n2thelight
Well-Known Member
Jer 1:5
Great, we agree!
Now there are two possible ways we can interpret this verse.
1. Jeremiah pre-existed before the creation of the world.
2. God in His foreknowledge knew Jeremiah would one day exist.
As you know my understanding is option 2 because we have so many more verses explaining the foreknowledge of God. He knows end from beginning. (But this does not of course prove that Jeremiah actually existed before his birth!) You might like to look over such verses as 1 Pe 1:20,21; Rev 13:8; John 1:6; Rom 8:29; Eph 1:4 etc.
Insight
That's where we differ....I feel that all were created at the same time,per Job
Job 38:7
When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
In the above God is asking Job where he was when He created the earth,it is my view that we were the sons of God...We all lived on the earth before it became void and without form,however ,not in the flesh......
Another verse I like to use,is the fact that God hated esau before he was even born
Romans 9:13 "As it is written "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
While Esau was a small embryo in his mother Rebecca's womb, God hated Esau.
Guess you will say,God knew He would hate Esau....I can't agree with that,Esau did something to cause God to hate him,even before he was born......
Ephesians 1:4 "According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:"
What does it mean to be "chosen"?
It means that there are certain people that God chosen in the first earth age, to do a task for Him in this flesh earth age. This is not reincarnation, for it is appointed for each of us to go through this earth age, the flesh earth age, once and only once. We read; "...It is appointed unto men once to die [in the flesh], but after this the judgment." Hebrews 9:27 This appointing and choosing took place before the foundation of this earth age; the second earth age [cosmos] that we now live in.
"Without blame" refers to the fact that God intercedes in certain peoples lives. Certain people have free will, while certain others are of God's election, however, God doesn't play favorites. Christ died for the sins of all who will repent; the chosen, and the free-will. All must repent for sins they commit, and love the Lord Jesus Christ, to have the hope of His glory.
"Before the foundation of the world", [cosmos in the Greek, meaning world or earth age.] The "foundation" in the Greek text, is the verb for, "the overthrow". This refers to something that happened in that first earth age, before the overthrow of Satan and his angels that followed him. When Satan fell [war against God], one third of all angelic beings [God's children] followed Satan. Then during that war, there were some who fought against Satan, and those who did, God calls "His Chosen". They took a stand, and were overcomers in that first earth age.
Have you ever wondered why you do the things that you do, at times. It's just like you have a destiny. You have always felt their is more to life, and this world, then what you have been taught. Paul addresses this in Romans 8:27. In verse twenty six it says that there are times in your life when the Holy Spirit makes intercession for you because you don't even know what to pray for.
"And he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." Romans 8:27 These saints are "the set-aside ones", or "the chosen". God has a overall plan, and a purpose in that plan just for you. That purpose is to bring back His children to Him; after that overthrow, and in this earth age.
Why would God intercede in a person's life, without them even asking? When your free-will goes against God's purpose for your life, God will intercede. When Paul's "free will" was to destroy all Christians, God's will was to take this highly educated man, and use Paul as the instrument for Him. Paul used to same drive to destroy Christians, that he used later to convert people, after his conversion.
We read that the Lord said; "...For He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and Kings, and children of Israel:" Acts 9:15