Salvation and
Predestination
Lesson 29
“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 all
nations.” Ah, Sovereign Lord,
“I do not know how to speak; I
am only a child.”
Jeremiah 1:5,6
Omnipotence and Our
Power of Choice
Members of the Godhead
are omnipotent. This means that if it
were not for the rule of law, they
could do anything they please with
anything or anybody and no one could
prevent their abuse. As Omnipotent
Rulers of the universe, they are not
subject to anyone. However, they are
willing to be closely studied and
observed because they are willing to
abide by the laws they have put in
place. Without law there is chaos and
arbitrary rule. The presence of law
imposes order and accountability for
everyone. Even though the Godhead has
the prerogatives of omnipotence and
other incredible powers, these
prerogatives are not exercised
according to whim. When the Godhead
does exercise their prerogatives,
their actions are lawful! The Godhead
submits their actions and decisions
to their created beings for careful
study and analysis. The Godhead wants
all of us to see that they are
singularly motivated by love and
righteousness. Additionally, they
want their freewill creatures to
choose to follow their example!
As our Creator, Jesus
is the source of life. He could have
created slaves or robots, but instead
He created intelligent beings that
are free to exercise the power of
choice. Think about this privilege
for a moment. Human beings can choose
to obey God or rebel against Him.
Jesus speaks and worlds appear. He is
capable of doubling the size of our
infinite universe in a split second
by simply commanding it. He could
also speak Earth’s entire solar
system out of existence and we would
cease to exist the very moment the
words left His lips. Through Him
everything exists. Without Him, there
is nothing. He creates matter. He
destroys matter. He sets limits and
no one can change them. (Colossians
1) Although Jesus has omnipotence, He
will not violate the power of choice
granted to any person. Jesus said to
Isaiah, “This is what the Lord
says – your Redeemer, who formed
you in the womb; I am the Lord, who
has made all things, who alone
stretched out the heavens, who spread
out the Earth by myself, who foils
the signs of false prophets and makes
fools of diviners, who overthrows the
learning of the wise and turns it
into nonsense. Remember the former
things, those of long ago; I am God,
and there is no other; I am God, and
there is none like me. I make known
the end from the beginning, from
ancient times, what is still to come.
I say: My purpose will stand, and I
will do all that I please. From the
east, I summon a bird of prey; from a
far-off land, a man to fulfill my
purpose. What I have said, that will
I bring about; what I have planned,
that will I do.” (Isaiah
44:24-25, 46:9-11)
Omniscience
Members of the Godhead
are also omniscient. This means they
know everything about the past,
present and future. And yes, the
Godhead knew before the world created
the names of the individuals who
would choose eternal life and those
who would not. This fact bothers a
lot of people because they cannot
reconcile God’s omnipotence with
His omniscience. Some people believe
that God has already decided who is
going to live forever and who is
going to die forever, so no matter
what we do, the outcome has already
been predetermined. This concept is
called “fatalism.” Fatalism
interprets everything that happens as
the predetermined will of God and
this is a false doctrine. The devil
would like people to believe that
they have no choice about their
eternal destiny. He also wants us to
believe that Jesus created some
people simply for destruction. Both
ideas are false.
Some Things are
Predestined
According to Webster,
predestination means, “to decree
beforehand.” Because members of
the Godhead are omnipotent, they can
predestine anything they want to.
(Notice, I did not say anyone they
want to.) For example, when Jesus
agreed to die in man’s place,
His death was predestined long before
the actual event took place. Because
of God’s foreknowledge, the Plan
of Salvation was prepared and waiting
before He created the world. The
Godhead foreknew the rise of sin on
Earth and when the rescue was needed,
they instituted the Plan. To put
divine foreknowledge into
perspective, let us say it is
something like carrying a diaper bag
when you have a newborn baby in your
arms. You know the baby will soon
need a fresh diaper and you are
prepared for that eventuality. This
is foreknowledge. However, notice in
this simple illustration that your
foreknowledge does not determine the
need for a fresh diaper.
Predestination simply means that God
can decree beforehand anything to
happen, and it will happen because He
has the power and authority to make
it happen. Again, Jesus said, “I
say: My purpose will stand, and I
will do all that I please. From the
east, I summon a bird of prey; from a
far-off land, a man to fulfill my
purpose. What I have said, that will
I bring about; what I have planned,
that will I do.” (Isaiah
46:10,11)
Predestination is a
function of God’s omnipotence
and foreknowledge is a function of
God’s omniscience. Foreknowledge
simply means God knows everything. He
knows what our choices will be-not
because He makes them happen, but
because He knows what we will choose
to do. Everything that happens is
not, I repeat, is not predestined by
God. God did not predestine the rise
of sin. Therefore, we should not
interpret every event in life as a
predestined event. God did not
predestine Adam and Eve to sin, but
He knew they would sin. In the same
way the Father knows who will choose
or forfeit eternal life.
