Providence & Predestination

(Don Fortner)

"We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Divine providence is the daily, constant, sovereign rule of our God over all things for the accomplishment of His eternal purpose of grace in predestination.

Predestination is the sovereign, eternal, immutable, unalterable purpose of God almighty, by which He ordained and ordered, according to His own will and good pleasure, all things that come to pass in time.

Divine providence is the accomplishment of God's sovereign will and purpose. Providence is God bringing to pass in time (sovereignly, absolutely, and perfectly) what He purposed in eternity.

Predestination is God's purpose.
Providence is God's execution of His purpose.

Nothing in the universe happens by luck, chance, fortune, or accident, or by blind fate.
Everything that comes to pass in time was purposed by our God in eternity, and is brought to pass by His wise, adorable, good providence.

Nothing comes to pass in time that God did not purpose in eternity, in sovereign predestination.
Nothing comes to pass in time except that which God sovereignly brings to pass in His providence.

All that God predestined in eternity and brings to pass in His providence, is for the good of His elect and the glory of His name. This is clearly and incontrovertibly the teaching of holy Scripture (Proverbs 16:4, 9, 33; 21:1; Daniel 4:34, 35; Isaiah 46:9-11; Romans 11:33-36).