.
Predestination
Does God choose who will be saved and who will not?
"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." (Ephesians 1:4-5).
The word predestinated in the scripture above comes from the Greek word "proorizo" which means to decide or appoint beforehand, or to decree from eternity. God is an omniscient Being, and knows everything, past present and future. He knows and sees our actions. He knows our thoughts, and He knows our heart. In 1 Samuel 16:7 (KJV), we read, "The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." The Psalmist wrote in 44:21 (KJV), "For He knoweth the secrets of the heart." David wrote in Psalm 139 (KJV), "O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."
God also knows the future. He knows what is going to happen before it happens. Nothing surprises God, nor catches Him unaware. The Lord said through the prophet Isaiah, "Behold the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them." (Isaiah 42:9 KJV). Peter, in his sermon during Pentecost, said that Jesus was delivered to be crucified "by the foreknowledge of God." (Acts 2:23 KJV). The Bible teaches that God KNOWS the future, not that he PREDETERMINES the future. While He may know what is going to happen tomorrow, He is not a prisoner of His foreknowledge. He can alter the future and His purposes according to His divine will and wisdom. God was fustrated and angry at the people of Israel as He led them to the promised land because of their unbelief. God had planned on smiting them with a pestilence and disinheriting them, but Moses, interceding for the people, caused God to pardon them and change His plans. (Numbers 14:11-20). Hezekiah was sick and close to death. In prayer, he wept before God. God heard Hezekiah and healed him, adding 15 more years to his life.
It is argued that God predetermines the future, specifically that it has been predetermined or predestined who will be saved and who will not. While God may KNOW who will be saved, He has not PREDETERMINED who will be. God has foreordained to redeem a people to Himself and has chosen us in Christ, but has not predetermined which individuals will constitute His church. Paul said to the Romans, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son." (Romans 8:29). It would be cruel indeed for a person walking this earth to feel that he had been rejected by God and was condemned to God's wrath and Hell just simply because he wasn't chosen. Jesus was despised and rejected of men, so that men would never be rejected by God. Jesus' call was to "whosoever will, come and take the water of life." It is God's will that ALL be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. It was foreordained that the Messiah would be betrayed, and that He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. It was not predetermined WHO this person would be. It could have been anyone, but it turned out to be Judas.
When the Bible speaks of predestination, it refers to the church or to believers in associaton with the church. It is foreordained that God will redeem a people to Himself, and that God has predestined His people to be (1) called (Romans 8:30); (2) justified (Romans 3:24); (3) glorified (Romans 8:30); (4) conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29); (5) holy and without blame (Ephesians 1:4); (6) adopted as children (Ephesians 1:5); (7) redeemed (Ephesians 1:7); (8) receivers of an inheritance (Ephesians 1:14); (9) for the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:12 and 1 Peter 2:9); (10) recipients of the Holy Ghost (Ephesians 1:13, Galatians 3:14 and Acts 2:4,16) and (11) created for good works (Ephesians 2:10).
.