Jesus Lays Divine
Prerogatives Aside
When Jesus stepped
“in the way” of the
executing angel who was preparing to
execute Adam and Eve, Jesus became
the “Son of God” that very
day. According to the provisions of
the plan to save humanity, the day
Adam sinned Jesus agreed to lay aside
His prerogatives at an appointed
time. Even though He was an equal
member of the Godhead, He agreed to
become subject to the will of the
Father at the time of His birth.
(John 6:38) Therefore, Jesus is often
called the Son of God. (See Psalm 2
and Hebrews 1:5,5:5.) During Old
Testament times, Jesus sometimes
exercised omniscience and omni-
potence, but at the
time of His birth, He laid these
powers aside to become a man.
How could Jesus lay
these powers of divinity aside? This
is a mystery, but He put aside a
number of divine prerogatives for our
salvation. Foe example, He put aside
His immortal life so He could die for
sinners. Jesus became subject to
death (mortal) and completely
experienced sin’s penalty when
He was put to death by execution!
Hebrews 2:17; 10:12-14; 1 Corinthians
15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21) After He
put these prerogatives aside, He
returned to heaven and was found
worthy to receive them back on the
basis of His perfect compliance with
the Plan of Salvation and the will of
the Father. (Revelation 4 and 5)
Remember, when Jesus was born of
Mary, certain limitations were placed
on Jesus’ power for a period of
time. For example, He said, “No
one knows about that day or hour, not
even the angels in heaven, nor the
Son, but only the Father.”
(Matthew 24:36) In other words, in
His human form, Jesus did not know
the date He would return to Earth,
because the Father had not revealed
the information to Him. However,
Daniel 7 and Revelation 4 and 5
reveal that a time came when
Jesus’ omnipotence and
omniscience were returned to Him.
(Daniel 7:13,14) It is obvious that
Jesus increases in power and
authority throughout the process of
saving man, just like the infant
Jesus grew in wisdom and favor with
God and man! (Hebrews 2:8; Luke 2:52)
At the end of all things, when Jesus
has acquired all that Heaven can
offer, He gives it all back to the
Father so He can live among His
subjects as one of them. (1
Corinthians 15:24-28)
Careful! Easy to
Distort!
God has not
predestined some people to be lost
and others to be saved. The Bible
says, “He {the Father}
predestined us {fallen beings} to be
adopted as sons through Jesus Christ,
in accordance with his pleasure and
will.” “He {God} is patient
with you, not wanting anyone to
perish, but to come to
repentance.” (Ephesians 1:5; 2
Peter 3:9, insertion mine.) Be
careful! These texts are easy to
distort. Ephesians 1:5 does not say
that God predestined a certain number
of people to be adopted as sons
through Jesus Christ-implying that
all others are predestined for
eternal death. This text says that
God has predestined fallen man to be
adopted as His sons through Jesus
Christ. In other words, God
predestined the adoption process. It
is called justification!
“Now when a man
works, his wages are not credited to
him as a gift, but as an obligation.
However, to the man who does not work
but trusts God who justifies the
wicked, his faith is credited as
righteousness.” (Romans 4:4,5)
Did you notice whom God justifies in
verse 5? To say that God predestines
our eternal reward makes a mockery of
the Plan of Salvation. If God
predestined the eternal reward of a
man without recognizing man’s
actions or power of choice, The Plan
of Salvation would be a deceptive
trick. If God predestined people to
be saved and other to be lost, a Plan
of Salvation would not be necessary.
Think about it-what is the point of
choosing to follow the Holy Spirit if
you are predestined to be lost? In
simplest terms, the difference
between predestination and
foreknowledge is the following:
Predestination (decreeing beforehand)
is setting the alarm clock to ring at
5:00 a.m. the next morning.
Foreknowledge (knowing beforehand) is
looking at a clock and observing that
the alarm setting indicates it will
ring at 5:00 in the morning. God does
not predestine eternal destiny, but
He does predestine events, such as
making the process of adoption as His
sons available to all mankind.
God Predestines People
for Service
God sometimes
predestines people to do certain
things. Notice these three texts:
“The word of the
Lord came to me {Jeremiah}, saying,
‘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 nations.’”
