Love Before Time

Sometimes the Biblical doctrine of election is viewed as something austere, cold, capricious, or impersonal. In fact, this could not be further from the truth. The Bible teaches us that we are elect “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (I Pet. 1:1-2), and it is very important for us to see that for God to foreknow involves more than His bare intellect, omniscience, knowledge of the future, or awareness of who will believe; rather, it is a term speaking of knowledge, yes--but knowledge that involves deep, intimate affection--essentially, to fore love. It is God loving His people, knowing them affectionately before time, indeed from eternity--setting His love upon them and choosing them to belong to Him and to rescue them from their sin. In an excellent book I have been reading and enjoying, it is put this way:

God’s election of His people is His seal that He loves them. Because He elects them, He will cherish them in their Savior, Jesus Christ, who is so in love with them that He calls them His bride. Moreover, having gone to the cross to die for His bride, Jesus takes all of their liabilities upon Himself. God’s foreknowledge of His people, then, is like a man’s love for his wife. God’s foreknowledge means that He is so passionately and intimately in love with His people that He offers His own Son to go to Calvary for them.

Thus, God the Father elects His people on the basis of His eternal, overwhelming, sovereign affection for them. Why did He love them? Because He chose to do so. Sovereign, unchangeable love is the ultimate joy and reality of the universe. It is the rock of God’s redeeming grace. We cannot get beyond that sovereign love to something else. Love is the ultimate reality of God Himself. God is love.

God’s foreknowledge means that God has always been in love with His people. He has loved the elect from all eternity. Just as a Bible-believing Christian cannot conceive of God not existing, not being eternal, or not being triune, so he cannot conceive of God not being in love with His people and not exercising that love through His gracious plan of salvation. Henry Law says, ‘Eternal love devised the plan; eternal wisdom drew the model; eternal grace comes down to build it’.

God’s love is voluntary, discriminatory, and gracious. But oh, what glory to realize that this is the way God has always been! He has always loved His bride, the church, and has always been intensely passionate about her salvation. Dear believer, let this amazing truth sink deeply into your soul: God chose us because He has always foreknown us, meaning He has always loved us. (Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism, Joel R. Beeke, Reformation Trust, 2008, pgs. 63-64)

In subsequent posts I would like us to see several specific ways in which the Biblical teaching concerning God’s gracious and sovereign electing of His people should affect our hearts and lives. In the meantime, I’d love to hear how this truth is affecting your heart even now. It is truly breathtaking, is it not? Should it not truly sweep us off our feet?