20 - For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you
21 - who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
vs. 20 - "foreknown... but... in these last times" - The plan of salvation was decided upon before the foundation of the world. But it is at the time Christ appeared that the plan was revealed, for our sake. See: Col 1:19-20, 27 - For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross - through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven... God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
"the sake of you" - Christ died and was buried for our sake, and was resurrected for our sake, that is, we who believe in Him and God. He did not do this salvation plan just to prove He could, or to humiliate Satan (although those are good things). His purpose is to demonstrate His love for us. God demonstrated His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Rom. 5:8
vs. 21 - "raised Him from the dead... gave Him glory..." Again, if there is no hope in the risen Christ, there is no hope at all. See: 1 Cor. 15:19 - For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone. Eph. 1:19,20 - and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength. This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms; Heb. 2:9 - but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God's grace he would experience death on behalf of everyone.; 1 Tim. 3:16 - And we all agree, our religion contains amazing revelation: He was revealed in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among Gentiles, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
Our hope is based on nothing less than Jesus Christ and His righteousness. You need not wonder if you are acceptable to God. You need not wonder if the scales are balanced in your favor. A common thread we hear is, "I think I have done more good than bad." As if God grades on a curve. Or we like to view God similar to the statue of Justice - blind, showing no partiality and with a scale that weighs the evidence. We hope our good lives outweigh the bad things we've done. It is all rationalization. It is all hopeless if we have to depend on ourselves. The gap between sinful mankind and righteous holy God is too big to be bridged by us.
Thanks be to God and Jesus Christ - the bridge has been built for us, not by us, but for us. God provided the perfect price for our sins. God stamped PAID by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Jesus ascended to glory to wait for each of us to come before the throne of Almighty God and be acknowledged as one of His own. Saved, justified, sanctified, and suitable to see God face-to-face without fear. No longer enemies in our sins, but friends, children of God. One of my favorite verses: Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 1 John 3:2
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