1. There can only be one people of God
The understanding of 'elect' in reformed theology almost becomes monolithic and one faceted so that it always means us of course. Reformed theology claims to be the most God-centered and for the most part, I think they are right, but in trying to be so God centered about salvation, they get self centered when it comes to their election - that there can only be one people of God and that is why the Church has replaced Israel as the new covenant people of God and national Israel is cast off and only real believers in national Israel were the elect anyway.
Some Arminians like to limit election to the national election of Israel (or some other unbiblical idea) so they can avoid the nasty idea of God choosing to save some and not choosing to save others; then the Calvinists like to limit it to only the chosen unto salvation since there is much more data on that subject in the New Testament. Both are partly right and partly wrong because they have an axe to grind with each other so they overlook some important details in defense of their positions. You are using the idea of election as if it can only mean one thing. This is your error. Elect simply means "chosen" and the context will tell you for what purpose someone or some group has been chosen or elected.
Jesus is Elect
Isaiah 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
This is a Messianic passage and Messiah is called "mine elect"...since when was Jesus ever elected to salvation? Of course that's a silly question, so we know that God's use of elect in this passage concerning Jesus is for a completely different purpose.
The Nation of Israel is Elect
Isaiah 45:3-4 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. 4 For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
This passage is calling Israel/Jacob God's elect. This is national Israel, there's no way around this. Did this mean that every Israelite was saved? Of course not, but that's not the use of the term. Israel is God's elect for a specific purpose and God's not done using them for that purpose. The 70 weeks of Daniel are determined upon "thy people and thy holy city".
The Holy Angels are Elect
1 Timothy 5:21 charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.
The angels that did not fall after Satan are also called elect. They are not redeemed, they were just chosen to be the holy angels while the others were not.
Believers are Elect
For the record, these passages of the elect are referring to believing Israelites. But of course, in the new covenant, Gentiles who believe are also elect, so that there is one people of God essentially, but two kinds. Israel and the Church.
Isaiah 65:8-9 Thus says the LORD: "As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, 'Do not destroy it, For a blessing is in it,' So will I do for My servants' sake, That I may not destroy them all. 9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, And from Judah an heir of My mountains; My elect shall inherit it, And My servants shall dwell there.
In this passage the Old Testament is certainly speaking about an earthly kingdom and who is going to inherit it? The descendants of Jacob! Not Abraham. There is a difference. I'll get into Abrahamic covenant later. The church is never called Jacob. That is the physical seed of Israel, and some of those descendants who are elect (to salvation) will inherit the kingdom. So you can see a difference between the use of elect in this passage and the previous one.
Isaiah 65:20 - 25:1 No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labor in vain, Nor bring forth children for trouble; For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the LORD, And their offspring with them. 24 " It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, The lion shall eat straw like the ox, And dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain," Says the LORD.
Who are the elect here? They are going to be people who are engaged in work, planting vineyards, building homes, who will bring forth children, have offspring...that doesn't sound like heaven or the eternal state where there is no more marriage. This is a real earthly kingdom and Isaiah is talking about elect Israel who will enjoy it as promised (who at that time will all be believers in Messiah). If these verses don't mean what they're saying about life, death, birth, work, peaceful animal life etc... then the Scriptures become a wax nose to bend into whatever suits NCT presuppositions.
Consider this promise: Zechariah 8:21-23 And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also. 22 Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. 23 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.
Has that ever happened? The only way out of these passages is to be unfaithful to the text and spiritualize them away into meaninglessness, and to do that for the sake of some presupposition is no different than rejecting election to salvation for the presupposition of libertarian free will; it's a travesty and it's sin.
2. The Jews Misunderstood the Old Testament Promises. They must be interpreted by the New Testament
The Old Testament saints may have misunderstood some of the prophetic passages about their Messiah but they believed in a real earthly kingdom because that's what God promised them in great detail. They were not completely in error. They didn't and couldn't understand the idea of two comings because it wasn't revealed. Yet they did tend to dismiss the suffering servant passages since they were enamored with the kingdom passages. A few of them understood it like Simeon at the circumcision of Jesus. He predicted the sword piercing Mary's soul. But their idea of a real earthly kingdom was not mistaken, they expected it because that was what God explicitly promised them through out the whole OT in great detail just like the last passage I sited in Isaiah. In fact, right before Jesus ascended to heaven, the Disciples were expecting a kingdom to arrive since they finally understood that Jesus fulfilled the suffering part of the prophecies, now the kingdom stuff could finally come to pass. So they asked:
Acts 1:6-7 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And He said to them, (no, you meat heads, haven't you gotten it by now? There is no earthly kingdom, I'm through with Israel!) No, Jesus didn't say that, He didn't even correct their thinking about an Israeli kingdom. Instead He affirms the idea by saying: "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority." It's not for them to know the times and seasons concerning the Kingdom, that's for another time that's none of their business. Instead, Jesus has a shift in attention to something new - the church. That's why there's no mention of it in the epistles, no need to mention it. Just like there's no instructions to the church in the epistles about how to go through the tribulation when there's no need to, it's not for us.
