We are approaching another election where the people will elect those who will lead this country for another four years. It is a serious matter, and every Christian should exercise wisdom in these difficult times. Behind this election and every election is our Sovereign God. He is the Person orchestrating history according to His perfect will. Yet, at the same time we know that the people choose the kind of leadership they want. How does this fit together? We know that evil begets evil. Those who have no discernment will be swayed to choose that which fits their view of living, and yet God, who is behind it all will bring about His predetermined plan. This is one of the reasons we are told to pray for those in authority over us (1 Tim. 2).

Being elected to salvation is much like this. God has chosen from before the foundation of the world those for whom He will call to Himself and give eternal life. At the same time, those He has determined to save will come to Him willingly and joyfully to receive His free gift. None of us are worthy of His grace in salvation. It was Charles Spurgeon who in humor stated, “I’m so glad that God chose me before the foundation of the world, because he never would have chosen me after I was born!” He knew that God did not elect Him according to his deeds or anything of himself, and He rejoices in the reality that God chose Him from eternity by grace for reasons known only to God.

Most churches today either avoid any discussion of the Scriptures addressing election, or when they do address it, they take a position that God uses His omniscience and by it He knows in the course of time who will choose to follow Christ of their own free will. They adopt the idea that on the basis of God’s divine foreknowledge of man’s choice, God then elects the individuals He knows will choose Him and does so before the foundation of the world. This view fits with the comfort level of many who have determined that if God does not elect according to man’s will, then God is unfair. This also maintains the belief in the autonomy and dignity of man to choose his own future path.

There are problems with this view. First, what about the dignity of God? He has been reduced to a bystander awaiting man’s decision. It does not take into account man’s birth and circumstances that are completely at the initiation and behest of the sovereign God. Who is it that gave us not only initial physical life and existence, but also where, when, and to whom we were born? To think these circumstances are likened to a state of chance, or somehow determined by the person, is as foolish as evolution. Most importantly the Bible clearly states concerning the condition of every person born that we, as the offspring of Adam, are so corrupted by sin that we would never of ourselves choose God. The word, foreknowledge means more than seeing. God not only sees but determines. This same word is used of Christ (1 Pet. 1:20).

The difference in these views really comes down to this; is it God or is it man who initiates and brings about salvation? In the view of God looking down the corridors of the future to see what man will do means that man is in control. Man is the determiner of who God will save. It ultimately means that man’s will is sovereign over God’s will. It places God’s provision of salvation at the mercy of the creature. It is so fragile that if God wants people in glory, He has to hope that some of mankind will choose to follow Him. Such thinking has not only removed God from His throne of glory but has replaced Him by seating man in His place. This view of election is not a view of election at all, because God is not the one electing. Man is the one electing.

In the biblical view, God is always in control. He of His own sovereign will chooses those whom He will save out of the whole of fallen humanity. It is a humanity that begins with life in rebellion to God and continues against God unless intervened. The Bible addresses the fact that no person of themselves will ever choose God. This means of course that unless God elects and works in the person so that they willingly come to God through Christ, they will never come. They have no desire or ability to do so.

Why does such an understanding disturb many people? There are several reasons for this concern. Some have been taught this, but the bottom-line is that man does not want it left up to God. All people naturally want to think they can choose their own destiny by their own decisions. Many choose Christ along the lines of what their denomination or church teaches. It is true that all those elected by God will indeed choose Christ. However, for Him to be chosen as Lord in the life, and to follow Him as the Bible requires means a faith not built on things we do or upon presumption, but a faith built upon our total dependence upon Him. It is a faith not built upon what we have done, but upon what He has done and who He is. It is a faith that abandons self-reliance, and instead places personal destiny and hope in God alone through His dear Son the Lord Jesus Christ, our crucified and risen Savior. 

A discussion of this is deep and must go much deeper than what I have addressed here, but simply keep this in mind – God is God, and we are His creatures. As Psalm 100:3 says, “It is He that has made us and not we ourselves.” Each time we meet in worship, we meet to worship and give praise to Him alone. All glory belongs to our God! He has also told us, “Come to Me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).