Saturday, June 10, 2017

Whom He Did Foreknow







Whom He Did Foreknow

Romans 8:29

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brethren.

            The foreknowledge of God is not His mere prescience of all things that shall ever come to pass or His omniscience; it is not a prescience of actions and beliefs of men, for the statement is not what he did foreknow, but whom He did foreknow. The same Greek word that is here translated “foreknow” is in I Peter 1:20 translated “foreordained”. So that with doing no violence to the scripture; we may say that; whom he foreknew is equivalent to whom he foreordained. The biblical sense of foreknowledge as the word is used in the subject verse is; whom He loved before, and foreordained according to that love. God’s love is, like Himself eternal, immutable, and constant. The love of God must be in agreement with all His attributes, it must be eternal for God is eternal, it must be immutable for He is immutable. Therefore whom God loves today He has loved from everlasting, and will love to everlasting. “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6). The scripture is precise in its description of the love of God; for the statement is “yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” (Jeremiah 31:3). Here the love of God is shown to be individual and eternal, for He says “I have loved thee” what is here applied to Jeremiah may be applied to all believers of all ages, for all believers are of one Father (Hebrews 12:9) and His love is declared to be everlasting or eternal.
 The words of Our Lord Jesus Christ in His Great High Priestly Prayer confirms what has just been said “I in them, (those for whom Christ prayed in verses nine and twenty) and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:23-24). In these words we discern the eternity and infinity of the love of God for the objects of His love; and it is for the objects of His love and none other, that our Great High Priest prayed. Reader, I implore you; to turn to the verses listed above: (John 17: 9, 20, 23 and 24); you will find that as our Great High Priest; Christ Jesus, prayed for the Apostles in verse nine, and believers of after ages to include the present day in verse twenty. And in verse twenty-three He alludes to the infinity of the Love of God, and in verse twenty-four He alludes to the eternity of the love of God. Reader, notice also for whom the Lord Jesus refused to pray, “I pray not for the world” it is the duty of a priest to pray for those for whom he is priest, therefore our Great High Priest, Christ Jesus would not pray for the world, but in His prayer He specifically and emphatically omitted the world, and included the Apostles and those who would believe on Himself through their word. In that prayer Our Lord demonstrated the discriminating nature of His Priesthood, and of the love of God, as it is written “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21).

            For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate; Persons that God has determined before to salvation (that is, persons God has predestinated to salvation) are certain to be saved in time, those persons are decreed to obtain salvation according to the unchanging will of God. The issue of all ages in redemption and creation, hang on the shoulders of Jesus Christ and on His propitiation which He accomplished in His death at Jerusalem; there God had determined that “against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do what so ever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” (Acts 4:27-28). That which God had determined before to be done by the “gathering together of both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel,” as the instrumental means of accomplishing His eternal purpose of reconciliation of His elect in the blood shedding and death Christ Jesus; that He fulfilled, for, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.” (Isaiah 53:10).
          All the attributes of God are satisfied and agree together in all things that God has predestinated, all His attributes as: His wisdom, justice, truth, holiness, grace, love, mercy and whatsoever may be named of His attributes. His justice was not diminished in order that His love might be manifest, as it is written “Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” (Psalms 85:9-10). Whatsoever God has determined as good in His sight and as desirable to come to pass according to His pleasure and answerable to all His attributes that He willed in His determinate counsel, and, that He decreed to come to pass according to His will.  And it is written “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.” (Psalms 115:3) and “Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.” (Psalms 135:6). “The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:” (Isaiah 14:24). Again the Holy Ghost declares by the prophet Isaiah “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:” (Isaiah 46:9-10). The Spirit of God also declares by the prophet Daniel “And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes to heaven, and mine understanding returned to me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” (Daniel 4:34-35).   
       So that as it is written “Him, (that is Christ Jesus) being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:” (Acts 2:23). The determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God; is that which is well pleasing to God, in order to accomplish His purpose. In His determinate counsel He determined that which was to be done; which was the justification of His many adopted sons by the blood of His only begotten Son (Hebrews 2:10: Romans 5:9). His foreknowledge of the things determined was His knowledge of approbation of those determined events that must occur in order that the many adopted sons might be justified by His one offering, once offered forever (Hebrews 10:10). His children of the everlasting covenant (Acts 3:25; Galatians 4:28) are of one mind, saying “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 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, .. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will:” (Ephesians 1:3-5, 11).
            When God in sovereign mercy visits one of His beloved children who in themselves is dead in trespasses and in sin; at the time appointed in the everlasting covenant He speaks to them the word of life.
            Reader, those whom God foreknew are His people; “God hath not cast away his People which he foreknew” (Romans 11:2) for Christ Jesus came into this world to “save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21). His people were chosen “in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:5) “not of works but of Him that calleth” (Romans 9:11). “Not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” (Romans 9:16). “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) So that the grace whereby we are saved was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; for Paul wrote to Timothy “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with a 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,” (II Timothy 1:8-9)  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us,” (Titus 3:5). It is not what God foreknew about certain people but whom He foreknew in covenant love. For the Holy Ghost has spoken by Jeremiah the Prophet “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” And again “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore by lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” (Jeremiah 1:5; 31:3). And in figurative language the Holy Ghost testified concerning the call of the elect “And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live. (Ezekiel 16:6). It is not that God saw anything in the elect that made them worthy of redemption, for it is not of works; it was because God had known and loved His covenant children from everlasting in Jesus Christ. May the God of all grace and mercy reveal these wonderful truths to the hearts of those who Christ has redeemed.

A. J. Ison         

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