3. The Church is the True Israel of God
There are promises given to Israel that are not directly related to salvation which we Gentiles are partakers of; such as the land promises. They don't belong to the church. The Abrahamic covenant is always misunderstood by the Reformed. They take one aspect of the promise and make everything about it. The Abrahamic covenant has two promises!
A. Land Promise
Genesis 13:14-17 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. 17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.
This promise was made before Isaac was born. It is a land promise to his physical seed. Abraham asks God for some kind of guarantee in Genesis 15:8-21 and God spells out exactly what parts of the land He will get for his children. Some try to say that this was already fulfilled in the time of Joshua or Solomon, but that's not true because future prophets after their time are still prophesying about Israel finally getting the land and dwelling safely in it: Ezekiel 38:8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
and..
Isaiah 51:2-3 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. 3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
Well doesn't Hebrews tell us that the real land promise that Abraham was looking for was heaven?
Hebrews 11:16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
Being that Hebrews was written to Hebrew people, they would have had a Jewish presupposition and we tend to impose a Gentile one upon it. In Peter Walker's book, "The Land of Promise", he says: "It must be confessed that we nowhere read of the patriarchs that they expressed a conscious desire for a home in heaven...Here, the heavenly Jerusalem is not contrasted with the earthly city, but with the frail and moveable dwellings of the patriarchs in their nomad life." Samuel Waldron comments: "The heavenly country is not a country in heaven, but a country from heaven. The heavenly kingdom is the kingdom from heaven and not the kingdom in heaven. Though heaven is the happy abode of the disembodied righteous during the present age, in the age to come heaven comes to earth."
Also, the promise of land was given to Abraham unconditionally! There is no 'if' in Genesis 13. The land will be Israel's forever. After the 1000 year millennium, the kingdom will not end but continue in perfect peace and holiness in the new heaven and new earth that is to be formed. The Mosaic covenant concerning the land was conditional and contingiant upon Israel's continued obedience. Of course we know how that went. But their disobedience in the Old Mosaic covenant did not annul the unilateral unconditional covenant God made to Abraham. In fact in the New Covenant in which we enjoy new birth as Gentiles grafted in to the promise; the land is promised to be given to believing Israel. Don't forget the new covenant isn't made to Gentiles, it's made to Israel and we have been graciously let in on it.
Jeremiah 31:31-33 Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah -- 32 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Ezekiel continues to elaborate on this new covenant mentioned by Jeremiah...
Ezekiel 11:17-20 17 "Therefore say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel." ' 18 "And they will go there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there. 19 "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, 20 "that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 36:24-28 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 28 "Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.
The land that He gave to His father's isn't the third heaven, it's Israel, and they are going to get it forever, and they will be saved as we will see later in Romans 11. The land promise has not been fulfilled, Ezekiel's prophecy was written after the time of Joshua when the people entered into rest and after Solomon conquered all his enemies. The promise still stands.
B. Blessing Promise
Genesis 22:16-18 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
This is the part of the promise made several years later after chapter 13 when Abraham is even older and Isaac is already a young man. This is what Paul refers to in Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ.
This is how God fulfills this latter part of the promise, but it does not annul the first one. This is where the elect Jews are and we as Gentiles are privileged to partake in this part of the Abrahamic covenant. Look at the whole beginning of Acts, what was the big problem that the Jewish Christians had a hard time with? That they were no longer Jews? And their whole idea of being God's people Israel was done away with? No, the biggest problem they had was accepting that Gentiles could be a part of it! That they could even be saved and partake in the new covenant that was Israel's to enjoy. They thought the church was only for them. They had to be reminded again and again through sign gifts such as tongues, that Gentiles had been grafted in to their promises. The church is not the the new Israel, the Israel of God is believing, ethnic Israel.
