Matthew 11:23

23. Exalted unto heaven The heaven here spoken of is the literal abode of the blest, and the word is used in the literal sense. The figure, if there be any, is in the exaltation. Figuratively, they are said to be exalted to a prospective and possible heaven by the offer of the Gospel. Its forfeiture by impenitence opens before them a prospective hell. It would have remained Our Lord here denies the doctrine of fatalism. Events can result differently from what they do.

This text illustrates also that true view of God’s foreknowledge which is implied in his attribute of omniscience. God foreknows not only all things actually future, but all things possible. And he knows all the results, both possible and certain, of all possible future events; and this not as weak man knows futurities, by experience of the past, and by inferences and reasonings from cause to effect. He foreknows all future actualities and possibilities by his own perfect attribute of infinite knowledge, which is eternal, uncaused, and independent.

Nor does God’s knowledge, as predestinarianism affirms, depend on his determination or decree. For God’s knowledge is his own divine faculty or attribute of omniscience, while his determination is an act. To say that God’s knowledge depends upon his determination, is to say that his attribute depends upon his action. The act of God presupposes the attribute as being before it. For to suppose God to determine antecedent to his knowledge is to suppose that he determines without knowledge and in the dark. God’s foreknowledge is antecedent to his predetermination, and is the ground of it.