“Whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Rom. 8:29,30)

“did God know that Adam was going to sin, and does He know whether we’ll be saved or not?” Yes, He knows all about it. “Then how can it be that we are free?” I do not know, and it does not make any difference. I know from His word that I am free to have salvation and to have it when I want it.

God foreknew us in Christ, and we are predestined to just such a place in the earth in a state of purity as God wants us to have. How do I know I am a child of God? He loved me and He bought me, and I gave myself to Him and therefore I am His. Now I am in Christ, and it matters not what happens to me. There is not a bad thing that can come upon me, for everything that does come, God will work it out for my good. Now Satan concocts some wicked scheme against me that is calculated to destroy me. Well, God takes those very wicked schemes and out of them He brings good for me. There is not one who would think of complaining when he is having a good time. But the Christian is having a good time all the time, for all things work together for good to him. These bad things are bad when they start, designed to ruin us, yet by the time they get to us, God transforms them into good.

When we look at things this way, we can praise Him no matter what happens. The Lord “will beautify the humble with salvation” (Ps. 149:4). “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).

There is not a wicked person, not even the devil himself, but God just takes his wickedness as it comes and makes it work out his own eternal purpose. There is a world of comfort in the thought that this is the kind of God whom we serve.

Jones, General Conference Bulletin, 1895, p.270