Foreknowledge by Joel Hayes - Library of Theology

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eturn is prophesied. Ezekiel tells us the same thing, and tells us, too, that God intended to destroy those who would persist in their wickedness, sparing the righteous to inherit the land of Israel (see Ezekiel 9:4-7). Says Ezekiel, "Set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof...Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark." The expression, "The men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations" does not necessarily mean the truly righteous. It merely means those who were not guilty of gross wickedness, such as idolatry. This is evident from the history of the return as given in Ezra and Nehemiah. See Ezra 9 and Nehemiah 5. The remnant returned from captivity, though called "the holy seed" in Ezra as in Isaiah, were evidently not truly righteous, but, though not idolatrous, were openly transgressing the law of God. It is also evident from the terms of the prophecy. The "abominations" are mentioned in detail in Ezekiel 8 and in every case were species of idolatry. The sum of the matter, then, is this: God knew, as a matter of moral certainty, that at least one-tenth of the millions of Israel would not be guilty of open idolatry, and these he determined should return and repossess the land of their fathers. Now the probability of one man's being truly righteous--righteous to such an extent as to inherit eternal life--is on the average, as we have seen, much less than one-half; but the probability of not being guilty of idolatry is much greater, for not every wicked man was guilty of that one sin. Let us suppose, then, that the probability of such a degree of righteousness as would entitle one to a return to the land of his fathers was one-half. There were evidently at least ten millions of Israelites, for Isaiah says, "Though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a memnant of them shall return" (Isaiah 10:22). Then the lack of certainty of the return of at least one-tenth of the people, as was shown in the preceding chapter, page 325 (-----), was inappreciably small. Even on the basis of one-sixth, this lack of certainty was too small for the human imagination to grasp. If we allow the future tense to express a moral certainty at all, it certainly would express moral certainty of this degree; for, supposing the righteousness of each individual to be the most uncertain thing possible, or, supposing that God did not know concerning each individual whether he would be righteous or wicked, yet, based on this very uncertainty, the certainty to him of the righteousness of at least one-tenth of the people was as great as is the certainty to us that the sun, moon, and stars, will continue in their courses one day longer. Does not Jeremiah say that the return of the Israelites was only a moral certainty? He says, "Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name: if these ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever" (Jeremiah 31:35-36). See also Jeremiah 33:20, 25. Is not this the same as to say that the certainty of Israel's return is not greater than the certainty to us that the sun, moon, and stars will continue to lighten the earth? If so, the return of the Israelites was not a perfect certainty, for it is not perfectly certain to us that these ordinances will continue. It may be objected, however, that the expression, "if those ordinances depart from before me," represents, not the certainty to us, but the certainty to God. But what is the certainty to God of these things? Is it a perfect, or only a moral certainty? The moral universe is the end of the physical. Had it not been for the creation of man, doubtless the earth would not have been created. See what Bishop Marvin says on this subject as quoted on page 6. For aught we know, therefore, if universal wickedness should reign, the earth would be destroyed. The continuance of these ordinances, then, may not be a perfect certainty even to God, being dependent on the state of the moral universe. We do not know what is perfectly certain to God, and what is not, except as he reveals it. The statement, therefore, that the return of the Israelites was as certain as is the certainty to him of any event, would not be a revelation to us at all. But we are not compelled to suppose that the return of the Israelites was only a moral certainty in order to maintain that God does not foreknow free volitions. Ezekiel says that in the general destruction of Judah those shall be spared to return to the land of Israel who lament the people's idolatry. Now, idolatry, 132
such as the Israelites committed before the captivity, is not possible to some peoples. It is impossible, for instance, for the people of the United States or Great Britain, with their present surroundings and modes of thought. However wicked they may become, their education and enlightenment utterly forbid such a thing. No free volition which they can make, can lead to such a result. They may become idolatrous at heart, that is, they may make that very free volition or set of free volitions which the Israelites made and which caused them to worship idols, but they can never follow the Israelites in that worship. God has by his providence so operated, and is still so operating on their judgment, that the overt act is impossible. So it was, doubtless, with the remnant of Israel. God's judgments on Israel for that very thing had been so pronounced, and their afflictions had been so severe, that its sinfulness was graven as with an iron pen into the very deep of their hearts. "From all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." 