What sovereign statement concerning Israel,

. . . Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: for he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth (Romans 9:27,28).

Foreknowledge! Predestination! Election!

A remnant of the children of Israel shall be saved. The "children" (sons) referred to here had not been born as yet when the Spirit of Christ spoke in Isaiah.

Picture the sons of Israel as the "sand of the sea." Each of the sons was or will be born at a point in history. He or she (for this is referring to people, not just to males) grew from babyhood to childhood to adolescence to adulthood to middle age to old age, and then died.

Did these people determine their own destinies?

Christ declared in advance that only a portion of them would be saved.

We know that the Lord will "finish the work" of salvation and "cut it short in righteousness." The world is under the impression that it is finding its own way, by its own wisdom and strength, through various accidents and misfortunes, groping for the solutions to be brought to it by learned people.

But the history of each person has been known to God from the beginning. God knows the destiny of each person in the world. This especially is true in the case of His elect.

In like manner, the Book of Revelation has spoken concerning the nations of the earth at the end of the millennium—perhaps a thousand years from now.

None of these people has been born as yet. Yet their destiny has been known to God for the thousands of years the Scriptures have been in existence.

And they [the nations of the earth] went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them (Revelation 20:9).

The people of the nations of Revelation 20:9 will be born, live out their lives, be deceived by Satan, and be destroyed by Divine fire—exactly as John has prophesied.

Although all this is true, God commands us: "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve." God will hold us to account for every decision we make.