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In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.

Ephesians 1:11

John Owen, the greatest of the Puritan theologians was born in 1616, the year William Shakespeare died and four years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts. He was a brilliant theologian who wrote profound and helpful books that many still feast upon today. He served with Oliver Cromwell, The Lord Protector of England, during the cessation of kingly rule in England. Owen preached numerous times in Parliament, and was a major contributor at the Westminster Assembly in 1643 and onward. But Owen’s public life is not what I want to stress here. He was married for thirty-one years and his wife blessed him with eleven children, ten of whom died in infancy and one as a young adult. His wife died five years before he did. How could Owen possibly live with a sense of peace, joy, and fervency for Christ in the midst of untold tragedy? It is true that death was very much a day to day reality for people in the seventeenth century, and families commonly experienced infant mortality. But eleven children? This number is truly remarkable. That’s simply staggering. How was Owen able to weather such storms?5

Ephesians 1:11 gives us an insight. Paul, in verse 10, is presenting an overarching plan or purpose for all things, saying that Christ Jesus is the household manager as it were (oikos, nomos, our word economics) , given responsibility by the Father to direct and dispose all things for His glory. He goes on to say that Christ Jesus will sum up again, make all things right on that great day of His return. Now Paul deals with present realities. Every English translation of the Bible I have consulted translates this verse as inheritance or heritage, “In Him we have obtained an inheritance, a heritage.” Certainly it is a glorious truth that we have an inheritance from the God, that we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ; but I suggest “inheritance” is not what Paul has in view here. The Greek word is our root word for lot. In Joshua we read of how God directed Joshua to allot portions of land to the twelve tribes of Israel. It seems to me that a more accurate translation of this verse is, “in whom we also were made to receive a lot, this lot being foreordained or predestinated according to God’s purpose, who continually works or energizes all things after His deliberate, well intentioned will.” This means that you have a lot from God. Whatever your life situation is—marriage, children, health, money, you name it—this is God’s lot for you. Furthermore, this lot has been foreordained, predestined by God, (see Romans 8:29–30, Isaiah 14:27, Daniel 4:34–35). God has planned it from eternity past. This plan is not bad luck, chance, or a matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. It is precisely what God had in mind for you and your loved ones. Furthermore, God is not merely one who set this in motion in eternity past and sits back and watches it unfold in today’s world. He continually works in and through you to accomplish His well intentioned, gracious, most wise will for your life.

It is clear that the doctrine of foreordination, that God plans everything that happens in eternity past, is meant to evoke praise from us. After developing this doctrine in great detail in Romans 9–11, Paul says, “O the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” Praise and adoration is the order of the day for those who understand and embrace this doctrine. It also follows that the doctrine of providence is vital to our living with peace and security in the world. In Matthew 10:29–30, Jesus says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are numbered.” And in Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill he says, “And God made from one every nation of mankind on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,” (Acts 17:26). In other words, God planned the nation in which you would be born, who your parents and siblings would be, and the century in which you would be born. He planned everything, and He directs, or carries out everything in your life.

I know what you are thinking—that sounds like we are not necessary, that we are merely robots with no freedom, no decision making power. Theologians refer to this as concurrence. God foreordains everything that comes to pass, but these things work themselves out in a real world where we make decisions everyday that impact our world, decisions for which we are directly responsible. The classic text on this is Acts 2:23 where Peter, preaching on the day of Pentecost says, “This Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.” There we find both God’s foreordination and man’s human responsibility. At the end of the day we must simply confess this to be one of many mysteries in the Bible, one of His complementarities of truth.

What does foreknowledge mean practically for you? This doctrine means three things. First, learn that God’s plan for your life is not misery or calamity. His plan is for your welfare. It has a future and a hope, (see Jeremiah 29:11). I am not saying you do not experience misery or calamity. I am saying that God works all things together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose. Are you focusing on your calamity, not seeing the good the infinitely wise and gracious God is bringing or will bring to your life? Second, learn to see God in the details of your earthly journey. Joseph finally came to understand this truth after the turmoil of his brothers’ abuse. He said to them, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good,” Genesis 50:20. I am not saying you do not experience sorrow and confusion. I am saying you must learn to see God in the details, to trust Him, and to wait on Him. And third, learn to wait until that great day when God will make all things clear to you, (see 1 Corinthians 2:9). When you enter the glorious presence of our exalted mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, then all the confusion, the sorrow, the misery and calamity, the injustice in your life will all make sense to you. You will see how the sovereign, gracious, all wise God of predestination, foreordaining providence, was behind everything and you will be able to say, “This was very good for my soul.”

5. Piper, Contending for Our All: Defending Truth and Treasuring Christ in the Lives of Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen, 87ff.