Updated: Ordained To Eternal Life
During the apostle Paul’s first ministerial journey, he preached the good news, the gospel of the kingdom of God, to Israel in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia. "Then Paul [a descendant of Israel's son Benjamin, Saul also, the first king of all Israel] and Barnabas [a descendant of Israel's son Levi, Acts 4:36, the priesthood of Israel] waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you [the House of Judah, Israel's son Judah, the Jews]: but seeing you put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the nations" [of the House of Israel] ... “And when the nations [those descendants of the House of Israel]1 heard this they rejoiced, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” [Rom. 13:46, 48; for details leading up to this, read the Feature article, The Good News Colour Revolution].
" ... as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” is a fundamental and critical inspired theological principle that runs contrary to the mistaken popular notion that you must "come to Jesus" in this life in order to go to Heaven, or you are doomed to Hell for eternity. Not everyone of the nations of Israel who heard Paul in Antioch believed. And Luke, who is considered the author of the Book of Acts, is telling us here that there is a very good reason for this.
As A.R. Fausset noted in his commentary, “A very remarkable statement which cannot, without force, be interpreted as anything lower than this, that a divine ordination to eternal life is the cause, not the effect, of any man’s believing.” [A.R. Fausset, Book of Acts, JFB Commentary, 1871, emphasis added]. Those individuals who are ordained to eternal life were chosen before the beginning of time, before the foundation of God’s plan being put in place, before the Earth was formed. “Then the King [Christ] will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom [Greek, basileia, power and authority of a king, not a place, Rev. 1:6] prepared for you from the foundation of the world ...." [Mat. 25:34]. This is why we are believers in this life. This is the plan of God. It is not, "and as many as believed were ordained to eternal life." Modern Christianity has it the wrong way around. The nations, all Israel, will be saved, just not in the Christian age. Salvation was promised to all Israel, at their appointed time, before the beginning of time.
This goes to the same point Paul made to the Ephesian ekklesia, namely, “According as he [Christ] has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world [Greek, kosmos, the orderly arrangement of God’s plan] that we should be holy and without blame [justified by the conviction of the truth] before him in love: having predestined [Greek, proorizō, predetermined, preordained, appoint beforehand] us to the adoption by Jesus Christ to himself [Rom. 8:14, 1 John 3:2] according to the good pleasure of his will … In whom, also, we have obtained an inheritance [Greek, klēroō, to allot a heritage] being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise [Greek, epainos, the good example] of his glory [Greek, doxa, the majesty of his saving grace], who first trusted in Christ. [See 1 Cor. 15:23]. In whom you also, after you heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation: in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest [Greek, arrabōn, good faith payment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, [Christ's return and the first resurrection] to the praise of his glory." [See Eph. 1:3-14, Psa. 82; also see the Sneakers article, Seven Prophecies, Seven Churches].
It is in this life that 1: being pre-ordained to eternal life, and after we hear the word of the truth, 2: we are "activated" as believers, because we were ordained to it before the foundation of God's plan, and 3: receive the Spirit of God, which is the good faith payment by promise from God. [See Mat. 24:14]. Remember, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth [John 14:16, 17], was not available to men until our Father sent it to us after Christ's resurrection by the fulfillment of the annual holy Sabbath of Pentecost. This marked the beginning of the Christian age. [See John 15:26].
We are walking the path in this life that was chosen for us by Christ before this Earthly stage was made. Hearing the truth of the word of God triggers belief, and joy in those "chosen in him before the foundation of the world." We are the chosen first fruits in this age. For others, their salvation lies in the ages to come. The Roman church's 'going to Heaven' fraud is nowhere in the picture. [See the Feature article, The Relevance Of The Holy Days In The Plan Of God In The Last Days.].
There is a reason why Abraham, Isaac, Israel, Moses, David, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Ezra, Micah and others didn’t live their lives in the Christian age. God’s plan is an orderly arrangement, the kosmos. Each age has its generations and its purpose, as does the Christian age, and the ages yet to come. This is contrary to the Roman church doctrine that "Heaven is the ultimate end." [See the Feature article, Heaven Can Wait II, The New Jerusalem]. There is much more to God's plan that lies in the endless ages ahead. Christ's return marks the gathering of the first fruits, not the ultimate end.
