Revelation 22.17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
John 6.37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
John 6.44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
God is The Supreme Creator, Sustainer and Ruler of His universe. He needs no help from His creation. Known unto Him are all His works. Time, as we know it does not exist with God, for He dwells outside of the bookends of what we call eternity past and eternity future. With the clear revelation of absolute sovereignty, what about human responsibility? Does man have a choice in his or her eternal destiny? Are the invitations in Scripture about coming to faith in Jesus to be understood as valid? Or are they only extended to the elect?
Does Scripture teach election? Yes. Jesus, Angels, Israel and saved individuals are all called the elect in Scripture. But does election eliminate human responsibility? Does election negate choice? Does choice and human responsibility diminish God’s sovereignty? I do not think so.
Throughout Scripture, man or nations are given warnings about what is going to do in the future. They are told who it is that will avert those judgments. Any extreme position on sovereignty or human responsibility is a distortion of the clear language of Scripture. Spiritual double talk on either side of this complex subject abounds. Proponents on either side of the issue are left with Scriptures that they must either explain away or interpret them to say what they do not say in order to preserve their systems of theology. Beloved, there is a precious mystery in the Scripture that simply cannot be ignored or explained away. His sovereign rule and government leave one speechless and in awe. Human responsibility is found in words like choose, repent, come and turn. Only God is God. He is The Potter, we are the clay. If there is no ability to choose, then the great commission is not a valid proclamation of the gospel, but a quest to discover the divine pieces of the puzzle.
My thought regarding “freewill” and “predestination” is a good place to review this Scripture:
Isaiah 55:8-9…8(NKJV) “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
and then:
Deuteronomy 29:29(NLT) “The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.
In my limited ability to grasp how both freewill and predestination are true, (seemingly apposing views that are clearly support throughout Scripture), I’ve often thought….. Mankind is a unique creation of God in that He created us with a self determining mind. Elohim did this as He wanted a creation that would not be preprogrammed to love Him and obey Him, making us in His image. The Lord could have created us to automatically love and obey, but what satisfaction would He get from a creation that wouldn’t be much different than a doll that has a string that you pull and its says “I love you”. If predestination is a stand alone truth then we are no different than that doll… and if that is the case why would God bother with things the way they are…. including offering His Son for our sin. Why not just create the preprogrammed doll in the first place that says and does exactly as you want it, avoiding the sacrifice of His Son Jesus and the separation and suffering. If you argue He did it to reveal His love, to whom would He be revealing it to, as predestination alone, invokes God’s inability to create beyond His own Psyche.
I’m at peace knowing the attributes of our God are often beyond the understanding of my little mind…. and recognize Scripture offers as much understanding as we can assimilate, beyond that we will have to wait for more revelation in heaven, most probably learning of God and His ways though eternity future.