We Gentiles are taking part in this new covenant as wild olive branches grafted in unnaturally. That's what Romans 11 is all about. When covenant reformed people quote from Romans 9-11 they always seem to conveniently ignore these verses:
Romans 11:18-31 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
What is the root that supports us? The covenant promises made to Israel. We are taking part in them.
19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.
This haughtiness Paul speaks of is exactly the kind of Reformed stuff I read all the time. Don't think for a moment that God is done with national Israel and we're the new Israel. We are just branches grafted in to promises that we have no right to. So the warning is strong: 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.
22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell (national or physical Israel), severity; but toward you (Gentiles grafted in), goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they (physical Israel) also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
If God could put us from a wild tree into their cultivated tree, how much more do the natural branches, physical national Israel, belong in the tree? God is able to do this and will do it! Our partaking in Israel's promises is a mystery being revealed here:
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
Paul is pretty concerned about us getting puffed up about being "the church" in replacement of national Israel. The early church fathers, especially Chrysostom were guilty of this. It bred anti-semitism. There is partial blindness to Israel until the fullness of the gentiles is come in. After that, national Israel will be saved:
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins." (Isaiah 59:16)
That is consistent with that verse I mentioned about the elect of Israel in Isaiah 65:9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, And from Judah an heir of My mountains; My elect shall inherit it, And My servants shall dwell there.
28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are belovedfor the sake of the fathers.
That's interesting, he mentions election here talking about national Israel, who are also the Christian's enemies. If we use the Reformed, one-faceted view of election, then we would have to conclude that they are saved too. Elect to salvation is not what he's talking about here, it's the other kind of election - national election and God's choice of national Israel for His special purposes and plans are not over yet. So we are reminded that God's gifts and callings are without repentance: 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy.
This is ironic. As we were pagans, druids, aztecs, greeks, romans, hindus and all other false ancient religions, God showed mercy to Israel and gave them the truth. Now through their disobedience and apostate Judaism, we are now shown mercy to partake in some of Israel's covenants (Abrahamic and New). And now through the mercy shown to us, they will also obtain mercy in the end. After these verses, Paul praises God for His wisdom in planning things this way and so do I, I look forward to the salvation of national Israel just as predicted and I will be rewarded for it if I show kindness to the Jews (Matthew 25:40).
4. The Kingdom of God Is Spiritual Not Material
This is a total misunderstanding of the kingdom of God. Ever since the days of Origin and Augustine, prophecy has been allegorized to have spiritual meaning and people have bought in to the Gnostic idea that material is bad and spiritual is good or better. This is ridiculous. Of what substance is the universe's greatest evil being? Satan - a spiritual being. And what was it that God called very good in Genesis? Material earth. So, the idea that something material must be bad and something spiritual must be good is just wrong headed.
If the Kingdom is not earthly, but heavenly or spiritual, then we have a problem because there are a lot of unfulfilled promises. Like I said at the beginning, Jesus told the disciples that it wasn't for them to know the times or seasons that God the Father had put in his authority concerning the kingdom they were asking about. The earthly kingdom is an idea suspended from the time they rejected Jesus until they say "blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" like Jesus said they will. Here would be one of those unfulfilled promises:
Luke 1:32-33 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 "And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."
He has never sat on the throne of David nor reigned over the house of Jacob as has been promised in the Old Testament, this part of the kingdom is still to be fulfilled. The throne of David is not the throne of the Father where Jesus is now sitting, unless of course, we are going to start allegorizing it all.
Like I blogged about a few posts back, we need to interpret backward to forward, not from front to back. This is the error of reformed theology, they interpret backwards and re-interpret the meanings of OT passages in light of their screwed up understandings of NT passages. If God told the ancient Israelites promises about real land and a real kingdom in a real Jerusalem on earth, but God really meant something completely different, then God's a liar, unfaithful, and untrustworthy and whatever promises He made for us in the NT can't be trusted to be understood either since He would have a track record of being misleading. Which would mean that your interpretation of the OT promises according to NT verses may not be understandable or literal since they were not understandable or literal for the OT saints. If I tell you I'm going to give you a horse as you understand what a horse is (a four legged animal that cowboys ride on), and later I give you a motorcycle instead...did I tell the truth? No, I misled you. If I say: "well, in this modern age, a motorcycle is equivalent to a horse" it is not keeping my promise.
So, upon these presuppositions that I contend are more Biblical than Reformed Theology, I will keep building my eschatology. After having done my study in Daniel and the Olivet Discourse (which I am currently going through) I will begin to blog more and more about what I have learned and hopefully make sense of the end times.
"I have much people in this city."— Acts 18:10
