We are predestined to adoption through Jesus "to the praise of the glory of His grace." We have obtained an inheritance "to the end that we...should be to the praise of His glory." He has given His Spirit as a pledge of our inheritance "to the praise of His glory." We are predestined to this inheritance. To make sure we receive it, He adopted us as sons through Jesus Christ and sealed us with His Holy Spirit. The purpose for giving us this inheritance is "the praise of His glory."
The One who predestined us to this inheritance is the One who works all things after the counsel of His will. This works for us because Jesus is heir of all things, and we are joint heirs with Christ. We have been qualified, by His doing, to share in the inheritance of the saints. He enables us to know the riches of the glory of His inheritance of the saints in light.
What's that? 1 Peter 2:9-10 says, "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." All things are under His authority and subject to His will, because all things were created for Him and by Him and He has 1st place in everything. Through the cross of Calvary and the blood of the Lamb, God took delight in reconciling all things to Himself.
It is important that we are properly defining "all things." We tend to emphasize the word "things" and assume this means all the tangible, material things we can experience with our senses. As a result, we think that the good which God works all things together to accomplish is also something physical or tangible. We therefore interpret it as: "all things work out for the best." This is why we sometimes don't understand how God is going to use "this" for our good, or what good will come out of our present crisis. The emphasis of scripture appears to be on the word "all." It includes, indeed emphasizes, spiritual things. It is the word "all" that brings the spiritual emphasis to the work God is doing in us to mold us into His image and bring praise and glory to Himself.
