Foreknown Security
For someone wondering if it's possible to feel safe with God.
I am a human, and I want certainty and security.
Some folks look for that security in material possessions, wealth, physics — the seen. Some folks look for that security in emotions, relationships, metaphysics — the unseen. Other folks look for that security in the insecure, the unsafe, and the dysfunctional — the certainty of uncertainty.
And then there's the security of God Himself — the Eternal. Probably a wise place to invest my existence and identity, especially after reading many of the Psalms, Proverbs, and New Testament.
That is, until I first discovered this terrifying scripture:
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
When I first read that (and when I've heard many others speak of this passage), all manner of internal questions came up:
"I sure do hope I'm not one of those workers of lawlessness."
“What if He says that to me?!”
"How do I know if I'm one of the ones who will (Or won't!?) get into heaven?"
"What can I do to make sure I get into heaven?"
"Am I even saved?"
"How do I get God to like me enough to get me into heaven or know me?"
"How do I make sure I'm doing the will of God so I can get into heaven?"
"I better make sure I have enough faith that God is good and hope He lets me in."
"Well, I've gone to church my whole life, so of course I'm not one of those workers of lawlessness."
With the possibility of last-minute rejection on the table, how could I live life on earth in Christ with any peace if the source of security is in something — Someone — who is Eternal and All-powerful and Good, but could maybe potentially say at the last minute “Depart from me. I never knew you”? How does that make sense with Jesus saying He gives “His peace,” and that that peace “surpasses all understanding” (John 14:27, Philippians 4:7)?
This unresolved tension made the Real God seem a lot more like Allah, the false god of Islam whose followers are never sure about how he feels about them and can reject them at the last minute because they didn’t have enough good deeds in their “good deed basket.”
After reading the above scripture in Matthew, what once seemed secure — God — now seemed to me to be temperamental and yet confusingly clear about how to guarantee my entrance into the kingdom of heaven: just figure out “the will of my Father" and do that.
The insecurity that I have seen this scripture trigger has given narcissistic, controlling, self-appointed pastors and preachers the perfect pitch to push their own agendas, books, and Babylonian ministries of abuse that have nothing to do with the actual Will of God — all in the name of "doing the Will of God."
With a lack of understanding, this scripture and its contextless-referencing has allowed many genuine born-again believers to be bound in a works-based relationship with God, doing things that even seem "of God" or "godly" in order to make sure they are “doing His will.” In more innocent moments, this scripture has simply allowed a foundation for anxiety, fearfulness, and (self)condemnation to remain or grow in the relationship of a genuine believer with God — none of which need be there or are a part of a believer's inheritance in Christ.
The big questions I have sought God to answer are: “How good is the Good News, actually? How secure is my salvation, actually? How deeply can I trust You, actually?”
Main Scriptures
In response to those questions, He brought me one verse:
Romans 8:29
“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.”
At first glance, this might just be a familiar verse to you, but in the moment God brought it to my awareness, it opened up a seemingly irreconcilable chasm. Here are those two passages right next to each other:
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
Romans 8:29
“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.”
Do you see the chasm?
What’s In The Words
In the original Greek, the words for 'I never knew you' are oudepote and ginóskó.
oudepote — meaning “denying absolutely and objectively, never, not even at any time, i.e. Never at all — neither at any time, never, nothing at any time”
ginóskó — meaning “to come to know, recognize, perceive, to know, especially through personal experience, first-hand acquaintance”
This ‘I never knew you' statement in Matthew 7 (oudepote ginóskó) is a statement of absolute denial. Essentially, it is Jesus saying "In all the time of creation — much less my Eternal existence — I have never once perceived you. I have never, ever, had any first-hand knowledge of your existence at any time. I have never intimately known you, and because of that, I absolutely reject you and deny you from entering my kingdom." That is an absolutely horrifying statement, especially considering that the words of Christ are absolute truth that “never pass away.”
In the original Greek, the words for ‘foreknow’ and ‘predestinate’ are proginóskó and proorizó.
proginóskó — pró + ginóskó — “meaning to know beforehand, i.e. Foresee — foreknow (ordain), to come to know, recognize, perceive, to know, especially through personal experience, first-hand acquaintance,… BEFORE.”
proorizó — pró, meaning "before" + horízō, meaning “establish boundaries, limits" — properly: pre-horizon, pre-determine limits (boundaries) predestine. to limit in advance, i.e. (figuratively) predetermine — determine before, ordain, predestinate.
