Foreknowledge by Joel Hayes - Library of Theology

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polluting the sanctuary of strength, treading it under foot, taking away the daily sacrifice, and placing the abomination that maketh desolate; his great pride, magnifying himself against God, and uttering marvelous blasphemies against him, until God in indignation should destroy him. Withal, the moral conduct of the Jews on occasion of his persecution, is predicted. It is foretold, that he should corrupt many by flatteries, chap. 9:32-34. But that others should behave with a glorious constancy and fortitude in opposition to him, ver. 32. And that some good men should fall and repent, ver. 35. 303 There is no evidence that God knew at the time this prophecy was uttered in what particular persons it would be fulfilled. There were morally certain to be in the kingdoms of Persia, Media, and Greece, people of all kinds, good and bad. Perhaps at least three-fourths of the people were morally certain to be wicked, for, not having the light of the gospel, the probability of the righteousness of each individual was doubtless on an average as low as one-sixth. Among so many it was morally certain not to be difficult to find a vile person whose free volitions already exercised the Lord could cause to result in "flattery, deceit and lies, his having his heart set to do mischief," etc. And to complete the perfect certainty, considering the want of enlightenment of these nations with reference to Divine things, all these things could as a matter of bare possibility have been done as acts of virtue. 1. It is said in verse 21, "In his estate shall stand up a vile person," etc. but the participle of the verb , here translated vile is usually translated despised, and does not denote immorality. It is the word translated despised in Isaiah 53:3, where it is said concerning the Messiah, "He is despised and rejected of men." 2. His having his heart set against the holy covenant, his polluting the sanctuary of strength, treading it under foot, taking away the daily sacrifice, and placing the abomination that maketh desolate, were not necessarily wrong even in the abstract. For in Daniel 9:27, it is said the Messiah should "cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate." The holy means set apart, and the holy covenant was contained in the sacrifices by which the Jews were set apart as God's holy people. The Messiah was to cause the daily sacrifice to be taken away, etc., and if it was right in him to do this, surely it was not necessarily wrong in the king here spoken of. But it may be said that Antiochus did these things a century and a half before the coming of Christ, and that it was not right thus to pollute the sanctuary until his coming. True, but it is not said in the prophecy at what time it should be fulfilled. To say the least, as a matter of bare possibility it could have been fulfilled after Christ's coming. It was fulfilled in Antiochus, as President Edwards supposes, there were two abominations of desolation placed in the holy place, one by Antiochus, one by the Romans after Christ's coming. (See Matthew 24:15.) The latter is spoken of in Daniel 9:27, and 12:11; the former in Daniel 11:31. In reading the prophecies, however, if we knew nothing of their fulfillment, we should naturally suppose that only one event is spoken of; and certainly the prophecies would have been as well fulfilled if the two 304 abominations had been the same. The abomination was not necessarily an idol. Any new thing placed in the holy of holies would have been considered an abomination according to the Jewish idea, which, nevertheless, after the temple service was abolished, would not have been out of place. As to the destroying of the "holy people" (some of them) this could have been done by the direct commandment of the Lord, either as a punishment, if the Jews were sinful, or as a means of discipline, "to try them, and to purge them, and to make them white," if they were not. 3. "And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but 303 Will, Part II., Section XI., p. 62-3. 304 Bishop Newton says that this prophecy refers not to Antiochus but to the Romans. He admits only one "abomination of desolation." Without any inconsistency, we might suppose that the same prophecy was fulfilled both by Antiochus and the Romans. 148
it shall not prosper" verse 27. mischief, is frequently used in the sense of natural evil, which might be visited on the nations as a punishment or as a means of discipline. lies, has usually the meaning of the English word lies, but not always. In Proverbs 23:3, it is translated deceitful. In the present case, "they shall speak lies" seems to mean that they should deceive themselves with false hopes. For the next sentence, "it shall not prosper," shows that the lies were to be spoken concerning future things. But a lie, an intentional falsehood, concerning a future thing, can be spoken only by saying that a certain thing will come to pass which the speaker thinks will not come to pass; and concerning such a thing it could not be said, "It shall not prosper." It would not have been want of prosperity, if these kings had not thought that the events which they were predicting or designing to accomplish would come to pass. Now, perhaps it was not possible for these kings to "do mischief" or "speak lies" as a matter of absolute right, yet, as these expressions are not necessarily predictions of immorality, these kings, as a matter of bare possibility, could, under mistaken views of right, seeing that they were unenlightened by the word of God, have done these things in obedience to their own sense of duty. As a matter of bare possibility, I say, for this is all that is needed to make up the difference between perfect certainty and the moral certainty of the fulfillment of the prophecy by some wicked man. 4. "And he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods" (verse 36). A Chinese woman, not many years ago, made an effort to convert one of our lady missionaries to Buddhism, but superior enlightenment and intelligence prevailed, and she herself was converted to Christianity. Evidently her heart was already in a state to accept that of which her intellect approved, for she immediately laid aside her idol worship and became an earnest Christian woman. Now, at first, she spoke against the God of gods. She may, indeed have said marvelous things in favor of Buddhism and against Christianity. But was she entitled to blame? Far from it. Indeed, her action was just as commendable as that of the lady missionary, for each in love to the other endeavored to induce the other to accept the truth as she saw it. "And he shall exalt himself." This, in the absence of the knowledge of the true God, could have arisen from superior intelligence enabling him to perceive that an idol is nothing in the world, and that a human being is worthy of infinitely higher regard. Self-exaltation was more highly commended than humility among the masses of the Greeks and Romans. But whatever may be thought, even if we could suggest no way in which this prediction, as a matter of bare possibility, could have been fulfilled without sin, still we are told in the latter part of the verse that "that is determined shall be done." This is given as the reason why the events predicted should occur; they were to be the effect of God's determination, and surely God did not determine that any man should sin. 5. "And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt with flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits" (verse 32). This takes it for granted that some would be wicked and some righteous, which, indeed, would be the case as a matter of moral certainty. Yet, if none had been wicked, and therefore none had been corrupted, still it would have been true that all the wicked were corrupted. The corruption here spoken of was evidently not a moral corruption, for "such as do wickedly against the covenant" were already corrupt in a moral sense. The kings, therefore, were not necessarily to be immoral in corrupting them. As it was foretold in both Old Testament and New, that the Jews should reject the Messiah, so it was foretold that the Gentiles should receive Him, and so be admitted to the privileges of God's people; in places too many to be now particularly mentioned. 305 On page 156 we referred to passages in which it was said that Christ should be for a light to the Gentiles. We now refer to some which may seem to prove that the Gentiles should receive him. Isaiah 52:15: "So shall he sprinkle many nations." This may have been fulfilled by the outpouring of the Spirit as recorded in Acts 2. This was morally certain to be done, as some were morally certain to 305 Will, Part II., Section XI., p. 65. 149
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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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190 Institutes, Part II., Chapter V
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the Scripture says of God's immutab
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eginning of the condition of things
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are sojourners of the Dispersion in
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emotion, and constitute the princip
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In the first place, this doctrine i
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either prove God's necessitation of
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the choice, every possible result o
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Page 117 and 118: Deut. 32:21, compared with Rom. 9:1
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