What is Election?

I wanted to write a blog on the book of Ephesians. Specifically, does the book of Ephesians teach Calvinism? This should let the cat out of the bag: I'm not a Calvinist. With that out in the open right away, what do we do with the verses about predestination and election? If we toss them to the side, then we are guilty of not taking the whole counsel of God. If we embrace them and elevate them to saying that God has predestined every even in history and future, then we also run the risk of not taking the whole counsel of God.

These two words - election and predestination - are extremely important to define. This isn't a bit of "doctrine" in which we can ignore or be tolerant with. This actually affects the Gospel, which is to say, it affects our perception of God. If we have a wrong perception of God, then we have a wrong perception of everything.

This thought came when my cousin asked my comment on a recent event. The video he shared and asked my opinion on is this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fSvyv0urTE

Why do people seem to despise Israel? This was my comment:

Unconsciously we all have this. Israel is not a state, but a statement. It is a statement about a God that is specific enough to predestine and elect a certain people, thus condemning all other people. Lest we be grafted into Israel, we shall not rule and reign with Him. If we aren't ruling and reigning with Him, then we are in submission to Him. Submission is not desired of any nation. Abraham's calling out of the nations and into the Land that God would show him is more than a calling for "blessing." God took a man out of the nations to establish His own nation called Israel.

To hate Israel is to hate God. We need to be ruthless with this in our own hearts before condemning others because any sentiment and self-effacing love for Israel will one day be found out to be fraudulent. Sentiment turns to hate really quickly when they are in place and power to find us out. They will find us out.

It is easier for us to stand on the bench and hear such conflict. We can be appalled by it. But to what degree will we stand with Israel? To what degree will we truly love them? The truth of our love for them is to actually tell them of the coming calamity and devastation that awaits them if they go back to Israel. There is a final judgment, and many Jews know it. Something is coming. A civil unrest is rising into something much less than "civil," and much more gruesome than "unrest." When that havoc breaks upon them, are we willing to stand with them and also suffer the same fate as they? That is identification, and that alone constitutes love and intercession.

I want to focus on that first statement. What do I mean when I say that God has predestined and elected a certain people, thus condemning all other people? Let us back up and view this from a much bigger perception. In Genesis 11, the nations' first act is in rebellion to God. They come together as a one-world government to build a tower that will reach to heaven. God did not ordain this; the evidence is both that God had previously said to multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 9:1) and that they made bricks for stone. What altar have you ever read of in the Bible that was made out of brick? They not only went against God by making this out of brick, but also baked them. They could not even allow the sun to dry them, but had such urgency and imminence that they baked these bricks.

What is God's response? We know that He came down and confused the language, but ultimately His response was to take one man out of nations, and to establish Him as God's nation. It is through that nation that God has said, "I will bless all the families of the earth." Or, "I will bless all other nations." God says over and over again to Israel in the books of Moses that He does this and establishes this so that the nations will see and know that He is God. The prophets speak much about how God's ultimate redemption plan is that He will redeem Israel, and all nations will then know that He is God.

Ultimately, when I say that God has elected a specific people, I do not mean that only those whom God has elected will make it into Heaven. I see that in the Millennial reign of Christ that the nations continue. We know this from Scriptures like Zechariah 14, Daniel 7:12, and Isaiah 2. God's election pertains to the people that He has put His name upon: Israel. When we come to Christ, we are grafted in to being the people of God. This is why Paul says in Ephesians 2 that we who were afar off have been brought nigh by the blood of Jesus. But brought nigh into what? Ephesians 2:12 says it plainly: the commonwealth of Israel.

Romans 11:16-24 indicates that God has cut off the natural branches - those who are genealogically Israel - to graft in "wild branches," namely, the Gentiles. We are not a new phenomenon called the Church, but instead are the remnant of Israel. God has brought together the two - Jew and Gentile - to make of them one new man. We find in Romans 11:7 that only the elect have obtained the fulfillment of the promises (that is, Jesus the Messiah), but we find later in Romans 11:26 that "all Israel shall be saved..." So what Paul starts with in Romans 11 is that not all of Israel is part of the election, but then explains that God has elected both Jews and Gentiles to be grafted into the root that is holy, and then ends Romans 11 with saying that "all Israel shall be saved."

