God's Foreknowledge: A Case Study

Foreknowledge is knowing events or things before those things exist or happen. Foreknowledge expresses the idea of knowing reality before it is real and events before they occur.

Only God has foreknowledge.

Foreknowledge is the omniscient, all-knowing, nature of God whereby He knows reality before it is real and all things before they happen and all people before they exist.

The Bible contains many examples of God’s foreknowledge. As a matter of fact, His foreknowledge of you is in the Bible. Did you know you were in the Bible?

Ephesians 1:3–4 “Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.”

God had foreknowledge of you before the world was ever created. He knew you before you were born, and He knew what decision you would make regarding Jesus Christ.

He does not make anyone get saved because that would violate the Divine Law we talked about a couple of Sunday nights ago, but in His foreknowledge He knows who will and will not accept His offer of grace.

I am going to prove it to you with two verses.

Revelation 3:5 ““In the same way, the one who conquers will be dressed in white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name before my Father and before his angels.”

Revelation 13:8 “All those who live on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered.”

No names, despite what grandma says, are ever added to the Book of Life. Those names have always been there because of God’s foreknowledge. The names not found in the Book of Life are absent because of that same foreknowledge.

Foreknowledge works both ways. God has foreknowledge of those who will get saved, and He has foreknowledge of those who will not get saved.

As a case study of that point, I present Judas Iscariot. What happened to Judas is what happens to every lost person. Now, you and I do not have foreknowledge, and we cannot know who is truly saved or lost except for the fruit the person in question is bearing which is why we are to constantly preach Jesus and Him crucified.

If you know the layout of the Bible, you know that beginning in Matthew Chap. 13 that Jesus Christ began teaching in parables for the benefit of His true followers and because of the persecution of the Pharisees.

Matthew 13:13–15 “That is why I speak to them in parables, because looking they do not see, and hearing they do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You will listen and listen, but never understand; you will look and look, but never perceive.

For this people’s heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back— and I would heal them.”

Parables are earthly stories that reveal a biblical truth.

In Matthew Chap. 13, Jesus teaches 7 parables; one of those parables is the parable of the wheat and weeds (tares in KJV).

Matthew 13:24–30 “He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left. When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared.

The landowner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’ “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he told them. “ ‘So, do you want us to go and pull them up?’ the servants asked him. “ ‘No,’ he said. ‘When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but collect the wheat in my barn.’ ””

Matthew 13:37–40 “He replied, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world; and the good seed—these are the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.”

In every church, there is wheat, and there are weeds. The weeds are the hypocrites, the super-actors, those that have never been truly saved.

In the group of 12 disciples, there was wheat, and there was a weed, and the weed of the 12 disciples was Judas Iscariot. In foreknowledge, God knew that Judas Iscariot was going to betray Jesus Christ, but being led by the Holy Spirit to do God’s will, Jesus still chose Judas.

The same holds true for every lost person on this planet. Let’s investigate Judas in light of God’s foreknowledge.

1. Judas was chosen even though he was never going to be saved.

John 6:70–71 “Jesus replied to them, “Didn’t I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.” He was referring to Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, one of the Twelve, because he was going to betray him.”

Keep the parable of the wheat and the weeds in mind.

Jesus did not announce to the others that Judas was a weed. Jesus never identified Judas as an unbeliever even though He knew Judas did not believe.

Remember this. John wrote the gospel of John in about 90 AD, almost 60 years after the crucifixion of Christ. In verse 71, he is supplying commentary to a fact that he did not know in 30 AD.

It is as John is saying that we did not know at the time that Judas was lost. We did not know that Judas was a weed, but now, we know.

Now, I want you to pay attention to how meticulous Bible prophecy is. I want you to compare two passages.

Zechariah 11:12–13 “Then I said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed my wages, thirty pieces of silver. “Throw it to the potter,” the Lord said to me—this magnificent price I was valued by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the Lord, to the potter.”

Matthew 26:14–16 “Then one of the Twelve, the man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they weighed out thirty pieces of silver for him. And from that time he started looking for a good opportunity to betray him.”

The Scripture prophesied Judas’s betrayal, but Judas was still chosen for salvation, to be part of the group, but in His foreknowledge, God knew the choice Judas would make, and the course of action he would take.

