Lesson for September 22, 2019
The Integrity of God – Lesson 15
Divine Decrees
The decree of God is His eternal and unchangeable decision regarding the time and manner of occurrence of all events. God’s omniscience decreed all things at once in eternity past. In the mind of God what we call “the decrees of God” was in fact one decree in a moment of time for God. (Psalm 2:7, 148:6)
The technical, theological definition of the decree of God is His eternal, holy, wise, and sovereign purpose, comprehending simultaneously all things that ever were or will be. Because of our finite minds, we are limited in our understanding of God’s divine decree(s) made in eternity past and therefore we understand it in partial aspects as it is revealed to us by God’s Word. Therefore, we refer to God’s one decree as the divine decrees. A divine decree can be easily understood as the sovereign choice of God as to what and when will take place. Though many things occur that are contrary to the will of God, this in no way compromises God’s divine decree because He decreed that both angelic creatures and human beings would have free will. You and I exist because God willed it to be. We owe our very life to Him.
In decreeing mankind would have free will, God knew every decision we would every make, good or bad, and provided solutions for the bad ones. God knew before they occurred every problem we would face, every heartache we would experience, every tragedy, every disaster, every failure and every success. Knowing this, God supplied everything a believer will ever need to handle and solve the problems of life, to have complete security, to share the happiness of God and to glorify God to the maximum. There is never an excuse for complaining. We have it all, if we will only take advantage of it by learning, believing and applying His Word to our individual lives. God, according to divine decree, is waiting to pour out greater blessings into the life of believers when they have developed the capacity to receive them. (Isaiah 30:18)
God decreed to create mankind with free will and He never violates that decree. Therefore, God will never force anyone into a decision or course of action. He does not force an unbeliever to believe in Christ as Savior. He does not force a believer to execute the Protocol Plan of God. He has decreed that we have the free will to decide our own fate. If a person decides to reject Jesus Christ as their Savior, their fate is the Lake of Fire (Hell) for eternity. If a person decides to believe in Christ as Savior, their fate is eternal life in Heaven. If a believer decides to reject God’s protocol plan, their fate is self-induced misery, unhappiness and no greater blessings from God.
God possesses three kinds of knowledge: 1) self-knowledge 2) omniscience 3) foreknowledge. God has never had to learn anything about Himself. His self-knowledge is perfect, total and complete. He is aware of Who He is, His essence and His attributes. He is aware of the Godhead and unlimited capabilities of the members of the Trinity. Each member of the Godhead shares the same self-knowledge of one another. God knows all the knowledge outside of Himself. He knows every person who has been born or will be born, believer and unbeliever. God has always known the actual and the possible for every angelic being and every human being. Since God knew ahead of time what decisions we would make, those decisions became part of His divine decrees. Foreknowledge acknowledges what God has decreed but does not cause it to occur. Foreknowledge is simply prior knowledge of the facts of everything that happens, everything that we decide and everything that we think. The word foreknown in the Bible is used to describe the predesigned plan of God for those who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior, both positionally and experientially.
Because of our finite minds, it is difficult to completely understand the true meaning of the divine decrees of God. The decrees of God establish what will be caused by angels or mankind, but the decree is not the cause. Since God knew what we would think and do in eternity past He decreed that it would happen. The cause of anything that happens is based on the free will of those making positive or negative decisions. It would be like God saying that He knew that you would make the decision to trust Christ as Savior, so He decreed it. The cause was your positive volition, not the decree. The decree was the fact that it would occur, already known by God.
God decreed that His will alone would decide what His creation would be. For example, God decided that mankind would be a rational being capable of making his own choices (volition). He decided that we would have a body, a soul with self-consciousness, mentality and emotion, and a human spirit (upon faith in Christ). Because of the Fall of man, the highest and best that God had planned was lost. Adam and Eve lost their human spirit (their connection to God) when they disobeyed God and sinned in the Garden. They also lost many other things including their relationship with God and became spiritually dead. However, Adam and Eve had something that we all have which restored their relationship with God; they had free will. They used their free will to make the decision to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior and God returned to them their human spirit, restored His relationship with them and gave them eternal life.
