The Purpose of God in Christ: The redemption of God’s people through the death of Christ did not begin when sin entered the world. If we believe the testimony of Scripture at all, we must acknowledge that it stood in the purpose of God from eternity. Titus 1:2. Scripture speaks too plainly on this point to allow any other conclusion. But that raises an obvious question: has God ever determined that something shall happen without also determining how it will happen? Such a thought would make His purposes uncertain and dependent upon circumstances beyond His control. Scripture presents the opposite picture. When God ordains the end, the means are already included within His decree. Isaiah 14:24.
God never acts without purpose. From the beginning He has an end in view, and the Scriptures present Him as the One who declares the end from the beginning. Isaiah 46:9-10. Again, and again the Bible speaks of His wisdom, His counsel, and His eternal purpose. Ephesians 3:11. Events are not scattered randomly across the pages of history; they are connected, each one serving something that follows. Romans 8:28. Earlier things prepare the way for later ones, and the whole course of history moves forward under the direction of a divine plan that was established long before the world began. Acts 15:18.
When God pronounced the works of creation “very good” that declaration was never meant to imply that the created order possessed the strength to preserve itself indefinitely in that state. Everything God created was exactly what it ought to be: complete, fitting, and perfect in its own place. Genesis 1:31. The entire order of creation stood arranged under the larger design of God. What seemed at first to be only the beginning of a beautiful world was also the beginning of a story that would ultimately reveal the wisdom of God in ways far beyond the first creation. Psalm 104:24. Every part of it, knowingly or not, ultimately stands or falls in relation to Christ, to whom it was entrusted from the beginning. Colossians 1:16-17.
When we consider the magnitude of what is often called the fall, an event that altered the entire condition of mankind, it becomes difficult to imagine that it occurred outside the will of the God who governs all things. Daniel 4:35. To suppose that Adam’s transgression occurred without God’s consent, contrary to His purpose, or in defiance of His design would leave the most decisive moment in human history suspended outside the rule of the One who reigns over all things. Proverbs 19:21. Such an idea diminishes the wisdom of God, denies His sovereignty, and stands at odds with the consistent testimony of Scripture, which presents Him as the One who works all things after the counsel of His own will. Psalm 50:21.
When the veil is drawn back in Scripture, we discover that the purpose running through all of this from the beginning centers in Christ Himself. Luke 24:27. The world was not simply created to exist for a time and then fade away. It was brought into being as the stage upon which the wisdom and grace of God would ultimately be revealed through His Son. Romans 11:36. Long before the first man drew breath, the Redeemer had already been appointed. I Peter 1:19-20. In Him the divine plan stood secure, and through Him the purpose of God would reach its appointed fulfillment. As the testimony of Scripture unfolds, it becomes clear that the ultimate design toward which all things move is found in Christ. Ephesians 1:9-10.
Seen in this light, the transgression of Adam does not stand as an unexpected interruption in the divine government, but as an event which, though evil in itself, ultimately serves the greater display of God’s wisdom, justice, and grace in Christ, through whom the purpose of God, long hidden, is now made known, and for whom, through whom, and unto whom all things ultimately move. Romans 5:21. MPJ