How can men and nations have free will and still end up fulfilling God's purposes?
God predetermined His plan for the ages in eternity past, yet He leaves men and nations with genuine free will. They act largely as they choose, but the end result still brings everyone and everything to the conclusion of God's purposes. Acts 2:23 illustrates this: Jesus was delivered by God's determinate counsel and foreknowledge, yet men crucified Him.
Les teaches that from the beginning of time until the end of God's plan for the ages, everything falls in place exactly as God predetermined. He points out how amazing it is that God can leave men and nations with a free will—they do pretty much as they think they want to do—and yet the end result brings everybody and everything to the end of God's purposes. To show how it all began, Les uses Acts chapter 2, where Peter preaches on the Day of Pentecost to Israel and rehearses that they had crucified their Messiah. In Acts 2:23, speaking of Jesus of Nazareth, Peter says He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, yet they took and crucified and slain Him. Les explains that way back in eternity past, the Triune God in counsel determined this plan for the ages, and in His foreknowledge He could see every detail of it coming down through history.