Foreknowledge or Predestination

Journaling from 1/31/2011 through 2/13/2011 resulting from a discussion I had with Chauncey and one of our young men from Emerging Men Family Group. Thank you, Chauncey and David, for the discussion.

Sometimes I begin thinking this faith journey, this life, could be one big puppet show or cosmic chess game. If the idea of predestination starts rolling around in my thoughts then leaping to the conclusions that God is a master puppeteer or that we’re simply pawns in His chess game can become an easy conclusion. However, those thoughts and conclusion are not based on the reality and truths of God Himself and His Word. So in order to have a correct view of foreknowledge and predestination and what it all means, I have to go back to Scripture to Have His Word define who God is and how we as His children fit into foreknowledge and predestination.

First of all, none of this discussion or understanding of foreknowledge and predestination affects my salvation, my eternal destination or what I’ll be doing for eternity. God’s promise of salvation is His ability to keep me from eternal separation from God provided through the payment in-full made on my behalf by Jesus’ surrender to God, not denying the truths of God, His death and resurrection. His promise has nothing to do with whether I understand foreknowledge and predestination. He made a promise and since He cannot deny Himself or His truths – God cannot deny who He is – then God will not go back on His promise to me nor make it conditional to anything that follows the acceptance of that promise. God is able to keep His promise and it’s not conditional on whether I can keep it. So I am sure in God’s promise to me.

When I pass from this life to the eternal promised life of God and God gives me my purpose to do for eternity, whether I understand foreknowledge and predestination will not impact that assigned purpose. Instead, God will assess what I did with my life after salvation and, through His wisdom He will determine what I am capable of doing in His eternal kingdom. How I live out my belief now will factor into God’s assessment of me. (Matthew 25:14-30) Am I good with the little things? Do I live out my faith when no one is looking but God? Do I live out my faith during struggles when everyone around me would understand if I didn’t follow God? Do I live out my faith when life is easy and I can easily forget God? Those are the things that I believe God will judge my capabilities as He determines what my role will be in eternity.

So to me, understanding foreknowledge and predestination is an exercise in reasoning about God and with God. (This is what I love about God; He wants us to reason with Him – Isaiah 1:18 – “Come now, let us reason together.”) To me this exercise is a process like this: “If God is this, and God is this, and God is this, then foreknowledge is this and predestination is this.” To me, understanding foreknowledge and predestination as defined by God’s character helps me better understand and appreciate God for who He is. I learn more about God through this process; this isn’t about where I am in being predestined.

Typically, I start reasoning by acknowledging God’s character; how He defines Himself. In this exercise, I start with God is:

• Omnipresent – present in all places at all times
• Omniscient – having infinite awareness, understanding and insight; possessing universal or complete knowledge

Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nation.

Psalm 139:13
For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Psalm 139:16
Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

We know that God knew everything from the start of what we call 'time' through to the end of this world. He is the Alpha and the Omega; the first and the last. He knew before He created anything who would choose Him as God and who would not, yet He created all of us and calls all of us. He is patient, wanting everyone to turn around from being self absorbed, turning to Him for salvation from an eternity without Him. (2 Peter 3:9) He calls and continues to call. He seeks us and continues to seek us. He knocks on our hearts and continues to knock. He asks us to do likewise. (Matthew 7:7-8)

He loves us unconditionally. We can easily see this every day simply lived out in perfect view of everyone. (Matthew 5:45 – He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends the rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.) If God’s love was conditional on whether we chose Him as God and Lord or not, and if He has the omnipresent and omniscient knowledge to know who will ultimately choose Him as God before He created us and we breathe our last breath, then He would bless only those that choose Him, follow Him, serve Him and love Him. But He doesn’t and we see His unconditional love lived out every day when we simply look at the weather.

We see the sun shine on everyone and we see the rain rain-down on everyone. We don’t see little dark clouds blocking out all sunlight on those who will ultimately deny God as the one and only living God. We don’t see rain falling on those who choose God with drought on those who deny God. On the flip side, we also see God allowing disaster and things that hurt us happen to those that love Him as well as those who do not. So we see God unconditionally bless everyone by His love and provisions no matter what our actions towards God will be. And He allows life to happen to all of us.  His love for us is NOT conditional upon our love for Him. He created each person and gave each person a life. What we do with that life, how we view God and how that view shapes our actions here on earth that is up to us. That is called free will. A loving God gives free will. An unloving God would dictate our lives to us.

