Redemption

…being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed…. 

Romans 3:24-25 

Christ is all about redemption. Whereas God would have been entirely within His rights to destroy humanity after the fall and start over, He had already prepared His plan of redemption. Thus, Paul declares, ‘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, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.’ Therefore, Christ was already destined to come as the Redeemer before the world began. In our minds it seems as if the chronology could have been adjusted, however God sees all in His panoramic present. He sees the end from the beginning. We are time-bound and hampered by chronology. God is above time and not at all bound by it. Therefore, for Him to plan redemption before creation is sensible once we begin to see it from His eternal perspective. Where chronology comes into play is how His plan must unfold in the course of human history. Hence, ‘when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.’ In that sense chronology does matter. The whole of the preparation of the world through history must occur before Christ came. His coming was at the last stages of world history. He has redeemed all of His Own who came before Him and all who would come after Him. In this way His redemption is a whole redemption of all whom the Father has given Him. Christ succeeds in every way. 

Our God of Grace and Glory 
we rejoice in Your grand redemption. 
We praise You that it applies to a great multitude, 
which no one can number. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning