The Love of God to the Elect In Christ Jesus - Part I
"The
Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea I have loved thee with and
everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."
Jeremiah
31:3
The love with
which God loves His elect is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39). Christ Jesus is the
“Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 5:6; 13:8). Therefore
“John (the Baptist) seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). The Lamb that John saw
was the Lamb that had been the sin offering from eternity by the sovereign will
of God which will was declared in the everlasting covenant of grace (Titus 1:2;
Hebrews 10:10; 13:20; Revelation 13:8). The Lamb of God that John saw was the
Man Christ Jesus, with all His members in Him (Psalm 139:16). The members are
Christ’s spiritual members (I Corinthians 12:12, 13, 27) of that one spiritual
body (Romans 12:5) the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16) also called the Church of God (I Corinthians 1:2). All the members
of that one body are one with Christ and reckoned so by God, the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, and by them are loved with the love of the Father to the Son,
for thou “hast loved them, as thou hast loved me” (John 14:20; 17:21-26).
The church of God is one church in Jesus Christ
(Ephesians 4:4-6). “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews
13:8). Before the church of God had being in themselves by experiential
existence they had being in Jesus Christ in the mind and will of God. And they,
being chosen in Christ had eternal union with Christ, and were loved with love
incomprehensible to our understanding, immutable, infinite, inseparable from
its object, and those who were thus loved were and still are that world which
God so loved “that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). And it is that
world and that world alone, whose sin the Lamb of God took away, for the
Baptist saith “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”
(John 1:29).
The common
presupposition of our time is that the world for which God has declared His
love is the world which includes all and every man, without distinction or
exception. That notion is clearly unscriptural, degrading to the true love of
God, and destructive of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The faith of God’s elect is
based on the word of God (Titus 1:1). God’s children of the covenant (Acts
3:25), and of the promise (Galatians 4:28) can be satisfied with nothing less
than thus saith the Holy Ghost for “All scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness:” (II Timothy 3:16). The words of Isaiah the prophet
are very fitting for our times and for this inquiry “Come now, let us reason
together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be
willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and
rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it” (Isaiah 1:18-20).
Consider the two distinct worlds
that are set before us in the Revelation 12:9 and John 8:32. The “whole world”
of Revelation 12:9 is deceived by the Devil, while those spoken of in John 8:32
know the truth, those who know the truth are not deceived. We are commanded in
I John 2:15; “Love not the world, neither the things that in the world. If any man love the world, the love of
the Father is not in him. The love of the Father is not toward that world, but
that world is His enemy (James 4:4). Consider as well the two distinct worlds
set before us in this verse of Holy Scripture, “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness,” (I John 5:19). Here are two worlds, each entire and complete,
but separate from each other, the former is of God and “not of the world” (John 17:16), the latter is of this world
and lieth in wickedness.
There is
that world that cannot receive the Spirit “Even
the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:17). Here again we have two
separate and distinct worlds, the former cannot receive the Spirit of truth,
and the latter with whom the Spirit dwelt before the day of Pentecost and in
whom the Spirit dwelt after that day (see John 7:39). The world that cannot
receive the Spirit is the world of the reprobate (see II timothy 3:1-9 for a
description) the world in whom the Spirit of God now dwells is the world of
God’s elect, who “are sanctified by God the Father, (that is they are set apart
in the eternal decree of election of grace) preserved in Jesus Christ, (in
Jesus Christ by covenant relation for their preservation form all eternity) and
called” (the children of God are effectually called by the Holy Ghost by His
giving them of the life which is in Christ Jesus [I John 5:11] this is the
sanctification of the Spirit which is the effectual working of the Spirit of
Christ in causing His body (the church) to live by His life which is given them (Jude 1:1; Colossians 3:3).
There is
that world for which the Great High Priest of the everlasting covenant will
not pray. “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).