We only know what is in the Biblical record up to the coming of the new Heaven and new Earth. God's plan continues from there. "To Him be the glory (that is, the whole glory of the gracious dispensation of salvation just spoken of) in the Church (as the theater for the manifestation of the glory, Eph 3:10) in Christ Jesus (as in Him all the glory centers, (Zec 6:13) to all the generations of eternal ages," literally, "of the age of the ages." Eternity is conceived as consisting of "ages" (these again consisting of "generations") endlessly succeeding one another." [Eph. 3:21, A.R. Fausset, JFB Commentary].
We do not know what this entails, except we were chosen, appointed before this life, to be where we are today for the purpose of his plan. We will be proof, the first fruits of Christ, as priests and kings [Rev. 1:6], the good example of the majestic promise of his word in the ages and generations to come. [See Col. 1:26, 1 Pet. 1:9-12, Eph. 2:7; also the Feature articles, And It's Still A Mystery, Three Temple Ages Make A Plan and The Final Prophecy: It Is Done].
“ … and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” The Greek word translated ordained here is tasso. It means to place in a certain order, to arrange. The word world, the Greek kosmos as used in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son ….” means an orderly arrangement, a plan, similar to tasso or ordained. Again, God's plan was all arranged and set in order in advance before the foundation of our temporary universe. This is the principle Christ explained to Cleopas and Peter on the road to Emmaus in Acts 13:31. “ … ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and entered into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself … Thus it is written [the script (ures) as it were], and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations [of Israel], beginning at Jerusalem.” Though as we read, the Jewish descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Israel reject it in this age. [See 1 Cor. 1:23].
We find evidence of this aspect of God's predetermined plan in Rev 13:8. “And all shall dwell on the Earth shall worship him [the Beast] whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world [Greek, kosmos].” Christ’s death and resurrection were all part of the plan before the beginning in Genesis 1:1. It was arranged as part of the plan before time existed for a future purpose in the ages to come.
We read in Paul's letter to Titus, "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith [pistis, conviction of the truth] of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; in expectation of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before time [Greek noun, chronos], without beginning or end." [Titus 1:1, 2]. As time had a beginning in our universe, so too, it will have an end. [See Rev. 21:22-25; also Isa. 65:17, so of what lasting value is anything of this world?].
As noted above, "a divine ordination to eternal life is the cause of any man’s believing.” This is a distinct and different narrative than that which has been accepted by modern day Christianity of "coming to Jesus and then going to Heaven for eternity." [See the Feature article, Heaven Can Wait]. Each believer was chosen in advance for a purpose in God's plan. Think of it this way. Before a sound stage is built [the foundation of the world], before the actors step in front of the cameras to shoot a movie, they were chosen for their roles. The words they speak were determined before and written down in the script. Once the cameras roll, these are the words spoken. And as soon as those ordained to eternal life took our first breath in the flesh, the cameras started rolling. We need to realize our Christian life here on planet Earth is not improv theater.
We all have our parts to play in this age, be they large or small, roles that were determined before we were born, before the foundation of the world, for God's purpose. Perhaps most to the point, David wrote of our LORD, " ... and in your book, even the days of my life that were yet to be created, were written, when there were no days." [Psa. 139:16]. Before "the evening and the morning were the first day" [Gen. 1], all the days of David's life, including those as the king of Israel, had been ordained. [See v. 36 above; also the Feature article, Life In The 'hood].
So those born in the flesh of Israel, all the nations of Israel, were chosen as a special people to God. This is why it is so important for us to know our true Biblical identity, our Godly heritage, rather than believing we are a bunch of theologically orphaned gentiles running around without any purpose in life other than avoiding going to Hell for eternity. It is those of Israel, those called and chosen, ordained to eternal life, who are believers in this age.
What then of free moral agency, the freedom to choose? While we are unaware of our existence prior to and outside of our 4-D [3 of space, 1 of time] world we inhabit, the choices, "those who first trusted in Christ," were made prior to our physical life on Earth as David made clear. And as hard as it may be to wrap our heads around, this experience we call life is about living out choices made before Genesis 1:1.2 The ability to experience our preordained lives only occurs in the dimension of time we call the present.
Therefore, while those ordained of the nations of Israel are now in this world [Greek, oikoumenē, the inhabited Earth], we are not of this world. In a sense, to borrow a phrase from a popular television series, we are "ancient aliens." The apostle Paul wrote, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of, and embraced them, and confessed [Greek, homologeō, all agree, say the same thing] that they were strangers [Greek, ξένος xénos, adjective, a primary word, foreign, literally, alien] and pilgrims [παρεπίδημος, parepidēmos, adjective, properly, one who comes from a foreign place into a land to reside there by the side of the natives] on the Earth" i.e., terrestrial. [Heb. 11:13]. Or put another way, " ... they were, and we are, aliens and foreigners on the Earth," which is the definition of extra-terrestrial. But it's not the common sci-fi understanding found in this world.
As Paul wrote to the ekklesia in Corinth, "Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the princes of this world, who are soon forgotten. [John 8:23]. No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God — his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. But the princes of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard,and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” [1 Cor. 2:6-9].
"But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not this world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. For, “Who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ." This Godly wisdom certainly is foreign to any earthly understanding. [1 Cor. 2:10-16, NLT*; see the updated Feature article, And It's Still A Mystery].
This is what was written of the nations of Israel before the foundation of the world. “For you are a holy people to the LORD [Jesus, Yehovah] your God: the LORD Your God has chosen you to be a special people to himself, above all the people that are on the face of the Earth.” [Deu. 7:6]. Think about this for a moment. Israel, the House of Israel, was chosen, before the foundation of this world to be a special people, above all others. Yet, where is this knowledge among us today? We should be strong and mightily increased in the truth of the word of God, leading the world by our Lord and Savior's inspired example given the scope of the blessings that were bestowed upon us through the birthright. Rather, we have deserted this God-given heritage to become plodding minions following every evil deceit that comes down the pipe.
Now, by the hand of God set against us, we are increasingly trodden underfoot by our enemies. The birthright has been ripped from our hands as our daily headlines show us. Our enemies control our birthright wealth and use it against us. We have been foolish, like the wicked and lazy servant in the parable of the talents. [Mat. 25:14-30]. In ignorance, we have chosen to throw our talent in with the evil godless elites of this Earth. We are duped into believing we are just another people in the "diversity" of this world. [See 1 Pet. 5:8]. We are attacked for our "whiteness," which in reality is our House of Israelness, "a special people ... above all the people that are on the face of the Earth," though we are oblivious to this fact. [See Zionist Led White Genocide; also the updated Sneakers article, Critical Reasoning And Thinking, What CRT Use To Be].
Fallen, we run after deceits showered on us by false prophets, given sham comforters, our adopted heathen gods, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny who have taken the place of the Spirit of truth, the Comforter, our Advocate given us by our Father. [John 15:26]. We have been the most stupid and foolish people on Earth according to what Christ tells us. [Jer. 10:8; see the Feature article, Our Corrupted Compass]. Our pastors of modern day Churchianity are ignorant as hell. They have led us away from the truth of our heritage. [See Eze. 13]. And we are told, we will suffer the worst time in the history of the world, since there was a nation, because of it. [See the Feature article, The Princes Of A Plundered House].
So, we act as a choosing religion, rather than nations of God who were chosen to a higher calling, the promise of eternal life in the Spirit. All that remains are the few, the ekklesia of God who were predestined in the end of the Christian age as believers of the truth of the word of God. “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name." [Rev. 3:9].
In Rev. 20:12 we read, “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works.” This is referencing the second, or great resurrection. [See Rev. 21:1, Luke 21:33]. “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” [Rev. 20:15]. This is the second death.
The difference between Israel, chosen to be a special people to God, is that while "As it is written, all Israel shall be saved" [Rom. 11:25] by Christ's death and resurrection, all the other people of the Earth, gentiles, will judged according to their works. [Again, see the Sneakers article, What About Everyone Else?]. This doesn't preclude the hand of God put sternly against us in the first death as the prophecies tell us in great detail.
So, while our mortal bodies live and die in this illusion, our ultimate lives are eternal having been predestined before the foundation of the world because of God's merciful promise that all Israel shall be saved from the second death. [See the Feature article, Brown Paint: Quantum Potentialities]. However, this life is vanity, nothing more than a vapor. [Ecc. 1:2]. Our spirit returns to God when we exit from our mortal vehicles in this life. This is what sets us apart from creatures. [See Ecc. 3:19-21].
