Predestination

We are predestined to salvation or to wrath:

"(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory" (Romans 9:11-23).

God is the author of our salvation:

"God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation" (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you" (John 15:16).

"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John 6:44).

"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will" (Ephesians 1:5).

"To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12-13).

Repentance and faith are gifts from God to those he chooses:

"As many as were ordained to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48).

"By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).

"If God peradventure will give them repentance" (2 Timothy 2:25).

"Give repentance to Israel" (Acts 5:31).

"God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life" (Acts 11:18).

God prevents some from believing:

"Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them" (John 12:39-40).

"They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand" (Isaiah 44:18).

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Free Will

Some, in their desire to glorify God's sovereignty, claim that free will doesn't exist. But I praise God that in his sovereign omnipotence he doesn't make us robots without any free will. Just as he doesn't make the unelect continue to lust (James 1:13-14), so he doesn't make the elect continue to serve (Hebrews 6:4-6, Hebrews 10:26-31).

A danger in teaching "no free will" is that it causes people to begin thinking: "God has no right to judge me for sinning if I don't have any choice in the matter." At the judgment, Jesus will hold us responsible for every one of our free-willed actions (2 Corinthians 5:10), even the smallest (Matthew 12:36-37), even though before he made us he knew what every one of our actions would be.

Before creation, out of the infinite possible sequences of everyone's free-willed actions, God chose that single strand which would best reveal his mercy and wrath (Romans 9:22-23). Our free will and God's sovereignly predestinating us (Ephesians 1:5-6, Romans 9:11-23) co-exist in creation just as the probability of quantum mechanics and the determinism of Newtonian physics co-exist. There's no determinism at the quantum level, nor at the level of our free will.

Some say because our will is finite, it isn't free. But free will doesn't have to be infinite to be free. Even if we had only a single decision to make in our entire lives between only two options, still we would have a free will to choose either A or B.

Some say because our will isn't omnipotent, it isn't free. But free will doesn't have to be omnipotent to be free. There are many things that even God can't do, such as die (Deuteronomy 32:40), change (Hebrews 13:8, James 1:17), lie or break his promises (Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18), be tempted by evil or tempt anyone with evil (James 1:13), be hatred (1 John 4:8) or darkness or have any darkness in him at all (1 John 1:5). Is God then without free will?

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Willfully Rejecting Salvation

For us who have believed in Christ, our continued salvation is still our choice insofar as we can still willfully reject our salvation by willfully returning to our sinning and by wilfully committing apostasy:

"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:26-29).

"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned" (Hebrews 6:4-8).

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Satan's Ploy

I believe that in the end times Satan will begin to more openly use his ploy of presenting God as an unjust tyrant, willing to torture for all eternity people he knew from the beginning would never be able to turn from their sins apart from his help. This ploy appeals to men who are in rebellion against God because they love their sins more than they love God:

"This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved" (John 3:19-20).

"This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous" (1 John 5:3).

Satan's ploy appeals to men who are in rebellion against God also because it appeals to their pride: their continuing to willfully commit sin is an expression of their belief that they know better than God what is good, that their will is more important than God's will, and that they should be seated in the heavenlies:

"For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High" (Isaiah 14:13-14).

Just as Satan believes himself to be more important than God, so he wants mankind to believe that they are more important than God, in order that he might drag all of mankind with him into the lake of fire:

"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41).

Satan's ploy attempts to cut the heart out of Christianity, which is humility before Almighty God:

"Not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42).

This humility springs from the acknowledgement that God is the one who created us, and that he alone can keep us alive:

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created" (Revelation 4:11).

"Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves" (Psalm 100:3).

"And none can keep alive his own soul" (Psalm 22:29).

