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
