Foreknowledge

Bulletin

Dan Peters
05/21/23 - Calvinism

Foreknowledge

God has shown himself to have the ability to know things beforehand, many times. This is seen in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Isaiah predicted the man named “Cyrus” would release the Jews from Babylon (Isaiah 44:27 - 45:7), and it happened 150 years later! God knows the future better than we know the past. This is one of the things that defines him as God. “For I am God, and there is no other;
   I am God, and there is no one like Me,
   Declaring the end from the beginning, “ (Isa. 46:9-10).
But foreknowledge itself does not cause those things to happen. Let me give you two examples.
“You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand” (2Peter 3:17). You may know this before it happens, but you do not cause this to happen. Peter has been explaining a few verses earlier about, “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. (2Pet. 3:10). You may know that the world will end in an “intense heat”, but it doesn’t mean you caused the fire.
Noah knew that God was going to destroy the world in a flood, but Noah’s foreknowledge didn’t cause the rain to begin. “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen,   in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” (Hebrews 11:7). Noah knew it was going to happen, but Noah didn’t cause it to happen.
But there is at least one difference between God’s foreknowledge and our foreknowledge. God knows, but we know by faith. Our foreknowledge is based upon his foreknowledge. Either way, foreknowledge by itself, isn’t causative.
A New Testament example, “Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” (Matt. 26:34). Again, foreknowledge is not causative. Jesus knew that he himself was going to forewarn Peter and that this forewarning itself was not going to stop Peter from denying/sinning. But Jesus prayed. “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32). It seems that Jesus knew Peter well enough, given enough time, that he would “turn again”. So glad that Peter did just that! How about you? Are you ready to “turn again”? Then like Peter, seek eagerly to “strengthen” your brothers and sisters!
Dan Peters