The Lord Knows Those Who are His
The Bible reveals to humanity, the one true God, in three persons, who is displaying His attributes for His glory. A narcissist is self-focused, thinking more highly of himself than he ought to. In contrast, God is self-focused because He should be glorified for who He is and what He has done. The psalmist praises Him, “All Your works shall give You thanks, O Yahweh, and Your godly ones shall bless You (Ps 145:10).” God should be glorified, and godly people enjoy glorifying Him.
In His revelation of Himself, God has revealed His name to us. He is Yahweh, the Great I am (Ex 3:14). He also reveals Himself to be the Creator of all things (Gen 1:1; Col 1:16). He is the architect and builder of all things (Heb 11:10). He sustains all things by the word of His power (Heb 1:2). He is the owner of everything (Ps 24:1). His will, His word, and His works reveal His perfection. He alone is God, and there is no other (Is 46:9). He sits in the heavens and does as He pleases (Ps 115:3). This includes choosing a people for Himself, “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth (Dt 7:6).”
Some people will tell that all people are God’s people. In a general sense, this is true. God is the Creator of all people. He has made some people to be vessels of mercy, and He has made some people to be vessels of wrath (Rom 9:22–23). He made both Jacob and Esau (Mal 1:2; Rom 9:13). He set His covenant love on one, but not the other. This is where the distinction is made. In the same way, I could claim to love humanity in general, but I have a very special love for my family. This love is different. It is personal. We dwell together. We know one another. We share things. As a father, I protect and provide for my family. Noah made room for His family on the ark. Christ makes room for His family in the church.
God’s Word reveals to us the idea of God’s covenant people. He has made a deal. The essence of this deal is stated succinctly, “I will be your God, and you will be My people (Ex 6:7).” It is important for us to know that God chose His people before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4–5). He wrote their names down in the Lamb’s book of life before Creation (Rev 13:8; 17:8).
The Lamb is a title for the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ (Jn 1:29), who is the Lamb of God slain for the removal of sins (Rev 5:6, 12). Those who are brought into covenant relationship with God have the forgiveness of sins (Mt 26:28; Eph 1:7; Heb 9:22; Rev 1:5), and they are given eternal life (Jn 10:28). Some people are God’s people, but not all people are God’s people in this sense of covenant.
God sent Jesus Christ into the world for the purpose of reconciling the people He had chosen beforehand (2 Cor 5:18–20). This elect group of people is part of Adam’s race (Rom 5:12–21). Adam was the first man, and he used his free will to choose rebellion against God (Gen 3). When Adam sinned, he poisoned all of His progeny with this disease of sin (1 Cor 15:22). All people have inherited the sin of Adam; and all people sin and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23).
God cannot accept sinful people into His presence; therefore, Adam was removed from the Garden of Eden, and his offspring have been separated from the holy presence of God ever since. Sin is why men die. God must judge sinners to maintain His justice and holiness. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), and it is appointed once for a man to die (Heb 9:27), and then comes the judgment of God (2 Cor 5:10; Rev 20:11).
God the Father, the Lord, knows who He chose for this salvation (Eph 1:4–5; 2 Thess 2:13). He sent His only begotten Son into the world to take on flesh, live impeccably, and to die as a substitute for sinners (Jn 1:14; 3:16; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 2:24).
Jesus Christ, during His earthly ministry, knew what was in the hearts of men (Jn 2:23). The human heart is wicked (Jer 17:9); therefore, all people are at enmity with God (Rom 5:10), who is holy. Holiness and wickedness are at odds with each other. This is what must be reconciled if there is to be salvation.
The Bible is God’s story of salvation. His plan of salvation is from Genesis to Revelation. We learn many things about God in the Bible. He has perfect attributes, and what is revealed belongs to us (Dt 29:29). We cherish the knowledge of God because what we know is that He sent His Son to save us (Mt 1:21). For this reason, the knowledge of God, our Savior, is itself our salvation (Tit 3:4–8).
The unelect, unregenerate, unbeliever has not received God; and because he does not believe God, he does not know the joy and peace of salvation. He may have heard about salvation, but sin in him suppresses the truth (Rom 1:18). He may even understand what is being said, but the carnal man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:12). He does not know God, personally.
Jesus Christ is God (Jn 1:1; 8:58; 10:30). To know the Father, you must know the Son (Lk 10:22). To know the Son, you must have the Spirit (Jn 3:36; Rom 8:9). This is what Christians believe, and they believe because they have the Spirit, who has granted them faith (Rom 12:3; Gal 3:22; Phil 1:29).
Just as God the Father knew who He had chosen for salvation, in His omniscience, so Jesus Christ, being omniscient God, also knew who He came into the world to save (Eph 5:25). Jesus taught, “I know my sheep. They hear my voice, and they follow me (Jn 10:27).” Jesus also said to His disciples, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you (Jn 15:16).”
