A fascinating examination of the concept of God’s foreknowledge and our salvation

Hartland Spring Convocation 2017

<p>A fascinating examination of the concept of God’s foreknowledge and our salvation</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hartland Institute of Health and Education

Cody Francis

From Time Eternal

All right, let's turn to the book of Revelation, chapter 17.

This afternoon, I'd like to study a subject that I have been studying for the last few weeks, and it has captivated my attention.

And as I've tried to piece everything together, and it's not piecing everything together, but as I'm trying to comprehend this subject, I realize how much it is taxing or beyond what I can comprehend.

And so we're gonna try to look at an aspect of this, but if you're like me, it's probably going to be beyond what we can comprehend simply because we're going to be looking at aspects of the character of God that I think it's not really possible for us to fully comprehend.

But I believe as I've looked into this and studied this and thought about this, that it's important for us to understand this biblical concept as well.

So several weeks ago, I was reading Revelation chapter 17.

And this is not normally something that you focus on when you're reading Revelation chapter 17.

But this is what caught my attention and diverted me in my studies to try to understand this phrase.

Revelation chapter 17 verse 8, The beast that thou sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is." When we're looking at Revelation 17 and we see 7 heads and we see a beast that was not and is, was and is not and yet is, normally we try to piece together these descriptions given about these heads and this beast and these crowns and all these different things.

But as I was looking in Revelation 17 and reading this chapter, a phrase that struck me was not about the beast, was not about the heads, was not about how a beast was and is not and yet is, although that's all interesting to study.

The phrase that struck me was, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.

Those that worship the beast, their names are not written in the book of life.

But it says their names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.

And so I began to try to understand this passage, particularly that phrase from the foundation of the world.

And this is not the only place in the Bible that uses this phrase.

Fortunately, there's going to be other verses that we're going to look at that are going to hopefully help us put the picture together.

But as we begin, I want to ask a few simple questions.

When we look at a definition of destiny, destiny has the idea of a set of events that were either predetermined or were, that was the best plan for.

When we look in history, look in American history, there was a term that was used relating to the United States and it was referred to as manifest destiny.

Manifest destiny, now it was a controversial term then, it actually is still playing out in discussions about this country today, although that terminology is no longer used, but the same thought processes are used.

And the idea of manifest destiny was it was the destiny of the United States to go from the Atlantic Ocean all of the way to the Pacific Ocean.

And that was the idea of manifest destiny.

That was considered by some to be the destiny of this country.

Now, that idea of destiny was used actually by Woodrow Wilson.

Obviously before was the idea, it was in the 1840s when this idea of from sea to sea was used as manifest destiny.

Woodrow Wilson was the only president to actually use the term in an official address of manifest destiny, and it was referring to the United States being a leader in the free world.

That's normally the terminology that is used today.

It is, comes back from the idea of this historical perspective of manifest destiny from sea to sea.

I'm not talking about the United States right now.

And if we have a destiny, what is that destiny?

Alright, we know from 1 Timothy 2, verse 4, that God desires all to come to a knowledge of the truth.

We know from 2 Peter 3 verse 9 that He's long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, right?

We know that it is God's desire for the salvation of every single man, woman, and child on this earth, isn't it?

But another question that came to my mind as I started trying to unpack these ideas is, and this question is so simple, but it actually plays into all of what we're going to be talking about.

That's a pretty simple question, isn't it?

If God is omniscient, then He knows Everything, right?

Let me ask another question related to that.

If God is omniscient, if God knows everything, how long has he known everything?

If God is omniscient and knows everything, then God has known everything forever, right?

Now you understand why I said this subject boggles my little mind.

Many times when we are studying prophecy with people, we will talk about God's knowledge of the future events, and we'll go to Daniel chapter 2 and show the accurate portrayal of world history from Daniel's day all the way to the very end, And all that is true.

The Bible says in Isaiah 46 that God knows the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things that are not yet done.

But God's knowledge goes beyond Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, doesn't it?

Here we have the debate that was taking place in the early church over circumcision and the allowing of Gentiles into the Christian circle.

So there were these discussions and these debates that were going on and James then is giving the decision of the body here and he's talking about how God prophesied that the Gentiles would call upon His name, that God knew that the Gentiles would become a part of His people.

But notice verse 18, known unto God are all his works, from when does it say?

That's put in human language so that we can understand it.

The actual meaning of the Greek words there is, known unto God are all his works from eternity.

Known unto God are All of his works from when?

Now that is so hard for us to understand, or at least it's so hard for me to understand.

Because I don't know what is taking place in 10 minutes from now, right?

And I don't even remember everything that took place a year ago.

But the description of God here is, known unto Him are all His works from eternity." God is God, isn't He?

And this is an aspect of God that is very hard for us to understand.

If God knows all of his works from eternity, that also means that the plan of salvation was not an afterthought, right?

The plan of salvation was not an afterthought.

God knew what he was going to do from the days of eternity And the Bible conveys this idea multiple times.

First Peter chapter 1 is an example of this.

First Peter chapter 1 verses 18 through 20.

For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed from corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was, " what does it say?

"...foreordained when before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you." Peter says we were not redeemed with corruptible things like gold and silver.

We've been redeemed but not with such invaluable things or such worthless things as gold and silver, but with the precious blood of Christ, who was foreordained before the foundation of the world and has been revealed to us.

That's why also in Revelation chapter 13 verse 8 it says the lamb slain from when from the foundation of the world.

Romans chapter 16, same idea here, little bit different phrase or different terminology that is used, Romans chapter 16 verses 25 and 26.

Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since when since the world began but now is made manifest and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.

Paul is concluding Romans here and he says, to him that is able or of the power to establish you, according to the revelation or the revealing of Jesus Christ, which was kept secret since before the world began.

Then kept secret, a more literal wording would be kept secret from time eternal.

It's kind of like Paul is saying here, This has been a secret from eternity that just now we're finding out about.

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From Time Eternal

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