Who is this elect? It is the remnant of Israel. God has ordained in His sovereignty that there should be both Jews and Gentiles elected into the remnant of Israel. We are not some new phenomenon called the Church, but instead we are now grafted into that holy root - the same root that stems back to the beginning of time when God called Adam His son. It is all about being sons and daughters. We are not "people of God" in some abstract sense of the wording. We are the people of God because we are His children. He has adopted us all, whether we were Jewish, Greek, Italian, English, German, or Palestinian. Whatever our heritage, and from whatever people we came, God has ordained a specific people to be His remnant. It is that remnant, that election that will bless all of the families of the earth.

How?

We drive the Jew to jealousy (Romans 11:11, Deuteronomy 32:21). It is by our witness that drives them to jealousy that causes "all Israel" to be saved. At a future time, I might explore more deeply the fullness of the Gentiles, what it is, and how all things tie together so that when they come in, all Israel shall be saved (Romans 11:25-26). For now, I just want to make the point that those who are outside of the election are not necessarily those who are cast into hellfire.

At this present moment, here and now, the only way that you will not die and go to Hell is to be converted. In a sense, it is true to say that those who are outside of the election are going to Hell, but in a much larger sense, that is wrong. During the Millennial Kingdom, there are a people that are outside of Israel, but somehow are coming up to Jerusalem to worship God. They are not part of the election, but they are not cast into the lake of fire with the Antichrist. They don't suffer the same judgment as the army that marches against Jerusalem.

You might say, "Yeah, but that isn't heaven."

Okay, lets look at Revelation 22. After the Great White Throne, there is the New Heaven and the New Earth. It has been thought that the only way to get into that, and to escape the lake of fire, is to be saved. I don't have an absolute statement here, but I do have a question. In Revelation 21:24-22:5 we find that there are these people outside of the New Jerusalem that must come up to the Holy City. They are somehow not a part of this City that is called "The Bride of Christ" (Revelation 21:9), but are considered saved. They are somehow not mentioned as being in the City, but must come up to the City to take of the fruit of the tree of life and find healing. Those that are a part of this City (the Bride) rule and reign with Christ forever.

Rule and reign over what?

I would like to suggest that maybe being saved isn't everything. Maybe there is a bigger step than salvation. Maybe election and salvation are different and distinct. Maybe God has predestined that this people will be His people, and that this people will rule and reign with Him, and that all other people are welcome to be saved and glorify God in where He has called them, but not all other peoples are elected or predestined to be a part of that Bride. God desires that all shall be saved. This isn't a hope in universalism, because I still believe that there are those that are cast into the lake of fire for eternity. I haven't come to any good or solid conclusions as to where the distinction is, or how to even make a distinction. It is quite clear that those who are currently saved are grafted in, and therefore are a part of this election. What is not so clear is that everyone who has been saved and grafted in will be a part of the City of God, nor that everyone who has been saved and grafted in will be a part of the first resurrection during the Millennial reign of Christ.

When we're talking about election and predestination, I'm not entirely sure I grasp the concepts thoroughly, but it sure seems like neither does anyone else... One thing I do know for sure: Paul understood. He had a view that was larger than anyone else that I know. His perception was cosmic and eternal. It spanned from eternity to eternity - everlasting to everlasting. He knew the beginning from the end, and the end from the beginning. Of course, this revelation from God came with a price. Paul himself remarks that because of his incredible revelation and understanding God gave him a thorn in the flesh. I don't have these revelations that Paul had.

It seems to me that we all are quite far from the ultimate meaning and interpretation of such verses. I hope that maybe this helps some who are trying to understand better how all these things fit together. Maybe someone else can take this and run with it. As for me, I am not capable of comprehending such majestic thoughts, and I fall desperately short of having a conclusion.