July
24
Ephesians 1: 3: Blessed [be] the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ: 4: According as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love:
Election means God has made a choice, “he hath chosen.” Election does not declare that the
non-election of some is the cause of their damnation. Man’s own sin is the
cause of his damnation. Election declares God has chosen to save an exact
number of sinners who otherwise would have perished in our sins. God the Father
elected unto salvation whom he will, by his grace, not based on anything in the
sinner “that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of
works, but of him that calleth.” (Rom 9: 11)
Since
God’s choice of his people was an eternal act
of our unchanging Father in Christ, solely by his grace, therefore nothing in
time can change or alter it. Therefore
each and every one of God’s elect shall be saved by the triune God through
Christ Jesus.
Now, notice, God’s choosing his people in Christ is the first blessing,
the chief blessing, by which God gave all other spiritual blessings, “God…hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings…according as he hath chosen us in him.” Apart from God the Father choosing us in
Christ, no other spiritual blessings would be given. But also notice, the chief blessing of
divine election is Christ in whom we were chosen. God’s own Son is the preeminent elect Son chosen of God. (Is 42: 1) God’s purpose in the salvation of his people is the glorification
of the Son of his love! So when Christ entered everlasting covenant to fulfill the
Father’s will, God
made Christ Mediator and Surety, Head and Husband of his Church, the elect of
God. (Ps 89:19-21) Because our election
is in Christ who shall not fail, right
then in eternity, God “saved us, and
called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began,” (2 Tim 1: 9)
Therefore, in time, on behalf of the
elect, Christ fulfills all things necessary for and
in his people. When made like unto his
brethren, in the flesh, Christ fulfilled the righteousness of the law and
satisfied divine justice for his people by his life and death.
Then before
God, all his elect were raised when God raised Christ, giving him all power in
heaven and earth. God did so that Christ might have the glory and honor of
giving each of God’s elect life and faith in Christ, which is declared to us in
Ephesians 1: 22-23 where God declares that Christ was raised to fill all in all
his elect, “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head
over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that
filleth all in all.” He declares in
Ephesians 2: 7-9 that the necessity of faith is because the purpose of God in
raising Christ is so that through faith, God might show us the great things God
has done for us and save us by his grace, apart from our works, “that in the
ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man
should boast.”
Therefore, in
this gospel age Christ our Head is regenerating to life each elect child,
granting faith and repentance, and filling each elect child full of grace and
truth through God the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel. The same
blessings God gave to Abraham, given the same way as God gave them to Abraham,
that is the through the gift of faith given by the Holy Spirit, is the purpose
for which Christ laid down his life, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that
hangeth on a tree: THAT the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles
through Jesus Christ; THAT we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith.” (Gal 3: 13-14) Again we read, “But when the fulness of the time was
come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, THAT we might receive the adoption of sons. And
because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” (Gal 4: 4-6)
So in the end,
when Christ has called God’s last elect child to faith, God shall gather all
his elect in one, in Christ, who shall present each one righteous and holy to the
Father, by whom we shall also each receive joint-inheritance with, and because
of Christ, the preeminent elect Son of God. (Eph 1: 10; 2 Cor 4: 14; Jude 24;
Rom 8: 17)
So
we see, brethren, that as wonderful as
all the spiritual blessings of divine election are, Christ our Head and
Husband is THE BLESSING of divine election. “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all
principality and power.” (Col 2: 9-10) Therefore, “He that glorieth let him
glory in the Lord.” (1 Cor 1:30-31)