in the garden of Gethsemane, when the soldiers of the high priest came to take Jesus prisoner, Peter drew his sword and struck a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. Jesus healed the ear and turned to Peter and commanded Peter saying 'Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?' (John 18: 11).

Then when we behold Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane before the soldiers came to take him prisoner, he prayed in agony if it was possible could this role of giving his life to death and hell for sinners be removed, but then saying 'not my will, but yours be done'. In his agony at the thought of the dreadful suffering he was about to undergo where God would forsake him, the Son of man, he submitted willing to the eternal purpose of the Father that he should give his life a ransom for sinners.

Then when Jesus was under trial before Pilate, and when he refused to defend himself from all the charges brought against him, and Pilate said to Jesus that he had power to put him to death or to save him from death, Jesus told Pilate that he had no power over him, and that he could call on God and he would send twelve legions of angel to protect him. The fact that Jesus did not avail himself of this deliverance and power tells us that he voluntarily was giving up his life in obedience to the will of God, because this was the only way we sinners could be justly forgiven and saved from eternal death.

We are totally unable to unravel the complexities of this truth revealed in the verse we are studying. All sorts of questions arise in our minds which raise difficulties of faith, and the acceptance of the truth of God's sovereignty revealed here. We are called simply to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and believe what is revealed without questioning God, or in our own sinful wisdom denying the truth of God's sovereign rule over all things. In the doing of this, as I have sought to describe above in my own testimony, we find peace and strength and assurance that is above all things a blessing and a strength. What we need to accept is that God exists in eternity, that he created time that we know in creation, and that to him all things in time are known to him all the time and under his sovereign will.

Our verse goes on to tell us that this truth of God's sovereign purpose was revealed in these last times for our sake. In other words what God is telling us through the revelation given to Peter is that God has revealed this sovereign plan for our sake. This tells us that God has made this sovereignty of God known so that we may have strength and confidence in this earthly life. For the disciples at the time of the New Testament, this revelation was given so that they may understand the wonder of what Jesus had done by in his death and resurrection and ascending to reign in glory to make intercession for them. God revealed this that they may know that they were safe in the eternal purpose of God for them; that God would be their protector, and they would be safely brought, in the eternal purpose of God, to the goal of there faith which was the hope of glory.

This is our assurance too. We have been saved in the eternal purpose of God, and the assurance of Christ to the Father that he had lost none given him by the Father in his electing love. So we know that we are safe in the arms of Jesus, and in all the ups and downs of life, and in all our failures and faults, our salvation and our eternal destiny is sure. Christ's promise, that he is preparing a dwelling place in heaven for us, and will come to bring us there, is certain.