The Great High Priest of the Everlasting Covenant, Christ Jesus,
strictly stipulated “I pray not for the
world.” That world for which Christ Jesus refused to pray is the world our
Lord referred to when He said “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have
stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all my
counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I
will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as destruction, and your
destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then
shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but
they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the
fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all of my
reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled
with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and
the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whosoever hearkeneth unto me
shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil, (Proverbs 1:24-33).
All the blessedness of the people
of God depends on the faithfulness of Jesus Christ in His office of the Great
High Priest Those who were committed to His care were given by the Father and they
were given for their preservation to all eternity, and our Lord testified “none
of them is lost” (John 17:12. 20). The world for whom Christ Jesus did pray is
the world of the elect who were chosen in Christ Jesus before the world was
made “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will,” (Ephesians 1:3-5). It is this
world, the world of the elect, the world of the children of the covenant, for
whom our Lord Jesus Christ is Mediator, Surety, Prophet, Great High Priest,
King, Sacrifice, Alter, Eternal Life, Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and
Redemption. Reader, believest thou this? Is Christ Jesus Himself your
everlasting covenant (Isaiah 42:6)? Have
you any other to plead your case before the throne of God? Are you one for whom
Christ Jesus must be all and in all?
But let us continue; the doctrine
of the Universalists (Universalists are those who believe in the universal love
of God to all and every man, and that Jesus Christ came into this world to save
all and every man) is of the spirit of error, for it is unscriptural. They
boldly declare that God loves all men without exception, is that the truth? Do
you think that God loves all rapists, murders, liars, thieves, and robbers? If
you believe that He loves all and every man, then why are some that are of that
sort given pardon by the blood of Christ while others are committed to the
everlasting burnings? For consider these two verses; “But the fearful, and
unbelieving, and the abominable, and murders, and whoremongers, and sorcerers,
and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth
with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8). Now
compare this group with that of the following verse “Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God? Be not deceived:
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers
of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye
were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God,” (I
Corinthians 6:9-11). Those listed in both verses were in themselves of the same
characters, they were unrighteous, ungodly, and evil persons, but “who maketh
thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?”
(I Corinthians 4:7). Those who are listed in Revelation 21:8 were dealt with in
strict justice, and were given judgment according to their works. Those listed
in I Corinthians 6:9-11 were dealt with in strict justice in their surety our
Lord Jesus Christ who suffered the wrath of God in their stead, but in
themselves they were dealt with in free and sovereign grace, (Luke 7: 36-50)
they were washed in the blood of Christ, they were sanctified in the holiness
of Christ, they were justified by His blood, they were frankly forgiven, and
who made the difference? He who made the difference is the triune Jehovah, the
Father made the difference by electing or choosing His people in Christ before
the world was made; God the Son made the difference as the GODMAN Mediator when
He redeemed His people by His blood shedding and death in their room and stead.
God the Holy Ghost made the difference when He effectually called the chosen of
God in regeneration.
The elect themselves admit that
they themselves “were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers
lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hatful, and hating one another”
(Titus 3:3). But by grace the elect had covenant interest in the blood of
Christ from everlasting, for they had union with Christ from everlasting, being
chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, and therefore they had their
true identity in Christ before their fall in Adam, or their kinship to Adam,
“for as in Adam all die” (I Corinthians 15:22). The elect confess that God
“hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works,
but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began,” (II Timothy 1:9). In our Lords Great High Priestly Prayer,
He declared the reason of His absolute dominion over all flesh is that He should
give eternal life to all that the Father had given Him (John 17: 2). Reader; do
you have eyes prepared to see, ears prepared to hear, a heart to understand
these gospel truths; or are these things a strange sound to you? (Psalm 89:15).
For “if our gospel be hid, it is hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom
the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them” (II Corinthians 4:3, 4). From these things it is clear that
the gospel of Christ is contrary to the doctrine of the Universalists and that their
testimony is unscriptural, and therefore to be denounced as untrue and contrary
to the word of God. In the next article of this series we will consider the
second assertion made above; that the present day persuasion that God loves all
and every man is degrading to the true love of God.
A.J. Ison
