“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” 1 Corinthians 2.7-8
Let us begin by surveying the cross of Christ. Only then we can take a deeper look at the text. The word ordained in v7 can also mean predetermined. This is important. Another word of importance here is mystery, which in the broader context of the New Testament doesn’t mean “difficult to understand,” but that a thing remains hidden in the mind of God until He chooses to reveal it.
Paul is making a case in the beginning of this letter to the Corinthian church about how there should be no divisions among them, and he rests this case on the supremacy of Christ and the wisdom of God to offer Him up to the Father as propitiation and expiation for our sin. The whole intent has always been that we could be one with the Christ as He is with the Father, and Paul is telling them plainly that the words he preaches, like a prophet with God’s words in his mouth, are wisdom sourced from God, not of this world.
The manifest oneness that Paul wants for the church he stewards can only originate in the mind of God; it requires the kind of vision that is so all-encompassing that we time-bound slaves would call it foresight because we do not know much of eternity yet. Just as God is not bound to time, He doesn’t really need a plan; He simply knows everything there is to know. If there is a plan, it is for our benefit, not His.
I’ve talked a lot about Ephesians 2.10, that there are works prepared in advance for us to do, and that concept fits nicely here. But a lot of Christians have trouble with the concept of predestination. The fact is, though, you spend almost all of your time and effort trying to live your life as predeterminedly as possible.
You try to predetermine where your career will take you, where you’ll live, what you’ll drive, who you’ll marry, how long you’ll live, where you’ll go to school, and what you’ll accomplish. We predestine ourselves constantly, but we can’t live past the moment we’re in. How ridiculous could we possibly be apart from Christ?
Only God knows what’s in store for us, and He has sewn up every infinite variable that could ever touch us, near or far, working it for our good.
Why then do we have so much trouble with the idea of God and predestination? I submit this idea: because we want to be in control.
This is what the fall was all about. We didn’t trust God to be who He says He is. We took control, and now everything we do is cursed—unless, of course, we simply believe in the One whom He sent.
If the rulers of this age had known these things, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. The wisdom of God was predetermined before the ages for our glory. There is something in these truths about the unsurpassable beauty of God’s intent for His children. Before time was spoken into motion, God had predetermined the gift of Christ for our glory. That is, to bring us into the light.
Now, believer, tell me what is better:
One: that a man, bound to time and limited in vision by a life corrupted with so many entanglements, would be left to his own devices to plan as best as he could based on what he could influence—
Or two: that God, who is infinite and therefore not subject to time, unlimited in vision by virtue of being omniscient, incorruptible because He is holy, would predetermine to your ultimate benefit a path for you to walk that leads you directly to the best thing in existence.
If your predestination—that is, God’s plan for your life—is still a hindrance, may I suggest Matthew 16.24.
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