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.
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