Forewarned

Psalm 19:7-11 English Standard Version

7 The law of the Lord is perfect,[blameless] reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;

8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;

9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules[just decrees] of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

Before we jump to the conclusion that forewarned is about bible prophecy, let us examine what the Lord tells us about being warned.

The law can be broken down into physical laws and moral laws.

Physical laws have been studied in one aspect or another since man discovered hot and cold. Physical laws affect life in a predictable manner. Mankind has learned more about the physical world in the last century or so than in all of history. Medicine has learned that cancer can be destroyed. Physics has led us to harness the power of the atom. Boom. Suddenly we discover that there are moral implications in manipulation of physical laws.

Which one of our moral laws are warnings? All of them, but what are those warnings?

The Greek word for decree is dogma. The meaning of dogma is determined by the sanctioning body. In the case of God, a decree is a determination of what is best for everyone based on the knowledge that only God holds. A royal decree only lasts as long as the ruling party remains in power and can enforce that decree.

Now we should talk about the other dogma, religious dogma.

Leviticus 11:7-8 English Standard Version

7 And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. 8 You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.

Religious dogma might define unclean as sin. They would create an atmosphere in denial of eating pork and playing any sport where the ball is made of pigskin.

Others might see it merely as a health warning.

Foreknowledge

Revelation 22:13 English Standard Version (ESV) I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

Rather than studying what everyone else has learned and said about foreknowledge, please allow me to boil it down to the most simple terms that makes it easy to digest.

Who do we trust to know everything that has ever happened and that will happen in time?

Time is our realm. We report what we have seen, to be believed or ignored. Man cannot be trusted to report much of anything beyond his perceptions and beliefs. We are finite creatures and in that our experiences, knowledge, and methods of communicating are limited.

Foreknowledge covers the span of all time or it cannot be a knowledge of what is true. No man can stand before us and state with any confidence that they know everything that ever happened and will happen in the future.

God who stands outside time and can be said to have one foot on the beginning of time and the other on the end of time. Time is the realm we live in. We are bound to it with limits. Those are called birth and death.

Who could we trust with all knowledge? Surely not mankind. So who we believe has foreknowledge is the key to our understanding and acceptance.

Do we believe that God is the Alpha and Omega?

If we do then look at foreknowledge in these terms. Our time is not present in eternity. 

Perhaps God spoke all time into being and clapped His hands together to define the limits of time, His left hand being Alpha and His right hand being Omega.

Titus 1:1-3 English Standard Version

1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;

He knew the outcome before He even created time.

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