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The Symphony Film

Free will and predestination can be thought of in this way: A symphony conductor has the novel idea of making a film of a "free-will symphony" where members of his orchestra will play whatever they want however they want. He tries it out one day and it's a disaster: pure cacophony. He trashes the film for that day. He tries it the next day and it's still terrible. He trashes that film too. He goes on day after day for some time until one day the most amazing sound begins to arise from the orchestra, filled with harmonies unimaginable apart from hearing them, filled with an amazing melody that cannot be forgotten.

He keeps the film for that day and announces to the orchestra that he will see them at the film-screening, where all the greatest musicians of the world will be gathered to see the film. The day of the film-screening comes and the orchestra members take their seats in the theater. As the film begins the flute player becomes mortified as during that part of the film he was engaged in making the most horrible sounds he could (the day the film was made he had thought he would just have some fun and purposely play like the worst beginner he'd seen); then the harp player started squirming in her seat because she had just sat there the whole symphony flipping through a magazine (after a few weeks she had gotten fed up with the conductor's experiment and when she saw that they were still getting paid at the end of every day no matter what they did, she decided to take it easy that day -- little did she know it would be the day he would screen to the world!). And on and on, some of the orchestra members performed brilliantly for the entire piece and after the screening would be invited to perform around the world, while others like the flute player and the harp player would never play in an orchestra again.

The latter brought suit against the conductor claiming that he had ruined their careers and defamed their character. When the case came to trial the judge asked them: "Are you claiming in this suit that the conductor MADE you do what you did the day of the filming, so that he is responsible for your losses?" "No, your honor," they replied, "we did what we did because we wanted to, but he had no right to choose THAT particular day to screen to the entire world. Many other days we had both performed brilliantly, as he himself will attest." "Is this true?" the judge asked the conductor. "Yes, your honor, but the days they played well the overall piece was unbearable; I chose the day that sounded best overall." "I see," said the judge, and he asked the flute and harp player, "Are you claiming you were not aware that he could choose to screen ANY of the days which you performed?" "Yes, we knew that," they replied, "but now look at us. We are ruined." "I'm sorry," said the judge, "there is no way I can hold the conductor liable for your losses as you had chosen yourselves to perform badly on that day. You should have remembered that the camera was running on that day as on all the others. Case dismissed."

So while it's by God's plan that everything happens the way it does, just as in the analogy it was by the decision of the conductor alone which particular film (which exact sequence of events) would be screened to the world, still we can't blame God for our own free-willed sins.

In order to account for God's interaction with the world, we could say in the analogy that the conductor has his son and others under his direction (i.e. angels) seated among the players from the beginning, and has them playing his sheet music under his direction while the others play without them. Many of the latter could not help but be influenced in some way by the melodies and harmonies being played by the former, but they would in no way have their free will taken away by the former: they could still play exactly as they chose.

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God Gets All The Credit

Even though we have free will, God must get all the credit for our salvation, for without his intervention in our lives, none of us would choose to serve him, for no man can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). Our very faith is his sovereign gift (Ephesians 2:8). He is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2) and our salvation (Philippians 1:6). He opens up his word to us that we might live according to his pleasure (2 Timothy 3:15-17), and he gives us the direction and power of his Spirit that we might be able to forsake our old ways and move forward in his way (Romans 8:5-14). But even with all of this, we still have free will, for we can still commit apostasy or continue in sin to the loss of our salvation (Hebrews 6:4-6, Hebrews 10:26-31).

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God And Evil

Some claim that God himself hardens men to do evil things. But hardening from God still doesn't make or even tempt anyone to sin (James 1:13-17); it just makes them less able to repent from wicked actions they've already chosen by their own free will (Romans 1:24, 9:18).

Some point out that God said he creates evil. But in Isaiah 45:7, evil is the Hebrew word ra, which can mean both natural or moral evil. Natural evil means things like natural disasters. In the context of the verse, "evil" is contrasted with "peace," not "righteousness," so it could be translated "disaster" or "calamity." God is never the author of moral evil (James 1:13).

