The word predestination occurs in Romans 8: 29, 30; Ephesians 1: 5 and 11.
It means that everything is planned in advance by God. It is evident that God foreordained whatever that happened in the life of Jesus Christ for human salvation(Matthew 26:24).
How do we take predestination in the case of a person coming to God ?
Jesus says " No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day. "(John 6: 44). He utters the same thing in John 6: 37 ;10: 29 and 17:10. Because the person came to God he should be considered " The Elect ". The grace he received is "The Prevenient Grace". St Augustine of 4th century AD dealt with the doctrine of predestination at length.
It is truly scriptural to say that God predestined some but if He did it because of His foreknowledge that they would eventually believe in the Gospel, His grace loses it's value and man gains a point for boasting. If the doctrine of predestination rules out the free will of man,the Gospel loses it's meaning and those who teach predestination lose their urge to preach the Gospel in urgency. Here we need to differentiate between the Pelagius kind of "free will"which rules out the total depravity of man, and the "free will" which God gave to accept or reject the offer of the Gospel. In this context it is the second one.We should see that both predestination and free will of man are biblical. They are to be held together and in tension. Certainly it is a mystery. Believing that the secrets belong to God(Duet 29: 29), we may take predestination this way:
It is for the celebration of the grace of God by the believer and it is not for calling others reprobates. If we do we may end up in hypothetical theories on others. It is true that there are reprobates in the Bible. Today some may opt themselves to be categorised as reprobates but who they are we don't need to know or presume. Further, Paul says that God chose us and predestined us not primarily to send us to heaven but to transform us into the image and likeness of His Son.
In the Scriptures, we notice that Sovereignty of God and Human responsibility are both present. Some monotheistic religions ignore human responsibility, while Eastern religions ignore Sovereignty of God. Christianity is a blending of both. They are to be held in tension. In the episode of Judas Iscariot betraying the Lord, we notice that both are present(Matt 26:24). Judas Iscariot cannot escape saying His crucifixion is anyway foreordained.
In Romans 11: 25-28, Paul brings out the positive cycle in which the sovereignty of God and human responsibility interplay in the grand plan of God. The Gentiles were disobedient at one time. Then the Israelites received mercy but now because of the disobedience of the Israelites the Gentiles have received mercy. It is because God's mercy doesn't discriminate. He has His own way of doing things. Paul says that God had bound all men over to disobedience so that He may have mercy on them all.
Romans 8: 28 should cause us to think that whatever that is happening to us is for our good as God has His own way of transforming us into the likeness of His Son. So, predestination ? Yes. Double predestination ? No. There is no need for saying that others are predestined for damnation as those who reject the Gospel are naturally in line for damnation.
This may help us to understand better:
All of us who are in Adam are in a drowning ship, everyone free in his own way, but by His grace we heard the Gospel and opted for jumping into the lifeboat, Jesus. It is celebration indeed as we look back and know for sure that we are predestined !
Praise God !