Hello, this is Pastor Steven Anderson from Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona,
and today I want to talk about Isaiah 45 verse 4 where the Bible reads,
For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect,
I have even called thee by thy name.
I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
Now, when I talk about the fact that the word elect in the Bible is referring to Jesus Christ
or those who believe in Jesus Christ, those who are saved and that are in Christ,
people will often point me to this verse and say,
No, here's a verse that proves that the nation of Israel are the elect.
It's not Christians that are the elect.
Here's a mention where it's the Jews that are elect.
Well, that's not what this verse says at all.
Let's read it again.
It says, For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect,
I have called thee by thy name.
I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
Now, Jacob is a person's name, but not only is Jacob a person's name,
Israel is a person's name.
One individual person was named Israel because God, if you remember, renamed him.
He said, Thy name shall no more be called Jacob.
He said, Your name is going to be called Israel, which means a prince with God.
He said, You've wrestled with God and man and have prevailed,
so you're going to be renamed Israel.
So when the Bible talks about the fact that Jacob is his servant
and that Israel is his elect, that's talking about a person.
Jacob, Israel.
And by the way, that person was saved.
That person was a believer.
This is not a carte blanche that any physical descendant of Jacob
or of Israel is all of a sudden elect.
Now, listen to what Romans 9-6 says.
Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect,
for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.
So just because this verse says that Israel was elect,
which is the person Israel,
just because we talk about the fact that in the Old Testament,
the nation of Israel was elect when they were worshiping the Lord,
when they were circumcised and keeping the Passover and worshiping the Lord,
they were a chosen nation.
They were a holy people that were to show forth the Gospel
unto the whole world in the Old Testament.
Just because those people who served the Lord were elect in the Old Testament,
that doesn't mean that unbelieving, Christ-rejecting Jews today are elect
just because they're of Israel, because the Bible says they're not all Israel,
which are of Israel.
He's saying just because you're physically of Israel,
that does not make you God's chosen people.
That does not make you the seed of promise.
It doesn't make you elect or chosen.
Because listen to Romans 9-8, it says that is,
they which are the children of the flesh,
meaning the physical descendants of Israel,
these are not the children of God,
but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Now, of course, in the New Testament,
the term elect is always just referring to believers in Jesus Christ
because that's the New Testament doctrine.
In the Old Testament, the elect is also referring to Jesus Christ
or believers in Christ.
Does it refer to the nation of Israel?
Sure, when they were worshiping the Lord,
but nowhere does it refer to them when they have rejected the Lord.
The Bible talks about the fact that any individual
who would break certain commandments would be cut off from the people.
Again, nothing to do with salvation.
Salvation has always been by grace through faith
in the Old Testament, New Testament,
but when it comes to being one of the chosen people in the Old Testament,
it wasn't about salvation.
It was about being a part of the nation,
being circumcised, keeping the Passover,
being part of the physical nation of Israel.
In the New Testament, that has changed
because the physical nation has been replaced with a spiritual nation
made up of all believers.
1 Peter 2, 9 and 10, Matthew 21, 43 and many other places,
Romans 2, 28 and 29, lots of scriptures.
But the point that I'm trying to make here is that
if this is the only verse you've got to show me that in the New Testament,
the word elect is referring to the Jews or to the nation of Israel,
whether they believe in Jesus Christ or not,
that is very weak evidence.
So I've got just a whole bunch of scriptures.
I'll show you 20 scriptures that use the word elect,
that are talking about people that are saved, that are Christian,
that they're chosen or elect using those words.
And then this is what they've got for us.
Talking about the fact that Jacob was elect.
Well, there's no doubt about that.
Jacob's in heaven also, by the way.
And there's no doubt about the fact that in the Old Testament,
when the Jews were worshiping the Lord, they were a chosen nation.
But Jesus said, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you
and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof.