The Place of Elective Outworking - Before Him

 Ephesians 1:4

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 

The end result of election is glorious. In fact, no more glorious result is possible!

"Before Him" is a word that speaks of being before the face of, or against the face of a thing. It is a combination of two words; one, a preposition meaning against or at the side of; and a noun that speaks of the face or the countenance. Together they speak of the actual presence of tlo object.

"Him" is a pronoun that refers back to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ mentioned earlier. We noted there that this is speaking of the One True and Living God in all of His majesty. It is in the genitive case and speaks of possession.

Together, they refer to the real and literal presence of the True God. It is His "face" we will be "against" or in front of.

When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden they enjoyed unfettered access to the presence of God. They walked with Him and before Him in perfect innocence and were the beneficiaries of His marvelous fellowship. One can only try and imagine the glory and the fulfilling joy of those times spent in the very presence of God. There was no fear or guilt because, as yet, there was no sin. Man could literally dwell in the presence of God with nothing but the joy of being with the Father.

Their sin ruined all of that. They wee cast out of the garden and the way back in was barred to guard God from the intrusion of sin to His presence; and to protect man from being consumed in his sinful state by God's holy character. Man, in and of himself, was forever damaged and marred. He was no longer the spotless and blameless creature that he had been. That marred nature disqualified him from entry into the presence of God. It created a situation that Adam (and all of his descendants) was unable to rectify.

The functional result of election is that man can once again enter into the presence of God. At long last, upon the completion of the work of Christ, the barrier to the fellowship of God and His creature could be safely removed.

Because the applied work of Christ secures the righteousness required by God for His children, they can stand holy and blameless before Him.

Once again we must note that this was the only way this end result could be guaranteed. Had God not chosen to accomplish His plan by election; the Bible tells us that God would have been left without any people at all. All men, every single one, would have persisted in their rebellion and their wickedness and free-willed their way right to hell. The Scripture is crystal clear on this point. Romans 3 leaves little room for equivocation here. All have gone out of the way and none are seeking God - no not one! That seems fairly clear!

The only solution that could secure the result God desired was for Him to exercise His power and authority and elect men and then, Himself, do the work needful to secure the accomplishment of that decree as well as the application of it. It was only in this fashion that God could assure the successful accomplishment of His plan.