Free Will --- Predestination

Reasons one may believe in this theology:

• Unresolved guilt or sin they don’t want to deal with
• Fear
• Lack of faith
• Convincing themselves God made them this way
• Overwhelmed by God’s grace that He would want them

Romans 8:29-30  (foundational passage for this doctrine)

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters;  and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

This verse makes clear that the Lord is very logical.

• He knew some would take His offer of salvation so He provided it.
• He doesn’t exclude anyone nor infringe on free will.
• This is about God’s omniscience, not about us.
• He knew everything before creation, therefore, made provision for those who would want Him.

Example:  A mom makes cookies for the entire class.  With 25 children to a class, she provided cookies she knew her own child would like and knew that most of the other children would like them as well so she made provision for them all.  Who the mom fore-knew, she also predestined to provide cookies for her child and the others.

How did free will come about?

Hebrews 11:3 - By faith we understand that the world has been created by the word of God so that what is seen has not been made out of things that are visible.

• The unseen Spirit realm created the physical.
• Invisible laws govern the physical universe.
• The physical creation largely mirrors the unseen realm.

Time to Imagine

Imagine a time when none of the physical universe existed.

• No planets, no stars, only the Father, Son, Holy Spirit and the angels.
• Only the attributes of the Father existed: love, joy, peace gentleness, patience, kindness, meekness, moral uprightness, self control. The light of God filling everything in the realm.
• There was no darkness, no fear, no strife, no confusion, no hate, no opposing forces to God’s light, love and joy.
• Our physical universe, as we know it, could not exist.

The inception of opposites

Opposites came into being when Satan rebelled

• A physical universe requires unseen forces set in opposition to one another.
• Opposite forces prevents planets from flying off their orbits into space.
• Light and dark, gravity and the pull against gravity, expansion and contraction. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
• The spirit realm was changed forever. When God created our universe, with opposite forces in existence then any beings created from the unseen realm would have the ability to take part in opposites as well (free will) and to choose Him or not.

Satan’s Rebellion (Reference Ezekiel 28:12-18)

• “Until iniquity was found in you…” Angels were created with free will and served God without opposition.
• Satan “decided” at some point he wanted to have the throne, take power and have a kingdom of his own.
• One third of the angels went with him deciding they didn’t want the qualities of God.
• A place had to be prepared for them (Revelation 12:8 and Matthew 25:41).
• God, in His kindness, looked for a place in heaven but found none so He prepared a place for all who don’t want all that He is.

Believers are of God’s realm but were once in darkness

• Colossians 1:13 - For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
• Daniel 12:2-3 - And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. And those who have insight will shine like the glow of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
• Ephesians 4: 17-19 - So I say this, and affirm in the Lord, that you are to no longer walk just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their minds, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 
• Ephesians 5:6-13 - See thatno one deceives you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), as you try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the useless deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.

• Ephesians 6:12 - For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forcesof wickedness in the heavenly  
• Romans 1:21 - For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6 - But you, brothers and sisters,are not in darkness, so that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then, let’s not sleep as others do, but let’s be alert and sober.

Made in God’s image and likeness

Human beings are sovereign (possess a controlling influence) because we are made in His image.

God’s “pre-determination”  is related to Him knowing who would receive salvation and who would not.

Since the spirit realm now has opposing forces, provision must be made for those choices.

• With or without God
• Light or darkness
• Love or hate
• Peace or torment

Those who desire to be with God or without God – both require provision for their choices.

Genesis 1:26 – Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

• This statement alone shows, that like God, we are free willed and able to determine our destiny.
• Can a person paint a picture and claim that picture didn’t come from their heart and mind flowing through the brush? The painting comes from within.  The creation of the painting cannot be separated from the creator.

In “Our” image:

• Our comes from the Hebrew word, Elohim. The “im” of Elohim in Hebrew is plural meaning Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
• We are spirit, we have a soul and live in a body making us triune beings like the Godhead.

1. Have you ever talked to yourself about a decision or situation?
2. Have you ever argued with yourself?
3. Have you ever internally contemplated doing one thing or the other?

Likeness (demuth in Hebrew):

• Daniel 7:9 describes God as the Ancient of Days with hair as wool.
• Revelation 4 and 5 describes God as sitting on the throne and Jesus comes to take the book out of His right hand.
• Therefore, the Father is described like a man; 2 hands, 2 eyes, hair, 2 legs, etc….

Image (tselem in Hebrew):

• An outward expression or display of what is in the heart.
• Often used to describe the making of idols – outward expression of what’s in the heart desiring to worship the image.
• Like the painting on the canvas – it began in the imagination of the artist. We are His outward expression.
• Ephesians 2:10 - For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

1. Workmanship (poiema in Hebrew)
2. Each one of us is uniquely God’s poem
3. Created by Him as a direct expression of His own heart, mind, emotions.
4. This proves each person has purpose.

