NO ACCIDENT. Ephesians 1:4 There are at least seven things we know existed before the foundation of the world. Our infinite God made plans that included us before creation took place. The Creator is the source of all creation. Redemption and the church were not afterthoughts but part of His predetermined plan. He made "the things that are made" to align with the plan He had before He even created the world. All of those divine activities during the creative process were purposeful acts, not random acts, aimed to bring about God's will. Fellowship and its joys were integral to the creation of mankind. God had already designed how things would happen, and He created the world to fit that chosen group whose purpose was to "glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Our salvation depends on God's grace, not on us deserving it for any reason.
The fact that we are “chosen” highlights that salvation depends entirely on God. We don't earn it, but by God’s grace and decision, He has saved us according to His plan. The love (agape) mentioned in verse four isn't just sentimental attraction; it's the unconditional, devoted value placed on another—His love for us and our love for Him. We are made holy and blameless in God’s sight so that He can see us as if we have never sinned. Remarkably, He did this before creating the world. This truth encourages us to live before Him without blame, knowing He understands “the thoughts and intents of our hearts." Holiness should be the internal characteristic of our lives, and blamelessness the outward conduct. Holy living isn't an afterthought but God’s constant will for us.
God, who has blessed us with all these spiritual blessings, did so to fulfill His eternal purpose. We do not, nor can we, fully understand everything God has planned. But we can rejoice in the fact that long ago, God made His choosing with pure motives. He desired a people to be His church, to bear His name, chosen to receive blessings and serve Him. He graciously, at no cost to us, offers salvation "without money and without price" to all who come to Him in faith. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."
None of God's actions are accidental or born out of desperation. He knew in the past, before the world began, how He would handle sin. Every act of divine purpose aligns with His plan and is consistent with everything God does. With our limited minds, we cannot fully understand God's infinite mind. However, we can comprehend the logic behind a plan, a design to follow, and a way to achieve that goal. We do this ourselves to accomplish our intentions. God, who created us in His image, has instilled in us, His chosen people, that same pattern.
There is reason, plans, and a procedure He follows to fulfill His original purpose. We do not deserve to be part of this plan. We were included only because of God's sovereign will. We did not influence God's decisions; it is according to "His mercy He saved us." For His own reasons, He included us and saved us, so there is no reason for us to take any credit for our salvation.
In His gracious plan, the way this is achieved is part of the masterful way God brings things to pass. He does not require us to participate in His purposes of grace. Instead, He offers His salvation and His kind of life, eternal life, as a gift from Him to us. He desires us to desire Him. He wants us to want Him. He loves us and wants us to love Him. In that way, we can "be to the praise of His glory." This does not give us any reason to take pride in ourselves for being part of His plan; rather, we are humbled by such an offer to "come to Him."
Through Christ's sacrifice on the cross, we have been welcomed into God's family. He has adopted us and granted us the rights and privileges of that loving relationship. We don't deserve it, but by His grace, God accepts us now because we belong to His beloved Son.
There is nothing in us that would qualify us for the kingdom of God, nor will there ever be. However, in God's plan of redemption, "The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." Now, because we are "in Christ," He is able to accept us as "holy and without blame before Him in love." The holy and righteous God sees us as blameless in His sight. Our sinless Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, has answered for every righteous claim against us with His perfection as the Sacrifice. The holiness of our Lord Jesus Christ has covered our sinfulness. Both Jesus and the just God see us "in Christ Jesus" and count us "holy and without blame."
To those believers in Ephesus, just as to us today, there would have been a whole new perspective on life and the future as they understood they were included in God's plan. To be holy means we are like God. "Be ye holy, for I am holy." We can approach God in faith and love because the Lord Jesus has acted in holiness on our behalf. We can be considered blameless before God because that condition has been provided for us by our Lord Jesus Christ. This standing is settled and secured before God and by God.
We are responsible for demonstrating holiness and blamelessness before others. Our motivation comes from understanding that our standing in Christ is permanently established. How could we not want to honor and please our gracious God, who has blessed us with "all spiritual blessings," chosen us in Him, "predestinated us unto the adoption of children," and "accepted [us] in the Beloved"?
When all was light where God eternally dwelled, before God made earth or stars, there was a plan in place in limitless minds. That plan was that in this universe, the eternal God Himself could find those who had been given the ability of choice and would, with gratitude and love, be willing to take steps of faith in response to God's grace. He wanted them to share eternal life with Him in every way. In a carefully planned design, Divine Persons as One, God created the heavens and the earth, and everything in them as a place for human beings to live and come to know, understand, and love Him.
Those whom He foreknew because of His infinite knowledge would hear of His grace and deeply appreciate that God was in Christ reconciling lost souls to Himself. Despite their willful sin, God showed them, through the greatest act of love ever known, that Jesus died “the just for the unjust that He might bring us to God.” He would deal with their sin so that their will and God's will would go in the same direction, and they, in God's presence, would stay in fellowship with Him. I think it is wrong for me to attempt to understand unexplainable things, but I can surely enjoy the blessing of being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
All of this has happened, and I am part of this plan. I am amazed and very grateful that God chose me to be among others to be sinless and holy. It is wrong of me to demand or even feel entitled to know why God, in His grace, allowed me to hear and obey His word at the right time. It is enough for me to know that my salvation is not a mistake. That truth motivates me to love and obey Him because the Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me.