Predestination has been a part of our Reformed Theology since our very beginning. For the earliest reformers, most specifically John Calvin, predestination was a sign of the sovereignty of God. God is God and God can do as God wishes, whatever God wants. God is under no compulsion to do anything at all for humanity.
In order to express the divine sovereignty, these first reformers believed that, before the beginning of time, God predestined some people to salvation and eternal life in Heaven. God also predestined some people to damnation and eternal life in Hell.
Again, if God is sovereign then, as a way of demonstrating that sovereignty, God is free to predestine some people to salvation and heaven, others to damnation and hell. The early reformers thought that that was exactly what God did.
Fortunately, that view has not stood the test of time. The more we get to know God, and the more we study our scriptures, the more we recognize predestination as a sign of God’s love. Predestination is not a sign of God’s power over us. Predestination is a sign of how much God loves us. Paul makes this point over and over again to the young church in Ephesus.
“4 For (God) chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ . . .”
11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will . . .”
Today, we understand that predestination is not just about a few people. Today, we understand that predestination is about all people. In Jesus Christ, all people are predestined to be loved by God. All people. That includes both our best friend and our worst enemy; the public figure we admire and the public figure we despise; our spouse and our ex-spouse; those who treat us well and those who treat us badly.
This is how much God loves us: that in Jesus Christ all people have been predestined to be loved from before the beginning of time. All people; EVEN US. Predestination is not a curse. Predestination is a blessing.
Thanks be to God for giving us all the blessing of being predestined to be loved through our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
