In this instance precursor does not simply mean the one who comes before, nor does it mean that Jesus copied John. It means that God’s whose plan they both carried out already knew the outcome. The problem we Christians have always wrestled with is if God knows the future, does He make it happen or do we really have free will.
The Christian answer is that we absolutely have free will. We choose what we will do. We choose whether we will cooperate with God’s plan or go our own way. That’s what makes our wrong choices sin. For something to be a sin we must freely choose to act contrary to God’s law.
Does God know what we are going to choose, yes. He knows because he knows us, each one of us. He knows us perfectly. But his knowing what we will choose does not mean we do not do the choosing.
This month marks my 20th year as a tribunal judge. Many of us have worked together for all or most of that 20 year. Can they predict with almost perfect accuracy how I would respond to most questions? Absolutely. We often know what each other is going to say. I suspect you have family or friends like that. They know how we will react because they know us, not because they control us. Now expand that to the perfect knowledge of God.
For me,nowadays, it give me peace. I know that God already knows how and when this will end. He already knows what the “new normal” will look like in every country in the world. My job is to stay calm, and seek to do God’s Will today. God has already taken all of our craziness into account in His plan.
