Acts 4:28
"For to do whatsoever Thy Hand and Thy Counsel determined before to be done."
ALL things were ordained by God in eternity and carried out in time, just as the Father and the Son determined they would be.
The choosing of the elect occurred in eternity. Some try to teach what they call “Eternal Justification,” claiming that since God's thoughts are eternal, all whom He chose to save were saved at the moment He thought it. However, that is not what we see throughout God’s Word. We see that there was a requirement for blood to be shed unto death. Yet, no blood was shed in eternity—no death occurred there. Deliverance had to be accomplished in time on this earth—the prison where His chosen were held captive, "He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;" (Isaiah 61:1).
God's promise to His people did not actually take effect until Christ came and fulfilled it. It began in eternity by the Word of God and was completed by the Word of God in time. "And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God" (Revelation 19:13).
Adam sinned against the LORD in the fall, and all his seed are born into sin, owing the wage of sin, which is death. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" (Romans 5:12). To pay the wage of sin for His chosen, Christ gave His life, shedding His blood unto death. But to give life again to the dead, He had to earn righteousness on this earth. He did this through perfect obedience in His flesh, in time, then offering that obedient life as the Just Sacrifice and the Righteous Substitute.
Christ was not slain in eternity. He had to come into the world, "Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me:" (Hebrews 10:5).
"For this is My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28). "Behold, a virgin shall be with Child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
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