(II) God's Foreknowledge Leads To Predestiation

Common Sense Commentary: "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate .....
whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them he also glorified. Rom.8:29-30. God's order and arrangement of these five blessed events in the life of every believer are in the order of their occurrence. From eternity past (foreknowledge) to eternity future (glorified) their order is vital. Glorification is based upon Justification, Justification upon the Call of God, the Call upon Predestination and Predestination upon Foreknowledge. So, all of our Spiritual Journey with God began in His eternal FOREKNOWLEDGE which must precede all else.

The key to understanding Biblical predestination correctly is in understanding the meaning of the word "foreknow". It simply means exactly what it says... "to know before". Though a verb, it does not reflect any kind of action upon anything except thought. The word, "predestinate" is an action upon a person or thing. Knowledge is not action. It is not the brain or mind but is contained withing the brain and subjective to the mind. It is somewhat similar to a computer which has "hardware" with "software" programed into it. One's knowledge is basically the sum total of one's experiences and exposure to information. Intuition is not magic; it is primarily a result of knowledge and experience.

Foreknowledge, in its absolute sense, of knowing exactly what will happen before the fact is an attribute which only God Himself possesses and He did not attain it but always had it. A very knowledgeable, experienced person can often predict the "probable" result of certain activity but never with absolute accuracy or certainty. God alone has that power, not by learned knowledge or experience but as an eternal characteristic of His Deity. He knows all things, has always known all things and always will know all things. Rev.1:8 ..."I am... the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."

The Greek word Proeidon, "to foresee" means to "see before" as in Acts 2:31. This text (v.29-30) says that God had told David, in Psm.16:10, about Jesus Christ and that David, " Seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ". Reason with me. Did David's spiritual "foresight" determine the resurrection of Christ ? Clearly not. He simply had "foreknowledge" of what was going to happen. That knowledge did not in any way affect the resurrection. Likewise, Gal 3:6-9 says that, "the scripture foresaw that God would justify the heathen through faith" as He justified Abraham by faith not works. Question: Did the scriptural prediction of "Salvation by grace through faith in Christ "cause" Christ to come and die for our sins and resurrect from death ? No. It was prophetic foresight of the event. So it is with God's "foreknowledge".

So what does "Foreknowledge" mean ? The Greek word is "prognosis" which means to "know before". Does the Doctor's prognosis CAUSE the disease or does the disease cause the prognosis ? A prognosis is simply a prediction, or foreknowledge of what the disease will, itself, do in the future. It has no causative action. Prognosis, "foreknowledge" of what will happen in the future, like truth, is neutral. It is what it is. There is not good or bad truth. Truth is truth.
A prognosis (foreknowledge), is not a disease put upon the patient by the Doctor. He simply, in his wisdom, knows what the disease will do. It isn't his fault or choosing. So is the "prognosis" foreknowledge of God. He gave us a free will and foreknows what we will do with it. The choice is ours alone but the foreknowledge (prognosis) is His. What God knows will happen....WILL HAPPEN !!! That is Pre destined according to His prognosis (foreknowledge).

Rom.8:29-30 bases predestination upon God's foreknowledge of what we would do with our free will when the time came. Foreknowledge comes out of eternity past, then predestination, then the call, then justification, and then glorification into the eternal future. That is God's order not mine. Now, if our eternal God has that perfect, absolute prognosis (foreknowledge) of our own personal choices, before they even happen, and as if they had already happened, how can that foreknowledge not come to pass ? Not by His decision but ours. He foreknew it but it was us who did it , good or bad. And, if God foreknew it how could it be changed ? Can't prayer change things ? Yes, but He foreknew that too. Another aspect of God's irreversible, unchangeable foreknowledge is ..... "destined" or more accurately, "predestined" and if foreknown and predestined, you can also call it "elected" or "foreordained" but it is still based upon the foreknowledge of God. "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father."
1 Pet.1:2.

This is Biblical "Predestination" according to God's plan, design, will and purpose for our salvation. "According to the good pleasure of His will" Eph.1:5. "which He hath purposed in Himself " Eph.1:9. "Being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will" Eph.1:11. "Christ ...In whom ye also trusted after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel .... Ye believed, ye were sealed." Eph.1:13

Pass It On. RB P.S. = Don't you just love God's Word ?