There's a big difference between
1)Christ could have sinned. (Yes, He could have!) and
2)The foreknowledge of God that Christ won't sin even though the battle would be severe.

When the prophet Daniel says concerning the dream in chapter 2--

---"the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure."--
He's not speaking of "conditional" promises.
(it is sure, it is certain) IT WILL HAPPEN as predicted.

"the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: ... and it shall stand for ever."

How could God reveal this to Daniel as "sure, certain" if it was just a "probablity"?



Foreknowledge and "fixed" isn't the same thing.

By creating beings that could reason and choose, sooner or later one of them would choose to rebel. Yes, God knew it would be Lucifer, but had He not created Lucifer, some other free moral being would have done it.
There was only one way to win the love and loyality of all and insure that sin would never again raise it's ugly head in the endless future ages and that was by allowing sin to show itself for what it was and for God to reveal His unselfish love in redeeming mankind from sin.

“There lived a learned man about A. D. 300 who read the words of Jesus in Luke 21:24: ‘Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.’ He had once been a Christian, so he knew the predictions. He made up his mind that Jerusalem should be trodden underfoot by the Israelites instead of by the Gentiles.

“This man also knew that the Bible foretold the utter destruction of the Jewish Temple and its services, that the Jews were to be scattered to all nations of the earth, and that Christianity was to go to ‘every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.’

“He was determined to overthrow Christianity, not by killing its adherents, which had been tried by his predecessors for 250 years and had served only to increase its followers, but by the more effective method of shattering the prophecies. Thus he would prove Jesus a liar. And he had the power, if anyone ever had, for he was Julian, emperor of Rome, with an immense army and the wealth and power of the civilized world at his command.”

...
“That he intended to stage a contest between himself and God, that he consciously planned to disprove prophecy, is stated by a writer as infidelic as Julian himself — Edward Gibbon, the world’s accepted authority on that period, in chapter 23 of his famous history. Rather than paraphrase, I will read Gibbon’s account:

“Julian ‘embraced the extraordinary design of rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem. In a public epistle to the nation or community of the Jews, dispersed through the provinces, he pities their misfortunes, condemns their oppressors, praises their constancy, declares himself their gracious protector. . . . They deserved the friendship of Julian by their implacable hatred of the Christian name. . . .

“ ‘After the final destruction of the temple by the arms of Titus and Hadrian, a ploughshare was drawn over the consecrated ground, as a sign of perpetual interdiction. . . .

“ ‘The vain and ambitious mind of Julian might aspire to restore the ancient glory of the temple of Jerusalem. As the Christians were firmly persuaded that a sentence of everlasting destruction had been pronounced against the whole fabric of the Mosaic law, the imperial sophist would have converted the success of his undertaking into a specious argument against the faith of prophecy and the truth of revelation. . . .

“ ‘He resolved to erect, without delay, on the commanding eminence of Moriah, a stately temple, . . . and to invite a numerous colony of Jews, whose stern fanaticism would be always prepared to second, and even to anticipate, the hostile measures of the pagan government.

“ ‘Among the friends of the emperor . . .the first place was assigned, by Julian himself, to the virtuous and learned Alypius. . . .This minister . . .received an extraordinary commission to restore, in its pristine beauty, the temple of Jerusalem. The desire for rebuilding the temple has in every age been the ruling passion of the children of Israel. . . . Every purse was opened in liberal contributions, every hand claimed a share in the pious labour, and the commands of a great monarch were executed by the enthusiasm of a whole people.

“’Yet, on this occasion, the joint efforts of power and enthusiasm were unsuccessful; and the ground of the Jewish temple, which is now covered by a Mahometan mosque, still continued to exhibit the same edifying spectacle of ruin and desolation. . . .

“ ‘The Christians entertained a natural and pious expectation that, in this memorable contest, the honour of religion would be vindicated by some signal miracle.

“ ‘Whilst Alypius, assisted by the governor of the province, urged, with vigour and diligence, the execution of the work, horrible balls of fire breaking out near the foundations, with frequent and reiterated attacks, rendered the place, from time to time, inaccessible to the scorched and blasted workmen; and the victorious element continuing in this manner obstinately and resolutely bent, as it were, to drive them to a distance, the undertaking was abandoned.’

“Julian could have rebuilt a whole city with his wealth and power, but he could not rebuild a single temple. He began his work with a great flourish of trumpets, advertised to the whole world his purpose, and the reason for it; he was going to disprove the Bible prophecies and so destroy Christianity.

“Account for it as you please, two facts remain: First, Julian boasted he was going to disprove Bible prophecy by doing what the Bible had said would not be done; second, with all the wealth and power of the world at his command, he failed.”

Yes, God knew it would be Lucifer, but had He not created Lucifer, some other free moral being would have done it.

On this point we are in agreement. When God gave time prophecies, and other "unconditional" prophecies, they were "sure" to happen as predicted. There are choices that can be made by FMAs, but said FMAs are powerless to change God's prophecy, or to keep it from reaching fulfillment.

7At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. 9And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. (Jer. 18;NRSV)

Yes, God knew it would be Lucifer, but had He not created Lucifer, some other free moral being would have done it.

The same principle might apply to Jacob and Esau. God had said Jacob would receive the birthright. However, he did not trust God, and went about to receive it through deceit. Had he not done so, God would certainly have worked in another way to keep His promise to Jacob.

In other words, FMAs are limited in their ability to disrupt God's plans. Not every prophecy/promise is a "conditional" one.

The context of Jeremiah 18 is rather interesting. The Israelites were saying essentially the same thing you are saying. God explained that this is not the case; the fact that He has prophesied something does NOT mean the thing must come to pass.

Tom, I agree with Dedication.

God knows the end from the beginning.

Not only what can be - but also what will be.

Do you agree the GC will play precisely the way it is described in the Bible? Or, do you suspect some details might play out differently or not at all? For example, do you think it is possible the USA will not legislate and enforce the MOB, that instead she will continue to defend liberty of conscience?

GC, I believe the future for God is like watching a rerun. The reason no one can alter what God has shared with us through the prophets is for the simple reason He is explaining what has already happened from His eternal perspective.

T:The context of Jeremiah 18 is rather interesting. The Israelites were saying essentially the same thing you are saying. God explained that this is not the case; the fact that He has prophesied something does NOT mean the thing must come to pass.

GC:For someone opposed to an "arbitrary" God, you sure sound like you think He is fickle.

"God and Christ knew from the beginning, of the apostasy of Satan and of the fall of Adam through the deceptive power of the apostate. The plan of salvation was designed to redeem the fallen race, to give them another trial. Christ was appointed to the office of Mediator from the creation of God, set up from everlasting to be our substitute and surety."{1SM 250.1}

The context of Jeremiah 18 is rather interesting. The Israelites were saying essentially the same thing you are saying. God explained that this is not the case; the fact that He has prophesied something does NOT mean the thing must come to pass.

Nineveh is an example of this. Jonah prophesied that Nineveh would be destroyed in 40 days. He didn't say, "If you do not repent, Nineveh will be destroyed in 40 days," but simply "Nineveh will be destroyed in 40 days." Yet it did not happen.