"The Lord KNOWETH them that are His" (2 Tim. 2:19)
Posted : 25 Sep, 2013 02:42 AM
Sometimes in order to ascertain that which is, it is necessary to define that which is not. If there are those designated by Scripture as �His people� then there must be many who are NOT �His people�. Who are these?
First, they are not all �His people� who go by a �Christian� name or have been confirmed as Christians by either being sprinkled in infancy or had a Christian upbringing.
Secondly, they are not all those who have been induced to �make a profession� through some high pressured �evangelist!� i.e. they are not all those who have �raised a hand� at the end of a preacher�s emotional sermon, repeated the �sinner�s prayer�, walked an aisle or signed a �decision card� or whatever!
Neither are they those who have been warned against what has just been described above, and fearful of being deluded by such religious hucksters are determined to �settle the matter� directly with God in the privacy of their own room or some secluded spot. These have been given to understand that God loves everybody, that Christ died for the whole human race, and that nothing is required of them but faith in the gospel. By �saving faith� they suppose that a mere intellectual assent to, or acceptance of, such statements as are found in John 3:16 and Romans 10:13 is all that is intended. It matters not that John 2:23, 24 declares that �many believed in his name but Jesus did not commit himself unto them,� that �many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God,� which shows how much their �believing� was worth. Imagining that the natural man is CAPABLE of �receiving Christ as personal Savior� they make the attempt, doubt not their success, go on their way rejoicing, and none can shake their assurance that they are now real Christians!
We are not saying that God does not have �His people� in the classes mentioned above. But as a general rule the majority of these do not constitute �His people� which the Bible speaks of. And the small minority whom God calls from this deluded lot, shall by and by be illuminated by God�s Spirit to see the error of their ways and give God ALL the glory for their salvation, and confess that salvation, (if it is genuine at all) is �NOT of him that willeth, NOR of him that runneth, BUT OF GOD that sheweth mercy!� [Rom 9:16]
But to return. WHO are those whom the Bible classifies as �His people�?
�His people� are those who are �Foreknown� by God before the world began! �For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son.� [Rom 8:28] When we read in Scripture of God �knowing� certain people, the word is used in the sense of KNOWING WITH APPROBATION AND LOVE.
Instead of imagining that these words �KNOW� and �FOREKNOW� signify no more than a simple cognition, the different passages in which they occur require to be carefully weighed. The word "foreknowledge" is not found in the Old Testament. But �know� occurs there frequently. When that term is used in connection with God, it often signifies to regard with favour, denoting not mere cognition but an AFFECTION for the object in view. "I KNOW THEE by name" (Ex. 33:17). "Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I KNEW YOU" (Deut. 9:24). "Before I formed thee in the belly I KNEW THEE" (Jer. 1:5). "They have made princes and I KNEW IT NOT" (Hos. 8:4). "You only have I KNOWN of all the families of the earth" (Amos 3:2). In these passages �knew� signifies either loved or appointed.
In like manner, the word "know" is frequently used in the New Testament, in the same sense as in the Old Testament. "Then will I profess unto them, I NEVER KNEW YOU" (Matt. 7:23). "I am the good shepherd and KNOW MY SHEEP and am known of Mine" (John 10:14). "If any man love God, the same is KNOWN OF HIM" (1 Cor. 8:3). "The Lord KNOWETH them that are His" (2 Tim. 2:19).
Now the word "foreknowledge" as it is used in the New Testament is less ambiguous than in its simple form "to know." If every passage in which it occurs is carefully studied, it will be discovered that it is a moot point (an irrelevant argument) whether it ever has reference to the mere perception of events which are yet to take place. The fact is that "foreknowledge" is never used in Scripture in connection with events or actions; instead, it always has reference to PERSONS. It is persons God is said to "foreknow," not the ACTIONS of those persons.
Consider Romans 8;29,30. "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image, of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called," etc. Weigh well the pronoun that is used here. It is not WHAT He did foreknow, but WHOM He did. It is not the surrendering of their wills nor the believing of their hearts but the PERSONS THEMSELVES, which is here in view.
"God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew" (Rom. 11:2). Once more the plain reference is to PERSONS, AND TO PERSONS ONLY.
The last mention is in 1 Peter 1:2: "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." Who are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father? The previous verse tells us: the reference is to the "strangers scattered" i.e. the Diaspora, the Dispersion, the believing Jews. Thus, here too the reference is to persons, and not to their foreseen acts.
Now in view of these passages (and there are no more) what scriptural ground is there for anyone saying God "foreknew" the ACTS of certain ones, viz., their "repenting and believing," and that because of those acts He elected them unto salvation? The answer is, NONE whatever. Scripture never speaks of repentance and faith as being foreseen or foreknown by God. Truly, He did know from all eternity that certain ones would repent and believe, yet this is not what Scripture refers to as the object of God�s "foreknowledge." The word uniformly refers to God�s foreknowing persons; then let us "hold fast the form of sound words" (2 Tim. 1:13).
Secondly, �His people� are those whom God the father gave to the Son to redeem them from the curse of the Law [Gal 3:13]. �I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me; and they have kept Thy word.� [John 17:6]
These who belonged to the Father and are given to the son, the Bible calls them the Elect, the Sheep, the Chosen, the Called etc. And it is FOR THESE AND THESE ALONE whom Christ came for and suffered, died and rose again and for NO ONE ELSE!
�For the transgression of My people was He (Christ) stricken!� [Isaiah 53:8].
�I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd giveth His life FOR THE SHEEP.� [John 10:11] (not the goats)
�As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life FOR THE SHEEP!�
And OTHER SHEEP I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and One Shepherd!� [John 10:15,16]
It would be pointless to say, �I lay down My life for the sheep� if He laid down His life for the whole world indiscriminately!
There IS a world of the Elect and a world of the Reprobate! A world of the godly and a world of the ungodly! A world of sheep and a world of goats!
When God says, that he so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son, it is the world of �His people� that He has in view!
Come now, if our Lord suffered and died for the �whole world� indiscriminately, then why would He say �
�I pray for THEM: I pray NOT FOR THE WORLD, but FOR THEM WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN ME; for they are Thine.� [John 17:9]
And further down when He extends the scope of the recipients of His High Priestly prayer, it is not for the WHOLE WORLD indiscriminately which He prays for, but His other sheep whom He foreknew - �Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word!� [John 17:20]
�His people� whom the Bible so designates are those who are foreknown and loved by the Father, redeemed by the Son and regenerated and made alive by the Spirit! NOT every Tom, Di ck and Harry . . . or Jane, Jill and Mary but a �a CHOSEN GENERATION, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a PECULIAR people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light!� [1Pet 2:9]
Dearly beloved, if you are a real Christian, you are so because GOD chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), and chose not because He foresaw you would believe, but chose simply because it pleased Him to choose: chose you notwithstanding your natural unbelief. This being so, all the glory and praise belongs to Him ALONE. YOU have no ground for taking any credit to yourself. You have "believed through grace" (Acts 18:27), and that, because your very election was "of grace" (Rom. 11:5).
