Joseph’s claim that it wasn’t his brethren, but it was God, who sent him to Egypt, is an interesting explanation of events. It has been argued that the fact that God engineered the great deliverance of his people, the family of Jacob (Genesis 45:5, 8) proves that the doctrine of predestination is true. In other words, God knows what will happen before it occurs, so, therefore, all things are designed by him to occur as they do. Therefore, men have no real freedom of choice. Men are wicked, because God made them so, and men are righteous, because that is what the Lord designed them to be! Nevertheless, this idea is so shortsighted that scholars who believe it and teach it should be embarrassed with themselves for being so ill-informed. How could anyone call such a plastic god Almighty? …or righteous, holy or good?
If I design an object to act or an event to occur according to my designated plan, its success or failure has absolutely nothing to do with my character or my integrity. While success may prove me to be a good (excellent, great; insert the adjective you like) designer, a successful plan or a successful design doesn’t make anyone a good, or righteous person. I may call myself good or I may tell folks I am righteous, but such adjectives would be nothing but empty words.
Therefore, if the doctrine of predestination, as it is normally understood, is false, how can it be so that the brothers didn’t send Joseph to Egypt, but God had sent him there to preserve life? Does God know the future or doesn’t he? The answer may be surprising, but God doesn’t know the future! What! God doesn’t know the future? Hasn’t he used prophets to prophesy future events? How can I say such a foolish thing? Well, the truth is simple, but at the same time complicated—a conundrum!
The simple answer is, God has no future, nor does he have a past! He exists always in the present. He isn’t a servant of or in any way subject to time. The fact is, God created time and made men and the entire universe subject to its effects: God:
“has spoken to us in these last days by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and by whom he also made the ages[1] (Hebrews 1:2; AFV).
God doesn’t live in time, and is therefore not subject to time, meaning, he doesn’t live moment by moment, like men do. Men are subject to time, but God is not. All **our** time is in God’s present. He sees all things at once. He, therefore knows all things in **our** past, **our** present and **our** future, but he doesn’t see things in the future with respect to him, because he has no future. He exists NOW, forever NOW.
God is Almighty and this is proved in that, whatever choices men make, they cannot prevent or undo the will of God. Therefore, the brothers’ hatred of Joseph couldn’t limit God in what he wished to do. God is supreme and sovereign, and nothing nor anyone is able to prevent him from being successful in all he does. When God deals with men in time, anything that he predicts will occur in men’s future is already occurring before God in the present, so in the strictest sense of the word, God never predicts anything; he simply tells us what he sees in his present, which may at the same time be **our** future.
Time limits the sight of men, not God’s. Therefore, men can have freedom to act according to their will without preventing God from acting according to his will. The Lord can and will prevent men from carrying out the thoughts of their hearts (Exodus 34:24; 1Samuel 25:34); he may also permit men, even wicked men, to do exactly as they desire (Acts 7:42; 14:16). On the other hand, he may direct or guide men to do the very thing, which God desires (Genesis 6:13-22). Finally, God is able to limit or restrain men from going too far, keeping them from doing everything they would like to do (Job 1:12; 2:6).[2] Predestination, therefore, is a poor explanation, which some ignorant scholars use to describe what God has done.
____________________________________________________
[1] Most translations have either world(s) or universe, but the Greek is aion (G165) and means, according to Thayer Greek Definitions: 1) forever, and unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity; 2) the worlds, universe; 3) a period of time, an age.
[2] Although I’ve known these things to be true, since I was a little boy, I don’t remember putting all four acts together until I read them as such in Dr. Bob Utley’s You Can Understand the Bible Study Guide and Commentary at Genesis 45:8.
Smoodock's Blog 