Foreknown



 

Man lives in the confines of time, but while God appoints times, He is not confined to time. All of our perceptions, even about most of scripture, are built around a measured past, present, and future, but God is not limited in this same way. 
As I read the Word, however, sometimes I get the feeling that I am being shown glimpses of an eternity beyond the yesterday, today and tomorrow timeframe that we automatically relate to scripture. An example of this occurred during my reading of the following verses:
"Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck (soul). I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God...But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, in the acceptable time; O God in the multitude of Your mercy, hear me in the truth of Your salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the floodwater overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up; and let not the pit shut its mouth on me....Draw near to my soul and redeem it...My soul waits for the LORD more than those who watch for the morning- yes, more than those who watch for the morning...I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up (rise, depart, spring up) out of a horrible (noise, tumult, like a house crashing down, roar, destruction, waste, desolate, be in ruins, to cause to be desolated) pit (well, cistern, dungeon, lowest sepulcher of stone-root meaning: declare, make plain, letters on a tablet), out of the miry (mud, dregs of wine) clay (damp dirt, root meaning includes: demon, dirt to be swept away, destruction as being swept clean) , and set my feet upon a rock (a fortress, a refuge, a stronghold of security), and established my steps (follow the footsteps of God, go straight, be happy, be blessed, prosper)."   Ps. 69:2, 13-15, 18, Ps. 130:6, Ps. 40:1-2
As I read these verses, I strongly felt that these words of David's could have been spoken  by Adam to God in the midst of a desolated, empty, void that was in the beginning (Gen. 1:2) before the work of creation began. After reading the verses above, does anyone else feel that way?
I began to picture God, having heard Adam's cry, pushing back darkness, and speaking light, establishing mornings of hope and new mercies where there had been no mornings. We know from the Word that God established these mornings even before the sun was created (Gen. 1:5, 14-18). For whose benefit did God break out these supernatural mornings? Perhaps He did so in answer to a soul crying to Him from an abysmal, dark emptiness. The message of hope that these mornings would carry to such a soul would be, "I hear you. I'm coming. I will save you." God divided and restrained flooding waters until the dry land appeared. Later, God formed the man and blew His breath into the man's nostrils, and man became a living soul. The term "living" also includes the idea of quickening, reviving, repairing or restoring life. God then fastened a garden (enclosure, root meaning: to defend, to cover, surround, protect, hedge about) to the earth, and placed man in it to provide him with protection and security. This coincides in meaning with what David said, "He set my feet upon a rock". 
This impression of God's rescue of Adam that I had while reading these verses from the Psalms would, if accurate, make the account of Adam's subsequent fall even more pathetic. God re-formed and recreated out of vast void and desolation to answer the cry of Adam's soul, yet Adam rejected His will after he was rescued, revived and safe. This similar falling away could also apply to many believers as well as we choose our will over His.
You may say that I am taking a giant leap from scripture into interpretation or impression, and I agree that I cannot prove my impression with specific scriptures. However, I can prove a scriptural precept and foundation which could include such a scenario. According to scripture, a spiritual place of foreknowledge exists in God that is more profound than even Einstein's physics of time and space. If you will bear with me a little further, I promise I will establish this foundation, and it is that foundation in truth that is most important, rather than personal "impressions":
-David is not just a psalmist, but a prophetic and Messianic messenger. One thousand years before the birth of Christ, David revealed the words that Christ would speak (Psalm 22), and many events that that would relate directly to Christ. If David had an intimate spiritual knowledge of the Last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45, Rom. 5:14) before He became flesh, why couldn't David have intimate spiritual knowledge pertaining to the First Adam? Both Adams were connected to each other as "types" (figure, image: see Gen. 1:26, root meaning: wound, beat, smite, strike). Similarly, scripture also calls Adam "the son of God" (Lk. 3:38).
Is it possible for God to know a person before they are physically born or created? Absolutely:
- David wrote that God knew him before he was born: "My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skilfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them."   Psa. 139:15-16
-God knew Jacob, and his descendants, all of Israel, before Jacob was born (Isa. 44:2, 24).
- The prophet Jeremiah was known by God before he was born, even before the womb: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."  Jer. 1:5
-The priesthood tribe of Levi was known by God, and offered tithes to God, generations before Levi was actually born, while his generation was still in his ancestor Abraham's loins (Heb. 7:9-10).
- WE were known before we were born, even before the creation- not only known, but called to salvation:
   "...just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love...being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.." Eph.1:4, 11(also see Rev. 13:8)
    "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."  Rom. 8:29-30. This is also why scripture can say that we were already crucified, buried, and raised with Christ, when He was crucified, buried, raised and living again (Rom. 6:3-8).
    "...elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ."  1 Pet. 1:2
Regarding my impressions of Adam and his pre-creation cries to God as being the impetus of the startling creative work of God let me pose the question:
If God knew David, Jeremiah, Levi, and all of Israel before they were born, and knew and saved us even before the foundation of the world was established (and we were in Adam), why could He not also have known, heard, revived, and rescued Adam in the same manner?
I understand if you do not think that my impression concerning Adam is scripturally accurate, nor is it right for anyone to hang their faith upon any "impression", but upon the Word of God only. The speculation regarding Adam is not even the main point of this entry, which is the foreknowledge that God possesses, especially concerning our lives and purpose. This view of Adam as the impetus of the creation work of God that we read in Gen. 1 was only valuable because of the impact it had upon me, and the impression it made on me, to start me on a search that taught me something about the awesome magnitude of God our Father, and the depth of His omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, power and knowledge in eternity. It helped to illustrate for me His driven, unconquerable love to rescue and save us from before the foundation of the world. Its personal message to me is the assurance that He knew me in eternity and heard my cry, and moved heaven and earth to save me. I hope it has a similar impact for you.
 
