Doctrine #17: Predestination

Summary of verses 11-15: There will be two judgments. There will be a Reward Judgment (according to works in books) and a Salvation Judgment (according to one book: the Book of Life).

Everyone will be judged according to all their works, all the works they did of themselves whether good or bad. This will be the only moment in history that Justice is completely equaled out. It will be done in front of everyone proving God is Just.

Some people think we will all have the same amount of Reward. They say that because they know there will not be any jealousy in heaven, and they think the way to do that is through the man-made concept of denying uniqueness. Actually, it would be unjust for everyone to have the same Reward when some people deserve more and some people deserve less. Jesus told us to store up treasure (Reward) in heaven (Matthew 6:20). In fact, earlier in Matthew 6 Jesus said some people get their Reward on earth and others get their Reward in heaven. There will not be jealousy over people having different amounts of Reward because people will know it is Just for some people to have more Reward than them and some to have less.

Also, the Reward judgment occurs first. Then the Salvation judgment. There will be people with Reward who do not make the Salvation judgment. What happens to their Reward? Again, people, in hopes of denying uniqueness, want to say that Reward is given to those who do not have much to get everyone closer to the same amount of Reward. Actually, according to the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), those with the most get the left over Reward, making the difference of Reward between people even greater.

Finally, notice that everyone that does not pass the Salvation judgment will be cast in the lake of fire. One of the places people could spend eternity is the lake of fire. The Bible ended with "bad people go to the lake of fire"...not "bad people go to hell."

Next, we will find out the other place people can spend eternity, which is why the last two chapters (21 and 22) are denoted by the "21,22" in the final section of the diagram which represented eternity.

The current heaven and current earth will pass away. They will not be remodeled or improved. They will be taken apart atom by atom and never exist again, because they have been defiled by Satan. Also, heaven no longer needs to hold all the angels and believers prior to the battle of Armageddon, it will have a different purpose. Apparently, the earth will have a different purpose because it no longer has a sea. From Genesis 2:22, Eve was the last creation by God before this verse. In Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, we saw that every creation made by God was more complicated than the previous creation. God created a new heaven and a new earth. These creations were more complicated than Eve.

This stated the new Jerusalem came down from heaven of God and was made ready, as a bride. The new Jerusalem is the Bride. Notice, this city is not "New Jerusalem." This city is Jerusalem, the new version. This was the final creation recorded in the Bible. This was the most complicated creation: The Bride.

The new Jerusalem was also referred to as the tabernacle or house of God. In John 14:1-4, Jesus stated He was going away to prepare an eternal place for believers, which He called His Father's house. In it, there were many mansions. Hebrews 3:6 stated that Christ was the Son over His own house, "whose house are we"...the believers. Finally, in John 14:23, Jesus said that the Father and the Son would make their abode with believers. Now we see that the new Jerusalem will be the eternal dwelling place for believers, and it will be on the new earth. So, everyone will either spend eternity in the lake of fire or on earth in the new Jerusalem.

Recall the Disclaimer discussion from the previous chapter, everyone will exist forever in either the lake of fire or the new earth. What happens to those who died without being able to intentionally make a choice to be for or against God? God is always completely Right and always completely Just. God would not send these people to eternal torment through no fault of their own. However, God would not bring these people into the new Jerusalem against their will. There appeared to have to be a moment when these people would be able to make a choice prior to Final Judgment. Since people will not die in childbirth during the Millennium, there will not be the issue of people not being able to make this choice coming from the 7th Dispensation. It would seem the time for God to give the people from the first six dispensations to make their choice would be during the 7th Dispensation.

Summary of verses 1-4: A new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem were created. The new Jerusalem was referred to as the Bride and the tabernacle/house of God. Believers will inhabit the new Jerusalem. The Greek root for the word cell was room. The new Jerusalem is a Bride made up of many cells (rooms the size of mansions). The believers will occupy each cell bringing life to the Bride. Every cell in the body of the Bride will desire Jesus because every cell contains a believer. Every cell in Jesus' body desired the Bride as we saw in Hebrews 12:2 that Christ left heaven to endure the cross because of the joy set before Him. The joy that Jesus did not have in heaven before He endured the cross, and the reason He endured the cross was to facilitate the creation of the Bride.

Do you remember what was taught as the "Meaning of Life" from Paul's Letter to the Ephesians?:

"All believers interact with each other as "cells in the body" of the Bride which is married to Jesus."

Paul established four different communications with God. Notice, prayer was listed separately which proved that not all communication with God was called prayer.

Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for all men and for all that are in authority. The reason: so that we can live a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity.

Doctrine: It is God's Will that all men are saved. This meant that God's Will is for everyone who has ever lived, is living, and will live to be saved.

Jesus stated that it would be better for Judas to have never been born. This was another verse that showed Judas did not end up in heaven...ever.

Chapter 7 concluded the "Sermon on the Mount."

It will take an intentional approach to walk the narrow and straight path. Jesus said that few find the straight and narrow path. This focus on Salvation served as a transition for this chapter. Salvation came to a few that acted differently than people in the world. The first verse of this chapter can now be seen as Jesus encouraging believers to be different than those in the world by not judging.

