No 7

(The elect)

As we saw in our studies of the TULIP, God teaches us that we are predestined to be His children. Therefore, it is not surprising that Jesus, in His earthy ministry, continued this and referred to us as the elect. Jesus, in John 15:16 said to His disciples “…you have not chosen Me, I have chosen you” There is a wonderful sequence of events in the book of Luke that describes the teaching that we are elected. When Jesus arrived in Nazareth where He grew up, He went to the temple and was asked to read the Scriptures; specifically in the book of Isaiah. After reading, He sat down and said that what He had just read had been accomplished in that day. The people in the temple were amazed and asked themselves “Is this not the carpenter’s son?

Jesus answered them in the strangest way “But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land 26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.” (Luke 4: 25 – 27). What kind of an answer is that? What is the connection between this passage and the teaching of the elect? Here Jesus had just proclaimed that God had sent Him to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament and these words describe God’s own choice of whom He saves and whom He heals; God chooses whom He wants!! The reaction of His hearers in the temple was one of hatred v28 “And all they in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath”. Jesus often taught in parables; this is one of those times. It was after this event that Jesus took to Himself the 12 Apostles and revealed the meanings of the parables to them.