Acts 2:22-23 — Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
One of the greatest puzzles is how does man’s free will impact on God’s absolute sovereignty. The answer is simple. It doesn’t!
God has plans, and man has choices — but man’s choices can’t alter God’s plans! Job’s young friend Elihu got it right:
Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou. If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? Or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him? If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? Or what receiveth he of thine hand? (Job 35:5-7)
This is a very telling passage. Though God is everywhere, omnipresent, Elihu says He is far above us — in the lofty vaults of heavens … Our sins may impact us, but they cannot impact Him. Our righteousness may be great, but God needs nothing we can give Him.
Peter tells the Jews of one of the most compelling instances of this truth. The crucifixion was not just the results of a wicked plot by venal religious authorities, nor the unjust exercise of imperial power by an insecure ruler. It was the working out of God’s predefined plan. It’s a theme that is returned to several times in the Book of Acts. 3:18, for example, where Peter says:
But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
Peter makes the contrast very clear. The crucifixion was part of God’s redemptive plan — but the human actions that enabled and executed it were still wicked. Those choices were man’s, not God’s.
Our choices do have eternal impact. Paul made it very clear:
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Galatians 6:7-8)
Our choices have eternal impact — on our future, but not on God’s plans