History is not simply a matter of the past causing the future; it is also true that the future causes the past, as R. J. Rushdoony explains: "The movement of time according to the Bible, is from eternity, since it is created by God and move out of and in terms of His eternal decree...Because time is predestined, and because its beginning and end are already established, time does not develop in evolutionary fashion from past to present to future. Instead, it unfolds from future to present to past."
David Chilton explains, "A simple illustration might help us understand this. Let us say someone finds you packing a sack lunch on a warm Saturday morning, and asks the reason for it. You answer, 'Because I'm going to have a picnic at the park today.' What has happened? In a sense, the future - the planned
picnic - has determined the past. Because you wanted a picnic at the park, you then planned a lunch. Logically, the picnic proceeded , and caused, the making of the lunch, even though it followed chronologically. In the same way, God desired to glorify Himself in Jesus Christ; therefore He created Jesse and David, and all the other ancestors of Christ's human nature, in order to bring His Son into the world. The Root of David's very existence was the Son of David, Jesus Christ. The 'effect' determined the 'cause.'"
