It's All Part of the Plan

Has God planned us from the beginning of time and does he know exactly where we will end up?

It is true that God knows everything. He knows all the decisions that we have ever made, and he knows all the decisions that we will ever make. Not only does he know that, but he knows everything that would be different had we made a different choice. He knows how life would be different if we had gone to a different school, or would have married a different spouse. So we say that God knows everything, we mean that God knows everything. This is one of those things that could keep you up all night.

It is important to understand that there is a difference between knowing that something will happen, or what will happen, and making something happen. It is like watching the movie Titanic. You know how that movie is going to end. You knew the ending before you even bought the ticket. No matter what was going to happen, the boat is going down. And no matter how much you want to change that, it won't change.

In the same way, because God does what is going to happen, does not mean that he makes it happen. Remember he knows every outcome of every possible path that we choose to go down.

Now, when it comes to salvation, we will find in the scriptures a paradox. A paradox is two statements that seem to contradict each other, but in reality both of them are true. You also have to be careful that you do not make arguments from silence. That is you have to be careful about saying that something is true, even though the scriptures don't tell us in so many words. God's word can speak for itself and it is best to not add to it.

With that in mind, God has chosen his people before the creation of the world, to be his people. For those who belong to him, that is a great source of comfort and strength. But you can't automatically assume that the opposite is true. You can't simply say that God then has chosen other people, who are not his, to be separated from him for all eternity. That is not how the scriptures speak. In fact, they say the opposite. God desires that all people would believe in him and come to know salvation in Jesus. God wants all people to be saved.

Because this is true, then the church has a pretty big mission to accomplish. And this not converting people, because only the Holy Spirit can do that, but it is for us to proclaim the good news of God's love in Jesus. To love and serve people as God would have us love them, and to speak and give witness to the hope that is in us. We do this, because from a spiritual perspective people are born in sin and are separated from God, they are spiritually dead and can, on a spiritual level, do nothing. They can't choose to follow Jesus or anything like that. However, the Holy Spirit works through his word, to give life to people, so that by the time they say, "I want to be a Christian" the Holy Spirit has already worked his wonderful work.

Now the Holy Spirit, can work in any way that he wants. However, he has chosen to work through the Scriptures, that is why it is important for us to proclaim them correctly, so that the Spirit can bring about salvation through them.

This is a topic that can be difficult to understand. But it is very much an important one. If you are in need of more explanation. Please let me know.

God's peace in Jesus.


Pastor CJ