Does god know who will make it to heaven?

God certainly has an infinite foreknowledge. Isaiah 46:9-10 says, "I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning." In Isaiah 42:9, the prophet penned the words of the Lord as "new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them." These Scriptures substantiate the truth that God has an infinite foreknowledge. In Psalm 147:5, the psalmist proclaimed, "Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite."
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However, we must bear in mind that there is a substantial difference, or distinction, between foreknowledge and foreordination. Much in the prophetic body does not occur because God said so, but He said so because He knew it was going to occur. An individual's eternal destiny is not predetermined or foreordained. Ephesians 1:4-5 lets us know it is not people who are predestined but the plan. Second Peter 3:9 tells us God is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Again, God has foreknowledge, but that is vastly different than a predetermined foreordination. 

Man is a being created with the power of choice over his eternal destiny. Here are some Scriptures to substantiate man's power of choice, or as sometimes is termed "free moral agency": Deuteronomy 30:19-20; Joshua 24:15; 1 Kings 18:21; Acts 26:28; 2 Corinthians 5:11. God leaves the determination of every individual's eternal destiny to every individual's choosing. "Therefore choose life" (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Earl R. Borders

From the June 2024 issue of The Gospel Trumpeter