God's Timing in Salvation

Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again." But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.

(Luke 18:31-34)

We have seen in the previous section that the method God uses to predestine believers for salvation is that He opens their understanding to the gospel message so that they can believe it and thus be saved. This brings us to another truth pertaining to the predestination of believers: God's timing. Scripture reveals that just as God predestines who will be saved, so He also predestines when they will be saved. In other words, God decides at what point in the life of those predestined for salvation He will open their understanding to the message of the gospel. Just as God decides when and where we are born into the earth, so it is that He decides when and where we will be born again.

The question is then asked: Why does God decide when people are saved? As we saw earlier, God does everything for a reason, and so His decision as to when the saints are saved is no different. However, regarding this point, there is no generic reason given in Scripture as to why God decides when He will open the understanding of each one. God has a different reason for each individual, which always involves God working out His own purposes in the earth.

In the examples I have chosen in this section, we can see the reasons why God delayed the gospel being revealed to them until the time was right. In both cases the reasons were different. The two witnesses I have listed to reveal this truth are the Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul.

Our first example is the Lord Jesus. In the above quoted passage of Scripture, we see our Lord Jesus taking His twelve apostles aside and explaining very clearly to them what would happen to Him in Jerusalem on this occasion. Nevertheless, the same Scripture also clearly tells us that His disciples understood none of what He was saying because it was hidden from them. Obviously God had hidden it from them at that time. We have already discussed this passage earlier to learn how God blinds the minds of unbelievers, but this same passage also reveals the truth regarding the Lord's timing in revealing the truth of the gospel to those chosen for salvation.

Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

(Luke 24:44-47)

Why would God not allow the disciples to understand, before Jesus went to the cross, the truth of the necessity for Christ to suffer? The answer is that Scripture reveals God has decreed that His hidden mysteries are to be revealed in the earth, specifically to principalities and powers—that is, Satan and his angels—through the church (Ephesians 3:9-10). Because God did not want Satan and his angels to know this truth yet, He kept it hidden from the Lord's disciples, His church.

Why didn't God want Satan and his angels to know the truth about the suffering and resurrection of Christ? The reason is that had Satan and his angels understood that truth, they would never have crucified the Lord Jesus, and the salvation of man could not have taken place (1 Corinthians 2:7-8). Therefore, God kept this truth hidden until after Christ was raised from the dead. Only then was God's timing right to reveal this truth to the disciples, when it was too late for Satan and his angels to do anything about it.

For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

(Galatians 1:13-17)

Our second example is the apostle Paul. In the above passage of Scripture, Paul is very clear about the truth that God decided when he would be saved, for he says that when it pleased God, He then revealed His Son in Paul. In other words, God had a specific plan for Paul's salvation, including the exact time when Paul would be saved.

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.

(1 Timothy 1:15-16)

Why did God choose to save Paul when He did? To answer that question, we need to understand Paul's background before he was saved. Paul did his utmost to try and destroy the church before he was saved. His own testimony is that he punished the saints often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; being exceedingly enraged against them, he persecuted them even to foreign cities. And when they were put to death, he cast his vote against them (Acts 26:10-11).

Very few believers have the résumé that Paul had before he was saved, and yet God had mercy on Paul. Paul tells us in the above passage that the Lord Jesus wanted to use Paul's testimony to show those who will believe in Him just how merciful He is.

We see that the reasons for God's timing in the two examples given are different in both cases, which is exactly how it will be in each one of our cases as well. It is not necessary for us to know why God chooses when we are saved; it is sufficient for us to know that He does.

Michael E.B. Maher

Predestined to His Purpose

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