unred typo said:
When you say the future is known by him, does that means no detail can change from what God knows? Can I have any thought that he has not always known millions of years ago? Do you have scripture that says that?
Yes.
No.
Yes.
I've posted them in over a dozen threads.
Exodus 33:19 God's mercy based on his will
Deuteronomy 7:6-7 (esp. 7) chosen-ness not based on something good in the chosen.
Deuteronomy 7:6 God chose the nation of Israel for no good thing in the nation.
Luke 6:13 Jesus chose disciples whom also he named apostles
John 17:16 A group of men belonged to the Father and he gave them to Christ
Acts 9:15 Paul was also a chosen vessel, as were the other apostles
Exodus 33:19 God will be gracious to whom he pleases
Deuteronomy 4:37 chosen-ness based on being beloved
Joshua 11:20 Decisions of the wicked are result of God's hardening
Job 23:14 God does that which he has appointed
Psalm 65:4 The man is blest who is chosen to enter God's house
Jeremiah 1:5 God knew Jeremiah before he was formed in the womb
Matthew 20:16 external call not the same as election
Matthew 25:44 The kingdom prepared for some people from foundation of the world
2 Timothy 1:11 Paul appointed a preacher, an apostle, a teacher
2 Timothy 2:10 Paul endures all things for the elect's sake
2 Timothy 2:19 The Lord knows them that are his
Hebrews 2:13 Behold, I and the children God gave me - applied to Christ
John 17:2 Christ gives life to those who were given to him by the Father
Ephesians 1:5 God predestinated us to adoption according the
good pleasure of his will.
Revelation 13:8 God chose people, not just a plan
Revelation 17:8 God chose people, not just a plan
Romans 9:11-13 God's choice not based on anything creaturely
Romans 9:16 Not based on man's will or man's exertion
Romans 10:20 God found by those who did NOT seek him
1 Corinthians 1:27-29 God chose the foolish, weak, low and despised
John 15:16 Apostles did not choose Christ, but he chose.
Acts 13:48 Those who were ordained believed.
Acts 18:27 Those who believed did so through grace
Philippians 1:29 Granted to us to believe
1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 Because chosen, the word came in
power of Holy Spirit and not just words of men.
2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 God chose them from the beginning to be saved.
A Future Someone Knows (vv5-8) – In all times, men have tried to know the future. In this passage we see that Jehoshaphat assumed that God did know the future. There is a belief system today that claims that God does not know the future because there is no future to be known. Scripture declares quite the opposite. God knows all His works from eternity (Acts 15:18), and there is nothing in His creation disconnected from His works (Col 1:16-17, Heb 1:2-3). Prophecy is not about God’s great skills in prediction. God knows the future perfectly. Occasionally, He lets us in on some specifics. Not only will Peter deny the Lord; he will do so three times, and then a rooster will crow. Cyrus will be the name of the ruler who releases the Jews from exile. Judas will betray the Lord, and the number of pieces of silver is set. Micaiah knows God is never wrong (v 28).
God’s Relation to Time – God’s dwelling is eternity (Is 57:15). His house is forever. This is saying more than simply He has lived there a long time. The scriptures do not teach that from everlasting to everlasting He was and will be God, but that He is God (Ps 90:2). This is why God’s prophecies are perfect. Trying to grasp this is too high for us (Psalm 139:6), and we are warned that we cannot exhaustively comprehend it (Eccl 3:11).
The Things God Knows – In the midst of this story, we see the exhaustive knowledge and providence of God.
Evil Men and Wicked Angels (vv 19-23) – God directed the evil spirits and used them to direct the actions and words of the false prophets. Notice that He does this without taking from them their own free actions. They are doing precisely what they want. God does the same thing with the wicked nation of Assyria (Is 10:5-7) and promises to judge them and hold them accountable for their arrogance (Is 10:12). Human responsibility is never taken away even as God sovereignly decrees those same actions. The words of God to those who crucified Jesus Christ is clear (Acts 2:22-23, 1 Pet 2:8); they freely rebelled and God decreed it so.
Random Actions (v 34) – God knew what that arrow was going to do as well as the stone with which David slew Goliath. He controls the gambling casinos (Prov 16:33). It rains in Bellevue and not in Kirkland according to His decree (Amos 4:7). How often does the day of death look as though it came randomly? But God teaches us otherwise (Job 14:5, Psalm 139:16).
The Seemingly Trivial (v 38) – God decreed dogs to be somewhere doing something at a particular time. He controls the sparrows and the hairs on your head (Matt 10:29-30). He controls the sleep of animals (Is 63:14). He knows how many steps you have taken today (Job 31:4). God sees everything outside and inside (Prov 15:11). And He knows all these things having decreed them all from the beginning (Is 46:9-10).
The Gospel Before the World Began – The story of Micaiah illustrates the exhaustive sovereignty of God in His knowledge, decrees, and providence of all things. Micaiah’s story is just a part of the larger story – the story of the gospel which was written before the foundations of the world.
Before Time Began (2 Tim 1:8-10, Titus 1:1-3) – God promised eternal life through the preaching of the gospel to sinners “before times eternalâ€Â. Grace was extended to sinners before time began in the mind and purpose of God – before there ever was a sinner. This was not done because God looked down the corridors of time, saw the future, and then made choices (Rom 9:10-11). Rather, it was made according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11).
The Purpose of Predestination – God, the Creator of all things, knows all things, decreed all things, directs all things – the seemingly small, to the most significant. What is His purpose in ordering His Creation in such a way?
To Give Himself a Glorious Name (Is 63:14).
To Allow His Church to Declare That Glory (Eph 3:10).
To Declare His Power over Everything (Rom 9:17).
To Preserve a People According to His Promises to Abraham (Gen 45:7).
That We Might Sing of His Righteousness and Goodness (Ps 145:7).
Part of modern man’s problem with the doctrine of God’s exhaustive sovereignty, knowledge and providence, is that it puts all the importance on God and not us. But God did not create the heavens and the earth to declare their glory. He didn’t create us to declare our glory. He created everything and orders all things for His glory. And this means our chief reason for existence is to glorify God, enjoying His wisdom, His goodness, His grace and mercy, and doing so forever.
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