Predestination
There is no study more rewarding than the study of God's eternal decrees. There is no doubt in the mind of a Bible student that God has set in order things so as to guarantee their fulfillment. The apostle Paul speaks with great enlightenment on this subject in the epistle to the Ephesians. In chapter one, verses three and four, he says: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." This, as well as other passages, teaches that the arrangement of the despensations was according to the good pleasure of his will.
Predestination is a comforting fact if we understand how and what God foreknew. A good example is the settling of the Jews in the promised land. God had foreordained or set the boundaries of the different tribes before they were lead out of the land of Egypt. The setting up of a system and assuring its fulfillment before it comes to pass is predestination. We can have great comfort in the fact that God has assured us that his word is true.
The things that are predestinated will come to pass as God has willed. Things that are done contrary to the way set by the Lord will be punished. He has eternally decreed that it be so.
What Are Some Of The Things Predestinated?
1. "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ . . ." (Eph. 1:10.) The Jew as well as the Gentile would be one in Christ. The middle wall of partition was broken down by the death of Christ on the cross. This was determined by God before the foundation of the worlds. Thus peace was made between Jew and Greek in Christ.
2. All blessings are in Christ. This was predestinated by the Lord. In view of what fact we know that out of Christ there is no spiritual blessing to be enjoyed. But to be in Christ is to he a member of his body. We are baptized into Christ. (Gal. 3:27.) To be in Christ is to be a part of his body and his body is the Church. (Col. 1:18.)
3. The wisdom of God is made known by the Church. God decreed ". . . unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made known the manifold wisdom of God." (Eph. 3:10.) The Church is the wisdom of God made known. God, therefore, predestinated the Church to be the vehicle in which the saints of this earth reside as they travel upon the highway of life. This is unchangeable. All the saved upon this earth are in the Church.
The entrance into that body was unalterably fixed by the God of heaven in his foreknowledge. There is no changing the plan of salvation. People have tried but God will never allow a change in his plan because He aforedetermined the acts of man that would grant an entrance into the Church and his rest.
The organization of the Church was decided for all time by the counsel of his own good will and cannot be changed. Man has often thought that he could make arrangements that would be more effective in carrying out God's will than those God made. This is folly. God gave a perfect plan to do a perfect work. We can do all that God will allow in perfect organization which he has given.
Some have decided in recent years that the Church cannot do all that God has demanded of her; therefore, the Church must create other organizations. Other institutions must be made to do the things that God has eternally decreed that the Church must do.
If I were to doubt the ability of God's divine wisdom to give me an organization equipped with the necessary provisions to carry out the duties enjoined, then I just as well doubt the ability of God to bring about a plan to save me from my sins.
Whatever the Church can or cannot do, has been determined before the worlds were made. It is insufficient, some say to care for the needy and those for whom the church is responsible. If that is the truth, it is so by the determinate counsel of God. If that is the way it is, then the idea of the Church being the fulness of Christ is wrong. The Church is the body. The body is complete and all the members able to carry out God's will. Who can picture a man made perfect by the God of heaven but later it is found out that the man can't walk without the help of a cane. It was the idea of perfection in the mind of God all along. That is just as sensible as to picture the blood bought Church of our Lord being unable to do without the help of manmade appendages, that which God has demanded.
If other organizations are necessary in order to carry out the divine edicts, then it follows that they were in the mind of God from the beginning. The mystery was revealed unto the apostles but they failed to let us know anything about it and they were led into all truth by the Holy Spirit. Or else God couldn't find the words to reveal the plan for us because these "assistants" to the church are not to be found in the New Testament and we are not told how to set them up. Of course the "divines" of the present day have been able to fathom the depths of God's will and give it to us in clear and concise language by their logical deductions; but the inspired apostles were unable to find this revelation in what the Holy Spirit gave them. If the Church is by nature, as a Church, unable to carry out the directives regarding care for the needy, then anyone that would teach the Church is the fulness of Christ in every way is teaching error and shall be marked. The sects were right all along and we are just now finding it out. The early Church under the apostles failed in that respect for we find no such organizations in God's will. If their contention is right then we are in error trying to restore New Testament Christianity because if we did we will only restore something that can't do the job assigned to it in the first place.
As for me, I am still ready to place my confidence in the manifold wisdom of God. I am willing to accept the fact that God has set in order, in the fulness of time, the plan to be followed in order to be acceptable in his sight. I am willing to risk my salvation with the full confidence that God has given us the complete way. All the wisdom of man cannot change it. We need enough "gumption" to follow rather than try to lead.