Ephesians 1:4-5 predestinated

4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

1Corinthians 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Every verse that uses a form of predestinate in the Bible refers to something that happens after we are saved. God’s foreknowledge that we would receive Christ is the basis of this verse. We are chosen then because we are “in Him” now. What this verse says is that we are chosen to be made holy and without blame before him. This is what we are predestinated to, and that, once we are saved.

Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Ephesians 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

The saved person is predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ, to experience the adoption, and to receive the inheritance of eternal life, and all of that because he is saved. Predestination has nothing to do with God picking out who he would save and who he wouldn’t or making certain people specifically to go to Hell.

“Adoption” refers to our receiving of our resurrection body.

Romans 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Again, predestination in the Bible is always after a person is saved. Some verses bear repeating.

Romans 8:29 ¶  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Those who get saved are predestinated to become like Christ.

The adoption in verse 5 referred to is explained here. Let’s repeat another verse.

Romans 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

When you are saved you have only part of what you have been promised, the deposit, so to speak, of our full salvation, when our body is glorified. See verse 14.

There is a great emphasis here in the first part of Ephesians on the sovereign will of God.  This is linked to why we and all things were created in the first place, what the Bible says is our first purpose for being here.

Revelations 4:11  Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Your destination as a Christian is fixed, having been predestinated. You can get there with joy and happiness, willingly in obedience to God’s will or you can go there kicking and screaming, but, if you are a Christian, you are going, because you don’t have the power to make it happen or to keep it. It is all the work of God.

John 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And you will be like Christ.

1 John 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

When the Christian is saved he bound for eternal life with Christ. As he grows in Christ he is set apart or sanctified for God’s service. When that moment of his death comes he will be glorified with Christ.

Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Not to complicate this lesson but a great Bible scholar, someone whose opinion I trust and respect, believes that part of Christ’s suffering on earth and the suffering we share with Him daily is being trapped in a body of flesh always at war with the Spirit and always dying.)

Whether we enter eternity by physical death.

2 Corinthians 5:1 ¶  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3  If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4  For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5  Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6  Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7  (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8  We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Or at the Translation of the church, commonly known today as the Rapture.

1Corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Again, I repeat, the saved person is predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ, to experience the adoption, and to receive the inheritance of eternal life, and all of that because he is saved.

And we can be assured that God is willing to do all of this.

1Thessalonians 5:24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.