What I find most fascinating is that God has elected people who can be traced back to the descendants of Noah, (Gen. 10-11). From the Hebrew lineage God elected Abraham to receive salvation by grace through faith. (Gen. 15:6, cf Eph:2:8). Then in God’s perfect preordained timing He made Abraham the father of the nation of Israel. “No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I will make you the father of a multitude of nations.” (Gen. 17:5). One immutable act of God was to uniquely and permanently elect the nation of Israel as His covenant nation. “… you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…” (Ex. 19:5, 6, c.f. Deut. 7:6-7). The Divine Creator of the vast and measureless universe is the same God who elects people for His divine purpose and glory. What is election? “The decree of election is the free and sovereign choice of God, made in eternity past, to set his love on certain individuals, and, on the basis of nothing in themselves but solely because of the good pleasure of his will, to choose them to be saved from sin and damnation and to inherit the blessings of eternal life through the mediatorial work of Christ.” (A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth, Biblical Doctrine, MacArthur and Mayhue, 2017, pg. 493). The word “elect” in the Hebrew language is “bahar” or “bachar” pronounced “baw-kar”. It is found nearly 170 times. In this context, it is God’s divine examination, a deliberate choice, well thought out, with exhaustive scrutiny from beginning to end, of deep theological consideration. (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Harris, Archer, Waltke). In short it is God’s omniscient and sovereign choice of a person or nation, for His purpose and glory. In fact the world “elect” is found in Deuteronomy 30 times alone as Scripture delineates God’s divine election of Israel. There is no other nation which God has elected; Israel has been set aside, to become a distinct people. “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples” (Deut. 7:6-7). Out of all people, God set His unending love on Israel. After years of Egyptian slavery, through God’s miraculous intervention He brought the children of Israel out to receive...
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