God did not make Judas do it, but God knew Judas would betray Jesus before Judas did it. Judas was given every opportunity that the other 11 were given, but he was not wheat; he was a weed, and God knew in His foreknowledge who and what Judas was.****

2. As a weed, Judas grew as if he were wheat.

The other 11 disciples thought Judas was one one of them. He acted and looked like those who were truly saved. He attended the Baptist church every opportunity he had, and Jesus never singled him out to the others. The disciples trusted Judas, and Jesus never told them he was a weed, a hypocrite.

Do you want proof that Judas was highly regarded by the others and never singled out by Jesus?

A. Judas kept the moneybag.

John 12:4–6 “Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray him), said, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it.”

In bold print is commentary John added after the fact as he reflected on his time with Jesus and as he was being inspired by the Holy Spirit.

If they had thought at the time that Judas was a thief, would they have entrusted him with the money? Of course not!!!! The 11 thought he was one of them. Nothing about Judas made them suspect that he was a weed and not wheat, but as John wrote his gospel the Holy Spirit pointed things out to John that revealed Judas’s true nature, the nature of a weed.

B. Judas witnessed with the other disciples.

Luke 9:1–2 “Summoning the Twelve, he gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. Then he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.”

Judas went out with the other 11 even though he was not truly saved. There were 6 groups of two sent, not 5 groups of two and one. Judas was included in everything even though he was lost and was never going to be saved.

Judas was a super-actor all the way to the end.

C. Judas was never suspected of being a weed, the betrayer.

John 13:21–26 “When Jesus had said this, he was troubled in his spirit and testified, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples started looking at one another—uncertain which one he was speaking about. One of his disciples (JOHN), the one Jesus loved, was reclining close beside Jesus. Simon Peter motioned to him to find out who it was he was talking about.

So he leaned back against Jesus and asked him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus replied, “He’s the one I give the piece of bread to after I have dipped it.” When he had dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son.”

The other disciples had no clue who the betrayer was. Evidently, Judas was sitting close to Jesus. Judas had acted the part very well. Dear friend, there are many in church just like Judas. They appear to be playing the part well, but they have never trusted Jesus Christ. They are just weeds who will be separated at the final judgment.

John was sitting next to Jesus. Peter motions to John to get John to ask Jesus to identify the betrayer. Only Jesus, Judas, John, and Peter knew at that very moment who and what Judas was. No one else suspected Judas to be the betrayer to be a weed.

John 13:27–29 “After Judas ate the piece of bread, Satan entered him. So Jesus told him, “What you’re doing, do quickly.” None of those reclining at the table knew why he said this to him. Since Judas kept the money-bag, some thought that Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival,” or that he should give something to the poor.”

Judas was chosen, He was given the opportunity, but God, in foreknowledge, knew that Judas belonged to the Devil. Judas was given the opportunity to accept who Jesus was, but God knew Judas would reject Christ. God did not make Judas reject Christ. God just knew that Judas would reject Christ. He appeared to be wheat like the other 11, but he was a weed sowed by the Devil.

The reality and agony of Judas’s choice caused him to commit suicide, but suicide did not erase his guilt as he went to his own place in hell to await final judgment according to Acts Chap 1 v.25. Suicide could not do what the blood of Jesus did, but Judas rejected Christ.

Judas was numbered with the disciples, but he was never wheat. He was always a weed, and those weeds are in every church.

Jude 4 “For some people, who were designated for this judgment long ago, have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.”

They come in by stealth by secret as all do, but they have been marked for judgment since the foundation of the world. It is an incredible picture painted by Jude.

What are you and I to do?

(1) We need to examine ourselves to make sure we are truly saved.

2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail the test.”

(2) Upon examination, if you realize that you need to be saved, you need to get saved today.

Romans 10:13 “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 10:9–10 “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.”

“Well, Jimmy, what if I am a weed and cannot be saved?” Dear friend, if you know you need to be saved, you are not a weed. If you know you need to be saved, it is the Holy Spirit convicting you of sin, judgment, and righteousness.

No one but God has foreknowledge, and if you are being moved to be saved, you still have the opportunity to get saved, but you do not need to hesitate. You need to get saved today, before it is too late and you are sealed forever in judgment as Judas and all weeds are.