The Order of Salvation. Election (Part 2).

God's Decree: A People Given to Jesus Christ

God very intimately ordained Jesus' coming and dying on the cross. Everything Christ did and went were direct commands straight from the Father (John 5:36). So Christ's works were all organized and layout by the Father surely before time began as well.

So here's our question:
Seeing that God frame worked Christ's life and death so carefully, then He then just stop this fame working and planning when it comes to our lives?

We're asking divine questions here, so the only answer could truly be found in a divine book - not in man's conventional wisdom.

Yes, yes, this is a difficult subject on a practical level because it hits as close to home as anything can hit; but on an intellectual level (where you should start first anyway), the Bible has plenty to say in regards to our question. I would also like to say that this subject is very important to God. This isn't some simple side-track of Christian pursuit; this is seeking out the main dish that God would have us partake. This dish I'm talking about is that God saves us, not we ourselves. There are a lot of views out there. There are a lot of men older than me out there that teach different things. And if the Bible wasn't so clear on this issue of Election, I wouldn't think to stand up against them; but here's what historical Christianity used to believe, and more importantly, what the Bible teaches:

Jesus, in a portion of John's Gospel, speaks of Him being a Shepherd and flocks of sheep. In this imagery he says,

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
(John 10:27)

The Sheep have three blessings - they hear the voice of Christ, Christ knows them, and the sheep follow after him. These sheep are also given eternal life that cannot be lost (10:28). But where did these sheep come from? In Jesus' imagery everyone both against our Lord and for Him are called sheep here. However, our Lord's sheep hear and follow! Those who are not His sheep do not hear and follow (v. 25-26). So are we Jesus Christ's sheep because we simply hear Him and follow Him? But the unbelieving Jews were told not that they weren't Christ's sheep because they didn't hear, but that they didn't hear because they were not His sheep (v. 25-26). He talks even more strong in telling us were these sheep that do obey come from,

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
(John 10:29)

This idea of God giving men to Christ is not just mentioned by Jesus one time, it's a repeated theme:

All that the Father gives me will come to me,
and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
For I have come down from heaven,
not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
And this is the will of him who sent me,
that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

(John 6:37-39)

I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world
but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
(John 17:9)

And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world,
and I am coming to you.
Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me,
that they may be one, even as we are one.
While I was with them, I kept them in your name,
which you have given me. I have guarded them,
and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction,
that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
(John 17:12)

We see the Bible speaks of a people given to Christ, and people that doesn't belong to Christ. The wheat and the tares (Mt. 13:30, see 24-30). The good fish and the bad fish (Mt. 13:47-50). The good trees and the bad tree (Mt. 7:17-19). Each of these are found inside the Visible Church. Within those who have been called, those who acknowledge the Word of God, there are still yet the True Church who have been chosen by God (Mt. 22:14). A little difficult to think about, I know. A little eerie, I know. When I was a child the world was a beautiful and cheerful place, where everyone was happy and no one got hurt. But when I grew up, I started to seriously learn that sin is a lot more serious then I thought, and that everything isn't as pretty as it once was. Those in the Church that rebel against God (and thus have no faith) will end in death, always, just as the Bible says (Rom. 6:16) even though they believed themselves to have had faith in Christ (Mt. 7:21-23). I had to learn that God always means exactly what He says. No one who believes denies God with his life (1 John 3:6), oh but please don't misunderstand, I'm not saying a Christian can't and won't sin (1 John 2:1).

But we all need to grow to adulthood at some time. I think everyone would agree they wouldn't want to be ignorant children forever. Truth is what's important, so let's hold fast to this. I would love to spend a lot of time on why God gave us to Christ from before the foundation of the world, but the Bible only says one thing about that. It doesn't say God did it because we deserved it, earned it, were going to do something in the future, because we had faith, or anything like that. The Bible only says He does it "according to His counsel" (Eph. 1:11), "His good pleasure" (Lk. 12:32, Phil. 2:13), and "according to His grace" (Eph. 1:7). It's not according to anything we've done.

This topic is no where finished. We'll look at

God's Decree: Foreknowing and Predestinating a People to the Image of Jesus Christ