Does God Know Who Is Going To Be Saved And Who Isn't?

Question
If God knows that a certain person is going to die rejecting him, and he also knows that this person is going to wind up in the lake of fire, then why in the world would he allow that person to be created? If he knows that a person is going to end up in hell, then what is the sense of allowing him to even be born?

Since God the Father is an all-knowing God, he knows how each of us are going to end up, but the really incredible thing is that he has known this for all of eternity. He knew long before the universe was even in existence whether you and I were going to end up in heaven or in hell. But if that is the case, then why did God allow the unsaved to be brought into this world? People who he knew he would eventually have to toss into the lake of fire? And I think you will see in a few minutes the incredible and amazing answer to that question. But first a little foundation.

God grants every person on earth the freedom of choice. We call it free will. We can choose to obey God or to rebel against him. This freedom is never revoked. It is always, always, left up to the individual. Lucifer exercised this freedom when he chose to disobey, and so did Adam and Eve. Many people may consider this topic, "no big deal," but this freedom to choose for our selves comes with a great price. Lucifer rebelled, and God lost one-third of his angelic host. Adam and Eve rebelled and it cost God the life of his Son. Adam and Eve disobeyed, and God has had to watch man pay for it ever since.

So, this freedom of choice, this amazing gift of free will that God gives us, has enormous consequences for God, as well as for all of his children. This also means that by giving man free will, God cannot demand our love. He may ask for it, and he may seek our love and affection, but our affection and love for God and our submission to his rules, are left completely up to each and every one of us. We decide. We determine ourselves how each one of us is going to use our free will.

If you think about it, without our free will there could be no personal relationship between us and God, and this is because only through free will can we love, trust, and obey God. Without free will we would be just like a rock or a tree. And the amazing thing is that God has known for all of eternity just how each of us would decide. He has known long before you were ever born whether you were bound for heaven or were bound for the lake of fire.

The Bible states that God knows everything. That since he knows everything he is omniscient. From the number of hairs on our heads, to when each and every dead sparrow falls to the ground.
Matthew 10:29-30 "Two sparrows cost only a penny, but not even one of them can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. God even knows how many hairs are on your head."

Yet there are many that say God does not know whether you and I are going to heaven or hell. That because of his gift of free will, he just doesn't know how any of us are going to turn out. They say that it is a mystery to him whether you and I will be in heaven with him, or in hell with satan. These people say that he knows everything there is to know, except, how you and I are going to end up.

Other believers say that this omniscient God doesn't have the slightest idea what you or I, or anyone else will do from one minute to the next. That our lives and what we do with them is one big puzzle to this all knowing and all powerful God. That since he doesn't know what our actions are going to be, then there is no way for God to influence any of us, because he has no idea what we are going to do. And that without being able to know what any of us are going to do, then God's planning and influence on the world in general is almost useless. These believers will also say that if God did know for sure that someone was going to die as an unbeliever and go to hell, then God would probably have never even allowed them to be created in the first place. That God would perform a sort of "heavenly" type of birth control.

The Answer
The Book of Life is the final record on each one of us. Think of this Book of Life as a big tally sheet for everyone who was ever born. Think of the Book of Life being made up of billions of names. And next to each name are two boxes. One box is labeled "eternal life" and the other box is labeled "eternal death". Now picture a single check mark in just one of those boxes for each and every name in that Book of Life. That is all that is in the Book of Life.

On the basis of God's perfect all knowing foreknowledge, He checked one of those boxes for each and every one of us. Then he did something very unusual. He blotted out the names of those whose "eternal death" box was checked, meaning those who would die while in a state of rebellion against God.
Exodus 32: 32:32 "Now, please forgive them of this sin. And if you will not forgive them, then erase my name from the book in which you have written the names of your people." But the Lord told Moses, "I will erase from my book the names of the people who sin against me."

Then he sealed the Book of Life, and it will stay sealed until that day when the final judgment takes place. Only God knows who is in that book and who has been blotted out. In other words, God does not want anyone, anyone at all to know who will be saved or who will be lost, until the judgment of mankind has been completed.

In the following verses please notice when the Book of Life was written, and whose names are left out of this book.

Revelation 17:8 "The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is."

Psalms 69:28 "May they be blotted out of the book of life, And may they not be recorded with the righteous."

Philippians 4:3 "And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life."

Revelation 3:5 "He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and his name will not be blotted out from the Book of Life."
Notice too that God will judge each person individually. So on Judgment Day, you will not be part of a group or a church. You will not be one of many. You will be standing all alone, and you will be standing in front of God himself.

Luke 10:20 "Rejoice, because your names are recorded in heaven."

Revelation 20:15 "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."

Please keep this thought in mind: The Book of Life remains sealed until the 1,000 year millennium has ended. This Book of Life has nothing to do, absolutely nothing, with the judgment of mankind.

Man is not judged on the basis of God's foreknowledge.
Man is not judged by anything that is in the sealed Book of Life.
Man is judged from the information written in other, different books
.

Revelation 20:12 "And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

Daniel 7:9-10 "I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, Its wheels a burning fire; A fiery stream issued And came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, And the books were opened.

Psalms 139:16. "You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your books. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."

The books that are talked about in the above three verses is what man is going to be judged on and not the Book of Life. The Book of Life is simply the results of that judgment, known only by God, recorded only by God, and seen only by God. And this all happened long before any life ever existed.

Why did God include everyone in the Book of Life only to blot out the names of those not saved, and to keep it secret? He did this to prove that every person had the freedom to make a choice, through the gift of free will and that he does not manipulate this freedom in any way. He looks upon the free will of each of us as extremely important. This means that at the appointed time, God can say that he has know for all eternity just who would rebel and who would submit to his authority. But it made no difference to anyone because only he knew who was in that book and who was blotted out. No one knew other than this fair and just God.

One way to better visualize this is that you know that the sun is going to rise fairly early in the East tomorrow morning. But even though you know this, you will still not influence this event in any way. Or the astronomer may know exactly when Haley's comet is going to cross earth's path again, but even with this knowledge, the astronomer will still not sway or alter or have any effect on this occurrence.

Yet, knowing all this, this God of fairness and justice did not treat anyone unfairly. The Book of Life, written long before any life was ever created, will exonerate God from any and all charges of unfairness that Lucifer and unsaved mankind would have raised against him. If anyone should doubt this, then all they need to do is look at the record in the "other books", those books that have been recording every single thing that we have done during our life.

So it is ridiculous to say that this all knowing God doesn't know how you and I are going to turn out. If you believe that, then maybe there are a great many other things he doesn't know. You either believe in an all knowing God who knows everything, or you believe in a God who says he is all knowing, but instead is a fraud and a liar and who is a God that doesn't really know everything. So hopefully you can begin to see that the handwriting of satan is all over this issue of God not knowing who is going to be in the Book of Life and who isn't.


BACK TO;

How to pray: The right way to pray
Baptism: Is it really necessary
Hell: Will they really burn for ever
The Rapture: The real truth behind the rapture
The Holy Spirit: Proving the existence of the Holy Spirit
Why did Jesus have to die: Why the cross
What does surrendering really mean: Surrendering to God
The Holy Trinity: Just what is the trinity
Apostasy: Living in an age of unbelief
World Trade Towers : Where was God?
The Unforgivable Sin: What is it?

Bob Wells

dayton4925@aol.com
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