In a rare display of agreement, the various factions of the Institutional Church speak with one voice when it comes to identifying God’s Elect who are mentioned almost 30 times in the Holy Scriptures. Though they disagree on most everything else (resulting in hundreds of denominations), the various factions that comprise Catholicism/Protestantism agree that the Elect of God are those who belong to the church, faith, order, etc. of whomever is speaking or writing. All others are merely Elect wannabe’s–pretenders and imposters who simply made the wrong choice of church, faith, etc. Ask a hundred representatives of a hundred different churches and one will receive a hundred different responses relative to God’s Elect.

But who does the Biblical God identify as His Elect? Let us break with church tradition by consulting His inspired Word (2 Tim. 3:14-16/2 Pet. 1:21) in our search for the answer to this important question. In these passages we are told that all Scripture was spoken by the Almighty to His prophets and apostles, whom He calls “holy men,”  through His Holy Spirit. These Scriptures tell us that what He told them is necessary for teaching, preaching, reproof, correction and training in the righteousness that is required for salvation. The prophets and apostles, knowing that they were hearing the voice of God, spoke what He said to them. Their scribes then recorded their Words. The Lord then arranged for their writings to be preserved and formed into a Book globally known as the Holy Bible. The Bible being God’s Truth (Jn. 17:17) in written form, let us study It in order to learn 1) the identity of His Elect and 2) His instructions to them which, if believed and obeyed, would result in their receiving eternal life.

In Isaiah 45:4 the Lord identifies His Elect as the descendants of Jacob, whom He renamed Israel. His message is clear: THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL ARE GOD’S ELECT. A Gentile is anyone who is not an Israelite. Both the Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament) languages define a “Gentile” as a heathen, a pagan, one who is not a descendant of Abraham. This being the case, where does this leave Gentiles relative to salvation? In previous postings I have proven Scripturally that the Israelites have always welcomed Gentiles who, having identified their (Israel’s) God as the only God, embrace Him and live according to His Law/Word/Truth. Believing in and obeying the God of the Israelites transforms a biological Gentile into a spiritual Israelite. An excellent example of this transformation is found in the story of a Moabite woman named Ruth who told an Israelite woman who had introduced her to the God of the Israelites: “Your God will be My God and your people will be my people.” Simple, yet profound. Following her conversion Ruth married an Israelite man and gave birth to Obed, the father of King David. From Ruth’s line would come Jesus Christ, the Head of the New Testament Church. This established the Israel-church connection which continues to this day. This Truth is brought out in Galatians 6:16 where the Apostle Paul identifies the New Testament Church as “the Israel of God.” This leads us back to the Elect of God whom He identifies in Isaiah 45:4 as the nation of Israel. L.J.