GOD'S FOREKNOWLEDGE
A Source of Blessings
Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
The above verse is God’s promise to the Israelites. However, it also applies to us today. Today, when we seek the Lord with all our hearts He reveals Himself to us. I recall just before God sent someone into my life to share the “sinner’s prayer” with me, that I had been seeking to have a close relationship with God but felt that my sins had separated me from Him. As a child, I always believed in God and prayed to Him whenever I was in distress. I Know that God answered some of my prayers even though I was not born again. As I got older, I felt so guilty for all the ways that I had failed to live up to God’s standards, that the guilt of sin caused me to not have the same level of faith.
Imagine how hopeful I felt when someone shared with me that Jesus died for my sins, and He was my way to having an even closer relationship with God. I said the prayer with great anticipation. I did not feel a change until I shared with someone that I had said a prayer asking Jesus to forgive me of my sins and come into my life. Immediately upon sharing that, I felt as if a weight, I did not know I had been carrying, was lifted from my shoulders. A feeling of great peace swept over me. I had the witness in myself that Jesus is the way.
Revelation 13:8 “ All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.” Jesus was slain from the creation of the world? This bible verse shows us that God in His foreknowledge, knew that mankind would have to be redeemed back to Him. Even at the time of the world’s creation there was a plan to redeem us back to God. Nothing that happens in the world, takes place outside of God’s foreknowledge.
Today, is the day to make sure that we have been redeemed from the curse of sin. To make sure that we are born-again and have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Those who are saved during the great tribulation will be required to take a stand against the beast and His rule in the world. Salvation will come at a much greater cost. You do not have to fully understand the book of revelation to see that there is going to be much suffering during that time.
God wants those who choose Him over the world and satan to live with Him in heaven. Even the angels had a choice, they could have followed satan and rebelled against God or they could have remained faithful to God. The angels that chose to follow satan were cast out of heaven (Revelation 12:7-9) Hell is prepared for satan and the fallen angels. Unfortunately, if we choose to reject God and His plan of salvation we are choosing to follow satan and will end up where he is going.
God has made the ultimate sacrifice to bring us back to Himself, by sacrificing His Son on a cruel cross. How can we reject Jesus’ work to save us and expect to get into heaven some other way.