With regard to those who believe in Jesus Christ in any dispensation of time, God decreed certain things to be true, stated in Scripture as predestination, election and foreknowledge. We call the predesigned plan of God, predestination. Predestination does not mean that God violates the free will of a person by making them believe in Christ. Predestination means that God has determined beforehand in eternity past what the believer in Christ would receive as a result of their free-will decision to trust Christ as Savior.
The Greek word for predestinate is “proorizo.” “Pro” means before and “orizo” means to mark or to design. Combined these words mean “to determine or to design beforehand.” What is it that is predetermined or predesigned by God? We know from many Scriptures that God does not decide ahead of time who will believe in Christ and who will reject Him. This decision is always left to the free will of the individual. So, what is predetermined or predesigned? (John 3:16)
In eternity past God predesigned a perfect plan for every believer. God decided that anyone who believed in Christ would receive certain blessings on earth and greater blessings in eternity. This plan was predetermined by God for the believer’s maximum happiness. The 40 spiritual assets we receive at salvation are God’s blessings to us, but there is much more awaiting the believer who executes the Christian Way of Life. (Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:3-12)
A person enters the plan of God at salvation by freely choosing to believe in Christ. After salvation, a believer may or may not continue in God’s plan. In either case, God does not predetermine who will or will not believe, or who will or will not execute His plan – that decision is always left up to the individual’s volition. (John 3:16-18)
Since God knows ahead of time exactly what we will or will not choose to do, He is able ahead of time to design a perfect plan for our life. Within the framework of God’s plan for believers is His directive will (His desire for you), His permissive will (God allows you to make the decision even though it is not His desire) and His overruling will (hindering you from doing something in order to protect you or other believers). All three impact the life of a believer at different times and in different ways. In all cases, however, God is working all things together for good for those who are advancing in the Christian Way of Life (who love Him). (Romans 8:28)
The Glory of God and the Divine Decrees
The objective of the divine decrees is to glorify God. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have had infinite and eternal glory in eternity past and will continue to have glory forever. All creation including angels and humans were created for God’s glory. God’s glory is never compromised by man’s failure and His glory does not depend on us; we depend on His glory. (Proverbs 16:4; Romans 11:36; Hebrews 2:10; Revelation 1:6, 4:11, 5:12)
The things related to believers that bring glory to God are what He accomplishes in us and through us. Examples of this would be the imputation of divine righteousness to a believer at the moment of salvation and the imputation of divine blessings and eternal rewards after salvation. When we begin to glorify ourselves, we are in danger of divine discipline because all glory belongs to God, the only One Who deserves it. Legalism, human good and self-righteousness have no place in the plan and purpose of God and are actually contrary to His plan of grace. When God chooses to bless a believer, it is because God is bringing glory to Himself. It is the privilege of the Royal Family of God to be blessed by God and to glorify Him.
The divine decrees assure that God will be glorified by every thought, every decision and every action in history, good or bad. The Scripture says in Psalm 76:19 that even “the wrath of man” praises (brings glory to) God. The bad decisions of people prove that God is fair and just by demonstrating the free will of the human race as part of divine decrees. Just as in the case of Satan and the fallen angels, free will was a divine decree from God and with free will comes, both positive and negative results. Both, however, bring glory to God because in His magnificent wisdom He decreed that His creations would not be robots, but that they would love Him, honor Him and serve Him from their own free-will, while knowing that some would rebel against Him.
Since God is omniscient, He knew the thoughts, the attitudes, the motivations, the decisions and the actions that very believer would make, taking one into spiritual maturity and another into reversionism. For those who take the path to spiritual maturity, God prepared greater blessings and rewards. For those who take the path into reversionism, God prepared divine discipline. The same righteousness, justice and love of God executes both blessing and discipline which is expressed through His grace. (Hebrews 12)
God never coerces, limits or violates the volition and self-determination of people. We all have the ability from God to make choices, which is totally consistent with human freedom as decreed by God. God’s will for us is to recognize Who He is and what He has done for us. As unbelievers, God provided a salvation plan for the human race. Therefore, it should be clear that God is not willing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to know Jesus Christ as Savior. Only in this way can the free will of man and the sovereignty of God coexist in human history.
