We speak of God as sovereign and perfect. We also identify him as all-knowing and everywhere present. But what do these thoughts mean? It might seem that God’s sovereignty and man’s free will are in conflict, but this is not the case. Consider that Adam was created in the image of God. Since God has free will, so does man as demonstrated by Adams choice to partake of the forbidden fruit. There are a few examples in the Bible in which God speaks of that person being determined or predestined to play out a certain role in life before birth. This is not to say that the person is foretold what he must be; it is God’s plan and intention for that person.
God’s sovereignty allows us to experience natural consequences. Esau and Pharaoh are two examples. According to ancient custom at the time, Esau, being the oldest, should have been entitled to his father’s blessing. However, he valued it so little that he sold the blessing for a meal his brother was preparing. Esau became the father of the Edomites who were consistently hostile to the Israelites. Moses dealt with Pharaoh; the deciphering of the text tells us that Pharaoh hardened his heart meaning he was resistant to God’s opportunity to let the Israelites go. Also, the Scripture says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart which means God’s sovereignty allowed Pharaoh to experience natural consequences that he chose.
John 3:18 plainly states that the unbeliever condemns himself to hell because he refuses the opportunity to accept Christ as Savior. God’s sovereignty allows us or destines us to the place that we choose for this life, for the next life. There is no alternate route. We are born with the opportunity of free will. Then God’s foreknowledge understands what will happen in our lives even before it happens. It is through our life experience; we choose to either soften or harden our hearts toward God. This can be summarized in the following way: man is born with free will: God’s foreknowledge understands where our free will takes us in life. As a result, we are predestined by God to the consequences confirmed by what we create for ourselves. Thus, we are predestined by God consistent with man’s free will.
Christian Writer 