WHAT was given before the world began? God purposed to show grace to sinners He chose in Christ. When did the actual saving occur- in time, or eternity? Matthew 1:21 says, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus for He SHALL SAVE His people from their sins.” While there can be no separating what God purposed in eternity from what actually takes place in time, yet, God’s salvation of sinners must be just. His Son was eternally the Surety and Savior, yet, in order to work out the salvation of the elect, He had to come as a man to live, die, rise again and ascend on high, and thereby ‘BECAME the author of eternal salvation,’ Heb. 5:9. Christ the eternal Son of God, and Surety of His people, became a man, and literally bore their sin in His body, because, ‘without shedding of blood is no remission,’ Heb. 9:22. This is the great mystery of godliness that God was actually manifest in the flesh, I Timothy 3:16. So complete is the work He accomplished, that God the Father has now justly declared justified, forgiven, and reconciled all for whom Christ died, Col. 1:21-22. This is a glorious comfort to poor, wretched sinners when God reveals this truth in them by His Spirit.