Let’s read Romans 8:28-30: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He FOREKNEW, He also PREDESTINED to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also CALLED; whom He called, these He also JUSTIFIED; and whom He justified, these He also GLORIFIED.”

This passage has always been a favorite of many believers. We often turn to verse 28 when going through trials of some kind to assure us that God is “using this trial for good” even though it may not seem like it at the time. In this verse we have the assurance He is working in our lives with a definite purpose in mind. What is that purpose? Ah, we have the answer in verse 29, “to be conformed to the image of His Son.” Everything that He allows us to go through has this goal in view. God wants us to be “like His Son!” Of course this is speaking of “moral likeness;” we will never share His attributes as God (of Omniscience, Omnipotence, and Omnipresence), but we can and will be like Him in perfect love and holiness someday. This wonderful truth is brought out in 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM, FOR WE SHALL SEE HIM AS HE IS.” This will happen in an instant at the Rapture but even now we can, little by little, become more like Him. We see that truth in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are CHANGED INTO THE SAME IMAGE from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

In verses 29 & 30 we have what some have called a “Chain of 5 golden links stretching from eternity to eternity” that reveal God’s Divine plan for us. I capitalized those “5 things” when quoting those verses and now I will go over each one. Keep in mind that what we will see is “all of God” and we had nothing to do with any of them; yet we are the objects of His eternal counsels.

1) God FOREKNEW us! Before time began God chose us for salvation (see 2 Thessalonians 2:13) and thus He “FOREKNEW US as those who would be ‘sons of God’ who would spend eternity with Him.”

2) God PREDESTINED us! Those whom God chose for salvation and foreknew He “PREDETERMINED to be like His Son” (as we saw earlier). This was the blessed purpose that He planned for those of us who are saved! I suppose He could have predetermined us to be like the angels who are SERVANTS in heaven (see Psalm 104:4 and Hebrews 1:14), but God’s Divine plan was for us to be SONS in the Father’s house (Ephesians 1:5). This is why we read in Hebrews 2:10-11 that Christ is “bringing many SONS to glory” and that “He is not ashamed to call them BRETHREN.”

3) God CALLED us! God foreknew us and predestined us for blessing before time began but He “CALLED us in time.” Each of us who are saved were CALLED by hearing and believing the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is a “general call to all men,” but this is the “effectual call to those whom He had chosen and foreknown” (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-28 with Acts 13:47-48).

4) God JUSTIFIED us! The moment we believed the gospel God “declared us RIGHTEOUS” for He is “JUST and the JUSTIFIER of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26; KJV). See also Acts 13:38-39.

5) God GLORIFIED us! You may be thinking, “Wait a minute; we haven’t been glorified yet, for we are still in our earthly bodies here on earth, and won’t be glorified until Christ raptures us to glory.” That is true, but remember we are looking at this from “God’s vantage point” and in His eternal counsels we are, as one has said, “as certain of the glorified state as if we had already received it.” God’s purposes cannot be thwarted; WE WILL BE GLORIFIED. Even now God sees us “in Christ” (that is our POSITION before Him) and thus we read in Ephesians 2:4-6, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us….made us alive together with Christ….and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” One day we will be there in GLORIFIED BODIES and sharing in His glory (Romans 8:18-25; Philippians 3:20-21; and Colossians 3:4).  (DO)  (674.5)