Foreknowledge and divine interaction . . . . a mechanism to influence freewill.
OK, so lets again focus in on how foreknowledge and divine interaction is used to affect our will. I would like to illustrate how foreknowledge and divine interaction are meaningless unless the future is unsettled and we have the real ability to make choices that are not predetermined.
Imagine we are driving down a hot desert highway and there is nothing but miles and miles of emptiness. No towns, no gas stations, no rest stops . . . nothing!
Then we see a billboard.
The billboard says . . .
"Joe's Diner 1 mile ahead
Last chance to stop for 200 miles!"
This billboard interacts with us in a form of foreknowledge. Prior to seeing the billboard we really had no idea what the future held for us, but now we do have an idea what the future holds for us, there will be a Diner in a mile or so and there won't be another place to stop for 200 miles! So why did the creators of the billboard construct the billboard and place it on the side of the road?
The creators of the billboard did this to influence our freewill and future decisions. They desire that we stop and eat at their restaurant. And they also inform us that if we don't stop there we will not have another chance to stop for food for 200 more miles, that's about another 4 hours of driving time!
Because of this billboard we are now presented with a choice. Should we stop at Joe's diner or drive on for another four hours? Our freewill is now being influenced by the billboard. The creators of the billboard don't know what we will choose - but they certainly want to influence our choice which is the ONLY reason they took the time to interact with us via the billboard.
God's billboard to Adam.
God created Adam and Eve in the garden. Adam and Eve had it good! No rules, awesome surroundings, great company, communion with God, etc. Now God, wanting to have UN-coerced love with His creation didn't want to lock Adam and Eve in a box forcing them to love Him with no other option. So God introduced a rule. A single rule for Adam to follow (or not follow). Don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yet by introducing this rule it introduced the ability for Adam and Eve to do other than God's will for them. It introduced the ability for Adam and Eve to use their own will contrary to God's will for them. You might say that this instruction or rule was the birth of man's freewill.
This instruction was like a billboard on the side of the road.
The instruction was an interaction between God and Adam in which God gave Adam some foreknowledge... "for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
This foreknowledge that God dispensed to Adam had the TWO FOLD purpose that I outlined in parts 1 and 2 of this blog.
Purpose One: Attempt to influence Adam's will so that he doesn't eat from the tree and die spiritually.
Purpose two: If Adam DOES eat from the tree and dies spiritually Adam will know that God is who He says He is.
If . . . (on the other hand) all of Adam's choices are already known by God (a millennia beforehand) and all of this history has already been seen by God, what appears to be an interaction between Adam and God becomes merely an interaction in appearance and nothing else. The entire point of God interacting with Adam is an attempt by God to influence Adam's will. If Adam's will can be influenced, there must be different courses of history that are actually possible - i.e., the future cannot be settled - even if only settled in the mind of God.
Interaction between man and God is a lever or mechanism to effect and conform the will of man to the will of God.
God Himself stated this rather nicely when He told His disciples...
"Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He". - John 13:19
“And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe" - John 14:29
In other words... I am telling you this in advance so that when it happens you will gain trust in me. I am telling you this in advance to alter the future.
The very fact that God gives prophecy is proof that the future is not settled in advance because God is attempting to alter upcoming events to more closely conform to His will.