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men [of Israel], teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world [Greek, aion, age]; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us [the House of Israel in this Christian age], that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar [Greek, periousios, that which is one's own] people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise you." [Titus 2:11-15]. Of course, as we read above in Ezekiel 34, the House of Israel are Jesus, Yehovah's own people. It's time for us to wake up, to get back on track with our heritage and calling. Now the time is near, the end of this age, for the return of Christ, and the fulfilling of the prophecies written to and for us. [Rom. 13:11-14].
Luke wrote down a divinely inspired point, "a remarkable statement," concerning the very nature of Christianity and life on this planet as we know it. It opens the door to understanding what it means to be a true Christian in this age. It is so radically different from what is the common opinion, as to be revolutionary to our 21st century understanding. There is a greater purpose and scope to life. Paul made it known to our first century ancestors of the House of Israel. It is now known by you.
1 The key to understanding these verses is thrown askew by the King James Version translators taking the Greek word ethnos, the Biblical equivalent of the Hebrew word, גּוֹי, gôwy, and again wrongly writing it down as Gentiles, rather than correctly as nations. They appeared not to have any scholastic connection with the history of Israel, much less the House of Israel, even though all the verses through verse 41 in Acts 13, originally spoken in Hebrew in a synagogue on the Sabbath no less, are all about the history of Israel, Abraham, Isaac, Israel, Joseph, Samuel, David, John the Baptist, Christ the Redeemer, the Savior of Israel [Acts 13:23], etc.
Completely out of context, missing the big picture, the KJV guys popped the word Gentiles into verse 42, and those that follow, perpetuating the 5th century Jerome's faulty Latin Vulgate translation, sending the entire message from Paul off in the wrong direction. [See the Feature article, Moving Forward]. The erroneous translation of these verses turns the entire meaning of the New Testament upside down. [See the Sneakers article, Our History In Context].
So let’s put it back on track. As used in here the Biblical record, the Greek word ethnos is correctly translated as nations, which reference the nations of the House of Israel [see KJV, Gen. 35:10, 11, gôwy, used correctly as nation/s in referencing Israel] to whom Christ said he only was sent. [Mat. 15:24]. And when he sent out the apostles to preach, he told them, in no uncertain words, do NOT go to the gentiles, but only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. [Mat. 10:5, 6]. Christ's directive, and the context here, was completely lost on the KJV translators.
The Biblical record is, from Genesis to Revelation, written to and for all Israel. [See the Feature article, We're Abraham's Seed And Heirs, Not Gentiles]. The use of ethnos, as in nations, refers to the divorced nations of the House of Israel, whom Christ came to redeem. Unless context specifically dictates otherwise, ethnos or nations in the New Testament from the first century refers to the sons of Israel, excepting Judah, as mentioned in Gen. 49 in the last days. The first century common use of referring to the ten nation House of Israel as "the nations" is similar to referring to the fifty United States of America simply as "the States."
2 Einstein was prescient in noting that “Reality is merely an illusion ….” In attempting to describe this “reallusion” he said, “In our endeavor to understand reality we are somewhat like a man trying to understand a mechanism of a closed watch. He sees the face and the moving hands, even hears the ticking, but he has no way of opening the case. If he is ingenious, he may form some picture of a mechanism, which could be responsible for all the things he observes, but he may never be quite sure his picture is the only one which could explain his observations. He will never be able to compare his picture with the real mechanism and he cannot even imagine the possibility of the meaning of such a comparison.” [Einstein and Infeld, The Evolution of Physics, 1931].
Perhaps a more modern version of this would be somewhat like a digital avatar in a game box, assuming it had self-awareness, trying to figure out what lies outside its pixelated world.
We can see those things in this life that lie in the past, but not in the future, like watching a movie for the first time. It is the same point made in Ecclesiastes 3:15. The past, present and future are all one at the quantum level, but in this world we can’t remember the future. Neither can we remember the past on the other side of the vanishing point of time and space, i.e., before creation. [See the Feature article, Brown Paint: Quantum Potentialities; also chapter four, Creation In Six Days, But Who’s Counting?, The Blind Man’s Elephant, now a complimentary PDF on our Home page.].
Italics, underline, bold and [ ] are the author’s.
Edited excerpt from the Feature article, The Good News Colour Revolution.
NLT* Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
© copyrighted material 2007-2024. www.redshoe.com All rights reserved.
Notice to readers. All redshoe generated articles may be hyperlinked or copied to PDF format for use as long as no editing or alteration of content is made. See Menu banner for other terms of use.
"Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you."