Understanding God - 18

Greetings to you and yours in the Name of our Lord Jesus. We are pleased to send you the next instalment of our series on “Understanding God”. So far, we have explored the Person and attributes of God, the make-up of the Godhead and the resultant distribution of roles. This has led us to a focus on “The Sovereignty of God”

UNDERSTANDING GOD 18


In continuation of our focus on “Understanding God”, we have been considering “The Sovereignty of God”. Thus far, we have explored the basis and extent of God’s sovereignty, which led us to a consideration of “The Place of Satan”, “Understanding Tribulation” and “The Place of Creation”.

In our last mail, we began to consider the pillars on which God’s sovereignty is hinged. So far, we have explored the foreknowledge of God. In this mail, we are focusing on the election of God.

Election
In the world of men, “election” is the process of choosing one man or a group of men from among many others to hold a position of trust. However, the doctrine of election establishes that, before the foundation of the world, God had chosen men to obtain salvation in Christ and determined the individual roles that men will play on the earth.

For the avoidance of doubt, the election of God is based on His foreknowledge. For instance, Peter, while addressing believers located within different cities, assured them that they were “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Pet.1:1-2). The implication is that the believers of our day are also foreknown and elected. The same goes for the Jews. Paul establishes that, in spite of their present state of unbelief, “there is a remnant according to the election of grace” (Rom.11:5).

He also affirms that this is based on God’s foreknowledge: “God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew” (Rom.11:2).

As stated above, the first implication of election is that those that do receive salvation were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (see Eph.1:4, Ac.13:48). The second implication is that roles were distributed among men before the foundation of the world. A study of the Scriptures will confirm this.

Our first example comes from the household of Isaac and Rebecca: “…but when Rebecca also had conceived by one…(for the children being not yet born, neither yet having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him that calleth;) it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger” (Rom.9:10-12). Even though the children were not yet born, the One who knew the end from the beginning, including the future dispositions and choices of the children, chose the one before the other. Similarly, He chose Isaac (the younger) before Ishmael (the elder), Joseph (the eleventh son) before Reuben (the first), Ephraim (the younger) before Manasseh (the elder) and, once again, Ephraim (the grandson of Jacob) ahead of the twelve sons of Jacob (see Gen.17:18-21, 37:5-11, 48:10-20, 1 Chr.5:1). This helps us to understand the words of God to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (Rom.9:15, Exo.33:19). Yet we know that there are conditions in God’s Word by which a man attracts to himself the mercy of God. The point of harmony between the two seemingly contradictory perspectives is that God, based on His foreknowledge, had chosen the prospective recipients of His mercy before they had the opportunity of making their choices.

On this note, we move on to consider the mystery of different kinds of vessels in a great house: “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” (see Rom.9:21-24). Paul singles out Pharaoh as an example of vessels unto wrath: “For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew My power in thee, and that My Name may be declared throughout the earth. Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth” (Rom.9:17-18). Pharaoh had the opportunity of making a good choice, but he made a bad choice, one that was contrary to God’s will. But long before the deed, God, who had foreknowledge of his dispositions and choices, had reserved for him the inglorious role of being an example of men who taste the wrath of God upon the earth. The same goes for Judas Iscariot (see Jn.17:12, Jd.1:4, 2 Tim.2:20).