Article of Faith: Election and predestination, By Femi Aribisala

God would have all men to be saved, but none will merit salvation.

Jesus says: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you.” (John 15:16).

When did He choose us? “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4).

Since He chose us, that means we were predestined:

“(He) predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” (Ephesians 1:5). 

What is the good pleasure of God’s will?

The good pleasure of God’s will is the salvation of souls. So, Jesus says:

“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”(Luke 12:32).

Why did He choose us?

He chose us:

“To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6).

We are saved by grace. We do not deserve to be saved, but we are saved. Jesus said to me, “Femi, I don’t give people what they deserve. Don’t give people what they deserve. Give them what they do not deserve.”

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

If we are saved by grace, it means we are elected. Paul says:  

“At this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” (Romans 11:5).

If we are elected by grace, then we are predestined. We are new creations.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10).

God prepared the works we are to do beforehand. That means we are predestined to do them. We do not even do them ourselves; Jesus does them through us:

“God (who) performs all things for (us).” (Psalm 57:2).

In Christ and Adam

God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. But when we were born, we left Christ. When we are born, we are no longer in Christ, but in Adam. In Adam, we died.

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22).

In Adam, we were dead in transgressions and sins. 

“That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12).

In Adam, the Prodigal Son left his father and went to a far country. When he left the Father, he died. He only came back alive when he returned home.

Dead men have no free will. Dead men have no independent action. Satan propels their actions through the bondage of corruption,

What does God say to Adamic man? He tells us to return to Him.

“You turn man to destruction, and say, “Return, O children of men.” (Psalm 90:3).

Who turns man to destruction?

God does.

Why?

Because we are all sinners.

How and when can we come back to Christ?

We can return when we are born again.

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1).

When we are born again, we go back from being in Adam to being in Christ.

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

What happens when we are back in Christ? We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. We are holy and without blame. We obtain an inheritance. We receive the spirit of adoption by which we cry “Abba Father.” (Romans 8:15). We obtain an inheritance. We become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. (Romans 8:17).

God brought us back to life from the dead for His own good pleasure and not ours. Therefore, it is not our will but His that must be done.

God’s Foreknowledge and Election

Jesus berated the Sadducees, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29). 

Even today, many people are unfamiliar with the scriptures. Some know the scriptures but not the power of God. But both must be seen in tandem. Moreover, the power of God never contradicts the scriptures.

God knows everything beforehand. He declares:

“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” (Isaiah 46:0-10). 

God’s foreknowledge should not be mistaken for foresight. God does not know future events and the actions of men because He foresees them. He knows them because He wills them to happen.

God’s foreknowledge is by election. His foreknowledge is from His determination to bring certain people into a special relationship with Him. Accordingly, He says to Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5).

If He looks down into history to choose only those who will love Him, He will end up choosing nobody. This is because:

“There is none righteous no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10-12).

God would have all men to be saved. Paul says, “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4).

But none will merit salvation. All are dead in transgressions and sins. Therefore, rather than leave all men in condemnation, He decides to have mercy on a select few. He then decided that He would call the select few (or the elect) by the preaching of the gospel.

Election By Predestination

God predestines those He foreknew. He selects and elects them.

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:29). 

The people God foreknew are those He set His affections on. God is not a man. So His knowledge does not conform to that of men.

Jesus says to some, “I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.” (Luke 13:27).

Surely, He knows them as men know others. He does not know them means He is not intimate with them.

The Bible says, “Cain knew his wife” (Genesis 4:17). “Adam knew his wife” (Genesis 4:25). This knowledge refers to intimacy. God will only spend eternity with those He wants to be intimate with.  And the power of God ensures that those He wants to be intimate with are precisely those who want to be intimate with Him. 

For this reason, Paul says:

“What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” (Romans 9:22-24).

That is exactly what He does.

How many people will then end up in heaven?

Only the exact number that God has appointed. Not one more, not one less.

“Since (man’s) days are determined, the number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.” (Job 14:5).

Everything is carefully calibrated:

“You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” (Psalm 139:16). CONTINUED.

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