Do not be afraid of predestination. And do not be ashamed of it. We are predestinarians, because we believe the Bible; and predestination is a Bible doctrine, full of comfort and joy for God's saints. Predestination is God's infallible purpose of grace regarding his elect whom he foreknew. It means simply that our eternal destiny was settled by God, and infallibly secured by him before the world began.
THOSE WHOM GOD FOREKNEW IN ELECTING LOVE, HE PREDESTINATED TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON. Salvation, in its ultimate completion and perfection, is conformity to the image of Christ who is the express image of the invisible God, because he is God. Our conformity to Christ is the object of God's election and predestination (Eph. 1:3-5). This conformity to Christ is threefold: It Is A Climatic Conformity. In regeneration, Christ is formed in us. His righteous nature is imparted to us (II Pet. 1:4). It Is A Gradual Conformity. We are day by day conformed to the image of Christ as we put on Christ and grow in his grace and knowledge (Eph. 4:17-24; Col. 3:3-10; II Pet. 3:18). By the grace and power of God the Holy Spirit dwelling within, by the working of God's Word upon us, and by the loving nurture and discipline of our heavenly Father, the lives of God's people are graciously molded to Christ in all areas, not perfectly but gradually and increasingly. It Is A Consummate Conformity. We shall be perfectly conformed to Christ's image in perfect holiness of nature, both physically and morally, in the resurrection (Eph. 5:25-27; I John 3:2).
In sovereign predestination, God eternally and immutably determined WHO he would save, HOW he would save them, WHEN he would save them, and WHERE. Then he sovereignly arranged everything necessary, both to accomplish their salvation and to bring them to glory at last, perfectly conformed to the image of his dear Son. Predestination marked the house into which grace would come, paved the road by which grace would travel to that house, set the time when grace would enter, and guaranteed that grace actually would come and enter in at the appointed time. Nothing was left to chance, blind fate, luck, or man's imaginary free will!