BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: When most people hear the word election they think of political elections. However, when the Bible speaks of election, it has a far more profound meaning than that, for understanding the biblical term “election” is vital for a person’s eternal life. Are you one of the Christian elect?
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The Bible: the basis of our faith in the Church Of Christ which answers questions about proper worship, the right relationship with God, and most importantly, salvation. That’s in the Bible.
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: I’m Bob Pellien, and welcome to the program, That’s in the Bible. There is a teaching in the Bible that many people do not understand and find confusing. It is God’s policy of election. When most people hear the word election they think of political elections and when they read the term in the Bible they may even misconstrue that God is referring to normal political elections in this world. However, that’s not at all what is meant and it’s vital for a person’s eternal life.
Does the Bible show us then that understanding the term “election” is important? Yes, dear friends! For example, if we read here in 2 Peter 1:10, the follow it says:
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;
2 Peter 1:10 New King James Version
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: So dear friends, it’s vital, yes vital to understand the value of “election”. So to help us then in our discussion today let’s break it down and answer these questions:
- According to the Bible, what is the meaning of election relative to man’s service to God?
- Does God’s policy of election continue in the Christian era?
- Do people need to be elected by God in order to render Him true worship?
- In the Christian era, who has been elected by God to be heirs of His Kingdom?
So, let’s look at each of these questions one by one. According to the Bible what is the meaning of election when referring not to any political election of course, but rather election relative to man’s service to God? For the Bible’s answer we turn to the book of Psalm 4:3 this is recorded:
Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him.
Psalm 4:3 New International Version
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: So, election when it comes to our service to God, means God’s policy of setting apart the faithful servant for himself. He then counts them as His very own people. What was also very noticeable here dear friends was the unique quality of the people that God has chosen and set apart for Himself. God said here that He would hear them when they called to Him. So, God would listen and hear the prayers of His elect which is one of the vital things that gives such value to the election referred to in the Holy Bible; which is, as we’ve just read, is also the setting apart by God of His own people. It’s those who are the elect of God whose prayers He will listen to.
So, dear friends, are there examples where we can clearly see that God implemented His policy of election, or the setting apart of people for Himself? Any example we can turn to? Yes! Deuteronomy seven records the following in verses six, seven and eight:
You are a holy nation. The Lord your God has set you apart for himself. He has chosen you to be his special treasure. He chose you out of all the nations on the face of the earth to be his people. The Lord chose you because he loved you very much. He didn’t choose you because you had more people than other nations. In fact, you had the smallest number of all. The Lord chose you because he loved you. He wanted to keep the promise he had made to your people of long ago. That’s why he used his mighty hand to bring you out of Egypt. He brought you back from the land where you were slaves. He set you free from the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 7:6-8 New International Reader’s Version
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: What we should understand dear friends then is that although there were many nations already existing back then, plenty. But only Israel was set apart, chosen by God for Himself. Israel was known as the holy nation of the Lord God. What was the great privilege allotted to them as God’s elect or chosen nation? The Bible further describes the privileges allotted to them in the writings of Apostle Paul to the Romans 9:4 it reads this way:
the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.
Romans 9:4 New International Version
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: So here it’s enumerated some of the privileges given by God to His elect, the nation of Israel back then. According to Him, God made the Israelites His very own children. He made His covenants with them and He gave them the law, He gave them the true worship, He gave them His promises. Was God also acknowledging other nations too, other peoples outside of His chosen elect people? Let’s continue turning to the Holy Bible for answers to these questions, 2 Kings 5:15:
Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”
2 Kings 5:15 New International Version
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Here dear friends, we can see how Naaman came to realize that among all the nations at the time, God only acknowledged Israel as His people or His chosen nation. He did not acknowledge those not among His elect. Just like what he said: “Now I know, now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.”
Does God’s policy of election, dear friends, continue in the Christian era? The answer is a resounding YES! And God announced it to be so through a prophecy recorded also here in the writings of the Prophet Isaiah, let’s turn to Isaiah 60:2, where this is recorded:
Also your people shall all be righteous; They shall inherit the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified.
Isaiah 60:21 New King James Version NKJV
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: This prophecy mentions God’s planting, the work of His hands. But it is not only His planting that is proven to be the work of His hands. The branches also of His planting are also His work. And why did God elect the branches of His planting? What would be the result, according to what we’ve read, of God having this planting and branches of that planting? The result? The Bible said, so that He may be glorified. So that they may glorify Him. It is only them then who have the right, the privilege, to give glory to God. And again, who are they? Those whom He set apart as His elect, those who were chosen by Him. They then become also inheritors of the promised land which is also the attainment of salvation, eternal life.
