SONSHIP OF ELECT BEFORE THE FALL: The word lost necessarily relates to ELECT, only applicable for sheep who were once in the possession of Father. Thine they were John17: 6. This is in eternity past. The Fall did not break the relation with Christ or God, but rather gave occasion for redemption which brought greater honor to Christ and glory to God. The elect or the Church was estranged, corrupted and suffered great loss in the Fall, but the union with Christ and the relation to God was never broken. GOD VIEWS THE ELECT AS HIS CHILDREN AND PEOPLE EVEN BEFORE THEIR REGENERATION AND RESTORATION. Elect are called the children of God even before their regeneration. 1) Does not Isaiah say that all of Gods children shall be taught of the Lord (Is 54:13). The calling of these (elect) as children is BEFORE they are taught. 2) John 11:52 says, children of God that are scattered abroad are to be gathered together on one. Elect are called as children BEFORE the gathering. Elect are not only called Gods children BEFORE their regeneration, but are also called Gods PEOPLE their actual salvation. 3) Ps 110:3 says, Thy PEOPLE shall be willing in the day of Thy power. THEY ARE HIS PEOPLE BEFORE THEY ARE WILLING. 4) The book of Acts records that when God sent Paul to Corinth, He told him that He HAD MANY PEOPLE in that city (Acts 18:10). They are called His PEOPLE before their conversion. Christ calls the elect His sheep BEFORE they are even brought into the fold. 5) Jesus sais He had other sheep which are not of this fold, and He must bring them (John 10: 16). These other sheep, are elect among the Gentiles. 6) And BECAUSE ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. [Gal 4:6] All the above verses, according to A W Pink, indicates to us the union of elect with Christ as their Head before the Fall which made way for their need of redemption, to be delivered out of it, and which provided an occasion for their Husband to become their Redeemer, which He engaged to be before the foundation of the world. When God ordained the Fall of mankind in Adam, the elect fell in him; yet they fell not from heart and arms of Christ. Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me. John 17:6. And if Father who possessed the elect at the outset, has given them to Christ as their Union Head, then sure it is that NONE CAN PLUCK THEM, yeah, NOT EVEN THE FALL... Certainly at this point an explanation is required for the verse Eph 2: 3 KJV: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. As long as we were in unbelief, we were under the wrath of God. But this does not mean goats were changed to sheep. It is always that sheep are born as sheep and goats are born as goats. However, God has reserved and preserved His own as His sons and His children or rather I would say as PRODIGAL SONS by way of election (though not justified or rather yet to be justified). This is from His decrees perspective and at this juncture, the Spirit is not yet given to us that we may belong to Christ. And this is the time Scripture addresses us as lost SHEEP but still SHEEP though, for whom Jesus came to seek and save!!! Elect, once who were possession of Father who gave them to Christ (John17:6 Thine they were) are lost in time but they are still His sheep, His children, His people i.e. in summary as PRODIGAL SONS but yet to be justified. That means the relationship (union) between Father and His children was never broken, though marred, because of the Fall. Jesus has completely restored this on the Cross Tetelestai (Actual Justification of elect who are in old and in new testament is realized at Cross) On what basis do I say this? Here it is: And BECAUSE ye are sons (Supra view), God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. [Gal 4:6] The book of Acts records that when God sent Paul to Corinth, He told him that He HAD MANY PEOPLE in that city (Acts 18:10). They are called His PEOPLE before their conversion. John17: 6 says, Thine they were. Prior to the Justification, even prior to the Fall, elect were sons of God. And later when elect Fell in sin, they are NOT CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE but Eph 2:2 says, they (elect) walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, JUST LIKE THE CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE. Just like the sons of disobedience, elect also were caught up with sins and became slaves of sin. Theres no difference, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Though they are under His wrath (NOT HATRED) for a period of time, but this never changed the association of elect with Christ as their union Head. Many have freely associated the children of wrath with the children of the devil. This is indeed a great mistake. I do not believe that the Elect are ever HATED by God. But I certainly believe that they can be under the JUDICIAL wrath of God. And that they often are under the judicial wrath of God even AFTER they are brought to salvation! That they can experience the heavy hand of God against them in their sins, as David did when he sinned with Bathsheba. He records his experience of the wrath of God against his sins in Psalm 32. I don’t have any problem with that. But there is a DIFFERENCE you see BETWEEN WRATH AND HATRED. I can be very wrathful with my children, but that doesn’t mean that I HATE them! I’d certainly had not better hate them in being wrathful with them. In fact my wrath with them is an expression of my LOVE FOR THEM. At least it should be and by the grace of God I hope it is. But you see what I’m saying, there is quite a difference between WRATH and HATRED. God certainly can be angry with His people, and when He comes to them to save them then He saves them FROM wrath, and from that deep sense of condemnation that is part of the wrath of God to give them peace through His grace. But that does not mean that He hates them. His wrath against them is not a wrath which is rooted in hatred for them but a wrath which is rooted in His eternal and unchangeable love for them. Even after they’ve been saved when He reveals His wrath He reveals it in order to turn them from their sins and to bring them back to Himself. In the mind of God, the elect are viewed as His children from ETERNITY. “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost”! [1Cor 12:3]. It must be admitted that the elect at least until their salvation in time in no wise differ from the non-elect! They are conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity! They are estranged from the womb: and go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies! [Psalm 51:5; 58:3] All the elect just as the reprobate have all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes! THIS is a picture of the ‘Elect’ before Christ finds them (sheep who were LOST)! “In THIS the children of God are MANIFEST, and the children of the devil: whosoever DOETH NOT RIGHTEOUSNESS is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother”! [1John 3:10] To put it in plain English, this is how we differentiate between a child of God and a child of the devil! HE THAT COMMITTETH SIN IS OF THE DEVIL; for the devil sinneth from the beginning! [1John 3:8]. Any true child of God will hang his head in shame and ADMIT that before his salvation he sinned without RESTRAINT! So we see that, in THEIR CONDUCT, the ELECT before their salvation differed in no way from the non-elect. The Master said to the unbelieving Jews, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do”! [John 8:44] “Wherein in time past ye (Elect) walked according to the course of this world, according to THE PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience’. [Eph 2:2] Like father, like son! IT IS NOT ONLY THE NON-ELECT WHO DID THE LUSTS OF THEIR FATHER, BUT EVEN THE ELECT DID THE SAME EVEN THOUGH THE DEVIL IS NOT THEIR FATHER AS WE HAVE SEEN ABOVE! I hope this throws some light into what we are discussing. No the Elect are not the children of the devil, per se. But THEIR CONDUCT IDENTIFIES THEM TO BE SO!!! This must be a sober warning to all who claim to be ‘Elect’ and are still following the course of this world! Christ redeems His elect not only from the penalty of sin, but also from the power thereof! And so we will find many of the elect thus testify that they were ONCE a child of the devil but God in His mercy saved them and from THENCE they became His children. And methinks they are justified in testifying thus, because even though IN THE MIND OF GOD THEY WERE ALWAYS HIS CHILDREN, their CONDUCT IDENTIFIED THEM AS CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL! We cannot and should not inquire further than this that is revealed. i.e. that through the fall the elect who were ‘lost’ in the first Adam are brought back by Christ the last Adam! [1Cor 15:45] It is these ‘LOST SHEEP’ on whom the Spirit works in time and convicts them of their sin, grants them repentance and gloriously saves them! Salvation is truly of JEHOVAH!!! Who is like unto THEE O LORD!!!
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 17:26:35 +0000
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