Some say that God ordains evil things to happen. It's true that some evil things must come to pass (1 Peter 1:19-20), but foreordination doesn't negate free will (Acts 7:51-52). Foreknowledge is not action. God did not kill Christ, for example, though he knew evil men would kill Christ and determined to allow this to happen for the greater good (Acts 2:23).

Some say God actively deceives men. But God himself doesn't deceive; he cannot lie (Titus 1:2, 1 John 2:21, 27). Sometimes God desires that someone be deceived, but only because they had already rejected the truth by their own free will and taken pleasure in wickedness (2 Thessalonians 2:12). He may send to them the delusion of an evil spirit, as he sent it to Ahab (2 Chronicles 18:21), but God himself doesn't entice men to do evil (James 1:13-15), they're enticed by their own wickedness, and are able to be deceived precisely because of this wickedness (2 Thessalonians 2:10).

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Satan & The Foreordained Crucifixion

Could Satan have in any way prevented God's foreordained plan that Christ would be slain? "The precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world" (1 Peter 1:19-20); "The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8); "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2:23).

Do some believe Satan knew less about why Jesus came than John the Baptist did? Note that John the Baptist said: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), and a lamb can't take away sin unless it is sacrificed: "Without shedding of blood is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22); "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter... he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken... thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin" (Isaiah 53:7-8, 10).

Do some believe Satan couldn't overhear when Jesus "taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him" (Mark 9:31), "for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28)?

I believe 1 Corinthians 2:8 is referring to the Jewish and Roman rulers who killed Jesus: "None of the princes [archon] of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Corinthians 2:8); "But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life... And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers [archon]" (Acts 3:14-15, 17).

I believe that in Matthew 16, Satan was tempting Jesus through Peter to forego the cross. That's why Jesus said so forcefully "unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me" (Matthew 16:23).

I believe Jesus was just as vulnerable as we are to every kind of temptation, yet he remained without sin, "for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).

I believe that Jesus' greatest temptation from Satan, the one which I believe made him sweat blood (Luke 22:44), and which I believe may be our greatest temptation in the tribulation (Revelation 14:12-13), was the idea that his suffering and death weren't necessary:

"From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:21-26)

"Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me" (Mark 14:36).

If Satan could get Jesus to disobey the Father and refuse to be tortured on the cross and die because it wasn't necessary when "with God all things are possible" (Mark 10:27), Satan would seal the fate of all men; he would win the battle for mankind. Similarly, if, during the tribulation, Satan can get us (no matter whether we believed pre-trib or post-trib) to doubt God's goodness for making us have to be tortured and die when we could simply be raptured into heaven, he will win our souls:

"They shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness" (Isaiah 8:21-22).

Why would Satan tempt Jesus to refuse to go to the cross (Matthew 16:22-23) while at the same time "entering Judas" so that Jesus might be betrayed unto death (Luke 22:3)? I believe Satan did both so that he could gain the best deal he could no matter which way Jesus responded to his temptation. If Jesus had given in and refused to die, when Judas brought the band of men to capture Jesus, Jesus would have simply prayed "to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels" (Matthew 26:53). In this case, his best deal, he would win all the souls of mankind because Jesus refused to die for them. If Jesus didn't given in and was determined to be "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8), Satan would gain nothing unless he himself was somehow involved in Jesus' betrayal, torture, and death; he could at least savor every minute of that.

I don't believe Satan thought that his killing of Jesus would end his troubles because he could overhear Jesus telling his disciples that he would rise again on the third day: "From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day" (Matthew 16:21).

I believe Satan knows he can't win against God no matter what he knows or does about anything, for "there is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD" (Proverbs 21:30). Satan and his angels know about the "everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41); "art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" (Matthew 8:29); "he knoweth that he hath but a short time" (Revelation 12:12); he knows the prophecy which says "the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Revelation 20:10).

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Unconscionable Crucifixion?

Note that Christ's having to die will only appear unconscionable to those who "savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men" (Matthew 16:23); "We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness" (1 Corinthians 1:23).