“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me…” — John 10:27
“For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous…” — Psalm 1:6
We do not have God’s omniscience, to know the identity of the elect. We see only the outward person in this moment in time. Appearances can be deceiving. But salvation is not so much about where we began but where we finish.
“Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Paul writes these things in the past tense, even our glorification. It is so certain that he can say it as if it has already happened. For the elect, our latter end is always better than our beginning. We were conceived in sin,[1] and are by nature children of wrath like everyone else,[2] but somehow, some way, at His appointed time he sends us His Spirit to convince us of our sin guilt and need for Christ and he providentially works everything in our lives together to bring us to repentance.
We do not know who is being saved at any given time, so our job is to go and preach the gospel to every creature,[3] knowing that His word never returns void.[4] But Christ does know who his sheep are, and his death and resurrection does not make salvation “possible” for whoever would just “make a decision” for Christ and “allow” Him to save them. No, it makes salvation guaranteed for every one of His sheep, from the least of us to the greatest.
The Lord knows the travelers on the narrow way[5], and he will shepherd[6] them through it.
Selah.
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