Our All Knowing God

Q

Once again, thank you for all your help in understanding the truth of the bible. My question is, can a person die before their time?

A

Psalm 139:16 says all the days ordained for us were written in the Lord’s book before one of them came to be. I think that means He knows in advance how long we’ll live, and we won’t die until the days ordained for us have all been fulfilled.

I also believe God foreknew which of us would choose to accept the pardon He purchased for us (Romans 8:29-30), and therefore we couldn’t die before making that choice.

Had any of us failed to live out the days ordained for us, or died before making the choice to accept the death of Jesus as payment in full for our sins as He had foreseen, God’s claim that He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10) would be false.

None of this is meant to imply that God chooses who will be born, or ends our life on a certain day, or “forces” us to choose Him. It is simply the recognition that He knows everything in advance of it happening, including these milestones in our life. Knowing something will happen is not the same as making it happen.