V. GOD IN HIS DIVINE TRINITY
HOLDING A COUNCIL IN ETERNITY
God in His Divine Trinity held a council in eternity (Acts 2:23 and note 1—Recovery Version). Acts 2:23 says that Christ was "delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God." God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit held a council, a conference, in eternity to make the determination concerning the crucial death of Christ for the carrying out of God’s eternal economy. God made an economy, but God had to make a decision regarding how to carry out His economy. For the carrying out of God’s economy, Christ had to die an all-inclusive death.
VI. THE SECOND OF THE DIVINE TRINITY
PREPARING TO CARRY OUT HIS
"GOINGS FORTH" FROM ETERNITY INTO TIME
TO BE BORN IN BETHLEHEM AS A MAN
The Second of the Divine Trinity was preparing to carry out His "goings forth" from eternity into time to be born in Bethlehem as a man. Micah 5:2 tells us that Christ was going to be born in Bethlehem and that was a part of His "goings forth." Thus, in eternity past the Triune God was preparing to be incarnated, and that preparing was a part of His goings forth. His goings forth are His coming forth. Before God as the Second of the Divine Trinity came to be born in Bethlehem in time, He was preparing to come in eternity past.
VII. GOD BLESSING THE BELIEVERS IN CHRIST WITH THE SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN THE HEAVENLIES BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD
God blessed the believers in Christ with the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:3-6). In eternity past God blessed us before we were created. Before we were created, He blessed us in two things.
A. Choosing Them to Be Holy,
to Be Sanctified unto Himself
with His Holy Nature
In eternity past God chose us to be holy, to be sanctified unto Himself with His holy nature (v. 4). In eternity past God chose us to have His nature, indicating that He would be one with us, that is, that His nature would become our nature. With this nature we are being sanctified, separated unto God. He is holy in nature, and we are being made the same as He is in nature (Heb. 2:11; 2 Pet. 1:4).
(The History of God in His Union With Man, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee)
