"Where He Always Is!"

There has for centuries been a debate about God. Does God “predestinate” certain ones to be saved OR does man choose his salvation? Does God determine all events in advance OR does man have free will to determine events? Calvinism OR Armenianism?
The opposing views seem to be absolutely contradictory. But are they?
I have just read a newly published book by Gene Edwards entitled “Christ Before Creation”. Get ready to expand your thinking into eternity as I give you excerpts from Edwards’ book:

Before creation, nothing existed except the Godhead. The only thing there was the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Godhead colluded together and decided to do something that one might say was a terrible gamble. Having made this awesome decision (which included the gamble), they worked out a plan, a purpose, which guaranteed that the gamble would be no gamble at all. The Godhead decided that there would be portions of the Son that would be chosen for some marvelous destiny. These portions of Christ were predestined, predetermined to a glorious destiny. Those portions of Christ awaited their purpose somewhere out there in the future appearance of the space-time continuum. But these glorious portions could only have their destiny fulfilled if a creation appeared. Then the great drama of those marked-off portions would begin.
After the destined ones were chosen, and just before creation, there appeared a book. This book listed the names of all the “marked-off” ones and was called The Book of Life. These are the very ones who would receive God’s own Life, eternal life. It was a record of those who would have Christ IN them. Out there in the distant future, it was also ordained that one day all those portions would come together. Or should we say come together again? They would once more be utterly one, just as they were all originally one – part of Christ and one with Christ.
Having written all those names in the Book of Life, the Son closed the book and sealed it. He sealed the book with the understanding that nothing could change God’s selection of those chosen ones. All would be there, as part of Him, at the very end and into the forevermore.
So now would this be the moment when there would be other than God? No, there was till more for Him to do before the actual act of creating. Remember that terrible gamble (which will turn out to be no gamble at all)? Once creation came into existence, God would allow all things to take their course, so things might not work out as God planned; hence, the gamble. But God did awesome things before creation to guarantee that all would work out as He planned, even though creation’s inhabitants were free to plot their own destiny.
Just before the act of creation, the Father slew His only Son. He slew the Lamb. The Father did this before creation. Christ truly died before creation, before space-time. And at the moment of the slaying of the Lamb, all those portions of Christ also died. What happened to Christ happened to them. His death was their death. Those marked off portions of Christ were of Him, from Him, through Him, but most of all…IN Him, when He died. And also when He rose! This dying and rising happened before time, before dimension, before creation.
Certainly, you and I, as fellow Christians, must say that we were in that creation and we are part of that creation…or so we think. But this is not entirely correct. No, you cannot be of this creation because part of you precedes creation! After all, you were in Christ…before. (Part of you may be a great deal older than you realize. A part of you has been around a very long time – even before time!) That is not all…there was the choosing of portions, the slaying of the Lamb, the creation of man, the fall of man, the cross in Jerusalem, Christ’s death, His resurrection, your redemption, and the close of creation. All this happened before He created anything. The answer has to do with Christ dwelling outside the passing of time.
Creating creation, giving man free will, and risking the Fall really did appear to be a staggering gamble on God’s part, but it was not so. Christ meant to accomplish everything first before creation, to see that His will was carried out in creation. Redemption was there before the Fall, before creation. There were things done before creation that took care of crises that would happen after creation. This is all inexplicable, of course. Things occurred in dimensions beyond our understanding. We really need to know only one thing: in realms of timelessness, your Lord resolved all the crises that would later occur in creation.
We now come to that moment when the triumphant resurrected Lord created. But if in that primordial age God was all, then where did Christ place creation? There was no “out there” because God was all. Creation had to be created in Christ! If you can see that creation in Christ, you can also see the resolution of much of the paradoxes, mysteries, and enigmas of our faith. After all, words like predestined, chosen, preordained, and foreknown could very easily raise a number of questions, especially when you add the words free will. If we see the greatness of Christ before creation, through the creation and after the creation, the paradoxes vanish.
