II Timothy 1: Before the Beginning?

"Join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.  This grace was given us in Jesus Christ before the beginning of time..." (II Timothy 1:8-9)

It is a classic question: What happened "before" the beginning?  Whether you're talking about Genesis 1:1 ("In the beginning...") or the scientific model of the big bang, human beings are always curious to rewind the clock to before clocks existed and peer into the mysteries of the beginnings of time, and even earlier.

There are persistent hints in the Bible that what we are dealing with in salvation precedes even creation itself!  A claim like this needs support, so here are some citations in addition to II Timothy 1:9:

• "And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world was made--the Book that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered." (Revelation 13:8, New Living Translation)

• "The beast you saw was once alive but isn't now. And yet he will soon come up out of the bottomless pit and go to eternal destruction. And the people who belong to this world, whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world was made, will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died." (Revelation 17:8, New Living Translation)

• "He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake." (I Peter 1:20, New International Version)

Similarly, C.S. Lewis wrestled with this mind-boggling concept in his classic children's story, "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe."  In the atoning death of Aslan, Lewis states that Aslan is killed in accordance with the "deep magic from the dawn of time."  But the resurrection of Aslan occurs as a result of "deeper magic from before the dawn of time!"

This talk of events "before" creation need not be a philosophical conundrum.  If, as Christians believe, God is eternal and omniscient, He knew precisely what was going to happen in this universe before He even created it.  Nothing has taken God by surprise - not the treachery of the devil, the Fall of Humanity, the cross of Christ, or the Resurrection.  Rather than being unexpected, these realities were taken into account and woven into the very fabric of the cosmos.

Jesus' death and resurrection was not an ad hoc solution to a problem unforeseen by God; it is what creation is all about.