Dear Church Family,
At last Election Day 2020 has arrived. In a year that will go down in history for many reasons, today will be the most cited days for years to come. Most experts call it the most important election in our country’s history. Yet almost every trip to the polls in the four-year voting federal cycle since my youth has been granted that distinction. In the history of the world a certain election must be seen as the most important because it changed the world many years after the one voter cast His vote.
I cannot give you an exact date of the election. Ephesians 1:4 simply states, “He chose us in Him before the creation of the world…” At some point before God in the space of six days by the power of His word spoke all things into existence, God held an election in which He had the sole vote. This act of choosing or predestination took place at the pleasure of the sovereign God and for His glory per Eph. 1:12.
While clearly taught in Scripture, this doctrine continues to be denied by many Christians who deem it unfair. Paul answers this thought in Romans 9:14-15, “Is God unjust? Not at all! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.’” Paul then adds this act of love depends not “on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” This reflects what Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 7:7 as he tells Israel. “The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your forefathers…”
Predestination shows the world and His people His great love. Not one person deserves to be chosen by God. Only God’s incredible act of grace allows anyone to know the salvation that comes from His love. Therefore, no one can brag about anything they did to merit grace for grace is God’s unmerited favor. Being elect gives God’s people a sure identity as 1 Peter 2:9 states, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of His who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” The elect have an eternal identity as children of God and a purpose to live by – worshipping God in praise and holy conduct. Even Jesus told His disciples in John 15:16, “I chose you to go and bear fruit.”
Those chosen by God can live with confidence for when Jesus returns “He will send His angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens” per Mark 13:27. In the meantime, by grace alone we rest in the perfect rule of our Holy King who rules forever over those He chose and for whom He died. This is the most important election ever!
Living by grace to His glory,
Pastor Gillikin