“Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you.”
(1 Peter 1:20)
The Lord Christ, God incarnate, Son of God and Son of Man encompasses and accomplished all that God the Father intended and all that a most holy God required to rescue and redeem His creation from the death grip of Satan. But what is even more astounding is that this grand drama of redemption that played out on the stage of history was designed, determined, and ordained before God spoke the first word of creation into existence.
And not only was the role of Christ in God’s redemptive plan ordained by Him from eternity past, the method, means, and timing of His plan was divinely orchestrated as well. At just the right moment in history a virgin conceived the Christ child, God manifest in the flesh.
Maybe the most astounding truth of all, however, is that this majestic plan was created and carried out by Almighty God for His glory, and, as Peter tells us in our text, “for you.”
Why did God come to earth in the person of His Son? For you. Why did Christ suffer an unthinkable, heinous death at the hands of wicked, evil men? For you. And why did He ascend to the Father after His resurrection? For you. He did it all for your sake and mine, that we might be ransomed from a wasted life and eternal death. That the God of the universe would go to such lengths to extend such mercy, such grace, such love is, once again, simply more than the feeble mind of man can comprehend.
But it happened just as God foreordained. Christ came. He completed His earthly mission. And our ascended Lord now sits at the right hand of the Father continually interceding for His own. When He walked the earth, Jesus prayed for His own (John 17). And as Hebrews 7:25 declares, He continues to “ever live to make intercession for us” (also Rom. 8:34, 1 John 2:1).
Christ was chosen by God for this distinct purpose (Isa. 42:1). He was sealed (John 6:27) and sanctified to it (John 10:36). The agreement made between Him and His Father in eternity past was specific to a particular purpose and end, which He secured at Calvary. His passion, death, resurrection, and ascension were accomplished that He might purchase His people to Himself as His own (Titus 2:14).
And as a result, just as Christ died for His redeemed people on the cross, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to believing sinners in order to accomplish their justification. He fashioned this righteousness for us, by the appointment of the Father, as a consequence of the covenant of redemption. This righteousness was achieved in the same nature which initially sinned and fell, and which stood in need of it. He did not assume the nature of fallen angels, but that of the fallen and lost seed of Adam, the progenitor of human sinners. He became our kinsman that He might redeem our lost inheritance.
Because of His meritorious role in God’s plan for our redemption, Christ is expressly called the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. We are justified by HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, as He is the only Savior Mediator ordained to this end.
Contemplations:
- Christ’s obedience and suffering in my place. Lord, nothing can be more clear or more evident from the whole of Scripture than this: what Christ did and suffered in our nature as the perfect God-man, He did and suffered specifically in my stead. It humbles me to know that everything He endured, every drop of blood, every cry of anguish, was not for humanity generally but for me, personally and directly. That truth demands my gratitude, obedience, and love.
- The weight of vicarious suffering. Lord, this statement from Hugh Knox resonates with me, “It is true that both Christ’s obedience and sufferings were properly vicarious, that is, for us, and transferable to us, on our being enabled to comply with, and fulfil the conditions of the covenant of grace; i.e. believe in such a manner as to repent and return to God, by a saving conversion; and this alone can account for the greatness of our Lord’s dejection, consternation, terror and agony in the last scenes of his passion.”[1] These words explain why Christ trembled in agony; it was because He bore my guilt and the wrath it deserved.
- Christ’s work declared sufficient. Lord, You declared Christ’s work and ministry on earth to be perfect and sufficient to satisfy all the purposes for which it was intended. And You are well pleased in His offering of Himself as Savior as well as His work as Mediator. For if His righteousness is imputed to me for justification, it must be in every way sufficient for that purpose. This truth calms my fears when I am tempted to think my sins are too many or too great to forgive.
- My lack of righteousness and Christ’s gift. I have no righteousness of my own, nor could the whole universe of created beings furnish me with anything sufficient to cover my sins. In such a destitute condition, You pitied me and gave Christ’s help to me who is mighty to save. Without such an inherent righteousness worked in me by His regenerating, sanctifying Spirit, I can never enter the kingdom of heaven. I must cling to this truth with my whole heart.
Prayer (Thanksgiving)
O Lord God, my heart rises in thanksgiving before You. I am overwhelmed that before the foundation of the world You ordained the cross of Christ. You purposed that Your Son, Your beloved, should take on flesh, suffer, and die, that I might live. Who am I, Lord, that such a design of infinite mercy and eternal wisdom should be carried out for me? I bless You that Your love reached me when I was dead in trespasses and sins, when my heart was cold, and when I had no thought of You. You planned my redemption in eternity, and You brought it to pass in time, all for my sake and for the glory of Your name.
I thank You for Christ Jesus, Your Son, chosen from eternity to be my Mediator. He was sealed, sanctified, and sent forth to bear my guilt and shame. I thank You that in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and that in Him I see the face of the invisible God. I rejoice that every act of obedience, every word spoken, every sorrow endured by Him was for me. I confess that my mind cannot grasp the depth of this grace, yet I know it to be true because Your Word declares it.
I thank You that my salvation is not an afterthought or accident of history but the eternal purpose of the Sovereign Lord. You foreordained the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And in the fullness of time, He appeared, suffered, died, rose again, and ascended to Your right hand. Even now, I thank You that He ever lives to intercede for me, carrying my name before Your throne, securing my perseverance, and preparing a place for me in glory.
O Lord, how shall I repay such love? I thank You that I do not stand in my own righteousness, for I have none. I stand clothed in the righteousness of Christ, imputed to me, counted as mine though it is wholly His. I thank You for this covering, this robe of spotless purity, without which I would be consumed before Your holiness. I thank You that when You look upon me, You do not see my failures but the perfect obedience of Your Son credited to me.
I thank You for the covenant of redemption, sealed in eternity between Father and Son, fulfilled in history, and applied to me by Your Spirit. I thank You that the Spirit has opened my blind eyes, unstopped my deaf ears, and given me a new heart to believe and love You. Without Him I would still be lost, chasing shadows and clinging to lies. But now I am Yours, and I thank You that nothing is able to snatch me out of Your hand.
O gracious Father, my heart cannot contain the gratitude I feel for such mercy. Let me live each day in thanksgiving. Let my words, thoughts, and deeds show forth praise to the Lamb who was slain, to the Father who ordained it, and to the Spirit who applies it. Let my life be a continual offering of thanks, a testimony that I am not my own but bought with the precious price of my Savior’s blood.
In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Further references for 1 Peter 1:20:
Eph. 1:4; Heb. 9:26; Matthew 25:34; Rev. 13:8.
[1] Hugh Knox, The Moral and Religious Miscellany, No. 14137 (New-York: Hodge and Shober, 1775), 43.
