PREDESTINATION

I have a question. I want to know what predestination means and why some people seem to be picked and others not. Does that mean no matter what you do short of murder you go to heaven anyway?

Our response:

This is predestination: the Father pre - determined (which is to determine ahead of time) that we would be changed into the likeness of His Son. He decided that anyone who would come to Him would be changed by the Holy Spirit, more and more, to be like Jesus.

The Father knew ahead of time who would come and who would not, but He did not MAKE anyone come. He draws men to Himself by His Holy Spirit, but it is their choice to desire Jesus or not. The fact that He knew who would come, is not predestination. And predestination is not that some people will make it, and others will not, but simply that the Father decided ahead of time to make the ones who DO come, to be changed. It is predestined that they will change.

God knew that Pharoah would harden his heart, because He looked into Pharoah's heart and saw how he was. That is why the Father could know what would happen. (And of course, should the Father wish to, He can look into the future.) When Paul is saying, "Well, who are we to question God? Should the clay challenge the Maker?" Paul is talking about an attitude. Who are we as humans to challenge the living God? This is the same kind of thing that was shown to Job. Who is man compared to God? He loves us, but we are still not to have an attitude against Him.

The Father can be trusted. He has total wisdom. The ones who are "picked", as you said, are those who want Him. If there is a murderer who truly repents, and desires Him, then that is the Father's choice, to forgive or not forgive. (Moses was a murderer, as was David, and Paul.) It is not how serious a sin man commits, but whether or not that man truly wants to know Jesus, and is willing to change. Others who have not committed a sin that is as apparent as murder, yet are cold in their hearts, and do not desire Jesus, will not be changed. They may SAY they want Him, yet He knows their hearts. To anyone who is sincere, who really wants to know Him, He will draw close, and as they continue in Him, it is predestined, by the Father Himself, that they will change - from glory to glory is how Paul phrased that change.

It was not predestined that Adam would sin. Adam did not HAVE to sin. Sometimes people have the idea that it had to happen, and God had this plan all along that He would send His Son to be crucified for us. NO! The Father did not wish Adam to sin. He came up with the plan of Jesus' death on our behalf, because Adam sinned and thereby brought sin into the world. The Father was full of pain when He looked at Adam, as He was filled with pain during Noah's time before the flood. And all those people died because of judgment that came upon them because of their wickedness, not because they were predestined to die in a flood.

The Father loves us and has done everything possible to bring us to Him, even to sending His own Son to be tortured to death, but it is our responsibility to come to Him, and to seek Him, and to repent of our own sin. His response to a truly earnest and sincere heart, is to draw near by His Spirit. He does not HAVE to give His Spirit, as He does not HAVE to forgive, but He is faithful to His own nature. We are accountable for what we do as humans, whether it is to seek the Father, or to sin or to turn from sin. Each of us much see our sin, and see that we need the Father. We each must repent for our own sin, and we each must seek Him until we know Him.

I remember one time when the Father told me that He did not have to forgive me. I was shocked, and I actually started quoting verses from the Bible to Him: "If we confess our sins, He will be faithful and just to forgive us our sins." He replied to me, "Who will make Me?" Well, I thought about that for a minute. Of course there is no one who could make Him. I sat there silently in His presence, then He said, "But I CHOOSE to forgive. I do forgive you." He showed me that He forgives those who are repentant, because that is His nature. He wants to forgive, so He does. It is not a cosmic law of some sort, but a real Person making a decision that He will forgive those who repent. There is no predestination about it, it is simply the way that it is, because that is the way that HE is.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified."

"Many are called, but few are chosen." He calls many of us, but the ones He chooses are the ones who desire Him, and love Him, and who will obey Him. It is not predestined - it is our choice.