Question

I have been studying John, chapter 17, and one thing that came out was that our names are already written in the "Book of Life."  My question is, "Is that like Predestination?"

Answer

That is exactly like Predestination.  Everybody who believes the Bible believes in Predestination, if you don't then you will have to tear out some verses.  "We were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world"--that's as clear as it can be.  Our names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life from before the foundation of the world--it says that a couple of times in the Book of Revelation.  "Predestinated," "Chosen," "Preordained," all of that is there.  In other words, every person who ever comes to Christ in the history of the world, comes to Christ because, before the world began God chose them for redemption--that's clear in Scripture.  So, we believe that.

The problem doesn't come in believing that, the problem comes in harmonizing that with the "call" to respond to Christ and human responsibility.  In other words, if we say, "Ah, well, since God does it all, I am not going to worry about it--if He wants to save me let Him save me.  I certainly not going to get uptight.  We don't need to preach the gospel; we don't need to tell anything anybody--it's all done.  If your name is there--you're in.  If it's not--so what?  What's the point?  Why should I evangelize?  The peoples who names are there are going to come; the people who aren't--aren't, so I am not going to worry about it."

The problem with that is, the Bible also teaches that whoever comes to Christ--He will receive.  And Jesus said, "You will not come to Me that you might have life, but if you come to Me I will give you life."  And when they didn't come, He said it was their fault.  So the problem is, I believe the Bible teaches Predestination--everybody who is saved is because they were written down before the world began.  I also believe that it teaches that you have to come to Christ, and if you don't--it's your fault, you're responsible and you will go to Hell because you have chosen against Christ.  Now, how do you harmonize that?  That's impossible--that's the problem.  So you don't--you just believe both of them.  You say, "But how can you believe two things that are mutually contradictory?"  Easy.

There are lots of things in the Bible that are mutually contradictory, or that are absolutely paradoxical--on our level.  To illustrate it very simply: who wrote Matthew?  That's not a hard question is it?  Matthew?  All by himself [he] sat down and wrote Matthew?  And the Holy Spirit?  They alternated verses--you write one, I'll write one, you write one?  Is every word in Matthew out of the mind of the Spirit of God?  In every word in Matthew also out of the heart of Matthew?  How can it be all Matthew and all the Holy Spirit?  That's 200%--that's impossible, but that is exactly what it is.

Ask yourself this question, "Was Jesus God or man?"  The answer is "Yes."  100% God and 100% man, or half God and half man?  Half a man is nobody and half-God is nobody.  He was all God and all man, and that's impossible too--that's an irresolvable apparent paradox.  Ask [yourself] this question, "Who lives your Christian life?"  You say, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me."  Same thing--see?  Anytime that you bring the supernatural level down to this you are going to get a little bit of paradox left, and the wonderful thing about it is--it's one of the greatest proofs that this [Bible] is written by God, because if it was written by men they would have resolved those paradoxes, because men don't like them.  So, the fact that you have those kinds of things tell us that God's mind is greater than ours, and that's the kind of God that I want.  I don't want a God that thinks like I do, or we are in trouble. 

When it comes to Predestination and man's volition; when it comes to God's sovereignty and man's responsibility--we say that the Bible teaches both of them--God is the only one who can understand how they come together, that is His problem, not ours.  All I know is that I am saved and I give Him the praise, but when people aren't saved I lay the responsibility at their feet to come to Christ.  I cannot say, "Well, I don't need to do anything," because the Bible commands me to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.