It is indeed wonderful to our souls, as believers, to know that we have been chosen “in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:44According 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: (Ephesians 1:4)), and that God thought of us in a past eternity, when He was considering His purposes concerning His beloved Son. However, there is a right way, and a wrong way, to think about these purposes of God. If we think about God’s purposes mainly as they affect ourselves, we shall fall short of the real blessing God intends for us; at the same time, we shall dishonor God, in failing to realize all that those purposes are as they affect His beloved Son. On the other hand, if we consider God’s purposes from His perspective, and that of Christ, we shall not only honor God, but we shall be far more blessed. Our scope of understanding will be eternal, and will be enlarged by what God is, rather than being bounded by time and our experiences in this world.
Whenever man is to know anything about God, or from God, it must be God Himself who, in His sovereignty, reveals it to Him. To be sure, something of the glory and majesty of God can be learned from creation, for “the heavens declare the glory of God” (Psa. 19:11<<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.>> The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handywork. (Psalm 19:1)), and thus man is “without excuse” (Rom. 1:2020For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (Romans 1:20)). But to obtain any deeper knowledge of God, man is dependent on divine revelation, which always comes downward, from God to man. When this order is observed, everything will always be kept in the right perspective.
Reasoning About God
However, it is all too common a fault that the mind of man begins to reason upward, from man to God. When this happens, man’s mind begins to take the place of divine revelation, and he finds himself reasoning in the things of God, and making deductions, based on his own experience and what he sees around him, instead of being subject to divine revelation. Let us look at a few areas where this tends to happen.
First of all, the natural man, without God, loves to reason about the things of God, for man by nature is a religious creature; he was created in the “image and likeness of God.” Without divine revelation, the atheist, for example, complains about the suffering in this world, and wonders how a loving God could allow it to go on. On this basis, he denies the existence of God. Some wonder why God allowed sin to come into this world. Others may become angry because of serious illnesses, tragedies and other troubles that occur in their lives, and end up blaming God for them. Still others find fault with God’s way of salvation, arguing that there ought to be multiple ways to salvation, not merely one. The list goes on and on. But the only way to have a right outlook on anything that goes on in this world and in our lives, even as unbelievers, is to be subject to divine revelation, which always involves Christ. As another has said, to have the right view of anything in this world, bring Christ in.
The Right Focus
All of this becomes even more important in the life of the believer. In the profession of Christianity, man has tended to turn everything inward toward himself, instead of recognizing that all must come from, and devolve upon, God Himself. To quote another, “Our strength in doing anything must be in proportion as we are in the line of God’s mind and purpose.”
Thus, in preaching the gospel, to be effective, it must always be from God to man. It is true that man has a need, and that need must be pressed upon him. However, if man’s need and how God has met that need, are the primary foci of the gospel, once again our hearts are centered on ourselves, rather than on God. Of course, souls may be saved with this focus, and we thank God for it, for He is gracious. But God’s greatest thought was to make Himself known, and while this surely brings blessing to man, there is much more than that, which we miss if our thoughts are mainly on ourselves. Paul tends to begin any discussion of the gospel with a reference to God’s purposes in Christ, as in Romans 1 — “the gospel of God ... concerning His Son Jesus Christ ... declared to be the Son of God with power” (Rom. 1-4). His preaching was “unto God a sweet savour of Christ” (2 Cor. 2:15), whether souls accepted or rejected it. It is not mainly for man’s blessing that the gospel is preached, rather, the Lord Jesus is worthy of the reward of His sufferings, and His worthiness should be before us, even before man’s needs. If what engages my soul in preaching the gospel is the benefit man will receive from it, I am making man, and not God, my object.
We hasten to point out that our having God and His interests before us would not in any way dampen our concern for lost souls, or our zeal and energy in seeking to reach them. But in our passion for souls, there would be the conscious sense that I was speaking for God, not merely for man’s benefit. The preaching of a gospel that centers on man has done great harm in Christian circles down through the ages, and the ascendance of secular humanism today has accelerated this, even among those who are true.
Our Blessings in Christ
When it comes to our Christian blessings, once again we find, according to Scripture, that all are ours (Eph. 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3)), but they are “ours in Christ.” They are connected, not merely with ourselves, but with the revelation that God is about to “gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth” (Eph. 1:1010That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)). It is only after God has made this stupendous statement (a truth not known in the Old Testament), that He says, “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance ... ” (Eph. 1:1111In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: (Ephesians 1:11)). God’s purposes in Christ are paramount; then we are brought in to share it all!
When we, as believers, allow the focus of our blessings to be on us, we will measure all our enjoyment of those blessings on our own state of soul, and on our apprehension of them. Our spiritual state will indeed “ebb and flow,” as our own peace and rest will be the benchmark by which we judge those blessings. On the other hand, if Christ is before us, we will value far more our intimacy with Him and our knowledge of Him; our continued desire will be to know more of Him. Like Paul, we will want to seek to comprehend with all saints “what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” (Eph. 3:18-1918May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. (Ephesians 3:18‑19)). On an even more practical level, it is sad to see how easily we as believers can fall into the pattern of looking on God as a philanthropist, who is there with a largesse of mercies, ready to give whenever we approach Him with a need. Without wanting to be critical, many popular hymns today espouse this philosophy and outlook, with the result that, once again, the focus of the believer tends to be constantly on himself. But when the mercies are before me, the Lord is not my object. Without perhaps perceiving it, I am subtly carried into the current of the world; I am occupied with that which is temporal, rather than that which is eternal.
The Knowledge of God
In this respect, it is very instructive for us to notice the character of a father in the first epistle of John. Twice over fathers are mentioned, and the only thing said about them is that they “have known Him that is from the beginning” (1 John 2:13-1413And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: (John 2:13‑14)). There is nothing higher than this, for in the knowledge of that One who is from the beginning is contained the knowledge of everything else. It is well for young men to be strong, and have the Word of God abiding in them, and it is equally well for “little children” to know the Father; yet maturity in divine things is always characterized by a deeper knowledge of “Him that is from the beginning.” The object in Paul’s heart, as expressed to the Ephesians, was that they might come “in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (Eph. 4:1313Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:13)). It is Christ and all that He is, and God’s purposes in Him, that must be everything!
We must be careful to occupy our hearts with Christ’s interests, and Christ’s thoughts, down here. It is all too easy for us to be taken up with our own thoughts, our own ambitions, our own wishes — all things that have to do with “the affairs of this life.” Doubtless these things are necessary, but they should be a means to an end, not an end in themselves. It is only by walking with Him that I can know His thoughts, and it is only in knowing His thoughts that I can follow Him with a full heart. Paul could say of believers, “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16), and this is generally true for every believer. But only the one who is really interested in the mind of Christ will find that mind revealed to him. It is only in the “full knowledge of the mystery of God” that we can find “all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge” (Col. 2:2-32That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; 3In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:2‑3) JND), for it is Christ who is of God made unto us “wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:30-31).
W. J. Prost