Remember, context was crucial. Paul continued to speak about believers who, even though they do evil because of the sin within themselves (body/flesh/brain), chose to serve God with their being (Mind/Soul) through Biblical Grace.

Remember this chapter was concerned with believers. God foreknew everyone, otherwise He is not God. We have seen Paul made the case that God provided everything a person would need to attain Salvation...which meant God foreordained, called, and justified everyone.

We saw Paul stated Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross resulted in everyone having the ability to be justified. However, it was up to the individual to choose to believe this by faith. Every believer was glorified, justified, called, foreordained, and foreknown by God. However, every non-believer was foreknown, foreordained, called, and justified. What is missing for the non-believer? - being glorified.

The word "glory" means "intrinsic value" and resulted in "thinking well of." So, glorified would mean the individual recognized (perceived/thought of) the value within God, enough to let God's influence direct his actions, which would cause God to value (and think well of) the individual.

Remember, the critical passage in the first chapter stated the ultimate cause of people being non-believers:

"20 For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse:

21 because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened."

Non-believers "glorified him not as God"! The non-believer's unwillingness to receive this justification by faith was the reason he was not glorified. God did not think well of non-believers, so His wrath was against them. God valued those who valued Him. Remember, this chapter was focused on those who chose to continually walk according to the Spirit and not the flesh. This was the cause of being "glorified."

What better "value" is there than continually walking according to the Spirit and not the flesh"? Whether or not you are "glorified" depends on whether or not you choose to see the value within God enough to walk by His Spirit. Is the divine influence upon your heart being reflected in your life?

Doctrine: The word "foreordained" or predestined meant "to limit in advance." This did not mean that every thought and action you ever had or will have was planned out before you were born. For example, males are foreordained not to bear children. In this passage, foreordained/predestined meant that everyone was limited in advance to end up in only one of two places for eternity: the new Jerusalem or the lake of fire. Everyone was limited to these two options in advance of anyone being born. Where you end up out of the two options is dependent on your choice.

Calvinists create their own doctrine of "foreordained" to mean that God decided every individual's eternal habitation ahead of their birth and there was nothing the individual could have done about it. People who were "foreordained" by God to end up in the new Jerusalem will end up there whether they want to or not. People who were "foreordained" by God to end up in the lake of fire will end up there no matter what they choose or want. Calvinists interpret verses 29 and 30 backwards: only those who were glorified were justified, and only those who were justified were called, etc. Again, the only way to misinterpret these verses in this fashion is to ignore the previous seven chapters of the Book of Romans.

Premise: Believers speak the wisdom of God in a mystery which the princes of this world (unbelievers) have not known.

Reason: if they did know God's wisdom they would not have crucified Christ. Whether or not you understand the mysteries of God's wisdom is dependent on if you are a believer or not, a choice that is yours alone.

Paul referenced Isaiah 64:4 to show that God intentionally approached man in a manner opposite to his flesh. Notice, if you choose to love God instead of the flesh, then you are choosing to understand God. God did not foreordain who would choose to love Him. God did foreordain the process for finding out who would choose to love Him.

In the New Testament, there were two different "positions" referenced for believers:

• First, "through Christ" meant "the Holy Spirit through us while we are on earth."
• Second, "in Christ" referred to the effects we will experience in eternity, when we are in the new Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit is through us to the maximum amount.

We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the spiritual realm in eternity. However, this did not mean we couldn't access these blessings now. We would need to access these spiritual blessings in heavenly places through spiritual means.

Verse 3 set the context for the next three verses which were Paul's first presentation of the Meaning of Life.

God had a plan before the foundation of the world in that we would be holy and without blame before Him in love eternally in paradise. We have all been foreordained to be children of God by the adoption made possible by Christ according to His Will. It is God's Will that all be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). God intended for everyone to live eternally in the new Jerusalem building up the Bride through love. God provided everything everyone would need to end up in the new Jerusalem for eternity and it's the individuals who are the ones who choose not to receive Salvation by grace.

The next section covered God's Will.

Verses 7 and 8 covered the foundational Doctrine of Christianity: Salvation.

The mystery of God's Will has been revealed. If we are believers, we can and ought to know God's Will.

God's ultimate Will is that all things in the heavens and upon the earth will be summed up in Christ: the new Jerusalem being married to Jesus. This will occur once all the dispensations have been completed. God the Father and Jesus the Son were mentioned, however, this sentence still was not finished...

Again, with the mention of the Holy Spirit, all three Members of the Trinity were mentioned separately. As we saw in 2 Corinthians 1:22, the Holy Spirit was referred to as the "earnest." After we believe, we are "sealed" with the Holy Spirit in our hearts. This is a sign/symbol of what is to come. It is similar to an engagement ring. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit so He could go prepare a place for His bride. The Holy Spirit is the "earnest" (a down payment) of our inheritance. Notice, Paul's description of the Meaning of Life was lacking specific details, however, the allusions to marriage were present.

Jesus' death was prophesied because the causes were in place then for God to have enough value to make happen what He wanted to happen. God telling the people through prophets was God letting people know what God would choose to do when the time came, what God foreordained. If Jesus' time on earth was predestinated against the will of everyone involved, then Jesus would not have prayed His prayers in the garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26:36.