from Don Fortner
Acts 2:23. Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;
Acts 4:28. to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.
Romans 8:28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Romans 9:11. for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls,
Ephesians 1:11. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
Ephesians 3:11. according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
2 Timothy 1:9. who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,
We believe, according to the scriptures, that the Lord our God is a God of purpose, absolute and unalterable purpose. Before the world began, Almighty God sovereignly purposed all that ever comes to pass in time. Nothing in this world is left to chance. Everything is moving toward the predetermined end of God's eternal purpose with absolute, precise accuracy.
Even a casual reader of Holy Scripture has to face this fact: The God of the Bible is a God of purpose. The above passages plainly state that the Triune Jehovah is a God of purpose, and clearly teach several things about the purpose of God:
- The purpose of God is eternal.
- The purpose of God includes all things.
- The purpose of God has for its peculiar design the everlasting benefit of God's elect. Everything that God has purposed is for the ultimate, spiritual, and eternal benefit of his covenant people.
- The purpose of God is immutable and sure. The Lord himself says, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure" (Isaiah 46:10). And in its ultimate end, God's purpose will accomplish the eternal salvation of his chosen people and the glory of his own great name.
Psalm 33:11. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.
Proverbs 19:21. There are many plans in a man's heart, nevertheless the LORD'S counsel--that will stand.
Isaiah 14:24. The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, "Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand.