02.08. Gods Calling

God’s Calling Called into His marvellous light

We now come to the means of entering into these blessings, the change that had to be effected in the present time to qualify us for these privileges. To raise us to the position of sons and heirs, much had to take place. God’s purpose was to bless us, but our fallen state prevented Him from doing so. We had gone astray, we were far from God. We were without Christ, having no hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12). We all like sheep had gone astray, and God had to call us back. God had to call us to Himself if He wished to realize His plans. We had to be brought to God (1 Peter 3:18). That is the substance of the calling.

God calls us out of darkness into His marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9). He calls us out of the spiritual and moral darkness, in which we walk by nature, to bring us into the light of His presence. The Father has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light, and He has delivered us from the power of darkness (Colossians 1:12-13). This calling is also life-giving. We have not only been called out of darkness into His marvellous light, but also out of death into life. Like Lazarus, who was called out of the tomb, we have been raised out of our spiritual death-sleep. The miracle of the calling is that the dead hear the voice of the Son of God, and are brought to life (John 5:24-25). The portion to which we are called, is eternal life (1 Timothy 6:12). In the Bible more of these contrasts can be found. We used to be slaves of sin, but we have now been called to Christian liberty (Galatians 5:8; Galatians 5:13). We used to be unholy, but now we are called saints (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2). We used to live in impurity, but God has called us in holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:7). We were at variance with God and with one another, but now we are called in one body to the peace of God (Colossians 3:15). We had no part with Christ, but now we are called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:9). We fell short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but now God calls us into His own kingdom and glory (1 Thessalonians 2:12). God is the God of all grace, who calls us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus (1 Peter 5:10).

Broadly speaking, the positive aspect of the calling is the most important thing - not the state out of which we have been called, but the blessing to which we have been called. The following Scriptures illustrate this. We have been called to receive the promise of the Spirit (Acts 2:39), to gain the prize (Php 3:14), to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:14), to receive the promise of the eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:15), and to inherit a blessing (1 Peter 3:9). The call of God enables us to receive the blessing which He had laid up for us from eternity past. His calling takes place at a certain time, whereas the purpose is eternal. The aim of the calling is to fulfil the eternal purpose (cf. Ephesians 3:11). For God has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began (2 Timothy 1:9). Romans 8:1-39 also says that we are the called according to His purpose. So our calling is necessary to carry out God’s predestination (Romans 8:28; Romans 8:30). It is an indispensable link between God’s eternal purpose and the eternal glory for which He has predestined us. Nobody is entitled to the heavenly blessings which are given by God in Christ Jesus, unless he is called by God to inherit them.

Called to heavenly blessings This calling by God is a necessity, irrespective of man’s Fall. For it implies the inheritance of special heavenly blessings, which far exceed Adam’s portion in the garden of Eden. It is the upward call of God, the heavenly calling (Php 3:14; Hebrews 3:1). Adam was innocent and he had a paradise on earth, but he was not called to come into God’s presence in heaven. His calling related to the earth; he had not been made fit for heaven. The first man Adam was not marked by the characteristics of the new creation either: true righteousness and true holiness, leading to a complete separation from evil (Ephesians 4:24). Adam was a creature who bore God’s image, but he had not escaped the corruption that came into the world through lust. He was not a Christian, he was no partaker of the divine nature which refuses and rejects evil (2 Peter 1:4). Although he bore God’s image here below, he was unable to enter the heavenly glory and bear the image of God’s Son above. This is exclusively the fruit of "so great a salvation" (Hebrews 2:3), which grants us more blessings than Adam lost by the Fall.

Therefore the calling is not without the redeeming and renewing power that is needed to qualify us for this heavenly portion. The calling is not something optional; it is living and powerful. God’s voice is life-giving, and brings about the new birth. The New Testament nearly always speaks about the calling in this way, and it includes both the calling of the Gospel on the one hand and the work of God in our hearts - by which we obey God’s call and believe in His Word - on the other hand. These two go together. Our calling is God’s work, resulting from His gracious predestination (cf. Romans 8:28-30, and also 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 2 Timothy 1:9; 2 Peter 1:10). A well-known exception to this rule is the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22:1-46, where obviously the outward character of the calling is emphasized. There the calling is not linked with an earlier predestination, but rather rendered in contrast with it ("Many are called, but few are chosen").

So, first of all, the calling is God’s own work. It is God who calls us; this is mentioned about fifteen times in the New Testament. It is His calling (Ephesians 1:18). But God’s voice comes to us through His Son. God sent His Son, the Word who was with God. That is a second aspect of the calling. It is the call of God in Christ Jesus (Php 3:14). We have been called in the Lord, and in the grace of Christ (1 Corinthians 7:22; Galatians 1:6). Christ came to call sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). A third aspect of the calling is the means which God uses to make His voice heard. God calls us by the Gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:14), which is preached as a result of the finished work of the Son.