Did you know that you were known by God as long as He has existed? And for those in Christ, He has loved you for all eternity—past, present, and into the future.
"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."
- Romans 8:29
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Transcript: Hi, Welcome to Five Minutes with Pastor Lutzer. I am so glad that you have joined us today as we continue our study of the attributes of God. And today, as we have often had to do, we are going to jump into the deep end of the theological swimming pool as we talk about the omniscience of God—the fact that God knows everything, both actual and possible.
The text of Scripture comes to us from Romans chapter 8, verse 29. You might be acquainted with it. It says, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” And then it goes on to say that those whom He predestined, He also called; and those who He called, He justified; those He justified, He glorified.
Now I have to tell you that when the Bible uses the word foreknowledge, it means more than simply God knowing. You know, when evangelicals think of the doctrine of election, most of them think of it in these terms: that God looked through the corridors of time and saw that so-and-so was going to believe the Gospel, and so God came along and said, “I’m electing him or her to eternal life.” But actually, God is the one who made the choice.
I know that that raises many questions that we can’t answer in this brief segment. But the word foreknow really means to “fore-love.” God “fore-loved” us. That’s why He predestined us. That’s why He called us, justified us, and even glorified us.
You say, “Well, where is that in the text of Scripture?” Well, look up the word foreknowledge. For example, in the 11th chapter of Romans, the Bible says in verse 2, God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Well as far as knowledge is concerned, God knows every nation. It means the nation that God chose. Now when you begin to think about that, you begin to realize something: that you were known by God—and if you’re a believer, loved by God, known by God, as long as God has existed. From all of eternity. And He has not only known you in the past. He continues to know you all the way into the future.
You know the next verse, as I quickly quoted it a moment ago, says that those who He justified, He glorified.
God says, “As far as I’m concerned, it’s a done deal.” This passage of Scripture is known as the golden chain with five links. He forknows us, He predestines us, He calls us, justifies us, glorifies us. That means that God knew you from the beginning. Nothing that you have ever done catches Him by surprise. Nothing has ever happened, for which He was not ready. Because He knew you from all eternity. I just want that to sink in. But He also knows you into the future. You are already glorified.
Now think about that. Think about how thoroughly God knows you—and as the song goes, “He who knows us the best loves us the most.” Imagine that, God continues to love us, even though there is a tremendous amount of issues in our hearts. As a matter of fact, in our next segment we are going to do a deep dive into the human heart and see what God sees.
But today I want you to think about this. When your funeral happens—and it’s all ready, as far as God is concerned—He sees who is going to speak, who is going to be there. The person who is going to drive the hearse to take your body to the cemetery. That man or that woman, God already knows their name. He already knows the names of the parents of that person all the way back. Because God knows everything. And because I like to say, because He knows the future, you and I don’t have to know the future—we just have to trust Him. And when we trust Him, He will take us all the way to the finish line, all the way to Heaven; because the Bible says we have been foreknown, from the beginning, and in the end, we’ve already been glorified.
Today, worship God. And I hope that you will join us next time. And today worship God, yes, and as I frequently say, just go with God.