The paradox of sovereignty and liberty

“In one sense we can say that the kingdom of heaven is a democratic kingdom, paradoxical as that may sound.  The essential principle of a democracy is that it rests on ‘the consent of the governed.’  Heaven will be truly a kingdom, with God as the supreme Ruler; yet it will rest on the consent of the governed.  It is not forced on believers against their consent.  They are so influenced that they become willing, and accept the Gospel, and find it the delight of their lives to do their Sovereign’s will.”  (Loraine Boettner: The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, pp. 209-210)

There is no inconsistency between free agency and God’s absolute sovereignty over every thought, action, and event.  As Boettner observes,

“…the Scriptures contain predictions of many events, great and small, which were perfectly fulfilled through the actions of free agents.  Usually these agents were not even conscious that they were fulfilling divine prophecy.  They acted freely, yet exactly as foretold. . . .It is plain that the writers of Scripture believed these free acts to be fully foreknown by the divine mind and therefore absolutely certain to be accomplished. . . .The doctrines of God’s foreknowledge and foreordination stand or fall together.”  (loc. cit.)