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Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 1:20-21
In 1:20 Peter speaks of Christ: “Who was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in the last times for your sake.” Christ was foreordained, prepared, by God to be His redeeming Lamb (John 1:29) for His elect according to His foreknowledge before the foundation of the world. This was done according to God’s eternal purpose and plan; it did not happen accidentally. Hence, in the eternal view of God, from the foundation of the world, that is, since the fall of man as a part of the world, Christ was slain (Rev. 13:8).
In 1:2 Peter speaks of the foreknowledge of God the Father, and in verse 20 he says that Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world as the redeeming Lamb. In the New Testament the root of such words as foreknowledge, foreknow, and foreknown is know. To this root a prefix is attached. The Greek prefix pro means before or beforehand. In New Testament Greek, words such as foreknow, foreknowledge, and foreknown imply more than what we would understand from the English translations. The Greek root for these words includes the meaning of appreciation, approval, and possession. If we approve something, we shall appreciate it. Then we shall want to take possession of it and own it. Sometimes “I do not know” means “I do not own that” or “I do not want that.” Furthermore, in the Bible the word “know” is also used for the relationship between husband and wife. For example, concerning the relationship between Joseph and Mary, Matthew 1:25 says that Joseph “did not know her until she brought forth a Son.” This, of course, does not simply refer to Joseph’s knowledge of Mary. It refers to his taking her and owning her as his wife.
The foreknowledge of God spoken of in 1:2 implies that in eternity past God approved us and appreciated us. It also implies that in eternity past He took us over, possessed us, owned us. We may even say that, as Joseph married Mary, God in His foreknowledge married us in eternity past. (There is no time element with God.) All of this is included in the connotation of the word foreknowledge.
For Christ to be foreknown means that He was foreordained by God. To foreknow is to foreordain, to ordain beforehand. In his expanded translation of the New Testament, Kenneth S. Wuest uses the words “foreordained” and “foreordination.” According to this translation, verse 20 says, “Christ...was foreordained before the foundation of the universe was laid,” and verse 2 says that the believers are “chosen-out ones, this choice having been determined by the foreordination of God the Father.” God’s foreknowledge, therefore, means not only that He knew us in eternity past; it also means that He ordained us. We all were ordained by God the Father in eternity past. We do not need any other kind of ordination.
Do you know when you were ordained by God? You were ordained by Him before the foundation of the world. Hallelujah, God’s foreknowledge includes foreapproval, foreappreciation, foreacknowledgement, foremarrying, and foreordination!
Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world. This means that in eternity past God approved Christ and appreciated Him. Then God also ordained Christ to be His anointed One. God has ordained Christ to be the One commissioned to fulfill in time all that had been planned by God for the accomplishment of His eternal purpose. At the same time God foreordained Christ, He also foreordained all the believers.
When some hear that they were foreordained with Christ in eternity past, they may be rather doubtful and say, “This is just the preaching of Brother Lee. Just as a salesman sells his goods, so this preacher is trying to sell me his concept.” If this is your attitude, I encourage you to wait until we are in the New Jerusalem in eternity. I have the assurance that when we all arrive there, you will praise God and say, “Hallelujah! Now I see that I truly was foreordained by God the Father before the foundation of the world!”
We may say that in eternity past God held a ceremony of ordination. In that ordination ceremony He first ordained His Son to be the Christ. Then He ordained all of us, the believers in Christ, to be Christians. In an eternal ordination ceremony before the foundation of the world, we all were ordained when Christ was ordained. When He was ordained to be the Christ, we were ordained to be Christ-men. He was ordained to be the Anointed of God, and we were ordained to be the little anointed ones. How marvelous that Christ and we were ordained at the same time in eternity past! Christ was foreknown by God the Father, and we also were foreknown by Him.
Do you believe that you were foreknown by God when Christ was foreknown, and ordained by Him when Christ was ordained? If you see this and believe it, you should not hesitate to declare it. Perhaps you are reluctant to say that you were ordained before the foundation of the world when Christ was ordained. You may feel uneasy about speaking such a thing; you may think that others would consider you beside yourself if you said this. Oh, we all need to see the revelation in 1 Peter 1 concerning God’s foreknowledge and foreordination! It is a marvelous spiritual fact that we and Christ were foreknown and foreordained by God the Father in eternity past!
Verse 20 says that Christ was foreknown, foreordained, and verse 2 indicates that we the believers were chosen according to the foreknowledge, the foreordination, of God. Therefore, verse 20 matches verse 2. When Christ was ordained, we were foreknown and chosen. This is possible because there is no time element with God.
