John 18:4-5
“Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Modern man is no more sinful than men in previous generations and cultures. True, he has today a vastly unparalleled ability to sin given that he has more wealth and technology than his forefathers. Though this is true, it doesn’t change the central fact that man has, since Adam, been a radical sinner, a usurper and rebel.
This basic fact about the human heart is no where more evident than in the small view of God and the high view of self that is common even from within the church. God’s sovereignty and foreknowledge of all things is resisted by the modern evangelical, almost without exception, when it appears to clash with human free will. This collision is a false dichotomy, however – one that Scripture never presents. In fact, God’s foreknowledge and man’s moral free agency are always shown working together. The modern is simply confused, isn’t paying attention or, worst of all, harbors rebellion in his still hard heart.
We see in this passage that Jesus is in no wise confused about what’s going to happen. Scripture doesn’t say that, “thinking he knew what was going to transpire” or “hoping that this or that was going to happen…” No, the Scripture flatly states that Jesus knew precisely and exactly what was going to take place.
This is the strike point and, if you struggle with this beautiful doctrine, spend your time with this simple, yet powerful verse and you will see what the Bible says about this deep subject.
Then, inexplicably, Jesus asks the gathered mob who they are looking for. Did our Lord suddenly forget all that was going to happen? Did He lose His nerve? Perish the thought! This is none of such rubbish. It’s the clearest example for our finite minds of the intricate, majestic, and inscrutable workings of the plans of God. We rightly marvel at it because what is going to happen is going to happen and yet these men have all made their private decisions. Do you struggle with predestination? The Bible clearly doesn’t. Judas is here in the flesh. He made up his carnal mind and yet simultaneously he has fulfilled the Scripture.
Jesus was not sitting around in the garden, wringing his hands with abject worry, some kind of namby-pamby wimp of a god, tossed to and fro by the circumstances. Repent of this if this is your thought! He is God in the flesh and He knows the time. Nothing happens without His consent. This is our God, not some hyper-liberalized modern version, tip-toeing around man’s fictitious sovereignty, known as freewill. He is fully in charge, even at His arrest.
But there is this question too. Imagine this scene…how amazing it is. He walks up and asks this simple question. Judas’ guilt is real – the Bible is as clear on that as it is on the fact that Jesus knew all of this beforehand and that it was preordained. Judas was there on the previous night – had his feet washed by our Lord – but he wasn’t there for the high priestly prayer.
To struggle with this doctrine is to miss the obvious, basic fact: man is in active rebellion against God’s sovereign rule but this doesn’t effect God’s sovereign rule one bit. Paul tells us in Romans, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (11:33-36)
To hold our own alleged free-will over against God’s foreknowledge is to set something up in the universe that God does not control. Therefore, you have reduced God because there is now something beyond His touch, beyond his control. This is Paul’s point and it’s exactly the contradiction that this verse in John avoids. Man is a creature. God is the Creator. Man makes his decisions but God always knows in advance – He has to know or else he isn’t God. There is no middle ground. The mystery is deep. Reread this passage again and again along with the last verses of Romans 11 and you will begin to see the real and true God rather than god, safe and small.
In all, there is no controversy in Scripture over this issue – especially not in the life of Jesus. He knows all things and yet He prays. He knows what men will say and what is in their hearts and yet all these people move around Him as they will, just as we do in our day. God’s foreknowledge does not suck the beauty and mystery out of life. It would if we had such knowledge but, then again, we aren’t God. That is our mistake. We set this issue up in our own fashion. But we cannot fathom the mind of the Almighty. Should we know all things it’s certainly true that we would be devastated and impaired by the knowledge and we would be beset with questions as to why we should do anything at all since it’s all preordained. Yes, this is probably true. But, no matter, God does not reveal His every plan and thought to us. He knows all things and yet has written eternity upon our hearts and told us of His plan of redemption. This ought to be enough for us.
We should take comfort from, not be terrified by God’s sovereignty. To be angered or frustrated by our humanity is actually to say that we don’t trust God. And to hold up our “free-will” – as though God has no power over us – is to still be holding out in rebellion like the last few battalions of our soul refusing to surrender in our great moral war with God. In future things, and in our decisions, rather, we don’t know…God does. Those who trust Him find solace in this great mystery for it is beautiful and is, like all other things, part of God’s sovereign design.
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