God in His wisdom used Satan’s “ace trump,” religion, to provide salvation since it was the Jewish religious leaders who caused Christ to be put on the Cross. It was God the Father Who used the crucifixion of Christ for His own purpose. This demonstrates once again that the plan of God cannot be stopped by anyone, not even Satan. So, Satan in all his “genius” could not match the genius of God, and without realizing it, the devil’s evil thinking played perfectly into the hands of God and His plan of salvation. This is the wisdom of the divine decrees from God. God’s omniscience cannot be matched by any creature no manner how brilliant they think they are. So, relax, your Heavenly Father is taking care of everything!!!
Practical Application of the Divine Decrees
God’s plan for mankind is revealed only through God’s Word, the Bible and centers around the Person of Jesus Christ. God no longer speaks to man through voices, dreams or visions as He did in Old Testament times. The Scripture is our only source of information about God’s plan. The Bible is our “map” that guides us through life and reveals the method by which we can please God. Since God created us, it makes good sense to want to know His plan and purpose for our lives. God is totally organized in His thinking and actions and He makes perfect organized sense in all that He does. God is loving and kind and desires for everyone to come to the knowledge of the truth that He has revealed.
God not only created us, He also predesigned a plan specifically for each one of us in eternity past. This plan is a perfect plan because it was designed by a perfect Person (God). God’s plan for us is revealed in a logical and sensible way and He provides the means for His plan to be carried out in our lives. God was actually thinking of you in eternity past when He designed your plan. Failure to discover His plan and obey its commands will lead to a life of misery and guilt. On the other hand, if you discover God’s plan and fulfill it, you will experience an amazing life of peace, joy and happiness beyond compare.
It is God’s will for every person to enter into His plan by faith in Jesus Christ as personal Savior. After salvation, the sin nature continues to reside in the body and seeks to control the believer’s thoughts and actions. Everyone has an area of weakness and an area of strength with regard to the sin nature. The area of weakness produces mental attitude sins (jealousy, hatred, etc.), sins of the tongue (gossip, maligning, etc.) and overt sins (murder, stealing, etc.). The area of strength produces human good (good deeds, acts of kindness, etc.). When human good is substituted for divine production it fails to meet God’s standard for the believer. (Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:5)
When the believer does fail and commits a sin, he loses his fellowship with God and the control of God the Holy Spirit. However, by admitting our sin to God we are forgiven and restored to fellowship with Him. We are also, once again, controlled by the Holy Spirit. This is God’s system for recovery when we fail, but He has also provided a system that helps us resist the temptation to sin. This system is learning, believing and applying the teachings of God’s Word. Spiritual growth is the key to understanding God’s plan for us. As we grow, we learn about God’s character: His integrity, His love for us, His grace toward us, His truth, His power, His wisdom and His justice, which increases our capacity for life, love, Christian service, happiness and blessing. (II Peter 3:18; I John 1:8-10)
Every believer is guaranteed eternal life by divine decree. This means that you will live forever with God in a state of perfect happiness and contentment without the imperfections and influence of the sin nature, which will be gone. As a believer, you will receive a resurrection body like that of Christ. Christ is preparing a place for each believer. The Bible describes Heaven as a place with streets of gold, walls of precious stones and gates of pearl. Many believers will also be given great rewards by Jesus Christ. These rewards are based on the believer’s execution of God’s plan carried out under the filling of the Holy Spirit. (I Corinthians 3:11-13, 15:35-45; II Corinthians 5:8; I Peter 1:4-5; Revelation 21:4)
What has God decreed for us? First, to believe in Him and to trust Jesus Christ as our Savior. Second, to use our volition to fulfill His plan for our lives by learning, believing and applying His Word. Third, to bless us with rewards that are beyond our imaginations. The Christian’s purpose should be to glorify God by allowing Him to bless them with peace, happiness and contentment as we increase our capacity to receive these blessings from the knowledge and application of His Word. (John 3:16; Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 1:3-6)