“For our sake, He (Our Heavenly Father made Him (Jesus Christ, the Son) who knew no sin, to become sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

What an amazing Scripture that reveals the extent of God’s love for the creature He made in His image, us.

We know from God’s Word that God knew before “The Fall” when sin entered the world through our disobedience, that His Son would need to pay the price, “die in our place“, to restore us back into a right relationship with our Holy God. Jesus said, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 25:34

Paul says, God chose us before the foundation of the world, He predestined us for adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus sacrifice on the Cross.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-6

Events in God’s world do not unfold by chance, nor are the events a reactionary action from God. He causes them to come to be. Scripture simply unfolds this as an incontrovertible and uncontroversial thing. God is depicted as the One who not only intervenes as He sees fit, but Scripture attributes all actions to God’s predetermined plan.

One of the clearest examples of this is in Genesis 50:20, the verse summarizing the narrative of Joseph and his brothers “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive.” In other words: all of the evils Joseph endured through the hand of others was not simply repurposed for good, but ultimately brought about by God Himself as good.

It meant the betrayal of Joseph’s brothers, being sold into slavery, Potiphar’s false imprisonment of him, the cup-bearer forgetting of Joseph’s correct interpretation, and then his subsequent delivery from prison, appointment to a position of prominence, and his shrewd planning for the widespread famine to come—was all ordained by God to keep many people alive, not the least of which being the nation of Israel. God’s covenant faithfulness to Abraham is on full display in His preservation of the Israelites.

The gospels speak candidly to those who are blinded by God so that they cannot be saved (Matt. 13:14; Mk. 4:12, 6:52; Jn. 12:39-40). The epistles likewise have no shame expressing that God has mercy upon whom He will have mercy, and harden whom He will harden—and there is no charge of injustice against God in His sovereign right to choose whom He desires (Rom. 9, 11:7, 11:25).

This theme is picked up clearly elsewhere as well (Ps. 69:28; Lk. 10:20; Eph. 1:3-12; Rev. 3:5, 17:8). Yet it is likewise seen in the fact that God appointed vast swaths of people to come to faith in the early church (Acts 13:48, 15:17-18). We find similar echoes of God’s sovereignty in those whom He has established as authorities on earth (Dan. 2:21; Jn. 19:11; Rom. 13:1-2; 1 Pet. 2:13-14). We see that Scripture unabashedly affirms that God appoints our sufferings, trials, and more.

The Bible simply unfolds this principle (Doctrine of Grace), not a theme of controversy, but one of worship. To put that in the simplest terms possible: the compendium of Scripture’s teachings lends itself to be understood through God’s active decree and interference with all of history, including the will of man. In this, He is not passively permitting things to pass, looking with foresight as to what possible choices may come, nor is He reacting to the choices of men. Rather, He ordains whatsoever comes to pass and He does so for His purposes and good pleasure. This is what Scripture teaches it is not necessarily what we want to accept.

I like Grayson Gilbert came to this position by reading Scripture. Grayson wrote the article “How I Became a Calvinist: By Reading the Bible” Jan. 15 2021 http://www.patheos .com. Much of the above was taken from his article.