Came across this earlier, and it caught my interest. Thought I'd share.
From Eternity Past To The End Of Time
Read Romans 8:29-30.
This passage has been described by some scholars as "the golden chain." Every link in this chain is significant and related to the other. There's foreknowledge, then predestination, calling, justification, and glorification. And as with any chain, each link is vitally important.
Foreknowledge means that God knew you by name before time began. Predestination means that before He created the universe, God willed that you would be eternally saved. Then, at just the right time, He called you out of spiritual darkness into His glorious light. Sure, we each make a decision to follow Jesus. But we would never have come forward unless He was first calling to us.
Justification means that Jesus satisfied the justice of the Father—winning us salvation by His death. And glorification means that just as Jesus was glorified when He rose from the dead, all believers will be glorified on the last day when heaven invades earth.
This is God's purpose and plan; it is His desire for the believer to be eternally saved—not saved one day and lost the next. Jesus loves His own, and He loves them to the end (see
John 13:1). So be assured today: God will never forsake you. This should put us on our face before Him in gratitude, adoration, and thanksgiving!
Prayer: God, I thank You for calling me out of darkness into Your glory. Your love and mercy are wondrous; You are worthy of my all. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
"For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified" (Romans 8:29-30).
Michael Youssef, Ph.D.