The spiritual solar system: Richard Coekin on predestination

“In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (Ephesians 1 v 5)

We often find predestination, or God’s “election”, hard to swallow because we don’t really think that those who aren’t chosen will deserve God’s judgment (which usually reveals that we don’t really think that we deserve judgment either). But understanding that we have been chosen for adoption turns our world upside down in a wonderful way. It’s a spiritual “Copernican revolution”.

Nicholas Copernicus was the sixteenth-century astronomer who discovered that the sun doesn’t rotate around the earth, but that our planet rotates around the sun. The sun is the centre of the solar system, and not our world. Likewise, as sinners we like to think that God and the world rotate around us. We arrogantly question whether to allow God to have any part in our world and our future. But election turns this worldview completely upside down; it recognises that we are hell-deserving sinners, and so the question is whether God could choose to allow us any part in his world in his future!

This is a mind-blowing blessing that is ours through faith in Christ: we have been chosen for adoption by the Father.

As we struggle to get our minds around God’s sovereign electing grace, it’s helpful to think of becoming a Christian as being like walking through a narrow door. On the front of the door is painted the words of Jesus’ gracious universal invitation: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). When we walk through the door and look back at it from the inside, we read the comforting reassurance of his sovereign election: “In love he predestined us for adoption” (Ephesians 1:4-5).

When we arrive in heaven, God will welcome us, and we can imagine him saying: I am so glad to welcome you into my home at last—for I chose to save you for my Son before I made the world; I sent my Son to die for you on the cross; I arranged history to ensure your birth and steer your life; I brought someone to explain the gospel to you and opened your eyes to recognise Jesus as your Saviour and Lord; I carried you when you were weak and held on to you when you tried to run away; and now, finally, I can welcome you into my home. It is so good to see you—I’ve loved you for such a very long time!

This is a mind-blowing blessing that is ours through faith in Christ: we have been chosen for adoption by the Father.

This is an extract from Ephesians For You by Richard Coekin. Out now in the UK and available for pre-order in North America.

Now you've seen this post, let us know what you think. Comment in the box below. You can also like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our YouTube Channel