Jottings

One cannot but admire oftentimes the beautiful thoughts of some hymnwriters. Of them in their measure it might well be repeated

My heart overfloweth with a goodly matter" (Psalm 45.1).

The words of T. Kelly, that prolific and delightful hymn-writer, have been running through my mind, stirring up thoughts of God's electing grace :We of all His hand created

Objects of such grace alone, By eternal love elected

Destined now to share His throne.

Sing with wonder, Sing of what the Lord has done!"

"Objects of grace" is one way in which the words of Ephesians 1. 6 are rendered ("made us accepted," A.V.; "freely bestowed on us," R.V.). These "objects of grace" are spoken of in Ephesians 1.4 thus

"Even as He chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in love."

Though sin had entered with such blighting results, God had, previous to this, even before the world was made, chosen believers of this dispensation in Christ His beloved Son.

Paul alludes to the truth of election as set forth in the words of Malaehi (Malachi 1.2, 8) in Romans 9.11-13:For the children being not yet born, neither having done anything

good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth, it was said Unto her, The elder shall serve the young, even as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

Divine election staggers the human int~lect, which is ever ready to reply against God. Why didst Thou make me thus? Has God the right to make man as He will in the womb, not only to form the limbs, but also the brain, the seat of the mind? Has He the right to choose long, long before there ever was any formative process even with the earth itself? Who can question the right of the Creator" Even the potter, Paul says, has the right over the clay to do with it as lie will Of his clay the potter can form a vessel to honour and another to dishonour out of the same lump, and who will deny him his right? And is God to be circumscribed in His right over the clay of which He made and makes man? Surely not!

We must distinguish between dishonour and destruction Whilst God does give to some of His creatures greater honour than to others, and His purpose according to election must stand, being not of works, but of Him that calleth God's choosing never means that He fits some of His creatures for destruction and no other course is open to them but one, that which will eventually end in eternal fire. How could a just God punish men for what actually was His own doing? Such would be unthinkable Such thoughts lead us on to Romans 9 22

What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long suffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction?

Who fitted these vessels unto destruction? or shall we put it another way Who made them vessels of wrath? Surely the answer must be that the fault' was their own and not God's.

Let us take one example in Scripture to show what we mean. It will be reniembered how Ham acted toward his father when he (Noah) was filled with wine. When Noah awoke, he spoke oracularly concerning the unborn son of Ham, Canaan by name. The curse pronounced upon Canaan was caused by the behaviour of his father Ham. The curse was

"Cursed be Canaan,

A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren " (Genesis 9.25).

Canaan begat Canannites. Canaan was cursed with the dishonour of beiiig a servant to his brethren, not with the curse of destruction. But, alas, the Canaanites brought the curse of destruction upon themselves. In Abraham's day the iniquity of the Amorite was not yet full (Genesis 15. 16), but in Jushua's day, when God had borne with much long-suffering the ways and works of the Canannites, the time of destruction had come. They were then vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction. In divine election, we repeat, see that we observe the distinction which Paul makes between dishonour and destruction. J.M.

In the New Testament we have two aspects of divine election. There is besides another form of election seen in regard to men who were chosen for special work, such as the apostles. We read of "the apostles whom He had chosen" (Acts 1.2). To the eleven was added Matthias, concerning whose choice we read:

"Shew of these two the one whom Thou hast chosen, to take part in this ministry and apostleship" (Acts 1.24,25).

In Ephesians 1.4 we have the choosing by God of all saints who form the Church, the Body of Christ, a distinct body of saints from God's elect of past dispensations, and from His elect of a future time (Matthew 24.22, 24, 81):"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath

blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ:

even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself" (Ephesians 1.8-5).

Each part of this complex sentence reveals a sublime and wonderful truth. God blessed His saints according as He had chosen them, and He chose them having fore-ordained them. The order of the work of God is-fore-ordination, election, blessing. Election here has the future in view when in a holy and unblemished state in love we shall be placed as sons before Him. Adoption means son-plaeing.

whilst the truth of the Body of Christ is dealt with in Ephesians, the truth of a people in the house of God is that which is in view in the first epistle of Peter. Peter, in this epistle, writes to the elect who are sojourners of the dispersion in five provinces in Asia. In Ephesians 1. we are carried in thought to God's choice beyond earthly time, and upward to the heavenly places; in 1 Peter we see God's elect as sojourners and pilgrims. Nothing can fail in Ephesians, because it finds its base in God's fore-ordination. All God's elect will in due time stand before God as His sons, each bearing the divine image, the black marks caused by the fall in Adam entirely gone. All this is according to the good pleasure of His will and to the glory of His grace.

But in 1 Peter the elect are seen on earth in the place of service and suffering. In Ephesians election is seen in association with salvation, in 1 Peter with service. Peter in writing to the same people in his second epistle, says :Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling

and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble

(2 Peter 1.10).

God's call in the gospel to the believing sinner can never be made more sure, when once saving faith is placed in Christ. There is no stumbling or falling from grace here. Sinners who hear the gospel call and believe will stand as sons before God one day, for unto this they are fore-ordained. But election as it stands in relation to service is a very different matter. Here we have to make our calling and election sure by adding to and enriching our faith (and faith in 2 Peter 1.1 is not faith in the grace of God, but faith in the righteousness of God, for He is a God who will deal justly with all His servants). We are to add virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, love of the brethren, and love. - If these things are ours and abound they will make us neither idle nor unfroitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In 1 Peter 1.1, 2, Peter has before his mind as he writes the children of Israel, who in their pilgrimage had come to the Mount Sinai. They were God's elect of a past day, a set-apart people, unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of the covenant. See Deuteronomy 7.6-11 and Exodus 19.8-8; 24.1-8. Peter follows closely the words of the LORD of old. Election rests on God's fore-knowledge.

He who is the End as well as the Begisinlng knows all that comes in between with an accuracy that baffles human thought; hence many of the prophecies of Scripture are as though we were reading history. Isaiah writes of Christ as though His sufferings were completed, which actually were hundreds of years ahead. He says, Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." "The I'onn bath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53.4, 6). J.M.

unknown | Nov 1950
Jottings