Instead, I marvel at the depth of God’s love that He still chooses to create those that will ultimately deny Him. He chooses to call those who will ultimately deny Him and He patiently waits giving each person the opportunity to choose Him and live or deny Him and die. I can only imagine the pain God has for those that deny Him as He loves those people as much as He loves those who love Him.

So, what about foreknowledge and predestination? Which comes first? I believe that because God foreknows us and foreknows the ones who will love Him, He now predestines – orders, determines – what that person will need in order to live for Him. I do not believe that God predestines who will select Him, then creates us and we humans wander around life being controlled by what God predestined us to be. That’s not a loving God to me nor do I find that explained in Scripture.

Instead, I again look to Scripture to define this exercise for me.

Romans 8:28-30.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He (Jesus) might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.

To me this passage of Scripture says a few things:
1. First, God foreknew – He didn’t predestine first; He foreknew us first – He knew before He created us, who would love Him and answer His call
2. Second, those God foreknew would accept Him as God, He predestined to be conformed into the likeness of His Son Jesus the Christ; to me this simply says that God plans to develop us into mature people who will represent Jesus the Christ here on earth – not be Jesus but be like Him
3. God calls those who will accept Him and continues to call us until we accept Him even though He knows when and how we will accept Him
4. He justifies us upon acceptance – He shows us to be right by His standards, in His eyes; when we accept what Jesus did for us as sufficient to pay our debt to God, for not living the perfect standard of God, God justifies that acceptance
5. He glorifies us – as we are conformed into the likeness of His Son, we are moving from glory to glory; we are growing more and more Christ-like in character as we mature in our relationship with God through the ability of Jesus empowered by God’s Spirit

So then what is predestination? To me predestination now becomes something God imparts to us – those that love Him. What He imparts helps us through our lives – the good, the bad and the ugly – working all things to our benefit so as we live through it we are conformed more and more into the likeness of His Son.

And what might be those things that God imparts to us that help us through life so that we become more like Jesus as we grow closer to God? I believe those things are the gifts of the Holy Spirit because God foreknew what we would be facing so He predetermined what abilities and assistant we may need to live life. And as we live life with the gifts of the Holy Spirit being conformed into the likeness of Jesus, what will we see as proof this process is happening? The fruits of the Holy Spirit and those fruits are the very characteristics of God Himself of which Jesus the Christ was the only single human being to ever live those characteristics out while here on earth… being conformed into the likeness of Jesus.

So, because God is omnipresent and omniscient, He foreknew I would choose Him as God, accept Jesus as my Savior and submit to Him as my Lord. He knew what actions I do and thoughts I would have – even the sinful, selfish, evil thoughts resulting in sinful, evil and boneheaded actions. God predestined what I would need to live out my life so that as I live out my life I may be more and more conformed into the likeness of Jesus. I know this is happening because I see myself exhibit from time to time and now with more growing regularity the characteristics of God that are beyond my capabilities. Patience, love, self control, peace...

Foreknowledge then predestination.

Most of all, this exercise in reasoning only better defines God as a God of unconditional love, with abounding patience, tolerance and generosity beyond anything I ever deserved.

I Love the Old Testament

I love the Old Testament; in fact, Leviticus is one of my favorite books. When I read the Old Testament, I've learned to look at what I see and don't see in the text. What's happening? What's not happening? What is God's reaction? What is He saying? What are His chosen people doing? Is it right in God's eyes, with the people's actions lining up to God's Word? If not - which many times the actions of His people are so not right - then why is it in the Old Testament? What am I learning about God and how does what I learn apply to me today and now?

