Before the Foundation

In archery, the nocking point is the spot on the bowstring where the arrow always sits. If the back of the arrow is set too high or too low, the shot misses even with the tip on target. The Christian life works the same way: its nocking point is God's purpose before the foundation of the world. Believers were chosen in Christ before creation, not at the moment of conversion. God knew Jeremiah and ordained him a prophet before he was formed in the womb. Predestination concerns the purpose of those God called, not a lottery of who is saved. "Whosoever will" still stands; God simply knew ahead of time who would.

God is all-knowing, all-powerful and everywhere present, yet love by its nature is incomplete without an object, one able to respond in kind. A tree, an animal or a whale cannot love God back, so He made man in His own image. God also chose to experience limitation: to place His unlimited Spirit in time, space and flesh, treasure in earthen vessels, and remain God. Jesus is that master manifestation, God limited in flesh, asleep in a boat and hungry in the wilderness, yet still Emmanuel. "As he is, so are we in this world": His body in the earth today is His people.

Hebrews says God's works "were finished from the foundation of the world," which is why He rested on the seventh day. God is not reacting to us or scrambling to clean up our mistakes; He knew in advance what we would do and think. Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, yet He was manifested in time at Calvary. Before the cross, Jesus could pray, "I have finished the work," because in eternity it was already done.

Many believers fear a failure has disqualified them from God's plan. But if God sees the end from the beginning, He saw every failure before it happened and calculated it into the purpose of each life. Nothing a person does can cancel the purpose God set before the world began. Stumbling is not the end of the story; it's an occasion to catch the heavenly vision again.

Time has a beginning and an end, measured in moments, hours, years and millennia. God lives in eternity, which isn't a straight line. He is Alpha and Omega at once, the same yesterday, today and forever. Creation reflects this: the earth turns, the moon circles the earth, the earth circles the sun, and tides and seasons cycle. God never makes a promise He doesn't keep; He always comes back around by way of it. Time is the landing place where what God finished in eternity is manifested "in the fulness of time."

Because God's works are already finished in the heavenlies, prayer is not an effort to bend God toward our agenda. It is looking into the unseen, recognizing what God has already accomplished, and speaking it into manifestation: "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Heaven is not a distant city. It's a present dimension, like radio and television signals filling a room you can't see or hear until you tune in.

A river flows from the heart of God, carrying His people into everything He purposed for them before the world began. But we need structure to ride it. The river is the Spirit; God's order is the boat. When we get into order and sit down in the river of the Spirit, the current carries us, and what God predestined comes to pass without striving or begging. This is what Scripture calls entering His rest. The real concern is not circumstances, but whether we are out of order or out of step with the Spirit.