Romans 8:28 – And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. – Romans 8:28 (NIV). A beautiful promise every believer clings to. God want to reiterate this promise to you, by strengthening our confidence in His promise in verse 28. Romans 8:28,29, helps us to understand it deeply. Paul says, this is why, you can know, all things work together for good, because this is the process of how God is going to achieve it. Verses says “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified”. 

     How do we know verse 28 is true? Verse 29 and 30, right before us, gives us the foundation. Without verses 29 and 30, verse 28, is just wishful thinking. But, here it is, God is gracious not only to tell you about His promise in verse 28, He is going to tell you His process in verse 29 and 30 and the process here, is an amazing one. It’s a staggering one. It’s a process that begins in eternity and that will end only in eternity. 

Five words, in these two verses tells you the process – Foreknow, predestinated, called, justified and glorified. 

     They are like five links in the Golden chain of redemption, five unbreakable chains, and this is the process of God and this is an amazing passage, because, this brings us first to heaven and then, allows us to come down to earth and eventually lifts us up again back into the heavens. 

     It begins with the first word here, “For whom He did foreknow, ……” So, it begins right here, the purpose of God begins with foreknowledge. The word foreknow, is the word “proginosko” in the Greek. Pro, means beforehand, before time, ginosko means to know, in a sense to know intimately. Proginosko, occurs seven times in the New Testament. And what does it mean, well, it means to foreknow, because, it means to know beforehand. Another word you may have for is foresight. 

     So, this is understandable. God knows before time, He knows about something even before the thing happened. That’s the omniscience of God. It’s reasonable. He knows all things, because He is omniscient and He is not bound by time. He is, Alpha and Omega and therefore, He knows all things for all times at any given point of time. So, He can know something even before it happens. So, foreknowledge includes the idea of foresight, knowing something before it happens. 

     But, if we were to stick to that limited understanding of foreknowledge, we would have missed the mark, because that’s not what Scripture teaches. Proginosko is not only to have foresight, but it is also to fore ordained. If I may put it this way, in the modern English word, it is to pre-determined. That’s what foreknowledge is. You see, the word used in Acts 2:23 “Him (Jesus), being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain”. 

     Scripture tells us that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is both a wicked act of man and the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. So, you may ask what you mean by saying the foreknowledge of God, does it mean that God, the Father, eternity time past, simply knew that Jesus would go to the cross? Does it mean that somehow God, found out, later that Jesus is going to die on the cross? Hardly, the point here, is that Jesus was determined before time, in eternity, that He would be the Lamb of God that is slain before the foundation of the world (Revelations 13:8). 

     So, what this is saying is, foreknowledge is pre-determination, foreordination. God knows, what is going to happen, foresight, because He has determined, it would happen this way, fore ordination, that’s the meaning of foreknowledge, not merely foresight, it is also to fore ordain. 

     You see, the Bible tells us, that fore know, or foreknowledge is applied to those whom He knows, for whom He did foreknow. He knows who will be saved. It’s not a mystery to God. He knows, who will believe, but these people whom He knows, are not because they, sort of make a decision later and God then says, “Oh, you would make a decision for me, therefore, I save you.” No, it means, He predetermined, He foreordained those that would be saved. 

     The picture, therefore, is not that of God, taking a pair of binoculars, looking down the corridors of time and say, “see who will believe in Me, and then I choose them”. It is to fore ordain, to pre-determine. Why? Because if God really is just doing that, just taking a pair binocular, and looking through the course of time and waiting for someone who would believe in Him, He would wait for all eternity and no man would come to Jesus Christ. None! why, because the Bible tells us, there is none that seeketh after God. The Bible tells us, we are all at enmity with God, we hate God, we are blinded by Satan. In fact, the Bible says we are blinded by Satan, in fact, the Bible tells us, we are dead in our sins. You kick a dead man, he doesn’t respond. No man, that on his own, in his sinful flesh, would ever, ever come to God on his own, none. 

You see, how the Lord Jesus Christ puts it. In John 6:44 “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him”. Charles Spurgeon made a cheeky statement which is very much true! “I’m glad God chose me before He saw me, because if He had waited until He saw me, He might not have wanted me.” 

     The Bible teaches us, in Acts 13:48 “and when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed”. In Ephesians 1:4, “that God hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world”. According as He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: 

     So, I say to you, that the word, foreknowledge, is not merely to have foresight, but to foreordain, to predetermine, to choose those who God will save. 

     Now you may have many questions when you read that God chooses, foreordained those that will be saved. The number one question you may have is this, is God the one then damning people to hell? Logical reasoning is this, if out of the sea of humanity, if God chooses some to be saved, election, choice, foreordination, doesn’t it then mean that God has then chosen not to choose others to be saved and therefore, He is the one who is guilty of sending them to hell, He didn’t save them. “Is God the one then damning people to hell?” Wow, this is a tough question. Let me answer this question with another question and you will see the reason why. The sin of Adam and Eve, whose fault, was it? Think with me, the sin of Adam and Eve, whose fault, was it? Now, we all know, if you believe in God’s absolute sovereignty, in a sense, God allowed it isn’t it? I mean, God could have on day one, taken the snake and strangled it to death. God could have squashed his head, God could have done all these things to prevent sin, yet, but sin came, entered into the world, by Adam and Eve. And so, we can say, God did it. But no, none of us today would put the blame on God, if you are informed by Scriptures, because the Bible never ever attributes the blame of the sin to God. It is clearly and squarely laid upon Adam and Eve with the choice they made. So, the sin of Adam and Eve, whose fault, is it? Scripture conclusively says, Adam and Eve’s. Now, when man is damned to hell, whose fault is it? Is God the one to blame, affirmatively again, no. The Bible never attributes the blame to God, never. Although, our logical thinking would be, if God chooses some to be saved, it means He damned the others, no, that’s not the way it is in the Scriptures. He chooses some to be saved, but those who were condemned in hell, it’s because they have chosen to reject the Gospel and refuse to be believe in Jesus Christ. You see, the Bible tells us about the heart of God in this matter. Eze 18:32 “For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. When Jesus also was on this, this is what He said in Mat 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but you would not!” There’s that pleading. Jesus, in Luke 19, shed tears for the city that would not turn, that would not repent. 

     Romans 8: 28, 29, 30 is an irresistible moving of the mighty sovereign God, from stage to stage, in securing your glory. And so, when we know it begins with God, not us, wow, I know He will not fail. He started it, He will complete it, I know He will finish this good work that He has begun. Tremendous security, in verse 29, to give you a confidence in verse 28, we know all things, do work together for good because He chose me, He makes no mistakes. And that’s the point you see. 

     So, this is the first link of the golden chain of redemption! In coming months, we will see about the remaining 4 golden chain of redemption. Your destiny is safe in God’s arm. Be still and be at peace.