In 2001, I spent months in Leviticus. When I was done, I cried. Not because I was now some holy, spiritual person but because of what I saw: God chasing His kids wanting desperately to live with them in their community. All of His commands were to show a people, who just spent 400 years in slavery not knowing the basics about living in a functional community, how to live in community. God provided protection to His kids so that He could descend and live right their in the dessert with them. For 40 years, He chose to live in a tent with them providing a means for continual protection so they could live in the presence of a His righteousness. Without His protection being liberally and continually provided, His kids couldn't stand in His presence and would die because of being unholy in front of THE Holy One. And in the end what did those protection steps provide... a meal. A meal to be shared in fellowship with God Himself.

I thought then and think now, how many times has God chased me, loved me, provided for me, forgives me and I ignore Him. Yet, here is God wanting to be my Dad to simply live with me and I with Him.

Time and time again in the Old Testament (like today) God's chosen people do "evil in His eyes" never doing what is right or seldom doing what is right. Seeing God mightily move - literally seeing God demonstrate His power in mighty ways - yet moments later choosing not to follow God and many times creating a "god" from some materials then giving their lives to that thing they created. (I still do this.) Time and time again, I see God's patience, grace, forgiveness and unconditional love. To me, the Old Testament is the New Testament God in action. I have no trouble connecting the God of the Old Testament with the God of the New Testament because, in fact, He is the very same loving and forgiving God.

With that, here are a few things I have noticed previously and again today when reading Exodus. Simple actions that could go overlooked but God caused me to pause then He revealed when I asked, "Why this?"

Exodus 29:19-21, 29
(19-21) Take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. Slaughter it, take some of its blood and put it on the lobes of the right ears of Aaron and his sons, on the thumb of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then sprinkle the blood against the alter on all sides. And take some of the blood on the alter and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his sons and their garments will be consecrated.
(29) Aaron's sacred garments will belong to his decedents so they can be anointed and ordained in them.

This sacrifice is the final of three during the consecration of Aaron and his sons as the priests of Israel. The laying of hands on the head of the animal is to symbolize the transference of sins to an innocent substitute. This final ram has sections of its meat that will be the meal provided by God to feed Aaron and his sons. The sections are the best cuts of meat, not the worst which tells you something about our God, and they eat it in the presence of God... a meal with God. I always think that is so amazingly cool. God could have had Aaron and his sons eat the meal somewhere else but God says for them to eat it with Him. Dinner with God. Meat, bread, wine.

The blood of this ram is placed onto Aaron's and his sons' right ear lobes, right thumbs and right big toes. As priests, followers of God Almighty - El Shaddai - and leaders of God's people, they are to:

Ear lobe = listen to God
Thumb = do God's will
Toe = walk in God's way

I always thought it was crazy for God to be so specific to Moses concerning the creation and construction of the priestly garments, tent of the meeting, the tabernacle and all of the items and tools, yet the first actions were to cover these items with olive oil and blood of atoning animal sacrifices.

Then God revealed that the garments would reflect the oil of being anointed - chosen - by God to serve as priests and leaders for His people. The blood on the garments were from atoning sacrifices serving as a constant reminder that we His people need atonement for our actions contrary and against God (sin = not meeting God's standard of perfection) so that we can live in community with God - so we can be in His family, He can live with us, provide and share a meal with us - He can be our Dad and we His kids.

Reminders of who we are with God and without Him, who's we are, what we're called to do and who He is.

It's the little things that make me love the Old Testament.

Added July 6, 2011
While praying this morning and thinking about Jesus' enduring the cross for the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2), Holy Spirit brought to mind that Jesus died knowing only the truths and the promises of the Old Testament. The New Testament, a testimony to God's plan of salvation through Jesus and the expansion of that plan through His Church, had yet to be written. Jesus knew the truths of God - His unconditional love, His righteousness, His mercy - through the Scriptures of only the Old Testament. He knew God's plan of salvation only through the Old Testament. Jesus knew God so well that He could not deny God, could not deny His truths, could not deny His promises, knew well God's promises for Jesus as Messiah through only the Old Testament. Jesus chose an unjust and unwarranted public death of humiliation over denying God and God's truths through ONLY the Old Testament. Is the Old Testament worth our time to read and listen to God's teachings? Jesus thought so.