Jesus even chose one son of perdition to be His close follower. Judas Iscariot was given the greatest privilege a sinner bound for hell could ever receive. He spent three years in close, intimate fellowship with God incarnate. Here was a wretched sinner, dwelling in the presence of Almighty God enfleshed (Jn 1:14).
If there was ever a man who would have surely chosen Jesus Christ to be his Lord and Savior, it would have been Judas Iscariot. He had more evidence, more knowledge than any unelect, unregenerate, unbeliever. Yet, this intimate proximity and witness to the wisdom and miracles of Christ could not compel him to decide to follow Jesus.
What was the reason Judas did not persevere? He was not chosen for salvation, by God the Father, before Creation. This should serve as a stark warning for those who are trusting in their “decision for Christ” for their salvation.
God’s people belong to Him (1 Cor 3:23). They are His possession (Ps 100:3; Tit 2:14; 1 Pet 2:9). We have seen how the Father chose them by name. We have seen how Christ came into the world to redeem them through His blood atoning sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary. The Father knew His people. The Son knew His chosen followers. It is the same with the Holy Spirit.
God the Father and God the Son sent God, the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:26; 15:26). Following the planned death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and enthronement of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit was sent to indwell the hearts of those He caused to be born again (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3).
The Holy Spirit of God, the Lord (2 Cor 3:17), knows the elect of God and His work is to regenerate them. This means to abide in them, as the life of God in the chosen soul. God says, “I will pour My Spirit on you; I will make My words known to you (Prv 1:23).”
A man must know God to know salvation. For a man to know God, the Spirit must come upon him to reveal Christ to him (Eph 1:17). The Spirit is the divine agent of Gospel revelation through the preaching of the Word (1 Thess 1:5). The Lord, the Spirit of truth (Jn 16:13), whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him or know Him (Jn 14:17), is the catalyst for us knowing Christ (1 Cor 2:12).
The Spirit abides in the ones known to God; He lives in them (Jn 14:17; 1 Cor 3:16). Christian confession of Jesus as Lord is completely dependent on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:3). We believe because He gave us faith (Phil 1:29; 2 Pet 1:1).
Christ in us (Gal 2:20), by His Spirit, reveals to us our place in Him (Eph 2:6). We abide in Him, and He in us (1 Jn 4:13). This mutual indwelling was initiated by God. It is sustained by God, who promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb 13:5).”
You are in the Spirit, if indeed, the Spirit of Christ dwells within you (Rom 8:9a). If you do not have the indwelling Spirit, you do not belong to Him (Rom 8:9b). Christ belongs to God, and we belong to Christ (1 Cor 3:23). He who has the Son, has life, but He who does not have the Son, does not have life (1 Jn 5:12).
God knew His people before Creation. Jesus Christ knew the ones He came to die for on the Cross. The Holy Spirit knows those He abides in through His indwelling presence (Rom 8:9, 11). The Father and Son sent the Spirit to a chosen race of people, a called out gathering of people, who are set apart as a holy nation (1 Pet 2:9). Their service to God is a royal priesthood with every believer being adopted into God’s royal family by the Spirit of adoption (Rom 8:15).
Children are known by their father. If a child from another town came into my house, sat down at my table, and said, “I have decided to be in your family and have you provide for me.” I would say, “You must return to your father, who I suspect is a devil. Depart from me, I never knew you.” In contrast, the father who plans to adopt a particular child from an orphanage knows all about her before he reveals his adopting love to her. She was known and chosen beforehand. She was bought and paid for with a redemption price.
The Christian is brought into the household of God (Jn 1:12–13; 6:44; Col 1:13), where she is being prepared for her presentation before her Father. She will be made holy and blameless before Him (Eph 1:4; 5:7; Col 1:22). She will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever (Ps 23:6). Why? The Lord knows those who are His (2 Tim 2:19); and this chosen, adopted, child belongs to the Lord. He has made Himself to be her Father.
Praise God for having mercy upon ungodly sinners (Rom 9:15, 18). Praise Him for choosing to set some people apart to be made holy (1 Pet 1:15-16). Praise God for making the way for us to know Him, even as we are known by Him (1 Cor 8:3).
We love God the Father. We love Jesus Christ. We love the Holy Spirit. We do so because of the love God first had for us (1 Jn 4:19). He set His love upon us (Dt 10:15), and He made His love known to us (Eph 1:4–5), having poured out His love into our hearts (Rom 5:5).
The adopted child, brought into a loving royal family, has more bestowed upon her than she could ever think or imagine. Our heavenly Father knows we have needs, and He has made every provision for His children. He has known us. He has loved us. He has revealed His choice of us, and we have been brought into His house, into His family, in order to know Him. This is what we need to know.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
April 4, 2021
