God’s Choices (part 1)
Introduction. Among the amazing abilities God gave when He created us “in His image and after His likeness” is the ability to plan for the future. From our earliest memories we set goals and hoped for a brighter future. We created a goal, then set up the small steps necessary to reach it. Being “goal-oriented” greatly increased our success. Our occupation, marriage, hobbies, and friendships were all enhanced as a result of careful planning. Yet often, our well laid plans are disrupted by something we did not foresee. For us, the future is murky and uncertain. This led James to say: “you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’” (Jas. 4:15).
For God, the future is crystal clear. He can see the future as easily as we see the past. He knows exactly what is going to happen. He is never wrong and nothing unforeseen can ever occur. The Scriptures reveal this in many different ways. One of the most powerful is His plan of salvation. As God weighed the future and how things would unfold, He purposed to create male and female “in His image and likeness”, giving us freewill and the right to choose to serve or to rebel. God created all material things, giving man complete dominion and “saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” (Gen. 1:31). He created the world fully prepared for man, but in His foresight, He knew it was possible that man would choose sin. I say possible because when God’s foresight meets man’s freewill, God has not revealed whether He knew man would sin even with freewill, or whether He was prepared for either outcome.
God knew that man could choose to sin and enter into open rebellion against Him. Even with that knowledge, God still chose to make man, but had already devised the plan of salvation to deal with the terrible consequences of sin. He tells us the New Testamant is the “revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began.” Even our “hope of eternal life” was “promised before time began” and we will “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” As God foresaw the future, He devised an “eternal purpose” which included Christ and the church. He foreordained that our salvation would be “according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” (Rom. 16:25; Mt. 25:34; Eph. 3:10-11; Titus 1:2; 2Tim. 1:9). When they sinned, the plan for Jesus to die for them was already in place: “the precious blood of Christ” “was foreordained before the foundation of the world.” (1Pet. 1:19-20).
God’s thoughts about seeing the future are beyond our comprehension. He warned that “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:9). How can we possibly explain or expound on an ability that is higher than the heavens above our own? We can only rely on what He has revealed and fully trust Him that “the secret things belong to God.” (Deut. 29:29). When we speculate on “things hard to understand,” we will place ourselves among the “untaught and unstable people” who “twist to their own destruction” the Scriptures. (2Pet. 3:16).
God has told us about His foreknowledge, but very little about how. Those who twist the Scriptures directly contradict what He has told us about His character. If we don’t understand God’s character and abilities, we can only attribute to Him how we might do it. We know God saw the future and made choices in eternity. Those who assume that the only way God could accomplish this is to force men to do His will have gone far beyond what the Scriptures reveal and have entered into the secret things that belong only to God.
We know “God is love,” and everything He has done is not only in His best interests, but also in the best interests of ALL who are created in His image. Out of this love, God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” God’s justice and righteousness treats everyone fairly. He would never force anyone to sin or compel anyone to do what they don’t want to do in order to bring about His goals. God is “longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (1Jn. 4:8; 1Tim. 2:4; 2Pet. 3:9). Any explanation of foreknowledge that impugns God’s character or twists these Scriptures is false.
God’s foreknowledge is based on an omniscient intelligence beyond our comprehension. The Holy Spirit revealed just how far about us are His thoughts: “O Lord, You have searched me and known me,” “You understand my thought afar off,” “comprehend my path,” “and are acquainted with all my ways.” “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.” “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.” (Ps. 139:1-16). God can read the thoughts of each man and woman so fully, that He already knows our decisions before we make them. He comprehends our path so fully, that He already knows the outcome of our lives before we live it. Every decision we make is already known by God, not because He forces or compels it, but because He knows us so well He can see exactly what we will do before we do it.
Thus, God’s eternal purpose set forth in eternity is fixed, but those who are chosen to bring it about are based on their character. When it came time to send the flood, He chose Noah to build the ark, because he was righteous. He chose Abraham to become the great nation, through whom He would bring His Christ, because of Abraham’s faith. There are always men and women God can select who want to do what He needs to be done. He did not force Moses to make the decision to “suffer ill treatment with the people of God.” He knew that was exactly what Moses would want to do and that is why God chose him.
