How Awesome Is Our God

Look upon the following verses and meditate on them. Know that Christ's coming and sacrifice was not a "Plan B." Our God is not some small, reactionary god who is shaped by the decisions of man.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

"His saving work in the world was not an afterthought because of sin, but was the eternal purpose of God. It was the plan of God before creation and from all eternity. Upon this plan God created all things. If we can imagine God drawing up the plans for the universe before he created it, and if we could examine these plans, we would not see Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but Jesus Christ in the gospel." Graeme Goldsworthy, According To Plan, pg. 60.


Yes, all things were created with wisdom and foreknowledge. Sadly, many today have such a diminished view of what foreknowledge is. They think to foreknow is simply to know the facts beforehand (omniscience).

Romans 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

Look at "foreknew" in relation to "predestined." We know that not all people are becoming conformed to the image of Christ and yet an all knowing (omniscient) God certainly is aware of every person He has created. Therefore "foreknowledge" must mean something more than merely "an awareness of events to come." Nowhere in Scripture do we see that God "foreknew" those that are not among the elect.

The intimacy of knowing:
The root of foreknowledge is know. In scripture, to know someone denotes a particular intimacy.
Genesis 4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain,...
Now either Adam stood around pointing at Eve, identifying her until she bore him a son or there was something more intimate going on in the business of knowing.
Matthew 7: 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Either Christ had no awareness of these workers of iniquity (even though He was addressing them and identifying them as workers of iniquity) or the knowledge represents a particular intimacy.


Further study: For a more scholarly biblical exegesis (with the original Greek) of understanding foreknowledge click here.