Here's
Webster's 1828 definition (http://www.cbtministries.org/resources/webster1828.htm):
PREDESTINA'TION,
n. The act of decreeing or foreordaining events; the decree of God by which he
hath, from eternity, unchangeably appointed or determined whatever comes to
pass. It is used particularly in theology to denote the preordination of men to
everlasting happiness or misery.
Predestination
is a part of the unchangeable plan of the divine government; or in other words,
the unchangeable purpose of an unchangeable God.
Let's
look at the word "foreknow."
The Greek word is "Proginosk".
From
crosswalk.com's interlinear (http://www.biblestudytools.net/Lexicons/Greek/grk.cgi?number=4267&version=kjv):
1. to
have knowledge before hand
2. to
foreknow
a. of those whom God elected to salvation
3. to
predestinate
This
same Greek word is used in 1 Pet 1:20 as "foreordain": "Who [Christ] verily was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for
you,"
So, we
can see that foreknowing is tied with foreordaining: God knows something before hand because He has ordained it to
happen before hand. God foreknows His
chosen because He foreordained them to be as such.
Along
with that, knowing someone does not necessarily mean just a cognitive
recognizing of someone. There are many
examples in the Bible where someone was known, but it didn't mean cognitively,
it meant intimately: Adam knew his wife
(Gen 4:1); Mary not knowing Joseph (Luke 1:34); the Pharisees not knowing the
Father (John 8:19).
And
here's the kicker: those people
standing before the Lord who did works in His name He says He NEVER knew (Matt
7:22-23). NEVER knew? Can't be cognitive only; must be a different
kind of knowing. He never had an
intimate knowledge of them, because He never ordained it to be as such.
Now,
let's look at man. At the fall, man
lost the spiritual ability to seek after God.
Rom 3:11 - "There is none that understandeth, there is none that
seeketh after God." NONE seek
after God. Also, John 6:44 - "No
man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will
raise him up at the last day." NO
MAN CAN come to Jesus, except the Father draw him. The word "draw" in the Greek paints a picture of water
being drawn out of a well. Also, there
is Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, where during that scene Jesus talks
about He being the resurrection and the life, and though one is dead, yet shall
he live (John 11). We were DEAD in our
sins (Eph 2:1,5; Col 2:13). It is
impossible for us to come to God on our own.
So, how
can we? A person is quickened and given
a heart of flesh, replacing the heart of stone, causing us to walk in His
statutes (Eze 36:26-27). A person is
given the gifts of faith, belief and repentance (Eph 2:8: Phil 1:29; 2 Tim
2:24-25, to name a few); and it is according to His grace and His will that all
of these things be done (many verses about election, John 1:12-13 and Rom 9
being some).
Which
leads to the election topic, with which the Bible is replete of verses
regarding that topic.
So, put
it all together, and we have the picture of God ordaining and choosing, man
incapable, and God effectively making it happen.
One
final thought: if God's predestining of
people is based on Him knowing that we would choose Him at some point, why does
He need to predestinate anyone knowing that with or without His predestining,
they would choose Him?
