For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. 48And 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.
Acts 13:47-48
An individual’s salvation being predestined is wholly unbiblical. The teaching makes the Bible contradict itself, and in such cases, you know you have something wrong, as the Bible does not contradict itself. The plan of salvation is predetermined, not individual salvation.
John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
You will notice in the above verse that choosing someone and ordaining them is not the same. Setting the condition to be ordained before the foundation of the world does not mean you met those conditions and were chosen at the same time. The plan of salvation ordained that all who would trust in the Lord Jesus Christ would be chosen and saved.
Acts 1:22-25 Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. 23And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. 24And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, 25That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.
Here, two men who had been with them beginning with John the Baptist and who witnessed with them the Lord’s resurrection were by the apostles set before the Lord; the man chosen by God was ordained to be a witness with them.
“as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”
The Holy Spirit’s ministry is to deal with the hearts of men, convict them of their sins, and the need of salvation.
John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
These men heard the word and were glad and glorified God; all who turned to God and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ were ordained by God to be saved, but were chosen after they believed.
God does not have to let you believe.
Matthew 13:14-16 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 16But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
So here we have people whose hearts are not right, and the Lord does not let them believe, and then there are those whose hearts are right and he does.
God has determined that divine things should enter through the heart into the mind, and not through the mind into the heart. In divine things, therefore, it is necessary to love them in order to know them.
Blaise Pascal 1623-1662; Christian, French Mathematician, Physicist
To see the truth of this, you have to abandon your false premise of predestination. If you retain this false framework, you will read predestination into everything.
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