The Joy and Comfort of God’s Election

One of my regular readers once noted the frequency of references to Ephesians 1:4–5, “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.” It has been a deboshed travesty over the past two hundred years, to see the heretics deny the very existence of this prolific Bible doctrine…the Doctrine of Election.

They have denounced the preachers of sovereign grace, denied the Protestant Reformation and subsequent confessions of faith (ie. Belgic; Thirty-Nine Articles; Westminster; London Baptist). The natural outcome of this doctrine’s neglect is Arminianism. This man-centered theology, twined with Roman Catholicism, abnegates the Reformed doctrines of grace.

As noted, God’s choosing a people for His own possession occurred before the foundation of the world (Rom 11:5; 1 Pet 2:9; Rev 13:8; 17:8; 21:27). It is sourced in His eternal good pleasure and decreed to be His will, as revealed in His Word (Rom 8:30). God’s sovereign election is to be preached comprehensively to both believers and unbelievers. Because election is good news to be believed, it is an essential component to the Gospel of grace.

The proper response to this doctrine of God’s predetermined selection is humble gratitude. Knowing that our adoption into God’s family means conformity to Christ (Rom 8:29), the holy one of God, the Christian pursues holiness (Heb 12:14; 1 Pet 1:15–16), while making her calling and election sure (2 Pet 1:10).

In the eternal council of God, the elect were placed into Christ (Jn 6:37; 17:2, 6, 24; 2 Cor 1:21; 2 Tim 1:9; Heb 4:3). The Lord knows those who are His (2 Tim 2:19), and He reveals the truth of salvation (election to glorification) to those who belong to Him (Mt 11:25; Rom 8:9). God the Father handed over all things to God the Son. It is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who wills to whom He will reveal the Father (Mt 11:27). How different is the biblical truth of God’s free will and choice from man’s unbiblical claim to have free will and choice in these matters (Jn 1:12–13; Rom 9:15–16).

Election is a one-time, unchangeable act of the immutable God, in eternity past (Heb 4:3). God the Father chose those He would set His love upon (Dt 7:7; Jer 31:3), and He entrusted their salvation to Jesus Christ (Eph 1:11; 3:11). Jesus came into the world to do the Father’s will (Jn 5:30), which was to lay down His life for His sheep (Jn 10:11, 15), His church (Eph 5:25), the Israel of God (Mt 16:18; Gal 6:16). How different this biblical truth is from the false teachers’ claim that Jesus laid down His life for everyone in the world and throughout history, including those who were already in hell on the day of Jesus’ birth.

People destroy themselves in trespasses and sins, and they are fully responsible for the consequences (Job 31:14; Rom 3:19, 23; 6:23). God is perfectly just when He condemns men to eternal punishment in fiery hell (Mt 25:41, 46; Jude 1:7; Rev 20:14–15). In addition, the sin of unbelief falls squarely on every unbeliever (Mt 23:37; Jn 5:24; 45–47). God hides the Gospel of Jesus Christ from no one (Mt 16:24; Jn 7:37; 8:12, 51), although His enemies busy themselves by suppressing the truth about sovereign grace (Rom 1:18; 2 Cor 4:3–4). Others pervert the truth to the point that one realizes that it takes an act of God for anyone to be saved (Ps 3:8; Jon 2:9; Rev 19:1). This is precisely our point.

When believers in Jesus understand the ramifications of the biblical teaching of election, there is joy and comfort. A definite number of souls have been chosen by the Father (Rom 11:5; 2 Tim 2:19; Rev 13:8; 17:8; 21:27). Christ died for these specific souls (Jn 10:11, 15, 28–29; Rom 5:8; 1 Cor 15:3; 1 Pet 2:24); and when the Holy Spirit arrives on the scene, the elect become manifest, by His baptism, indwelling, and regeneration (Jn 3:1–8; Rom 8:9, 11). Good works, including love for Christ (1 Jn 4:19), serve as evidence of salvation (Jas 2:14–26). In other words, sanctification by the Holy Spirit helps believers know they are the elect of God (Rom 15:16; 1 Cor 6:11; 1 Thess 4:3, 7; 5:23; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 Pet 1:2).

The reprobate unbeliever will never bear witness of Jesus Christ, in the Spirit (Phil 2:11). He has no interest in Christ (1 Cor 2:14), and Christ has no interest in him (Jn 10:26). This, too, is proof of election. Knowing the consequences of unbelief (Jn 3:16; Jn 8:24), the unbeliever disregards the Gospel warning of judgment and wrath to come (Mt 3:7; Lk 3:7; Rom 1:18; 1 Thess 1:10).

God loved His holy nation in eternity, and He demonstrated His love for His beloved in Christ’s death (Rom 5:8). Love is poured out in their hearts with the gift of the Holy Spirit given to the elect, redeemed (Ps 107:2; Is 43:1; Rom 5:5). God loves His own, first, and then they respond with love for Christ and His body of people, His church (1 Jn 3:16–17; 4:19).

This love does not exist between God and the reprobate (Jn 7:7; 15:18–25; Ps 5:5; 11:5; Rom 1:30; 9:13). Otherwise, the exact same economy would manifest, in exactly the same way it does between Christ and His bride (Eph 5:25; 1 Jn 4:13). To say this economy exists, with the world, is to claim that Jesus has failed to save many for whom He died.

It is a blasphemy against Christ to tell the world that Jesus loves them, when He Himself has told His body, the church, not to love the world (1 Jn 2:15–17), demonstrated by His refusing to pray for the world (Jn 17:9).

God’s love for his chosen bride is eternal. In His covenant of marriage, He says to His betrothed church, “I have loved you with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3).” He has shown the greatest love of all, by giving His love to ransom her (Mt 20:28; Mk 10:45; Jn 15:13)…not the world.

Knowing the unchanging, eternal love of God, we delight to see the comforting connection between election and assurance. Every saving grace flows from the fountain of God’s election of His particular and peculiar people. God’s grace is special to His people.

Following His finished priestly work on the Cross, Jesus sat down on the throne of God to continue His priestly work of intercession, not for the world, but for His beloved saints (Rom 8:34; 1 Tim 2:5; Heb 7:25). The Father receives Jesus’ mediation; and together, they send the Holy Spirit at the appointed time (Jn 14:26; 15:26), to apply Christ’s work to His select members (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3). These are fitted into the church (1 Cor 12:13), as living stones in the temple of the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:20–22).

The joy of the Lord is the joy of our salvation. When we see salvation, we see that God saves us by Himself (Jon 2:9), from Himself (Rom 1:18), for Himself (Is 43:7; 46:13; Jn 17:24). We were foreknown long before we were broken, clay pots (Jer 18:1–6; Rom 9:21), and it has forever been the Potter’s intention to restore us…not them…unto Himself (Jer 30:3) for eternal worship (Rev 5:9; 7:9).

Christian, your hunger and thirst for righteousness is evidence of your blessing (Mt 5:6). God has made you hungry for the Bread of life (Jn 6:35, 48, 51), and He is feeding you daily (Mt 4:4; 6:11). He cares for you and is committed to you growing in holiness (Jn 17:17; 1 Pet 5:8), and you should know this is because He chose you to be His child, in love, and this is to praise of His glorious grace (Eph 1:6, 12)…by His elect people (Ps 79:13; 102:18; 148:14; Is 43:21; Joel 2:26).

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

July 14, 2022