Dear friends, it is so vitally important to understand who is this planting of God, the work of His hands that has branches, and can therefore be given the privilege to give glory to God. Again we turn to the Bible, in the Book of John chapter 15 and we’ll read verse one as well as five:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:1 & 5 New International Version 2011
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Here our Lord Jesus is the one speaking, here our Lord Jesus Christ himself refers to himself as the true vine and identifies the Father as the gardener or the one who planted him. Does our Lord have branches, as foretold by the prophecy we’ve already read? Absolutely yes! He said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” But who are these branches that Jesus is talking about? Those branches are attached to our Lord Jesus Christ. We need only to ask, who is attached to Christ? And for that we turn to the writings of Apostle Paul, this time to his letter to the Colossians in 1:18:
He is the head of his body, the church;…
Colossians 1:18 Good News Translation
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Those then in the Christian era that have been chosen, have been elected, which are the branches of God’s planting are those inside the Church Of Christ. Christ built his Church, which we have learned in Matthews 16:18 in the past.
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And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:18 New King James Version
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: The church that was purchased with His blood, as we know in Acts 20:28 which is the Church Of Christ.
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Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, to feed the church of Christ which he has purchased with his blood.
Acts 20:28 George Lamsa Translation
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: So therefore dear friends, what will happen to the religions that are not planted or elected by God? What will happen to them? What about their attempts to also serve God? What about their desires to give glory to God also, but they’re not His branch, they’re separated? Matthew 15 our Lord continues in verse 13 the following:
But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.
Matthew 15:13 New King James Version
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: And dear friends, the Bible then goes on to teach in Matthew 13:40-42 that those uprooted, as mentioned here, will be cast into the lake of fire!
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Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 13:40-42 New King James Version
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: So, it’s vitally important, it’s essential that since God speaks of His election in the Christian era, that everyone has to make sure they are among His chosen, His elect people in our time.
But do people need to be elected by God, in order to render Him true worship? This is a very important question dear friends because, you know, many may think that well, they can also serve, they can also worship God based on, well, this is what they feel, this is what they think, this is what they believe is good and what is right for them to do. But, you know, there’s another instance in Bible history, actually, that teaches us that’s not what God intends. What is that? Again we turn to Apostle Paul’s writing to the Romans, this time in chapter nine we’ll go ahead to verses 10-13, this is recorded:
And years later, when this son, Isaac, was grown up and married, and Rebecca his wife was about to bear him twin children, God told her that Esau, the child born first, would be a servant to Jacob, his twin brother. In the words of the Scripture, “I chose to bless Jacob but not Esau.” And God said this before the children were even born, before they had done anything either good or bad. This proves that God was doing what he had decided from the beginning; it was not because of what the children did but because of what God wanted and chose.
Romans 9:10-13 The Living Bible
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Why does man need to be chosen, dear friends, or elected in order for him to render true worship to God? As we just read, so that God’s purpose would remain and His decision from the beginning would be fulfilled. And who was given as the example of God’s choice from the start? Well in this example, His choice of Jacob instead of his brother Esau before they were even born and before they had even done anything.
The point here, dear friends is simply this: God that will render the decision, it is God that will make His choice, and it is God’s decision and God’s choice that must prevail, not man’s own will. For that, God has established His policy of election and gives man then the freedom to choose to be among the people He has elected so that they could inherit His promises.
So dear friends, in conclusion then, and this is the most important question for us right now at this moment: who, in the period of time known as the Christian era, were chosen by God to be heirs of His Kingdom? The Bible’s answer, we turn this time to the Book of Colossians, and in Colossians 1:12-14:
giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:12-14 New King James Version
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Who has been chosen by God to be heirs of His kingdom? They are those that God rescued from the power of darkness and He brought them safe into the kingdom of His dear son. How can we identify the kingdom of the son of His love mentioned there? It’s where sins were washed clean or forgiven. So where is this forgiveness found? What’s been redeemed by the blood of Christ? Acts 20:28 the Bible’s answer is:
Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, to feed the church of Christ which he has purchased with his blood.
Acts 20:28 George Lamsa Translation
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: What was redeemed, dear friends, by the blood of Christ? It was none other than the Church Of Christ.
Alright, let’s review, let’s put it all together. Let’s review the questions we began with and recap what the Bible has responded, what it has revealed to us:
- According to the Bible, what is the meaning of election relative to man’s service to God?
We learned that It means God’s policy of setting apart the godly for Himself. He then counts them as His very own people.
- Does God’s policy of election continue in the Christian era?
Yes, dear friends, yes, and it is proven to be so by the statement of God where He announced His planting that would have branches attached and it is to them that were given the privilege to serve, to give glory to Him and as we studied today, that planting was Christ, and the branches are the members of his church.
- Do people need to be elected by God in order to render Him true
worship?
Again, the Bible’s answer was clear: yes! Why? Because God Himself said that His planting and the branches of His planting have been planted so that they would give glory to Him. We invite you to be with us then as a branch connected to our Lord Jesus Christ and be therefore an inheritor of all of the Lord’s promises that He gives to His elect people.
- And in the Christian era, who has been elected by God to be heirs of His Kingdom?
We learned that Christ had branches and they are the members of His
body, or church, the Church Of Christ. Therefore, the elect of God in the
Christian era are the members of the Church Of Christ.
We’d like you to continue learning about the teachings in the Bible taught inside the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ). To do so, please visit with us online and browse the different topics or set up an appointment to meet with a minister of the gospel. And if you have any questions about the Bible, salvation, please email them to us. I’m Bob Pellien. Thanks for watching. See you next time right here on That’s in the Bible!