 

 

If God knew some would choose hell, why make them?

The easiest answer is to say the answer is hidden in the heart of God…but let’s consider a possibility:

God is light and in Him is no darkness

John 1:4,5 - In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it.

• ROY-G-BIV: Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.  These core colors make white sunlight.  Clouds and dust filter some of the colors out which is why we see sunsets of different variations.  If unfiltered, then we see it as white – full sunlight.
• X-Rays, microwaves, radio, tv, heat from our bodies, camp fires, stoves, etc… are also forms of light.
• Our bodies give off light, literally glow, at approximately 1,000 times less intense than what our eyes can comprehend.
• The night sky isn’t actually dark but bathed with light but the visible light of the sun is no longer present for a short time.

Now Imagine…

• Within each wavelength of light there is an entire world or realm.
• Example: within the color red there are variations from shades with minimal red to pink to bright red. An enormous amount of choices for all colors and all sources of light.  Literally millions of possibilities.
• God is light and all the subtle tints and shades are within His light which is within His very being.
• Consider that from each of these shades of possibility came all people who have ever lived or will live.
• Remember that we look at natural light for a mirror image as the natural was created from the spiritual.

 

 

 

From his imagination, from all that is light, He created each one of us as a different shade, a different tint. We flowed from Him as a poem flows from the poet's heart.

• The light which is in the natural realm was first in the Spirit realm – before physical light could be created there was the light of the Father God who is light.

“Those” He foreknew

“Those” implies there may be others He did not foreknow.

1. What is everyone’s destiny is not fixed when they are created?
2. What is He created everyone, but just chose to take a glimpse as some who He would know who would choose salvation and kept Himself from knowing the rest?
3. Isn’t that why we pray – to change a person’s future? Don’t we pray so that God may set a person along a path to a different destiny?

Consider that within all those wavelengths of light there are millions of possible outcomes to the decisions from our free will.

• Consider that He withholds knowledge, from Himself, so that He may interact with us in real time with honesty and with real emotion.

1. He did this with Israel and the golden calf or His actions of pity in sparing Nineveh or with lengthening Hezekiah’s life on earth.

Quantum physics as proven a light particle can be in 2 places at once.

• Therefore we can confidently say that God is everyone and that whatever “wavelength / destiny” your life is following, He is there.
• In quantum physics, this would be a parallel universe. In one universe Hezekiah would die from sickness, and in another, under God’s control he gets healed and lives another 15 years.
• God varies the outcome based and in reaction to man’s free will and sets our lives on another timeline.

 

Example:  Parents let their teenager use the family car on a Friday night.  Their “foreknowledge” of their child shows the following options:

1. Their teen may just go hang out with other good kids.
2. Their teen may just cruise up and down main street.
3. Their teen may try to race a friend and get caught by police.
4. Someone may attack their child.
5. Their teen could get into a wreck.

They don’t know exactly what decision their teen will make as there are many options.  They could follow with GPS but they decide to let him make his own decisions.

They know that before they hand him the keys they will be there for him no matter what.  Whether the consequence is the police station, the hospital or the morgue they will be there because they love their child. 

Deuteronomy 29:29 - The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, so that we may follow all the words of this Law.

Some knowledge He retains within Himself.

In Genesis 18, Abraham asks the Lord to spare the cities if righteous people could be found within them and He said that He would.

In verse 21, the Lord said, “I will go down now and see if they have done according to the outcry which has come to me, and if not, I will know it.”

• If God knows everything AND does not withhold knowledge from Himself then why did He have to come down and see Sodom for Himself so that He may see how bad things were?
• Why was Jonah later sent to Nineveh if the Lord knew they would repent and He was not going to destroy them?

 

 

• At the burning bush, why would the Lord tell them they would go to the Promised Land only to judge them (after they rejected Him many times) and say He would give them what they wanted – to die in the wilderness rather than face the giants. Why go through this if He knew before what would happen?

Consider these possibilities:

• He’s seen all the timelines before He ever made the universe.
• All timelines are within His Light and Life.
• He’s made provision for all the possible timelines in our lives.
• He withholds, from Himself, the knowledge of what decisions we might make along the way.
• Our decisions slide us over into another destiny with a different outcome.
• What if, as eternal beings, all these amazing timelines He saw as possibilities for your life will come to pass in the ages to come?

Weren’t we headed for hell until we changed our destiny by giving our hearts to Jesus?  Provision is made for either decision – heaven or hell.  Some “those” He foreknew and determined to provide salvation.

Maybe, He who knows all, steps back from knowing everything like the parent of the child on a Friday night with the family car.  He does this to keep free will intact and to react honestly and in real time to our decisions.

Our free will determines which timeline and which path within His light that we choose.