God has intellectually displayed His eternal purpose in His word to remind the elect that their salvation is no afterthought with Him. Our salvation was God’s forethought. Hence, God has displayed before us not only what He eternally purposed but what He actually does in time. God’s purpose is not the same as His execution of the thing purposed. For example, God’s purpose to create is not the same as creation itself. Moreover, His purpose to save certain ones is not the same as salvation itself. Our creation and salvation do not coexist with God’s purpose, but His purpose coexists with them. The question has been asked, Why did God wait so long to create? God did not wait. Waiting implies time, and there is no time in eternity. Among the references to things that are from eternity is the salvation of the elect:

1. The glory of the Son was with the Father— “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (John 17:5).
    
2. The love of the Father was for the Son— “Father, I will that they also, whom thou has given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou has given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).
    
3. God’s purpose to save sinful man by grace was before the world began— “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (II Tim. 1:9).
    
4. The wisdom that conceived the plan to save sinful man was ordained before the world began— “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory” (I Cor. 2:7).
    
5. The promise of eternal life was made by God before the world began— “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1:2).
    
6. The Lamb was slain in the purpose of God before the foundation of the world— “Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (I Pet. 1:20). “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).
    
7. The election of some to salvation was made before the foundation of the world— “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” (Eph. 1:4).