God’s Great Plan of Redemption

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.—Ephesians 1:3-4

God’s great plan is suggested in [the third] verse. There was a great eternal council held between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The next verse tells us when it was held: “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Eph 1:4). Do we realize that our salvation was planned before the world was planned or created? It is the realization of this fact that makes a man stand on tip-toe and shout out praise to God—“chosen before the foundation of the world”!

The three blessed Persons¹ in the eternal council were concerned about us—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…The three Persons met in conference (I speak with reverence, in terms of Scripture) and planned it. Let us forever get rid of the idea that salvation was an afterthought in the mind of God. It was not a thought that came to God after man had fallen into sin—it was planned “before the foundation of the world.” The apostle tells us that the work was divided up between the three blessed Persons, each One agreeing to engage in particular tasks. This is what led the old theologians to talk about the “economic Trinity,” [that is,] the three blessed Persons in the Trinity divided up the work: the Father planned, the Son put it into operation, and the Holy Spirit applies it.

This is made clear in our chapter. In verses 4–6,² we are told of the Father’s part; in verses 7–12,³ we are told about the Son’s part; and in verses 13 and 14,⁴ we are told about the part of the Holy Spirit; and note that in each case the description ends with the phrase, “to the praise of the glory of his grace,” or similar words. The divine council considered everything “before the foundation of the world,” and the work was divided up and planned in that manner. The Father has His purpose; the Son voluntarily says He is going to carry it out, and He came and did it; and the Holy Spirit said He was ready to apply it.

But before we leave it, I must add this: what really happened in that eternal council was that God drew up a great covenant called the covenant of grace or the covenant of redemption.⁵ Why did He do so? Let me ask a question by way of reply. Why does the apostle say, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”? There are those who say that the answer is that [Paul] wants us to know the kind of Father God is. I agree with that…God in His kindness, and in order that we may know the kind of Father He is, says, “I am the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.” The Son is like the Father, but even that does not go far enough; there is much more than that here.

This new description of God is one of the most important statements in the New Testament. Go back to the Old Testament and you will find God described as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Exo 3:6, 15). God also speaks of Himself as “the God of Israel” (Exo 24:10; 34:23); but now we have “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is in order to teach us that all the blessings that come to us come in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, and as a part of that covenant that was made between the three blessed Persons before the foundation of the world.

Even the blessings that came to the Old Testament saints all came to them through the Lord Jesus Christ. Before the foundation of the world God saw what would happen to man. He saw the Fall and man’s sin that would have to be dealt with—and there the plan was made and an agreement was made between the Father and the Son. The Father gave a people to the Son, and the Son voluntarily made Himself responsible to God for them. He contracted to do certain things for them, and God the Father on His side contracted to do other things. God the Father said He would grant forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration, new life, and a new nature to all who belonged to His Son. The condition was that the Son should come into the world and take human nature and the sin of mankind upon Himself to bear its punishment, stand for them, represent them, and suffer for them. That was the covenant, that was the agreement that was made, and it was made “before the foundation of the world.” God was able to tell Adam about that in the Garden of Eden when He told him that the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head (Gen 3:15). This had been planned before creation, and God began to announce it even there.

Later, certain subsidiary⁶ arrangements were made. A covenant was made with Noah, with Abraham, with Moses. These are not the original covenant, the covenant made with the Son. They were temporary, but all these subsidiary covenants point to this great covenant. The types and ceremonial offerings and sacrifices were all pointing to Christ. “The law was our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ” (Gal 3:24) and His great offering. The Law given to Moses does not annul the covenant made with Abraham, [which], in turn, points back to the great covenant made with the Son Himself in eternity.

Thus, we begin to see why Paul says, “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God, before time and before the world, saw our predicament⁷ and entered into this agreement with His own Son. He has taken an oath, He has signed, He has pledged Himself in a covenant, He has committed Himself. Everything is in Christ. He is our Representative, He is our Mediator,⁸ He is our Guarantor⁹—all blessing comes in and through Him. Who can realize what all this meant to the Father, what all this meant to the Son, what all this meant to the Holy Spirit? But that is the gospel, and it is only as we understand something of these things that we shall begin to praise God!

Look at the matter in this way: here are you and I, miserable worms in this world, miserable worms with our arrogance and our pride and our appalling ignorance. We deserve nothing but to be blotted off the face of the earth. But what has happened is that before the foundation of the world this blessed God, these three blessed Persons, considered us, considered our condition, considered what would happen to us, and the consequence was that these three persons—God—Whom man hath never seen, stooped to consider us and planned a way whereby we might be forgiven and redeemed. The Son said, “I will leave this glory for a while, I will dwell in the womb of a woman, I will be born as a babe, I will become a pauper, I will suffer insult in the world, I will even allow them to nail Me to a cross and spit in My face.” He volunteered to do all that for us; and, at this very moment, this blessed Second Person in the Trinity is seated at the right hand of God to represent you and me. He came down to earth and did all that, rose again, and ascended to heaven; and it was all planned “before the world” for you and for me.

Do you still say that you are not interested in theology? Do you still say that you have not time to be interested in doctrine? You will never begin to praise God or worship or adore Him until you begin to realize something of what He has done for you. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”

From God’s Ultimate Purpose: An Exposition of Ephesians 1 (Edinburgh; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1978), 53-56. Used by permission; www.banneroftruth.org.

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David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981): Welsh expository preacher and author; born in Cardiff, Wales, UK.