God doesn’t need to force anyone to bring His plans into fruition. He only needs to choose those who want to do His will and allow them through their own freewill to do exactly what He wants done. It is exactly the same with the wicked. He knows the hearts of the wicked who will never repent no matter what He does. He doesn’t have to force them to rebel. He only has to choose those who want to rebel. This is exactly what He told Pharaoh (Ex. 9:16-17). His pride, rebellion and stubborn heart were well known by God. God raised up the man who became Pharaoh because he already had a hard heart and nothing God could do would soften it. God did not harden Pharaoh’s heart by force. He chose a man who would rebel at anything God asked him to do. God knew even before it happened that the ten plagues would not soften his heart.
This is also what God did with Israel at the time of Christ. He simply allowed the wicked and corrupt who sought power to accomplish their own purposes. He did not have to make them proud and stubborn; they had already made themselves like this. When Jesus came and sought to teach them the truth, they made their hearts harder and harder. Jesus never did anything to provoke them nor did God force them to do it against their will. He simply allowed them to do what they wanted to do. This led Peter to say, “being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death.” (Acts 2:23).
God needed Christ to die. It was His determined purpose planned in eternity. But He never forced anyone. He simply allowed the people who were already wicked to have the positions needed for His will to be accomplished. Such knowledge is too wonderful for us. He did not force them, they did it of their own freewill: “those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him.” (Acts 13:27).
Their ignorance was their own choice. God did not force them to be ignorant. God never needs to use force, He only needs to select the exact right people. God foretold exactly what would happen nearly a thousand years before it occurred: “The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ. For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.” (Acts 4:26-29). But God did not force anyone. Pilate wanted to release Him, but it was the hatred and threats of the Jews that forced him to give in, not God. (Mt. 27:22-25).
Conclusion. God’s character has been impugned and maligned by those who ignore these truths. Everything that came to pass was done through man’s free will. God never compelled anyone. The wicked chose to rebel and the righteous chose to submit by faith. God knows each of us so well that He doesn’t have to force anyone. God wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1Tim. 2:4). He doesn’t want anyone to perish but all to come to repentance (2Pet. 3:9). God’s foreknowledge is an amazing thing, but it comes from a heart of righteousness, fairness, justice, and love.
For God, the future is crystal clear. He can see the future as easily as we see the past. He knows exactly what is going to happen. He is never wrong and nothing unforeseen can ever occur. The Scriptures reveal this in many different ways. One of the most powerful is His plan of salvation. As God weighed the future and how things would unfold, He purposed to create male and female “in His image and likeness”, giving us freewill and the right to choose to serve or to rebel. God created all material things, giving man complete dominion and “saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” (Gen. 1:31). He created the world fully prepared for man, but in His foresight, He knew it was possible that man would choose sin. I say possible because when God’s foresight meets man’s freewill, God has not revealed whether He knew man would sin even with freewill, or whether He was prepared for either outcome.
God knew that man could choose to sin and enter into open rebellion against Him. Even with that knowledge, God still chose to make man, but had already devised the plan of salvation to deal with the terrible consequences of sin. He tells us the New Testamant is the “revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began.” Even our “hope of eternal life” was “promised before time began” and we will “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” As God foresaw the future, He devised an “eternal purpose” which included Christ and the church. He foreordained that our salvation would be “according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” (Rom. 16:25; Mt. 25:34; Eph. 3:10-11; Titus 1:2; 2Tim. 1:9). When they sinned, the plan for Jesus to die for them was already in place: “the precious blood of Christ” “was foreordained before the foundation of the world.” (1Pet. 1:19-20).
God’s thoughts about seeing the future are beyond our comprehension. He warned that “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:9). How can we possibly explain or expound on an ability that is higher than the heavens above our own? We can only rely on what He has revealed and fully trust Him that “the secret things belong to God.” (Deut. 29:29). When we speculate on “things hard to understand,” we will place ourselves among the “untaught and unstable people” who “twist to their own destruction” the Scriptures. (2Pet. 3:16).
