According to Election

There was a time in my life where my soul was saved, but I couldn’t quite put into words what came over me for that to happen. After much studying and encouragement from a sister in Christ, I finally realized what a gift of God salvation actually was.

Yes, I believed on Jesus Christ and yes, I believed in the Word of God, but how did this happen to me? Was I saved because I reached out to God through my own free will? I never exactly had the answer to this, until I was pointed to certain scriptures.

Below is a passage from Romans Chapter 9, that highlights a key component of Christian faith. Verse 11-13- referring to Jacob and Esau:

(For the children being not yet born, neither 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.

As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

If you rely on the Word of God as your source of truth, then just read the scripture, Christian. If you came to the Father through the Son, that means He called you to Him and it was none of your doing. It simply could not have been, because God elects his children before they're born.

There are many verses to support this, but the simplest and clearest is Ephesians 2:8-9, which oddly enough, is used by many people who refuse to understand sovereign election. But read the words for yourself:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Not of works, lest any man should boast.

I'd always felt the pull of sovereign election deep in my soul, but I was never fully comfortable with the idea that something happening in my life might not be the result of my free will.

Yes, I did ultimately submit to God's will, but only because he selected me to do so, for HIS glory and not my own. Understanding this is the key to understanding true Christianity.

The scripture is clear: If you have a penitent heart and a regenerated soul, it is only by God’s grace that you do. Understand how greatly God has blessed you and seek to use your gifts to serve Him in all capacities.

Poetic Justice

We have discussed the poetic justice God wrought against the nations behind the tower of Babel in Genesis 11. In seeking to climb up to heaven by their own works, they were brought down and scattered abroad, the exact thing they were trying to avoid with their frenetic laboring.

Something similar happens in John chapter 11. When many Jews believe on the Lord when they witness him raise Lazarus from the dead the Pharisees assemble themselves to decide what is to be done about it.

“[47] Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? For this man doeth many miracles. [48] If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. [49] And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, [50] Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. [51] And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; [52] And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.” — John 11:47-52

Verses 51 and 52 reveal that the Pharisees knew the truth about Jesus, but suppressed that truth in unrighteousness. Caiaphas suggests letting Jesus be killed so that their nation, which is in subjection to the Roman Empire, would be preserved.

Sure enough the thing they feared the most — the Romans coming and taking away their status and nationhood, came to pass in 70 A.D.

The Destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem — Nicolas Poussin, Public Domain Image

We see that Jesus' mission as Redeemer and his blood atonement is not universal to all humanity nor is it specific to one ethnic lineage of Abraham. Jesus did not die for the Pharisees that rejected him. He died and rose again for the salvation of his own peculiar people. Salvation is of the LORD (Jonah 2:9)

Selah.

How to Labor in Vain

When we sin and reject God’s counsel, he allows us to eat the fruit of our own way. Often he will bring about the exact scenario that we fear in a kind of poetic justice. We do well to remember the warning in Psalm 127: “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain…” Psalm 127:1

In Genesis 11 we see humanity confronting its fear of mortality with great works of achievement — the tower of Babel:

“[4] And they said one to another, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” — Genesis 11:4

The context of Genesis 11 and the they speaking in this verse are the descendants of Noah’s three sons who have been multiplying in the land of Shinar. They see that they have strength in numbers and fear being scattered and tossed around again. They are not satisfied to dwell in tents like their fathers, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They want a city like what Cain built for his son in Genesis 4:17, and a tower that reaches to heaven itself, not a little altar made of uncut stones as Noah taught them.

The Tower of Babel — Bruegel the Elder, Public Domain Image

The Lord saw this and sure enough said, “[7] Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. [8] So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. [9] Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” — Genesis 11

This story should remind us that works never have and never will get us to heaven. Heaven is only obtained by God’s grace and mercy, never by our works — not in any dispensation.

Paul’s description of the Jews’ error could just as accurately describe the generation behind the tower of Babel: “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God (Romans 10:3-4).”

The tower of Babel is a story of rebellion and stubborn pride. God will bring every work stemming from our corrupt nature to nothing.

Selah.