When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed, Acts 13:48.
Does this mean that only those appointed (predestined) beforehand may be saved?
1. Christ was foreknown (foreordained) before the foundation of the world, “For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God,” 1 Peter 1:20-21. Christ, being God, is eternal; so certainly God the Father and God the Son know each other from eternity, for at the foundation of the world it is said, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…’” Genesis 1:26, and again, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being,” John 1:1-3. So this is not what is being spoken of, that they know each other from before the world; rather, what is being said is that the office which He would fulfill, the role He would take, was foreknown from before the world, that is, that salvation in Christ was determined before the world was created.
2. Now that salvation in Christ has been foreordained (or predestined), it remains therefore that some must partake of it. And whoever it is that partakes of it is saved, therefore it is rightly said that they were predestined to salvation, for they partook of the salvation that was predestined. For it is said, “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God,” John 1:11-13. Here he speaks of the difference between the men who are born of the world and who are born of God; for we are all born of the world, but to be in Christ we must be born again, that is, born of God. As many of us who are willing to receive the call of Christ, these are born again, and it is these who are predestined to salvation, that is, it is these who partake of the salvation that was foreordained in Christ before the world began. For this is predestined: that all who are in Christ shall be saved, and that all who are outside of Christ are lost; this situation is predestined, foreordained. Therefore, those who partake of the salvation in Christ are predestined to salvation. The individual person was not predestined, but the situation was predestined.
3. If individual men were predestined to salvation, and individual men to condemnation, God would be defeating His own purpose. For why do we have free will, free will to believe, or free will to disbelieve and follow our own path? That our love to Him might be real. For he says, “Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham,” Luke 3:8. If God so desired, He could have made sons according to His will, sons who could not sin against Him. But then their love would not have been proven to be real. I can make a robot to say to me, “I love you,” but would it mean anything? But when our spouse or our children say to us, “I love you,” it is everything, because it comes from the free will of the person saying it.
Therefore, if God predestined individuals to salvation and individuals to condemnation, would the love of those predestined to salvation be real? Would it not have been accomplished in complete disregard of their own will? And would the condemnation of those predestined to condemnation be just, seeing as they had no choice in the matter, as to whether to believe or not? And if God is able to raise children of Abraham from the stones, why did He not just do that; why also raise children to destruction, that they might suffer forever? Would this not be cruel?
His purpose is to raise children who walk with Him according to their own free will, whom He will afterwards make like Him, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is,” 1John 3:2.
For what is the testimony of God regarding Enoch? “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him,” Genesis 5:24. And what does the writer of Hebrews say of this? “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him,” Hebrews 11:5-6.
Enoch is unique in a sense among the children of men; he did not see death (nor did Elijah). The example of Enoch though shows us what is pleasing to God; that we walk alongside of Him. And what does the scripture say? “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” Amos 3:3. God will not adjust His way to agree with ours, but we must adjust our way to conform with His; and this Enoch did. But if Enoch had no free will in this, it was a fruitless exercise; he only did what it was not his free will to do, the robot only said, “I love you.”