“Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him...making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” The way we usually begin the story of God's redemption of humanity is that that God created a perfect world—a beautiful, wonderful place where communion with God was as easy as an afternoon walk through a garden. Then Adam and Eve, who were God’s own created beings, disobeyed Him resulting in a catastrophic rift between God and His own creation. Seemingly, God’s perfect world was defiled and so He developed a plan to fix it. When we begin the story in this way, it suggests that God made a big mistake when He created a universe that resulted in human beings falling out of fellowship with Him. In Paul's greeting to the Ephesians he begins the redemption story from its actual beginning. Paul makes it clear that God planned for the redemption of humanity even before the creation of the world! God wondrously and purposefully created this world and its redemption has always been God’s plan before the beginning of time. So God is not trying to fix any supreme faux pas He made during creation. Instead, God is expressing supreme love through His creation.
And supreme love is best demonstrated through redemption: “For God has consigned all to disobedience, that He may have mercy on all.” (Romans 11:32). God's love and the redemption of His creation and human beings has always been God's plan--let's tell the story that way.
