This post was first published during January 2020. –ed.
God loves us regardless of the cost. The cross is proof of that. Consider what God’s love for us has already cost Him: He gave His own beloved Son to die in order to accomplish our salvation. Having already paid so great a price to redeem us, He won’t allow the process to stop short of the goal. And if He has already given His best and dearest on our behalf, why would He withhold anything from us now?
Would God redeem sinners at the cost of His own Son’s blood, then cast those same blood-bought believers aside? Having brought us to salvation at so great a price, would He then withhold any grace from us? Won’t He finish what He started? Romans 8:32 provides us with a clear and emphatic answer: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”
Christ’s death on the cross demonstrated His great love for sinners. Furthermore, the massive “once for all” (Hebrews 7:27) payment that purchased our redemption was also a profound statement regarding God’s commitment to keep it secure.
God gave Christ to die for us “while we were yet sinners” (Romans 5:8). He won’t turn His back on us now that we are justified. If He didn’t spurn us when we were rebellious sinners, He won’t cast us aside now that we are His children. “If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10), doesn’t it seem reasonable that He will do everything necessary to keep us in the fold now that we are reconciled? If He gave us grace to trust Christ in the first place, He will assuredly give grace to keep us from falling away.
Psalm 84:11 says, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” God is not stingy with His grace, and the proof of that is seen in the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. “But he giveth more grace” (James 4:6, KJV).
God’s Plan from Eternity Past
The sacrifice of Christ is eternally bound up in God’s love for the elect. Did you know that in eternity past, before God had even begun the work of creation, He promised to redeem the elect? Titus 1:2 says the promise of eternal life was made “before the world began” (KJV)—literally, before the beginning of time. So this speaks of a divine promise made before anything was created.
Who made this promise, and with whom was it made? Since it was made before creation commenced, there is only one possible answer: It was a promise made between the triune members of the Godhead. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit promised among themselves to redeem fallen humanity.
The plan of redemption was made not after Adam fell but before the beginning of creation. This is consistent with everything Scripture says about election. The saved are chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). God “called us . . . in Christ Jesus from all eternity” (2 Timothy 1:9). The eternal kingdom is prepared for them “from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Christ was foreordained to shed His blood on their behalf “before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20). The names of the elect are written in the Book of Life “from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8; 17:8).
This means the plan of redemption is no contingency. It is not Plan B. It is no alternative strategy. It is God’s plan, the very purpose for which He created us.
Furthermore, it means that the elect are God’s gift of love to His Son. That’s why Christ refers to them as “those whom You have given Me” (John 17:9, 24; 18:9). The Father has given the elect to Christ as a gift of love, and therefore not one of them will be lost. Both the Father and the Son work together to ensure the fulfillment of their eternal plan of redemption. This further assures the salvation of all the elect, for as Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. . . . For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:37, 40).
So Christ Himself promises to see God’s plan of redemption through to the end. Having died as a substitute for those whom the Father gave Him, He promises to see the process through to the final consummation in glory. Likewise, the Father, having already given His Son to die on our behalf, will not now withhold anything necessary to complete our redemption.
(Adapted from The God Who Loves)