In eternity past, on the day of the ordination of Christ and all the believers, God could see all the millions of Adam’s descendants. In a very real sense, all of Adam’s descendants were there before Him. Then God could choose, approve, and ordain certain ones, for no reason that is apparent to us. God could say, “I like this one. Therefore, I choose him, approve him, and ordain him.” God looked at people from countries all over the world. Then He selected some from the United States, from China, and from England, France, Germany, and many other nations. He chose people of different colors — black, white, yellow, brown, and red. What do we have to say concerning this? Actually we should have nothing to say except, “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord for His foreknowledge!” Let us praise God the Father for His selection, approval, and ordination.
With God’s foreknowledge and foreordination as the basis, Christ came to earth to be our Redeemer and to accomplish God’s purpose. Furthermore, the Spirit came to us, worked on us, and brought us to repentance and faith in Christ. In a sense, the Spirit could say regarding us, “Oh, here is one who was ordained by God in eternity past. Now is the time for him to be called and saved.” Because we were foreordained by God, the Spirit came to us and did whatever was necessary to cause us to believe in Christ.
Praise the Lord that when Christ was ordained, we were ordained too! Hallelujah for God’s foreknowledge! God in eternity past ordained Christ and a multitude of Christians, of Christ-men. Hallelujah for God’s foreordination of Christ and of all the Christians!
In verse 20 Peter also says that Christ “was manifested in the last times for your sake.” This implies that it was not necessary for Christ to be manifested for the sake of God. Rather, it was for our sake that He was manifested.
The incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the constitution of the Spirit of Christ exist eternally in the sight of God. But for our sake it was necessary for Christ to be manifested through incarnation and to pass through human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension so that the Spirit of Christ could be constituted dispensationally.
Christ was ordained before the foundation of the world, but “in the last times” and for our sake He was manifested and passed through human living, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. Actually, in the eternal sight of God, all this had happened already. Christ had already been ordained to be Christ, and we had already been ordained to be Christians in eternity past. However, it was still necessary for this foreordination to be carried out in time. Therefore, we were born, lived our human life, and committed many sins and offenses. One day we heard the preaching of the gospel, repented, believed, called on the Lord, and thanked Him for all He had done for us. However, the Lord could say, “All this has taken place already. But now, for your sake, this is being carried out.” This is the genuine and proper understanding of God’s salvation. God did everything in eternity past. The only thing needed was in the last times for Christ to be manifested for our sake.
In verse 21 Peter goes on to say, “Who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from among the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God.” Here Peter says that through Christ we believe in God. Our believing into Christ has brought us into an organic union with Him (Gal. 3:26-27). Then through Him we believe in God to be one with Him, participating in all His riches.
The Jews believe in God directly, but we Christians believe in God through Christ. This means that we believe in God through an intermediary. This intermediary is Jesus Christ.
In verse 21 Peter says that God raised Christ from among the dead and gave Him glory. This was to glorify Christ with glory (v. 11). It was the Father’s answer to His prayer in John 17:1. This glory actually includes many kinds of glories: the glory of resurrection, the glory of ascension, the glory of the Lord’s coming back, the glory of His reign over the nations in the coming kingdom. Satan put Jesus to death, but God raised Him up and gave Him glory.
Peter’s writings are not easy to follow. For instance, in verse 21 the first “who” refers to us, and the second “who” refers to God. Even in a short verse Peter is able to wedge in or insert a number of things. Therefore, in verses 20 and 21 there are a number of turns.
The last of these turns is “so that your faith and hope might be in God.” This indicates that Christ died and God raised Him up from among the dead and gave Him glory for a purpose. Purpose is indicated by the words “so that.” Christ died and God raised Him from among the dead and gave Him glory so that, for the purpose that, our faith and hope may be in God. This is not a matter merely of doctrine or position; on the contrary, it is an organic matter. God raised up Christ and gave Him glory. This is the very Christ in whom we believe. We believe in the One whom God resurrected and to whom God gave glory. Our believing brings about an organic union. We are now organically united to this One, the One who possesses God’s eternal life. He also has resurrection life and the glory of God. Because we believe in this One, we have an organic union with Him.
Furthermore, through this organic union with Christ, our faith and hope are in God. With this hope we have a future. Both the faith and the hope we have in God are by means of the organic union with Christ. Therefore, we have been organically united in Christ with God. Thus, our faith and our hope are in this God. This is altogether a matter of life.
It may be better to render verse 21 “so that your faith and hope are in God,” instead of saying “might be in God.” What we have here is a fact, not a possibility indicated by the subjunctive mood. God raised up Christ from among the dead and gave Him glory in order that we may have faith and hope in God. Now through Christ we are joined to God, united to Him organically in life, nature, and glory. Because we are one with God in this way, our faith and our hope are in Him.
