{"id":27083,"date":"2013-10-09T20:27:49","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T00:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=27083"},"modified":"2013-10-09T20:27:49","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T00:27:49","slug":"the-elect-chosen-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2013\/10\/the-elect-chosen-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"The Elect: Chosen of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Robert L. James, PhD<\/p>\n

I have been noticing that God\u2019s Word repeatedly talks about His elect.\u00a0 And there is one Scripture that is of special note that is found in Matthew 24:22 and 24.\u00a0 Look at this:<\/p>\n

Matthew 24:22, \u201cAnd except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect\u2019s<\/strong> sake those days shall be shortened.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 And<\/p>\n

Matthew 24:24, \u201cFor there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are several things that we can ascertain from the above texts.\u00a0 But let\u2019s start with the word itself: elect:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 eklogh<\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>
\nStrong’s <\/span>– (divine) selection (abstractly or concretely): – chosen, election.
\nThayer’s<\/span> – the act of picking out, choosing; of the act of God\u2019s free will by which before the foundation of the world he decreed his blessings to certain persons: the decree made from choice by which he determined to bless certain persons through Christ by grace alone; a thing or person chosen; of persons: God\u2019s elect
\nWebster’s<\/span> – In theology, divine choice; predetermination of God, by which persons are distinguished as objects of mercy, become subjects of grace, are sanctified and prepared for heaven.<\/p>\n

So, from that we sense, that God, before the foundation of the world, chose or selected, those who will be saved.\u00a0 Now, if anything was ever difficult to understand, this is one of them.\u00a0 If we look at John 3:16, we get some famous words.\u00a0 \u201cFor God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.\u201d It seems to make it clear that if a person believes or accepts Christ, He can have everlasting life.<\/p>\n

But think about this part.\u00a0 We are talking about God.\u00a0 There are 5 characteristics of God that must be understood.\u00a0 He is Eternal, He shall continue forever.\u00a0 He is Immortal, He will never die.\u00a0 He is Omnipotent, He has all power.\u00a0 He is Omnipresent, He is everywhere.\u00a0 And very important in this conversation, He is Omniscient, He knows all. \u00a0God knows all!<\/p>\n

Now, since He knows all, we know that He knows things that no other being knows.\u00a0 Remember the discourse of Jesus Christ when He spoke of the end of the world.\u00a0 He said that no one knows when that day will be.\u00a0 No one but the Father knows the last day of earth\u2019s history. Matthew 24:36.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut of that day and hour knoweth no man<\/em>, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only\u201d.<\/p>\n

Therefore, would it be too much to come to the clear understanding that God knows us better than we know ourselves.\u00a0 Again, doesn\u2019t it make sense that God knows more about us than we do about ourselves? We know that we have hair on our heads.\u00a0 But do we know which hair came first?\u00a0 The Bible tells us that God knows so much about us that He has numbered<\/em><\/strong> the hairs on our head.\u00a0 Which means that when hair number one grew in He knew it?\u00a0 Then, He continued to number them as they grew.<\/p>\n

Matthew 10:30\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u201c<\/sup>But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t it follow, that His Omniscience will continue all the way to the end of our lives or to the time when Jesus Christ, His Son, comes in the clouds of glory.\u00a0 Because He knows the future, He knows what our future choices will be.<\/p>\n

Therefore, He knows who will choose to follow Christ and who will choose to lose.\u00a0 Look at this text:<\/p>\n

King James Bible<\/a>
\nThere hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is<\/em> faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t it wonderful that we have a loving Creator that knows more about us than we know about ourselves?\u00a0 And because of that, He knows what we can take and will limit our trials by His knowledge of us.<\/p>\n

So, with this knowledge, we have a better understanding of the two texts with which we began.\u00a0 The reason why God shortens the last days is because if He did not, some of the ELECT would not make it!<\/p>\n

And He does it to make sure that despite all of the trials you face, despite all of the troubles that come, despite all of the anxiety you feel, He has provided a way of escape that you, His elect, will be able to bear it.\u00a0 So, He even shortens it or does whatever is necessary so that His Elect, you, are saved in His kingdom.\u00a0 What a mighty God we serve!<\/p>\n

Praise God, Praise God, Praise God!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Robert L. James, PhD I have been noticing that God\u2019s Word repeatedly talks about His elect.\u00a0 And there is one Scripture that is of special note that is found… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27083\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}