Our Father knows and declares the end from the beginning.

"Morning Has Broken"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rifby1tVE8

Giving

This entry is for "the givers", and you know who you are. Many of us give faithfully to a ministry, a church or a synagogue, a leader of a congregation, a building fund, a denomination, a critical need, an emergency, a church program such as "missions", or the church food pantry, and so on. The needs are very real for ministries, but the "supply" often seems to fall short of the need. I think that in the times ahead, economic pressures on ministries may even increase. It is time to examine our giving.
For some of us perhaps, as conscientious as we try to be regarding the giving of tithes and offerings, we can often leave out the most important factor. Although we are sincerely trying to fill a need with what we have in our pocket, we are leaving out the Miracle Worker, the Multiplier, our Father in heaven. This is about the heart of the one who gives. We don't want to be like ones who honor God with their lips, but who have removed their hearts far from Him (Isa. 29:13, Mt. 15:8).
Paul said:
"Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus ("lovely, "devoted", root meaning-superimposition of time, place, order, etc.) the things sent from you, a sweet smelling aroma (fragrance of incense or the pleasing smell to God of sacrifice), an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches (root-to fill, to be filled) in glory (good opinion concerning (God) resulting in praise, honor, and glory, judgment, splendor, belonging to God) by Christ Jesus."   Phil. 4:18-19
Our offering is made not to a church, or to a need, or to a leader, but to God. His riches in glory in this case, as Paul describes, are created from praise, honor, glory given to Him with our offerings. He then supplies us from those riches. This is a supernatural conversion of an act of loving worship from a giver's heart, into a miraculous supply. Our Father certainly knows when we have bypassed Him, and have tried to supply the need from our own natural riches, whether large or small. These needs cannot be met by natural wealth. These needs are met when we give in glory, honor and praise to the One who turns natural wealth into supernatural abundant provision. Natural wealth is depleted. The supernatural wealth of God in Christ never runs out. Give to God with all praise, honor, thankfulness, gratitude, love, devotion, loveliness, holiness, glory, and He will abundantly supply from the riches in His glory created by what our heart offers to Him. We make a great mistake when we leave our Father out of the picture of giving, when we leave Him out of our hearts in this activity of worship. He is the whole, miraculous, vital ingredient. Giving in God's kingdom is not about what is in your wallet, but about what is in your heart. The sweet savor that comes up to Him doesn't come from the smell of our money when we offer it. It comes from the sacrifice of love from the soul that should be offered to Him with and through that giving. 
When even something meant for good, like giving, comes out of our own strength, it is limited by the flesh through which it was given. Giving out of our own strength is giving without Spirit, without the miracle life that it was created to have. In another place, the scriptures say, "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ."  Col. 3:23-24
It is also interesting that God, according to the Philippian scriptures, supplies us with His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. When Jesus performed the miracles of the multiplication of the fish and the loaves, He offered them first to God with a blessing to Him: "And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed (to give thanks) and broke and gave..."  also, "Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them...and likewise the fish, as much as they wanted."   Mt. 14:19, Jn. 6:11
I know Jesus did not offer empty words and feelings to His Father, but heartfelt thanks. From that kind of heart of giving, came the miracles of loaves and fishes by which He fed thousands, to be forever remembered throughout the earth. We also know the attitude and heart with which Jesus gave with thanks and love to His Father, even in the giving of His own life. In the breaking of the bread and drinking of the wine that represented His own body broken, and His own blood poured out for us, He gave thanks (1 Cor. 11:24, Mt. 26:26). The term, Eucharist, which we use in connection with communion, means "thanks". This is the heart that Jesus had toward the Father in giving, that He could give heartfelt, miracle working thanks to Him even in His own death. That very love and thankfulness assured the miraculous multiplication from the giving of Christ in His death, burial and resurrection that no man could have anticipated. That multiplication of souls and lives continues today, and will continue past the end of this age, and past the end of measured time itself. If I reduce my own giving from this height of glory to God, into an exercise of duty, or natural effort, thought and expectations, I remove it from the realm of exponential multiplication power in God's riches in glory.
When we are first saved, many of us are thrilled to be able to give something back to God. I couldn't wait to give. I would search for things to give, even after I had given in the form of money. All I wanted to do was to express my gratitude and love, even in this small way, for the supernatural thing He had done in my life. Have we lost that precious love and appreciation in our giving?
To one of the churches, Ephesus, Jesus said this:
"...and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name's sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love....repent and do the first works..."  Rev. 2:3-5
From these verses, and from looking at my own experience, I can clearly see that the works we do out of our first love, are different than the works we do without that earnest love. This would include our giving as well. While Jesus recognized the natural, even obedient efforts that the church at Ephesus made for His name's sake, He warned them and us to return to our first fresh love and gratitude to Him, and the resulting works we had previously done. This is where the life is. This is where the miraculous is. This is where God's riches in glory are. Jesus said that the failure to restore that first love in Him would cause our lampstand to be removed from us (v. 5). What is a church or a believer without the lampstand of Christ in the midst? It is not much at all.
To all of "the givers" out there: If you can relate to what I am talking about, join me, and together we will stir up our first love in every work of faith, especially our giving, bringing us into the miraculous realm of our Father's riches in glory.
"So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work."
                                                                                                              2 Cor. 9:7-8

Our Father is calling us back to our first love in our giving.

The Doxology

The Doxology (Another Version)