God has told us about His foreknowledge, but very little about how. Those who twist the Scriptures directly contradict what He has told us about His character. If we don’t understand God’s character and abilities, we can only attribute to Him how we might do it. We know God saw the future and made choices in eternity. Those who assume that the only way God could accomplish this is to force men to do His will have gone far beyond what the Scriptures reveal and have entered into the secret things that belong only to God.
We know “God is love,” and everything He has done is not only in His best interests, but also in the best interests of ALL who are created in His image. Out of this love, God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” God’s justice and righteousness treats everyone fairly. He would never force anyone to sin or compel anyone to do what they don’t want to do in order to bring about His goals. God is “longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (1Jn. 4:8; 1Tim. 2:4; 2Pet. 3:9). Any explanation of foreknowledge that impugns God’s character or twists these Scriptures is false.
God’s foreknowledge is based on an omniscient intelligence beyond our comprehension. The Holy Spirit revealed just how far about us are His thoughts: “O Lord, You have searched me and known me,” “You understand my thought afar off,” “comprehend my path,” “and are acquainted with all my ways.” “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.” “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.” (Ps. 139:1-16). God can read the thoughts of each man and woman so fully, that He already knows our decisions before we make them. He comprehends our path so fully, that He already knows the outcome of our lives before we live it. Every decision we make is already known by God, not because He forces or compels it, but because He knows us so well He can see exactly what we will do before we do it.
Thus, God’s eternal purpose set forth in eternity is fixed, but those who are chosen to bring it about are based on their character. When it came time to send the flood, He chose Noah to build the ark, because he was righteous. He chose Abraham to become the great nation, through whom He would bring His Christ, because of Abraham’s faith. There are always men and women God can select who want to do what He needs to be done. He did not force Moses to make the decision to “suffer ill treatment with the people of God.” He knew that was exactly what Moses would want to do and that is why God chose him.
God doesn’t need to force anyone to bring His plans into fruition. He only needs to choose those who want to do His will and allow them through their own freewill to do exactly what He wants done. It is exactly the same with the wicked. He knows the hearts of the wicked who will never repent no matter what He does. He doesn’t have to force them to rebel. He only has to choose those who want to rebel. This is exactly what He told Pharaoh (Ex. 9:16-17). His pride, rebellion and stubborn heart were well known by God. God raised up the man who became Pharaoh because he already had a hard heart and nothing God could do would soften it. God did not harden Pharaoh’s heart by force. He chose a man who would rebel at anything God asked him to do. God knew even before it happened that the ten plagues would not soften his heart.
This is also what God did with Israel at the time of Christ. He simply allowed the wicked and corrupt who sought power to accomplish their own purposes. He did not have to make them proud and stubborn; they had already made themselves like this. When Jesus came and sought to teach them the truth, they made their hearts harder and harder. Jesus never did anything to provoke them nor did God force them to do it against their will. He simply allowed them to do what they wanted to do. This led Peter to say, “being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death.” (Acts 2:23).
God needed Christ to die. It was His determined purpose planned in eternity. But He never forced anyone. He simply allowed the people who were already wicked to have the positions needed for His will to be accomplished. Such knowledge is too wonderful for us. He did not force them, they did it of their own freewill: “those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him.” (Acts 13:27).
Their ignorance was their own choice. God did not force them to be ignorant. God never needs to use force, He only needs to select the exact right people. God foretold exactly what would happen nearly a thousand years before it occurred: “The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ. For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.” (Acts 4:26-29). But God did not force anyone. Pilate wanted to release Him, but it was the hatred and threats of the Jews that forced him to give in, not God. (Mt. 27:22-25).
Conclusion. God’s character has been impugned and maligned by those who ignore these truths. Everything that came to pass was done through man’s free will. God never compelled anyone. The wicked chose to rebel and the righteous chose to submit by faith. God knows each of us so well that He doesn’t have to force anyone. God wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1Tim. 2:4). He doesn’t want anyone to perish but all to come to repentance (2Pet. 3:9). God’s foreknowledge is an amazing thing, but it comes from a heart of righteousness, fairness, justice, and love.