Did God know before He created the world that His Son would be sacrificed?
Question:
Greetings and God bless,
I just read your answer: Could you explain "foreknew" and "predestined" to me? Concluding the article, you said:
"The idea of predestination in the scripture can be summarized bysaying that God predetermined (or predestined) before the beginning of the world to set up a church through his Son's sacrifice..."
My question: is from the last three words, "his Son's sacrifice." Do you mean that God knew that Adam will fall before He created him since you said He was aware before time began that His Son would be sacrificed?
Answer:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:3-6).
God laid out a plan to save people before He created the world. This plan included the types of works God wanted us to do. "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). And the method we would be justified.
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment -- to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ" (Ephesians 1:7-9).
"And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God" (I Peter 1:17-21).
God's plan also included where the saved would live. "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world'" (Matthew 25:34).
All these plans indicate that God knew in advance that men would sin. It isn't too difficult to understand why. If the town puts up a new stop sign at an intersection, the town council puts laws in place in advance about the punishment for running past the stop sign, even though no one has done it yet. The fact that it exists means that someone, somewhere is going to break the law.