282 said the Lord, their Judge, and a very effectual cleansing it was. We never hear of actual idolatry among the Jews after the captivity. They were by no means truly righteous. Ezra and Nehemiah both complain of their wickedness, Malachi pronounces curses upon them for polluting the altar of the Lord, for their treacherous dealing, and for their various acts of disobedience, and John the Baptist calls the Pharisees and Sadducees a generation of vipers, but, notwithstanding all this, they shunned idolatry as a deadly poison. The moral character of the Pharisees and Sadducees was not better than that of the idolatrous Jews before the captivity. "Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up, then, the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" (Matthew 23:31-33). The prediction that they should not be idolatrous, then, is no proof that God foreknew any free volition, for God evidently intended by his judgments and other providences so to control their voluntary actions that, whatever free volition they might make, idolatry should not be the result. But, says President Edwards, "Their repentance itself was very particularly foretold." It must be remembered, however, that it was their repentance as a nation that was predicted, and a national repenting is not always done by the same persons that commit the iniquity. In the present case, as they remained seventy years in captivity, it was most probably the case, that, in the main, the fathers committed the iniquity and the children did the repenting. But does this necessarily indicate any virtue on the part of the children? Far from it. As the Lord had made actual idolatry impossible to them, they might have sighed and cried for the abominations of which their fathers were guilty, while at the same time they were no better than their fathers. So did the Scribes and Pharisees. "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" says our Savior, "because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets" (Matthew 23:29-30). Yet our Savior says that they were no better than their fathers (see Matthew 23:34). The prediction of such a national repentance, then, affords no proof of God's foreknowledge of any free volition, for, in the providence of God, it might have been the result of any free volition, good or bad. Jeremiah 29:12-14, 50:4-5, and Hosea 3:5, are not necessarily prophecies of repentance. "Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:12-13). "They shall go, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten" (Jeremiah 50:4-5). These things would naturally be done by a person if he had never committed sin (personal sin), and therefore needed no repentance. Indeed, they would be the necessary concomitants of a perfectly sinless life. Now, we admit that every man is morally certain of sin; that, therefore, these predictions are, to a moral certainty, predictions of personal repentance. Still they are predictions of repentance only on the assumption that the Israelites would sin--an assumption which everybody makes, yet which is not perfectly certain to be true. We are in favor of allowing this assumption. The lack of certainty of each one's being sinful was so small that human language naturally neglects it. Yet if this assumption be allowed as the basis of our belief that the Israelites 282 Ezekiel 36:25. 133
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THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD 1 or, THE
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PREFACE I am not entirely pleased w
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Bayle, "is to cause it, if he can,
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imply no contradiction. Hence it is
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3 Theodicy, p. 198. FAILURE OF DR.
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harmonies of sound. Moral agency, i
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constituted the reason why he, for
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heaven," as well as the angels; yet
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One point more from Dr. Bledsoe. He
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power not to perform. As a free act
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of the soul." But to return. A free
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33 President Edwards. 34 35 consequ
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But experience may show a class of
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41 Will, Part II., Chapter II., P.
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"SECONDLY. If a power of Will deter
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"MOTIVE is usually considered as a
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62 it suits best to gratify the vil
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is especially evident when, as is v
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70 by the flavor, may be considered
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to gratify, the subjective motive.
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of choice. The former being a quali
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In the preceding paragraphs I have
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Mr. Webster also gives as one defin
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97 Will, Part I., Section II., p. 5
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105 Will, Part I, Section IV., p. 1
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But is this all? Is a mere thought
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in preference to both the sense of
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contend for in the case of man is t
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happen otherwise. This is not the t
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133 of such events he has and can h
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On page 9 of the Inquiry he says, "
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is indissoluble--that there cannot
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is evident from the fact that, the
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CHAPTER VII: OMNISCIENCE DOES NOT F
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It is easy to prove that whatever w
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its agent cannot refuse to act it.
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It would not conflict with any noti
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that they are certainly future, or
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destroys all the force of the exhor
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for the Master's use. And we admit,
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Page 117 and 118: Deut. 32:21, compared with Rom. 9:1
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