Scriptures: Romans 8:29-30
“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He knows the end from the beginning. Therefore, He plans our lives from the beginning to the end even before we live on this earth. It is called predestination. What is God’s predestination for us? It is that we should be conformed to the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
God’s predestination for us is divided into three stages. Each stage ìs related to a specific work of each person of God the Trinity:
1. The calling from God the Father.
2. The justification through the Lord Jesus.
3. The glorification in the Holy Spirit.
Does God exist? This question must be answered first before we can enter God’s predestined plan for us. How do we know there is a God? The apostle Paul wrote that even though we could not see God, but His invisible attributes are clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead (Rom 1:20). It means by looking at the things around us in nature we will know there is God out there. This is God Father calling us.
If God does really exist, then the next question is “What kind of God is He?” He is the God who loves us so much that He gave His only begotten Son to die for us that we may justified before Him. Our greatest problem is sin. Sin separates us from God. We become so far from God that God is no longer real to us. So, God became a man and dwelt among us, the invisible became visible. Then, as a man He died on the cross for us that we might be made righteous before God. This is God the Son justifying us.
What is the purpose of God justifying us through His Son? First, it is to reconcile us with God so that we can have relationship with Him. Second, it is to open the way for God to come into our lives and lives in us. God then sent the Holy Spirit to abide in us. The Holy Spirit who is in us will transform us into the image of the Son of God so that we may be able to express God through our lives. This the Holy Spirit glorifying us.
The picture of God’s predestination can be seen in the life of David. David was predestined to be king over Israel, but he had to go through the three stages of God’s predestination before he actually fulfilled God’s plan for his life. He was called when he was anointed with oil, he was justified when did not dare touch the Lord’s anointed and he was glorified when he became king of Judah.
David received God’s calling for his life when Prophet Samuel anointed him with oil, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him from that day forward (1 Sam 16:13). The sign of what God predestined him to be, a king over God’s people, began to be seen. Then he was justified of his calling to be a king by not killing or harming king Saul though he had opportunities to do so. He did not dare to touch the Lord’s anointed because he understood that it was God Himself who anointed Saul to be king over Israel.
David was glorified and promoted to be king after he overcame the greatest loss of his life in Ziklag. The Amalekites attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way, including David and his men’s wives, sons, and daughters (1 Sam 30:1-3) David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God (1 Sam 30:6). Eventually, David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them; David recovered all (1 Sam 30:18-19). Three days later he was anointed king of Judah (2 Sam 1:1-2; 2:4).