The Chosen Ones
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The Holy men of God that wrote and spoke the scriptures of the New Testament as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, alluded to a certain people they considered to be “the elect,” or “the chosen.”
Speaking of the last days of earth as we know it, just prior to His glorious return, Jesus says,
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
The New Testament only uses this Greek word for “elect”, “Eklektos” to refer to people or angels “divinely chosen by God Himself.”
And again, Jesus goes on in this passage to say,
For 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.
Obviously the “elect” are around during the end times, otherwise there would not be any possibility of them being deceived.
Again, continuing His description of the last days, Jesus says this...
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
So who exactly are these “elect?” Who are the chosen people of God now that the Christ has come?
There seems to be some confusion in the body of Christ about this in recent times. Many would tell you today that the religious Jews are the chosen ones, or the people of modern day Israel always have been, and always will be, esteemed above all others.
But according to the gospel of Jesus Christ that we confess that we believe, who are the people that are specifically determined by God Himself to be considered “the chosen ones” in our day?
Let me clarify something before we go any further. Every person on this earth, whether Jew or Gentile, Israeli, American, man, woman or child has an equal opportunity to become one of the chosen ones we’re referring to today.
God has very clearly leveled the playing field by putting all the opportunity in His Son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, or “THE Chosen One.”
Listen to how the Apostle Paul explains this to the Romans. Speaking about the Israelites, who were very clearly considered to be the chosen people of God under the first covenant, he says this...
I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Paul was describing the time when Elijah the prophet, even though he had just showed up and then killed the 400 false prophets that Jezebel had put up against him, went and hid in a cave, fearing for his life thinking HE was the only servant of God left.
But God reminded Elijah that he was not alone. God says He still had a “remnant” of believers that were faithful to Him. He even put a number to them, saying he had 7000 men that had not bowed to the false God, Baal.
Now, let’s go back to the passage we were reading in Romans.
After reminding us of this scene between Elijah and God, the Apostle Paul switches back to the present day for he and the Romans, and he describes how the remnant is now selected “through grace.”
Those who receive the Christ by grace are the remnant, or elect, and those who don’t, are not.
Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
God did not, and we should not, cast away the Jews, the Israelites, or any other group of people on this earth, simply because they do not believe on Jesus Christ yet.
We should however understand that the only way to become “the elect” or “the remnant” or the “Chosen ones” under the New Covenant, is through the grace of Jesus Christ.
I’ve had several people try to convince me that the religious Jews can be saved apart from faith in Jesus Christ. When I ask them about the New Covenant of Grace and Jesus saying that HE is the ONLY way to God, they proceed to discredit the Bible, saying it is not accurate.
They basically throw out the New Covenant altogether, because it literally says that the Old Covenant has been fulfilled by Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Just like the prophet Elijah hid in a cave and cried out to God thinking He was all alone, there are many today that are entrapped by this little enclosure referred to as their echo chamber. It’s like a little cave that echo’s their false belief’s until they embrace it as fact.
In their isolated state, they think they’ve got it figured out, like they discovered a new revelation, never before understood, and everyone else has missed the boat, but them.
Unfortunately, they gather together those with itching ears, that also like the thought, that after 2000 years, THEY have reinvented the way of salvation by meshing the two covenants together.
But they are missing the big picture plan of God. Remember the word “elect” refers to those divinely chosen by God. HE is the one that determines how people are saved, not mankind. We do not come up with a plan and say, “You just need to do this and that, and then you can be saved.”
It doesn’t work that way. We do not tell God what to do or how to do it!
Look up the Bible Commentators from a 100 years ago or more and you will not find any, not a single one, that mentions things like “Judeo-Christian values” or speaks of the modern day Jews as the “chosen ones.”
Look up Matthew Henry, or Jameson, Faucet, and Brown, or even Charles Spurgeon.
It wasn’t until the 1830’s when John Nelson Darby started teaching that the church, and Israel, were two different things.
Until then it was widely known that the New Covenant changed the game. Either you believe on Jesus and you’re saved by grace through Him, or you reject Him and you’re not saved.
None of the early writers ever speak of dispensationalism, or allude to an “any moment rapture” where the Christians are taken out, and then it is the Jews’ turn to be saved through the blood covenant again after that.
According to the scriptures, the blood of bulls and goats cannot wash away sin. Only the blood of the unblemished Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, was enough to do that!
God said that we are saved by grace through faith in His Son. So those who do not believe Jesus is the Son of God, and do not believe He was the awaited Messiah, cannot, or at least should not, be able to convince a Christian otherwise.
The prophets under the Old Covenant explained over and over that the Messiah was coming. They taught why and how and where He was coming. They also taught that those who believed on HIM would become “the elect,” the chosen ones of the Kingdom of God, destined for eternal life in Heaven with Him.
Listen to how, as God moved through the prophet Isaiah, he wrote about the coming Christ.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold;
Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth;
I have put my spirit upon him:
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
Jesus is, of course, the “servant” described here...
The Apostle Paul wrote this about Jesus to the Christians in Philippi.
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
As Jesus came up out of the water after being baptized, Matthew says that they heard the voice of God say this,
And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Jesus said of Himself,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Matthew even used these words that Isaiah spoke to emphasize the fact that Jesus of Nazareth is the Chosen One sent forth by God to save God’s people, by ensuring that faith in Him is what makes you chosen.
Not your past, not your geographic location, but you are saved by grace through faith in the Messiah.
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.
So when God said through Isaiah...
“Behold my servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles,” that is exactly what He did though Jesus Christ our Lord.
There is no way around that fact. THE ELECT, made those who believe on Him the elect.
People might say, “Yeah, but the Bible says that ISRAEL is the elect, though, right?”
And the answer is “Absolutely.”
For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect,
I have even called thee by thy name:
I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
See, even Isaiah declares that God called Israel His elect. But don’t stop reading there...see how Isaiah finished the story...
Remember, it wasn’t until about 90 years ago that people started not considering the Christian Church and Israel to be the same thing.
And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob,
And out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains:
And mine elect shall inherit it,
And my servants shall dwell there.
A seed out of Jacob, which led to Judah, which led to David, which led to Jesus, from which the elect would inherit that seed and dwell in the land.
We are the recipients of that inheritance by faith in Jesus Christ.
God sent the early prophets to tell the world that the the Messiah was coming. And when they rejected those prophets, God sent His only begotten Son, so that they would believe on Him. But they not only rejected Him, they killed Him on the cross.
Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time. And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out. Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him. But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them? He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.
God sent His only begotten Son that whoever believed on Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.
Listen to what Jesus said to Paul when He converted Him from a Jew to a Christian...
But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
That was the gospel message Jesus told Paul to spread. To repent from works of darkness, receive the forgiveness of sins, and receive the inheritance given to those that believe on Jesus!
Peter wrote these words to us…
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
So, when someone asks who the chosen people of God are, you can respond with all confidence, “I am one of them, and so are all those who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah!