(Jeremiah 1:4,5, insertion mine.)
“This is what the
Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I take hold of to
subdue nations before him and to
strip kings of their armor, to open
doors before him so that gates will
not be shut: I will go before you and
level the mountains; I will break
down gates of bronze and cut through
bars of iron…I am the Lord, and
there is no other; apart from me
there is no God. I will strengthen
you, though you have not acknowledged
me.” (Isaiah 45:1,2,5)
“He {the man of
God} cried out against the alter by
the word of the Lord: ‘O alter,
This is what the Lord says: A son
named Josiah will be born to the
house of David. On you he will
sacrifice the priests of the high
places who now make offerings here,
and human bones will be burned on
you.’” (1 Kings 13:2,
insertion mine.)
I chose these
particular verses because they
represent certain extremes. In the
first text, Jeremiah, the Jew, was
appointed to be a prophet for God
before he was born. In the second
text, Cyrus, the pagan, was appointed
to be a great king that would conquer
the Babylonians. In the third text,
the birth and reformation of King
Josiah was foretold. We know that God
is no respecter of persons. (Acts
10:34) He loved Jeremiah, Cyrus and
Josiah and they were born with a
destiny of service for God. However,
God’s appointment to service has
nothing to do with their eternal
reward. That choice remains their
exclusive privilege to decide.
These texts
demonstrate that God has a plan for
our life even before we are born!
(See also Psalm 139:16.) However,
God’s appointment does not mean
that we are forced to fulfill His
calling. He respects our power of
choice and if we choose, we can turn
our backs on God as King Saul did.
Although God appointed Saul to be
Israel’s first king (1 Samuel
15:1), Saul became evil in God’s
eyes because of His rebellion.
Eventually, the Lord refused to have
anything further to do with him. (1
Samuel 28:6) Remember, God may
predestine a person for certain
tasks, but He does not predestine
anyone for eternal life or death.
Critical Difference
There is a critical
difference between God’s
foreknowledge and God’s power to
predetermine an event. Predestination
pre-decrees the outcome, whereas
foreknowledge knows the outcome of
all things in advance. The future to
the Godhead what the past is to us.
It is unchangeable. We may have a
perfect view of our past, but we are
powerless to change one word, thought
or deed in the past. Likewise, the
Father is powerless, under the rule
of love, to alter or change the
future in any way. Can He be trusted
to leave the future unchanged? This
is a critical question. Any
manipulation of the future would be a
malicious act of God because He
claims that His universe is governed
by the rule of love. The presence of
Lucifer and sin proves, among other
things, that intelligent creatures
have the power of choice. Is God
love? Yes, the death of Jesus proves
His love for mankind. The rebellion
of one-third of His angels, the fall
of Lucifer and the dire consequences
of Adam and Eve’s sin prove that
God will not interfere with the
inalienable right of all intelligent
beings to exercise their power of
choice. This is why the future, as
far as God is concerned, is
unchangeable. He allows it to unfold
according to the choices of His
subjects and He responds accordingly.
Perhaps one more
illustration will demonstrate the
critical difference between
foreknowledge and predestination.
Suppose an airplane pilot can look
down from 10,000 feet and see the
twists and turns of a long river. In
one glance, he can see the end and
the beginning. Also imagine that
people are traveling down the river
in a boat – not knowing where
the river leads. The pilot of the
airplane can see where the boat will
be when it reaches the end of the
journey, but the pilot of the
airplane has nothing to do with the
travelers reaching their destination.
Instead, he can only see where the
boaters will be when they reach the
end of the river. Knowing the end
from the beginning without
interference is foreknowledge. On the
other hand, predestination is
pre-decreeing that an event will
occur, such as setting an alarm clock
to go off at a certain time.
In short, God
predestines events to happen. He also
predestines people to service, but He
does not predestine the eternal
destiny of people. Because He has
foreknowledge, God knows what people
are going to do. He not only grants
us the power of choice, He insists
that we use it! (John 3:16)
Jesus Foreknew
Israel’s Apostasy
The Old Testament
story of Israel illustrates how Jesus
does not use His foreknowledge to
change the outcome of events, even
when they run contrary to His will!
