THE DETERMINED OBJECTIVE OF SALVATION "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose . . ." The foreknowledge of God is also associated with Divine determination. It CAUSES things to happen. This use is seen in Acts 2:22-23. "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel AND FOREKNOWLEDGE of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." Other versions read "determined purpose and foreknowledge of God" (NKJV), "predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God" (NASB), and "God's set purpose and foreknowledge" (NIV). -- Tomorrow:
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us." (Romans 8:28-34, NKJV)
Devotion 11 of 33
Surely no one would affirm God simply foresaw that Jesus would be delivered to death. I would consider such a view to be nothing less than blasphemy. Rather, God's foreknowledge related to what He had DETERMINED to do. Peter uses the word in the same way when, through the Spirit, he refers to saints as "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ . . . " (1 Pet 1:2).
There are two succinct statements concerning what motivates God to do what He does. It is not His prescience – or merely seeing ahead of time what is going to happen. First, it is pointed stated, "Known unto God are all HIS works from the beginning of the world" (Acts 15:18). Second, His purposes are according to the counsel of His own will: "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after THE COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL" (Eph 1:11).
CHRIST'S FOREORDINATION
This is further confirmed in First Peter, where the same Greek word for foreknowledge is used. "For He was FOREKNOWN before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you" (1:20, NASB). Other versions read "foreordained" (KJV, NKJV), "chosen" (NIV), and "destined" (NRSV). This certainly cannot mean that God foresaw what Jesus was going to do. Jesus actually came to do God's will, which was cast in stone before He came into the world. This is readily acknowledged by most believers.
When Christ was among us, He traced His total involvement in the will of God to the Father Himself. He did the will of the Father (John 5:30), said the words the Father had given Him to say (John 12:50), and did nothing except what he saw the Father doing (John 5:36). There is only one way to account for "the Man Christ Jesus," and that is the determination of God Himself. Indeed, Jesus did volunteer to do God's will, but only after (speaking as a man) it had been established (Heb 10:4-8).
Can you imagine the absurdity of the children of God standing before the throne of the Almighty upon the basis of their own words and deeds? Their involvement in salvation must be upon the same basis as that of their Savior!
Both doctrinally and linguistically, therefore, the word "foreknow" is related to Divine purpose and intent, not merely to prescience, or seeing things ahead of time.
FURTHER CONFIRMATION
To further confirm that our salvation is not the result of God knowing ahead of time what we would do, the Spirit declares, "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (2 Tim 1:9). Whatever version of Scripture you may use, the saving is consistently said to before the calling, being in the past tense in all version – that is, it is the purpose, or intent of salvation that drove the call. However difficult it may be to receive these things, it is on the part of wisdom to simply believe them. Faith is fully capable of acknowledging this truth and deriving comfort from it.
The foreknowledge of God is also related to the placement of His love. This is the sense of the passage before us. It is also referred to in the eleventh chapter. "God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life?' But what does the divine response say to him? I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal'" (Rom 11:2-4).
The marvelous statement of our text may, indeed, be challenging. However, that does not make it any less true.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You that salvation is firmly anchored in your own person.