Essentially, what God revealed here in Romans 8:29 is that He knew a people intimately beforehand in eternity-past whom He pre-set the existential boundaries of, pre-determined the results for, and pre-ordained an eternal future for. This future is not just “conformity to the image of His Son,” Jesus Christ, but the result of being conformed to His Son.
I read on into Romans 8:30, and the result of this ‘foreknowing’ and ‘predestined’ by God to conformity of Christ finds its completion in glory —
"Those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."
The existential trajectory for these whom God 'foreknew' was already decided, declared, and done — completely by God in eternity-past, before the foundation of the world. And the destination of that existential trajectory is glory.
(Interestingly, God also says He gives His glory to no other… Isaiah 42:8)
The Big Question
Perhaps you can see my issue with reading Matthew 7:21-23 and Romans 8:29 side by side.
My original questions were "How good is the Good News, actually? How secure is my salvation, actually? How deeply can I trust God, actually?“ and now, this question appeared before me like a chasm:
How can someone who has been foreknown by God and predestined for the glory of God ever possibly be told 'I never knew you' by God and denied access to the glorious kingdom of God?
In John 10, Jesus reveals just how completely He knows those who belong to Him:
John 10:14
“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.”
The word for ‘know’ here is also ginóskó — the same intimate knowing of someone that was mentioned earlier. The same way the Father and the Son know each other — whole, complete, intimate, perfect, and eternal. In that same way, those who belong to God are known by Him and know him (and will come to know him in this way).
Not only that, but Jesus reveals the security with which those who are His are kept by Him, saying:
John 10:16,27-30
“And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. … My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.”
Even though all of the sheep that Christ has been given by the Father are not necessarily a part of the “original” fold — the Israelites — His sheep have always been His sheep. This is what is revealed in
Ephesians 3:6,11
“That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: … According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:”
Not only THAT, but Jesus confirms here that those who have been given to Him by the Father were ALWAYS the Father's:
John 17:6-7
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.”
Everything that the Father gave to Jesus was FROM the Father. Everything — including all the sheep — came from Him who Is Eternal. The only person who was given to Jesus by the Father that was the Father’s yet was “lost” (apoollumi in Greek, meaning “to destroy fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), literally or figuratively: — destroy, die, lose, mar, perish”) was Judas Iscariot — entirely for the purpose of fulfilling the scriptures written about the Messiah and His betrayal (John 17:12). There will never be another “one” that is lost, because those scriptures were fulfilled by Judas’ destruction.
This is absolutely astounding, and yet the question remained for me:
Could someone be told by God, the eternal Being Who Is from everlasting to everlasting, who knows all things (including this person whom he foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ before the foundation of the world, thereby having "ALWAYS known them")... Could that person possibly ever be told by the same God that He has absolutely never (intimately) known them, ever, in all the time of His eternal everlasting to everlasting existence...? and then be rejected by God from His kingdom?
The short answer I believe I have discovered is: No.
Foundational Truths
He helped me see these four foundational truths that are revealed in Scripture:
God's Word is the Truth
God's Election is Real (and really Sovereign)
God's Children are Distinct
God's Name is Love
God's Word is the Truth
I believe it is possible to no longer live in the terror of possibly being told “I never knew you” if I have indeed been “foreknown and predestined.” If I am to begin to understand how secure my salvation is and to completely trust God — to live in the experiential peace I am given to have with Him — I need to know that God is One with His Word and His Word is One with Him and that Word IS Jesus Christ Himself. Not only that, but the written word of God (which are the scriptures contained in the Holy Bible, which testifies of Jesus Christ) must be understood to have been written by the inspiration of The Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, and He testifies of and glorifies Jesus Christ, THE Truth, THE Word who testifies of the Father.
John 1:1
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 14:6
“I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 16:13-15
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
2 Peter 1:20-21
“knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
2 Timothy 3:16
“All Scripture is breathed out by God”
John 6:63b
“The words I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
John 5:39
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.”
