| How We Are Saved, Part 10: God's Viewpoint - God Knew Us .... Before |
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| Written by David Lawrence |
| Monday, October 20 2008 00:00 |
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A clue to the way in which God sees our salvation was revealed to the apostle Paul and written in Romans 8:28 to the end of the chapter. For now we cite verses 28-29: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Peter also writes of foreknowledge when he addresses his first letter: “To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood” (1 Pet. 1:1-2). These passages tell us that God knew us before He even created the world. But does God’s foreknowledge mean that He simply gets a preview of what we shall do, like one previews a movie? No, the word implies a relational, intimate, approving knowledge, in the sense that He said of Israel “You only have I known” (Amos 3:2). David reveals much of God’s foreknowledge when he writes the 139th Psalm. He tells us, “Lord, you have searched me and known me!...For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Ps. 139:10-16). These words are often used to show that abortion is wrong because God has created a life in the womb, a life known to Him. They also show that He planned us and saw us complete before we existed. The doctrine of foreknowledge teaches us that God had a loving, caring purpose for our lives in eternity past, and all that takes place afterwards in our experience is governed by the fact that he knows us intimately and personally as His own! |
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