The dawn of creation starts at the beginning. On and on the story unfolds. He who is Alpha and Omega (both the beginning and the end of creation are in Christ) watches the drama. The drama reveals to us Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and David. Then the Cross and the tomb appear. Then there is Peter and there is Paul. And as the drama continues to move forward, someone who looks a lot like you appears. All this drama is in Him.
Do you get this? Right now Christ is at the beginning and at the end of time, at the beginning and end of this creation. Both, right now. There is where He IS. THERE IS WHERE HE ALWAYS IS!
Can we understand this? Of course not! We are shackled to three dimensions of space plus time. Christ at the beginning and the end simultaneously, was not something that John Calvin understood. He was caught in space-time too. Calvin had a God who was trapped in the present. Armenius who preached free will had the same problem. One of those men said “eternal security”; that is, once saved always saved! The other man said, “free will”; that is, you can lose your salvation. Armenius said your name could be taken out of the Book of Life; Calvin said, “No it cannot.” Neither man grasped a revelation of Christ before creation, nor did they understand that creation is in Christ.
Christ is also at the end, and at the end there is the great throng of the redeemed, the gathering of all the redeemed in one place. They are all saved. On this point Calvin and Armenius agree! But Calvin would explain: “These were chosen before creation; none fell away. They are all here at the end, but were chosen at the beginning; and nothing can change that.” Armenius, looking at the same throng, would declare: “Oh, no, God chose many more than these; but they exercised their free will, rejected the Lord, and/or some fell into grievous sin. Those who did not make it had their names taken out of the Book of Life.”
Neither man fully grasped “in”. But we need not look down on these two men; we do not understand “in” either. The paradox: man does exercise free will. Total free will. God does not interfere. However, a sovereign Christ preordained us and knows the name of everyone in that great throng of the redeemed. Predestination AND free will? How so? Is that not impossible? Not if you see that creation is IN Christ and that Christ is at the beginning…WHERE HE ALWAYS IS, and Christ is at the end…WHERE HE ALWAYS IS.
May I now present to you the free will of man and the security of the believer, reconciled: The redeemed were chosen at the beginning, based on the fact that they had already been seen at the end! In that glorious moment at the end – WHERE CHRIST ALWAYS IS – your Lord sees the redeemed ones and He moves backwards through time until He comes to the beginning…WHERE HE ALWAYS IS. Then He writes the redeemed in the Book of Life based on those who made it to the end, based on the names of those who are in the great throng of the redeemed. Can He do that? Yes, because He is at the beginning and at the end…WHERE HE ALWAYS IS.
This should make both Calvinists and Armenians happy! Are you wondering how it will all turn out at the end? Who will be saved to the very end? Will YOU make it there to the very end? Let us do what Christ did. While Christ was moving from the beginning to the end, He passed all places and all times, where He is, WHERE HE ALWAYS IS, Christ also came to you in your time…WHERE HE ALWAYS IS. He said, “Look! One of the ones who is in Me, who was in Me at the beginning and was in Me before the beginning…where I am, WHERE I ALWAYS AM.” So Christ went back to the beginning, where He is, WHERE HE ALWAYS IS, and He opened the Book of Life to see if your name was written there. Lo and behold, there was your name written there. Your name was in the Book of Life because you were at the end…where you are, WHERE YOU ALWAYS ARE.
Then Christ did a double check on you. He came at last to the very end, where He is, WHERE HE ALWAYS IS, and lo and behold, He saw you again. He saw you there in the great throng of the redeemed, singing and rejoicing. Having seen you in the great gathering of the redeemed, was He surprised? Did He call out, “Oh, you made it! You made it to the end. Oh that is wonderful!” Not likely. Perhaps He said, “I am now going to choose, select, and predestine you. I will return to that time before time, before creation, before all things, WHERE I ALWAYS AM, and there I will decide that you will be saved.” Then He went to the place where you were calling out to Him to be saved. And he answered your call. Why not? After all, He found you at the end, and He saw your name in the Book of Life before the beginning. At that “non-time” He elected you chose you, justified you, sanctified you and glorified you.
You definitely are one of those who “made it” to the end. But can we be certain of that? Yes, because you KNOW you have chosen Christ, you KNOW you are in Christ, and you KNOW you have the mind of Christ. AND YOU KNOW THAT WHERE HE ALWAYS IS, YOU ALWAYS ARE.

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