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"Lo, I have sent unto thee, Naaman, my servant, and thou hast recovered him of his
leprosy" (II Kings 5: 6).
In the last example given the king was mistaken, but his meaning is clear.
The four words used in Rom. 8: 30 may be likened to links in a chain, the first and
the last belonging to the remote past and the eternal future, while the second and third,
"calling" and "justification", are apparent in time.
PREDESTINATION
CALLING AND JUSTIFICATION
FUTURE GLORY
(Before age times).
(During the age times).
(After age times).
Those whom God predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, He
predestinated to be glorified; the two expressions represent the same thing seen from two
different points of view. It is not given to man to look into the Book of Life to see the
names written there, neither is it granted to him to see into the future so as to forecast the
names and number of the redeemed. He can, nevertheless, be assured both of the past
predestination and of the future glory by reason of the two links that are forged in time--
"calling" and "justification". We must, of course, remember that there is a calling that is
not co-extensive with election--"Many are called, but few chosen"--but we are not
concerned with this here, for the immediate context has already spoken of those who are
"the called according to His purpose".
While the call of the believer takes place in time, we must, nevertheless, keep well in
mind the words of Rom. 4: 17, that God "quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things
which be not as though they were". And again, while our calling is not to be divorced
from faith and obedience, we must not forget the words of Rom. 9: 11 concerning the
choice of Jacob instead of Esau:
"For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth."
Another passage that forcibly reminds us of the nature of this calling is found in
II Tim. 1::
"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works,
but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before
age times" (II Tim. 1: 9).
In the Epistle to the Romans we find the believers in Rome given the gracious title of
"the called of Jesus Christ" (Rom. 1: 6).
While the calling, therefore, of the believer has a connection with times past, or rather
with a period before time began, there is also an important aspect of it that is associated
with present time and with those gracious means that, equally with the decrees of
eternity, are ordained by the God Who sees the end from the beginning, and worketh all
things after the counsel of His own will. So, in II Thess. 2: we read of being called by
the "gospel" (II Thess. 2: 14). And, in I Thess. 1: 4-6: