Prehistoric Grace

“who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2Tim 1:9).

Let’s turn back the clock. Back before there were laptops and smartphones. Back before America was a twinkle in our founding fathers’ eye. Back before the cross. Back before the dinosaurs. Back before Adam and Eve snuck their sinful snack. Let’s turn back the clock before there was even a clock. 

Did you realize that’s when God saved you? According to Paul, it was God “who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (v9). Maybe you thought he saved you during Vacation Bible School when you were seven. Or maybe during the altar call at the bonfire on the last night of Christian youth camp. I’ve got news for you, it was WAY before that. So long before that you and I had absolutely nothing to do with it.  

Forget Jurassic Park. God rescued me with prehistoric grace.

Here in 2nd Timothy, Paul writes to his protege as the clock ticks down on the apostle’s life. The apostle sits on Death Row at the notorious Mamertine Prison in Rome. He fires off one final note as he walks the Green Mile (2Tim 4:6-7). Paul begs Tim to hit the road and come see him one final time before it’s too late (2Tim 1:4; 4:9, 21). In this last minute call for help, he reminds us of how God came to our rescue and called us long before we could ever answer. 

The prisoner/apostle tells Tim how it is God “who saved us and called us to a holy calling” (v9). “Saved” has become such a part of the Christianese lingo that we’ve lost so much of it’s original meaning. It’s the Greek verb sozo, which describes a rescue from danger or bringing someone out from certain death. When Peter tried waterskiing without a boat and began to sink, he yelled to our Savior, “Lord save (Gr. sozo) me!” (Mt 14:30). We desperately needed saving after our first parents believed the lie of a satanic snake and thought God was holding out on us (Gen 3:1-7). The result? God’s perfect creation is broken and we’re the ones who did it. The universe needs fixing and we need to be rescued. One look at the internet every morning reminds of that horrible truth.

While the crime scene tape was still up in Eden, God promised to send a Hero to help us. He would send One who would eventually crush Satan’s skull (Gen 3:15). The rest of Scripture tells the Big Story of our Big Savior. That’s entire point of Bible. God the Father would eventually send His very own Son to save our bacon. The Second Person of the Trinity would leave the luxury of the heavenly palace and make the ultimate dumpster dive into the deep end of our sin. It’s the greatest search and rescue mission the universe has ever seen. Who saved us? God saved us.

Our Creator didn’t just drag us onto the bank and walk away. He wasn’t done with us. He also “called us to a holy calling” (v9). Seems straight from the Department of Redundancy Department, doesn’t it? A closer look at what Paul has to say reveals a very powerful and personal invitation to a very important assignment. God has “called” you and me. The original text uses a word (Gr. kaleo) which means to invite, summon individually, or select for a specific task or new relationship. God’s call isn’t some random invitation. This is no piece of metaphysical junk mail randomly addressed to “occupant.” 

Jesus personally asks us to join Him in His one-of-a-kind work. “A holy calling” (v8). You might think Paul is just talking about priests, nuns, bishops, preachers, and pastors. You know, professional Christ followers. Did you realize there’s really no secular/sacred divide when it comes to work? As believers, you and I are just as much on the receiving end of God’s holy calling as anyone wearing a collar, habit, pointy hat, or blow-dried mullet.

In other words, God has a job for us to do no matter what kind of job we have. We’re to be shiners of His light and spreaders of His salt whatever we do and wherever we go. We’re ALL called. Every single follower of Christ. You. Me. Us. Them. We’re all ministers. Paul’s buddy Pete likes to tell every believer, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called (Gr. kaleo) you out of darkness and into His marvelous light” (1Pet 2:9). No seminary degree required. Kinda changes your approach to work, doesn’t it?

While every follower of Jesus actually works for God, He doesn’t save us “because of our works” (v9). Think you’re up to saving yourself? All you have to do is follow everyone of God’s rules, laws, and commands. If you’re keeping score at home, there are 613 in the Old Testament. Add to those another 1,050 commandments in the New. And make sure you maintain 100% obedience. According to Jesus’ kid brother James, whoever “fails in one point has become accountable for all of it” (James 2:10). Raise your hand if you’ve got a perfect score. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? I didn’t think so.

So what’s the point of God’s commands if they’re not a to-do list for self-salvation? Think of His law as a diagnostic tool like an MRI or X-Ray. These amazing medical machines can’t cure you, but they certainly can tell the doctor what’s wrong. Paul tells believers in Rome, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Rom 3:20). The law of God diagnoses our sin sickness. Our prognosis is terminal. 

There’s only one cure. What God’s law diagnoses, God’s Gospel heals. Or in Paul’s words, we’re only saved “because of His own purpose and grace” (v9). The word we translate as “purpose” (Gr. prothesis) literally describes something put in place prior or set down before everything else. It’s the idea of a publicly announced plan or something placed in full view for everyone to see. Think of a mission statement you see on a lobby wall in a business. God saves us because it’s His publicly announced mission. It’s His purpose. It’s His plan. You gotta love it when a plan comes together!

He comes to our rescue as a result of His “grace” (v9). Here’s yet another word we throw around the church that it loses it’s oomph. Grace is God’s totally undeserved and overflowing goodness to us. Remember, we’re rebels against His kingdom who deserve punishment (Eph 2:1-2, 12; Col 1:21). But while we were still shaking our fists in rebellion, Jesus came to save us (Rom 5:6, 8, 10). God isn’t some Scrooge when it to His grace. He loves to “show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast” (Eph 2:7-9). I need to stop bragging about what I’ve done and start celebrating at what He’s done!

God cooked up this crazy plan of saving us by His grace a long time ago. So long ago that there was even any time. This happened when “He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (v9). Just in case you missed His jaw-dropping generosity the first time, here it is again. The Great Giver lavishes it on us (v9). He gives us His Son (Jn 3:16). His Son gives us His life (1Jn 3:16). The Father and Son give us the Spirit (Jn 14:15-31). And because He gives, we’re to give. Stop being so stingy. With your time. With your talents. With your treasures. He gave them to us so we could give them away. We’re blessed to be a blessing.

Jesus did for us what we could never ever do for ourselves. While we’re complete failures at God’s rule-following, He’s a total Rock Star. In His most famous sermon of all-time, Christ announced He didn’t come as some sort of cosmic loophole to the law, but to do what we couldn’t. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Mt 5:17). Paul says it this way. God is BOTH the “Just and the Justifier” (Rom 3:26).

What does this mean? I can’t save myself. I would have a better chance of trying to jump to the moon (and I’ve got the vertical leap of a hippo!). But when I place my trust in Jesus, everything changes. He lives the perfect life I can’t. He dies the death for my sin I should have died. He rises to the new life I don’t deserve. That’s what God “gave us in Christ Jesus” (v9).

This all went down “before the ages began” (v9). Paul’s original phrase here (Gr. pro chronon aionion) gets translated several different ways:

“Before the world began” (KJV, NKJV).

“Long before the world began” (NLT).

“Before the beginning of time” (NIV).

“From all eternity” (NASB).

“Before times eternal” (BBE).

“Before the times of the ages” (YLT).

In other words, this all happened before God invented the measurement of time and started the clock. If you’re wondering, that’s a long time ago. A VERY long time ago! This is prehistoric grace!!

This isn’t the only place where the Bible talks about how God got to work saving us before the clock starting ticking. A few years back, Paul wrote to his Ephesian friends about God’s prehistoric grace. “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him” (Eph 1:4, emphasis added). He didn’t just choose us B.C. but B.T. And by B.T., I mean “before time.” You see, when your the Eternal Creator and the Inventor of time, you can do this kind of thing.

What He started before He started the clock, He promises to finish before time runs out. “God knew what He was doing from the beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love Him along the same lines as the life of His Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity He restored. We see the original intended shape of our lives there in Him. After God made that decision of what His children should be like, He followed it up by calling people by name. After He called them by name, He set them on a basis with Himself. And then, after getting them established, He stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what He had begun” (Rom 8:29-30 The Message).

Forget Jurassic Park. God rescued me with prehistoric grace.