July 10

Why did God choose some men and leave others to sink in torment and misery? The apostle tells us "He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy" (Ephesians 1:4). Not because God foresaw that we of ourselves would ever be holy, but because He resolved He would make us holy. It was as if a highly skilled carpenter saw a forest of trees growing on his own ground-- all alike, not one better than another-- and he marked a certain number and set them apart in his mind, determining to make of them some wonderfully crafted objects.

Thus God chose some out of all mankind and set them apart to carve His images of righteousness and holiness upon them. This is workmanship of such high quality that when He has finished it, and will show it to men and angels, it will outshine the universe itself.

In sending His Son into the world He made us holy. Glorious angels who behold the face of God continually are ready to fly immediately wherever He assigns them. But God has such an important work to be done that He would not trust His servants, but rather His only Son, to accomplish it. And note the motive, the bottom of His heart in this great undertaking: He "gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14).

If men had kept the righteousness which God originally created in him, Christ's pain would have been spared, for it was man's lost holiness He came to recover. Neither God's glory nor man's happiness could be attained until this holiness was restored. As God is glorious in the holiness of His own nature and works, so He is glorified by the holiness of His people's hearts.

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