The experience of John the Baptist is something that I don't understand a whole lot about. I don't even know how to explain what I believe about predestination and foreknowledge. I believe that God knows all things before they ever happen. I believe God knows beforehand who will turn to Him and who won't. But I don't know how to tie this in with what some folks call predestination. Some how I believe that we are elected/chosen by God based on His foreknowledge but that in no way means that He forces us to make the choices we do. That may not even sound rational but somehow in my little mind I have come to that conclusion.
1 Peter 1:2 speaks of those who are "elect according to the foreknowledge of God...."
Ephesians 1:4 says God chose us "in Him before the foundation of the world..." This is certainly something I can't argue about because I don't know or understand enough about it. Jeremiah was known and sanctified (set apart) and ordained to be a prophet before he was even formed in the womb (
Jer 1:4-5). David spoke of God seeing him before he was formed in the womb (
Psalm 139). I don't understand these things. I think we set up camps as Arminians and Calvinists and then demand that everyone take sides. I just have to leave stuff like this up to the Lord.
I believe somehow God knew before He worked the miracle of conception in answer to Zechariah and Elizabeth's prayers that John would choose Him and dedicate his life to Him and that was why he was "filled" with the Spirit even before birth. By the way, many folks were "filled" with the Spirit prior to the NT and they did not speak with tongues. As a "dispensationalist" to me that was a different time and different way God dealt with folks.
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