Divine foreknowledge and predestination require thought, consideration, and study. And most folks do not want that complication. They simply want to hold to the promise, "all things work together for good". They want to believe that God is sovereign enough to work out the details of their life causing the end result to be good, but they do not want to consider the sovereignty of God in connection with foreknowledge and predestination. The truth is, it's just way to much for the average Christian to have to think about.

They like verse twenty-eight but verse twenty-nine they have no time for. And yet in the Bible these four verses are really one. Verse twenty-eight cannot be interpreted by itself alone. You cannot isolate it from those before or those that follow. "All things work together for good to them." Who is meant by them? Everybody? No. "To them who are the called according to His purpose." If you have been called according to His purpose then the precious promise of this verse applies to you. To know that God will work out the events of the believers life and eventually cause these events to produce good is quite a comfort indeed. But I think we need to spend more time thinking about to whom this promise is made. Now how is it that God can promise me that eventually I will inherit good. Verse twenty-nine answers the question.

And because of this foreknowledge nothing is an afterthought for God. For it is He alone who is both Alpha and Omega, the first and last, the beginning and the ending (Rev. 1:8). We, who know God in Christ by faith, may all rest with confidence that though we know in part, He knows all. Also foreknowledge has part in the prophetic word. God sees tomorrow as clearly as He sees yesterday. And not only tomorrow but also every tomorrow that is to come. And beyond that the whole of eternity. Thus He can give unto us, His children, and heirs the prophetic word as accurately as if the thing prophesied had already happened.

Now if God knows all, and He certainly does, then He knows all about everything and He knows all about everyone. All about me, all about you. He knows the answer to the question most of us ponder in our hearts. What will tomorrow bring? He knows, He knows now, and He has always known. The next question that most, who have understood what I have just said, will be, are those who hold to the doctrine of fatalism correct? Are they correct in believing that because God knows what will be in a particular persons life on any given day in the future, that God is also the one who determined the events and the outcome of that day? Does this attribute truly mean that whatever will be will be. And does this truth mean further that the belief that man was made by God as a free-moral agent is false? Are the five-point Calvinists correct? Does the sinner who hears the Gospel have no decision to make? Or does this foreknowledge of God mean that God knows in advance of the decision freely made by man? I acknowledge the sovereignty of God, and I recognize His complete foreknowledge. And I have in my own mind and heart reconciled this to what is, to me, the Bible's clear and plain teaching on the subject of man's free-will. However this is not the time nor place for an exhaustive study on this subject. That has been done many times by those who hold to both views and yet no argument has satisfied every question.

But I did feel compelled to say just a word about foreknowledge because it is here before us. And a basic understanding of its definition is here necessary in order to understand the verse. Just as I will speak to the subject of predestination.

Now the doctrine of irresistible grace I believe to be false. I sight just one example of an offer of grace having been resisted and rejected. The offering of Cain was rejected by God. He made it without faith and without blood. Cain should have known better and I believe that he did know that the just should live by faith. Surely his father had told him of God's offer of grace to he and his mother. Remember Adam and Eve had sinned, they were hiding from God in the garden, they were scared, naked, and guilty. And then God called, "where art thou". Surely Cain had heard the story of the animals that were slain in order to provide the coats used to clothe the naked bodies of his parents. Cain knew alright, as did his obedient brother Abel, but Cain like so many since his day have decided to go their own way (Jude 11).

He chose to approach God in another way. He chose to circumvent the plan of God. Rejecting the shedding of blood and faith. Opting instead to bring an offering of works, this offering was soundly rejected by God. Now the Bible says when this happened his countenance fell, his prideful bubble was burst by the piercing of God's Word. The Bible says he became angry. Then God spoke again, and said, (this is my paraphrase); Cain there is an animal right out there in the flock that I will accept as a sacrifice, go get it and come by faith. Now we all know the rest of the story, Cain resisted God's offer of grace. Rebelled in sin to the point of taking his brother's life. I do not understand how those who know the Bible so well and they do, can say that grace is irresistible. "And whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate." God made a choice (Eph l), according to His purpose (v:28). And those whom He foreknew would accept His call by their own free-will He then predestinated them to be conformed to the image of His Son. This conforming, to the image of His Son will ultimately and finally as noted before take place in the resurrection. Although through the ongoing process of sanctification, we are right now being molded by the potter's hand.