Hebrews 4:12
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Because Scripture is from God, who is Truth, I can not add, remove, or change the scriptures to fit my understanding, preferences, or feelings about the truth. I must seek God for HIS understanding of The Truth He has given and accept what He says — comparing scripture with scripture, spiritual with spiritual — even and especially when it makes me uncomfortable. When I make up excuses for what the Bible “probably means,” take things out of context, or simply ignore things that are explicitly written, I miss out on so much of knowing who God really is and what kind of freedom He has actually promised and given me in Christ.
Jesus said there will be one flock, one shepherd. He will give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of His hand. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. He and the Father are one. (scripture)
That is a promise. When was this promise of eternal life promised?
Titus 1:2
“in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.”
So explicitly stated: “God, who never lies, promised [eternal life] before the ages began.” In another place, God’s promise to Abraham reveals that God’s Word is the Truth.
Hebrews 6:13-18
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
What was the refuge from? I believe it was from being eternally condemned under eternal judgment, kicked out of the Kingdom of God and cast into hell, eternal death, and all manner of things that come with being told “I never knew you; depart from me you workers of lawlessness.” Knowing that it is impossible for God to lie, I am to have strong consolation in hoping in the eternal security of God and His promise.
What is the “hope set before us” mentioned in that Hebrews verse? Paul says it clearly in that Titus 1:2 passage:
“in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.”
So here are three questions I had from this:
Where does eternal life exist and come from?
How do we actually know God never lies?
How do we know he promised us eternal life before the ages began?
Let’s see.
Where does eternal life exist and come from?
1 John 5:11-12
“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
1 Peter 1:20
“He [Jesus Christ] was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you”
John 1:1-4,14
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Eternal life comes from God, by God, for me — someone He has known in Christ from before the beginning of time.
How do I actually know God never lies?
Genesis 1:1-3
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters... ...And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.”
1 John 1:5
“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”
What God says, happens. God said “Let there be light,” and light happened. What He says happens, and it happens exactly according to way it ought to happen because He is the One who said it and He is always right because He is the Truth.
How do I know He promised me eternal life before the ages began?
Isaiah 46:9-10
“for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.”
What God said in the beginning, 'Let there be light,' must also be the end.
If the end is 'light,' and that light is God (who is before the beginning and after the end), and in that light there can never be darkness, and in that light is life, and He promised eternal life to those who are saved... then that must mean they who are saved must also must be in that light with Him eternally...
But how could I who was “at one time darkness” ever have hope of eternal life if eternal life is in the light, but I was darkness and there is no darkness in God (nor can there be)? How does someone who was at one time darkness become light in the Lord? (Ephesians 5:5,8)
Well, it happens by being conformed to the image of His Son — which is what happens to “those whom He foreknew” — He also predestined them to be conformed to the image of His Son, as promised in Romans 8:29!
That image of The Son which God has predestined all His children to be conformed to IS LIGHT, and that image can NEVER BE DENIED BY GOD FOR HE CAN NOT DENY HIMSELF!
2 Timothy 2:10-13
“Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”
And, I can “be confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6) because “the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).
This is Eternal Security:
Being predestined by God Almighty to be made exactly One with His Beloved Son whom He can never deny because He can not deny Himself — the Son and the Father are One — therefore always being accepted by God through Jesus Christ.
This is amazing news.
So, how can someone who has been foreknown and predestined to be conformed to the image of God's Son possibly ever be told 'I never knew you' by God, especially since God can not deny Himself?
I believe it is not possible.
Since it is impossible for God to lie, and the scriptures are breathed out by God thereby making the scriptures absolutely true, that means ‘I never knew you’ must be just as true and unchangeable as ‘I always knew you.’ Someone who has always been known by God can not be told ‘I never knew you’ by God.
Therefore, there must be, then, those who have always belonged to God and those who have never belonged to God. There must be an elect people — from God and of God Himself — from before the beginning of all things, for His own Sovereign purposes, according to His own Sovereign Will. And this must be a good thing, because God is Good which we know from
John 1:1
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Genesis 1:3-4
“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.”
1 John 1:5b
“that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”
Hebrews 13:8
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
James 1:17
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
Mark 10:18b
“there is none good but one, that is, God.”
This brings me to a second foundational truth: the Reality of God’s Election.
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