Notice this prophecy. “And the
Lord said to Moses: ‘You are
going to rest with your fathers, and
these people will soon prostitute
themselves to the foreign gods of the
land they are entering. They will
forsake me and break the covenant I
made with them. On that day I will
become angry with them and forsake
them; I will hide my face from them,
and they will be destroyed. Many
disasters and difficulties will come
upon them, and on that day they will
ask, ‘Have not these disasters
come upon us because our God is not
with us?’ And I will certainly
hide my face on that day because of
all their wickedness in turning to
other gods.’” (Deuteronomy
31:16-18)
Jesus knew that the
nation of Israel would do in the
future and He shared this information
with Moses. The Old Testament record
confirms what Jesus knew. However, it
also confirms that Jesus did not use
His foreknowledge to make Israel a
stubborn and stiff-necked people.
(Ezekiel 3:7; Jeremiah 7:26) In fact,
just the opposite is true! The Old
Testament verifies that God did
everything possible to redirect
Israel from its terrible ways –
time after time He sent His servants
the prophets – but Israel chose
to rebel against God! (See Jeremiah
3.) Jesus knew that Israel would
rebel before they rebelled! The
essential point is that Jesus does
not deal with His creatures on the
basis of His foreknowledge. Instead,
He deals with man on the basis of
love and our current needs.
Aren’t you glad! Although He can
see the end from the beginning, He
does not use that knowledge to
manipulate us. God can be trusted. He
will not change the future to protect
Himself or His universe. He carefully
respects our power of choice. Jesus
is the only parent who would send His
child through four years of college
at the enormous cost of $80,000,
knowing in advance that the child is
going to fail. Taking this simple
point to its logical conclusion we
can only conclude that God’s
love was profoundly amazing! Who else
but God would create the cherub
Lucifer and give him everything that
Heaven could offer – knowing in
advance that Lucifer would eventually
choose to become His worst enemy?
From the Creation of
the World
Consider the contents
of this text: “The beast, which
you saw, once was, now is not, and
will come up out of the Abyss and go
to his destruction. The inhabitants
of the earth whose names have not
been written in the book of life from
the creation of the world will be
astonished when they see the beast,
because he once was, now is not, and
yet will come.” (Revelation
17:8) This text indicates the wicked,
whose names were not written in the
Book of Life from the creation of the
world, will be amazed when they see
the beast (the Antichrist) that will
rise up out of nowhere (the abyss).
My point is that the Bible student
can interpret this text to say,
“God knew in advance who was
going to be lost from creation to the
final moment of Earth’s history
and He left their names out of the
Book of Life.” This statement is
true, but understand that the wicked
are not lost because God left their
names out of the Book of Life. The
wicked are lost because they chose to
rebel against God’s authority! A
profound point found within this text
is that during the Great Tribulation,
Jesus will do everything possible to
save men and women. He will save to
the utmost. Jesus will present the
terms and conditions of salvation so
clearly and so powerfully that no one
will be able to justify rebellion
against God or claim ignorance of His
will. Jesus said, “And this
gospel of the kingdom will be
preached in the whole world as a
testimony to all nations, and the end
will come.” (Matthew 24:14)
John’s comment in Revelation
17:8 is set in the context of the
final days of the Great Tribulation,
after God has done everything to save
mankind. John is amazed at what
length God has done to save man from
the penalty of sin, even though God
foreknew who would rebel.
The bottom line is
this. The Godhead has omniscience;
they know everything, but they do not
use their omniscience to manipulate
their creatures or alter the oncoming
future. If they did, they would be
guilty of a terrible breach of
confidence. They claim to operate on
the principle of love, but any power
play to manipulate their subjects
would suggest otherwise. From their
comprehensive perspective of the
universe, the future is clearly laid
out, even though their creatures
create the future as each day
arrives. The good news is that the
Godhead can be trusted with this
incredible power. As events unfold
during the Great Tribulation it will
be demonstrated and proven that they
are righteous, pure, above reproach
and trustworthy. God’s
omnipotence, omniscience and
omnipresence mean that wherever we
are in the grand march of time, God
is already there. Throughout the
endless corridors of eternity,
nothing surprises God. He knows
everything and He is prepared for
every eventuality that His creatures
will choose. This fact should be most
reassuring to finite beings that put
their trust in Him. “From
everlasting to everlasting the
Lord’s love is with those who
fear him,” (Psalm 103:17)
Quiz:
1.
Why is the “power of
choice” given to each person
from God?
2.
Explain the concept of
“fatalism.” Give one
example!
3.
What does it mean in the lesson that
Jesus died the second death for
mankind?
4.
Do the Scriptures have evidence that
God has a plan for each of us?
5.
Explain the difference between
God’s foreknowledge and
predestination?
6.
Do you want to understand through
eternity what “Agape Love”
is?
7.
Are you willing to go, be, and do
what the Lord asks you in the near
future?
Notes:
