MEDIATOR CHOSEN: A.W. PINK
The decrees of God, His eternal purpose, the inscrutable counsels of His will are indeed a great deep. Yet this we know, that from first to last they have a definite relation to Christ. For He is the Alpha and the Omega in all covenant transactions. It therefore seems strange that many who see that election is the foundation of salvation, yet overlook the glorious Head of election, in Whom the elect were chosen and from Whom they receive all blessings. “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” (Eph 1:3-4).
Since we were chosen in Christ, it is evident that we were chosen out of ourselves; and since we were chosen in Christ, it necessarily follows that He was chosen before we were. This is clearly implied in the preceding verse, wherein the Father is expressly designated “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now according to the analogy of Scripture (i.e., when He is said to be “the God” of any one) God was “the God” of Christ first because He chose Him to that grace and union. Christ as man was predestinated as truly as we were, and so has God to be His God by predestination and free grace.
Second, [it was] because the Father made a covenant with Him (Isa 42:6). In view of the covenant made with them, He became known as “the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob”; so in view of the covenant He made with Christ, He became His “God.”
Third, [it is] because God is the author of all Christ’s blessedness (Psa 45:2, 7). “According as he [God] hath chosen us in him” means, then, that in election Christ was made the Head of the elect. “In the womb of election He, the Head, came out first, and then we, the members.”41 In all things, Christ must have the preeminence42 (Col 3:18); and therefore He is “the Firstborn” in election (Rom 8:29).
In the order of nature, Christ was chosen first; but in the order of time, we were elected with Him. We were not chosen for ourselves apart, but in Christ, which denotes three things: first, we were chosen in Christ as the members of His body. Second, we were chosen in Him as the pattern that we should be conformed unto. Third, we were chosen in Him as the final end, i.e., it was for Christ’s glory to be His fullness (Eph 1:23). “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth” (Isa 42:1). That this passage refers to none other than the Lord Jesus Christ is unmistakably plain from the Spirit’s citation of it in Matthew 12:15-21.
Here, then, is the grand original of election: in its first and highest instance, election is spoken of and applied to the Lord Jesus! It was the will of the eternal Three to elect and predestinate the Second Person into creature being and existence, so that as God-man, “the firstborn of every creature” (Col 1:15), He was the subject of the divine decrees and the immediate and principal object of the love of the co-essential Three. And as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son—considered as God-man—to have life in Himself (John 5:26), to be a fountain of life, of grace and glory, unto His beloved Spouse, who received her being and wellbeing from Jehovah’s free grace and everlasting love.
When God determined to create, among all the myriad creatures, both angelic and human that rose up in the divine mind to be brought into being by Him, the man Christ Jesus was singled out of them and appointed to union with the Second Person in the blessed Trinity and was accordingly sanctified and set up. This original and highest act of election was one of pure sovereignty and amazing grace. The celestial hosts were passed by, and the seed of the woman was determined upon.
Out of the innumerable seeds that were to be created in Adam, the line of Abraham was selected, then of Isaac, and then of Jacob. Of the twelve tribes that were to issue from Jacob, that of Judah was chosen, God elected not an angel to the high union with His Son, but “one chosen out of the people” (Psa 89:19).
What shall those say who so much dislike the truth that the heirs of heaven are elected, when they learn that Jesus Christ Himself is the subject of eternal election! Nowhere does the sovereignty of God shine forth so conspicuously as in His acts of election and reprobation, which took place in eternity past, and which nothing in the creature was the cause of. God’s act of choosing His people in Christ was before the foundation of the world, without the consideration of the fall, nor was it upon the foresight and footing of works, but was wholly of grace, and all to the praise and glory of it.
If God will love, He must have an object for His love; and the object must have an existence before Him to exercise His love upon, for He cannot love a non-entity. It must therefore be that the God-man, and the elect in Him existed in the divine mind as objects of God’s everlasting love before all time. In Christ, the Church was chosen from everlasting: the one the Head, the other His body; the one being the bridegroom, the other His bride: the one being chosen and appointed for the other. They were chosen together, yet Christ first in the order of the divine decrees. As, then, Christ and the Church had existed in the will, thoughts, and purpose of the Father from the beginning, He could love them and rejoice in them.
“Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me…For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:23-24)
From Mediator Chosen, A.W. Pink, FBC, Chapel Library
Since we were chosen in Christ, it is evident that we were chosen out of ourselves; and since we were chosen in Christ, it necessarily follows that He was chosen before we were. This is clearly implied in the preceding verse, wherein the Father is expressly designated “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now according to the analogy of Scripture (i.e., when He is said to be “the God” of any one) God was “the God” of Christ first because He chose Him to that grace and union. Christ as man was predestinated as truly as we were, and so has God to be His God by predestination and free grace.
Second, [it was] because the Father made a covenant with Him (Isa 42:6). In view of the covenant made with them, He became known as “the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob”; so in view of the covenant He made with Christ, He became His “God.”
Third, [it is] because God is the author of all Christ’s blessedness (Psa 45:2, 7). “According as he [God] hath chosen us in him” means, then, that in election Christ was made the Head of the elect. “In the womb of election He, the Head, came out first, and then we, the members.”41 In all things, Christ must have the preeminence42 (Col 3:18); and therefore He is “the Firstborn” in election (Rom 8:29).
In the order of nature, Christ was chosen first; but in the order of time, we were elected with Him. We were not chosen for ourselves apart, but in Christ, which denotes three things: first, we were chosen in Christ as the members of His body. Second, we were chosen in Him as the pattern that we should be conformed unto. Third, we were chosen in Him as the final end, i.e., it was for Christ’s glory to be His fullness (Eph 1:23). “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth” (Isa 42:1). That this passage refers to none other than the Lord Jesus Christ is unmistakably plain from the Spirit’s citation of it in Matthew 12:15-21.
Here, then, is the grand original of election: in its first and highest instance, election is spoken of and applied to the Lord Jesus! It was the will of the eternal Three to elect and predestinate the Second Person into creature being and existence, so that as God-man, “the firstborn of every creature” (Col 1:15), He was the subject of the divine decrees and the immediate and principal object of the love of the co-essential Three. And as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son—considered as God-man—to have life in Himself (John 5:26), to be a fountain of life, of grace and glory, unto His beloved Spouse, who received her being and wellbeing from Jehovah’s free grace and everlasting love.
When God determined to create, among all the myriad creatures, both angelic and human that rose up in the divine mind to be brought into being by Him, the man Christ Jesus was singled out of them and appointed to union with the Second Person in the blessed Trinity and was accordingly sanctified and set up. This original and highest act of election was one of pure sovereignty and amazing grace. The celestial hosts were passed by, and the seed of the woman was determined upon.
Out of the innumerable seeds that were to be created in Adam, the line of Abraham was selected, then of Isaac, and then of Jacob. Of the twelve tribes that were to issue from Jacob, that of Judah was chosen, God elected not an angel to the high union with His Son, but “one chosen out of the people” (Psa 89:19).
What shall those say who so much dislike the truth that the heirs of heaven are elected, when they learn that Jesus Christ Himself is the subject of eternal election! Nowhere does the sovereignty of God shine forth so conspicuously as in His acts of election and reprobation, which took place in eternity past, and which nothing in the creature was the cause of. God’s act of choosing His people in Christ was before the foundation of the world, without the consideration of the fall, nor was it upon the foresight and footing of works, but was wholly of grace, and all to the praise and glory of it.
If God will love, He must have an object for His love; and the object must have an existence before Him to exercise His love upon, for He cannot love a non-entity. It must therefore be that the God-man, and the elect in Him existed in the divine mind as objects of God’s everlasting love before all time. In Christ, the Church was chosen from everlasting: the one the Head, the other His body; the one being the bridegroom, the other His bride: the one being chosen and appointed for the other. They were chosen together, yet Christ first in the order of the divine decrees. As, then, Christ and the Church had existed in the will, thoughts, and purpose of the Father from the beginning, He could love them and rejoice in them.
“Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me…For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:23-24)
From Mediator Chosen, A.W. Pink, FBC, Chapel Library
