What did the counsel of the Godhead determine before creation?
Before creation, the Godhead's counsel determined that earth would be created to be inhabited, that man would be placed on it, and that man would receive a free-will choice to respond to God's love or reject it. This predetermined counsel also included Christ being delivered up to crucifixion, fulfilling God's purpose to consummate all things.
Les explains this counsel as an agreement of ideas within the Godhead, not merely a human council. He places it in eternity past, perhaps billions of years ago, before earth existed. The counsel determined that earth would be created to be inhabited, man placed on it with free will to respond to God's love or reject it, and that all things would be consummated in Christ. In Acts chapter 2, Peter declares that Jesus was delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, showing the crucifixion was part of that predetermined plan.
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
More Questions
What did God's predeterminate counsel and foreknowledge include from eternity past?
God's predeterminate counsel and foreknowledge in eternity past included everything, so nothing in all of God's working was unknown to Him, and His foreknowledge extends from eternity past through consummation to the end of time.
When did the Trinity determine the plan of God?
Way back in eternity past the Triune God came into the Trinity and in a counsel determined the plan, not needing to debate it back and forth over an afternoon.