Chapter 8, Verses 28-30 Part 7
In this essay we will look at how the elect were given to Christ and when and for what purpose they were given to Christ.
First that the Father gave the elect to his Son is evidenced by the following verses of scripture:
A. Matt. 1:21 ‑ "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.
B. John 6:37‑39 ‑ "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day."
C. John 10:28, 29 ‑ "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
D. John 17:1, 2 ‑ "...Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him."
E. Heb. 2:13 ‑ "And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me." These verses of scripture are sufficient to prove that the Father gave to the Son a people.
Now let us look to when this gift was made. In Eph. 1:4 we read, "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." This verse teaches us that God made choice of a people to be his before the foundation of the world and gave them to Christ in covenant at that time. These then are the ones that God
foreknew in Rom. 8:29.
Next, let us consider for what purposes were the elect given to Christ in covenant before the world began. In looking back at the scriptures we have already quoted we can make the following observations:
A. The elect were given to Christ that "he may save his people from their sins." (Matt. 1:21)
B. The elect were given to Christ by the Father that they all will come to him. (John 6:37)
C. The elect were given to Christ by the Father that none of them be "cast out." (John 6:37)
D. The elect were given to Christ by the Father that none of them be lost. (John 6:39)
E. The elect were given to Christ by the Father that they all be raised up again at the last day. (John 6:39)
F. The elect were given to Christ by the Father that they all be preserved in Christ Jesus. (John 10:29)
G. The elect were given to Christ by the Father that he give eternal life to all the elect. (John 17:2)
H. The elect were given to Christ by the Father that all the elect should be holy and without blame before God in love. (Eph 1:4).
In addition, the elect were given to Christ by the Father that:
I. The elect be adopted into the family of God. (Eph. 1:5)
J. The elect be made accepted by God in Christ. (Eph. 1:6)
K. The elect have redemption through the blood of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of God's grace. (Eph. 1:7)
L. The elect obtain an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. (Eph. 1:11)
M. The elect should be created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:10)
In all of the above we see where the Father gave the elect to Christ in covenant for the work that Christ would do on their behalf and thus procure all the blessings reserved for them in the covenant of redemption.
In our next essay we will consider the Lamb's book of life as it relates to the elect.
Rom. 8:28-30 Part 8
We read of a time in the 10th chapter of Luke when the Lord sent out seventy disciples beside the twelve apostles to teach and preach in the cities of Judea. When they returned they were rejoicing because the devils were subject unto them through the Lord's name. Among the things the Lord told them after their return was, "Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto
you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." Among the lessons this teaches us are:
A. There are those whose names are written in heaven.
B. To have ones name written in heaven is a cause of great rejoicing.
Next, we may ask ourselves when were those names written in heaven? The answer to this question is found in Rev. 13:8 and Rev. 17:8 as follows:
A. Rev. 13:8 ‑ "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."
B. Rev. 17:8 ‑ "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not;...and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world..." Thus, we may conclude that there are those whose names were not written in the Lamb's book of life from the foundation of the world, which in turn, infers there are those whose
names are written in the Lamb's book of life from the foundation of the world. Since the Lord (Lamb of God) in covenant stood slain from the foundation of the world, then those who were chosen in Christ (Eph. 1:4) had their names in covenant written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world.
Furthermore, we now consider some of the blessings that are specifically tied to the Lamb's book of life:
A. Luke 10:20 teaches us it is a cause to rejoice.
B. Since the Lamb of God taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29), then having ones name written in the Lamb's book of life is tantamount to having ones sins taken away.
C. According to Rev. 20:15 having ones name written in the Lamb's book of life exempts one from being cast into the lake of fire ("And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire").
D. According to Rev. 21:27 having ones name written in the Lamb's book of life enables one to enter into the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God.
E. We read in Heb. 9:15‑17, "And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men
are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth." The Lamb's book of life is the Lord's testament. The Lord is both the testator and the mediator. Those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life are the heirs. When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross as the "Lamb of God" then the testament came of force and those whose names were written therein became the legal heirs of the
testator (Jesus Christ). Just as a person on earth may leave a "last will and testament" once that person dies his testament comes of force. It should be remembered names cannot be written into a testament AFTER it comes in force. In addition, once the testament is in force names cannot be stricken from the testament.
All whose names are there at the time the testament comes in force are the legal heirs and that inheritance becomes sure to them.
Certainly the above are powerful blessings to having ones name written in the Lamb's book of life. How can you or I be assured that our names are written therein? Paul wrote in Phil. 4:3, "And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book of life." Now was Paul
given an opportunity to look into the Lamb's book of life and see that those he mentioned were written in the book? Of course not! Paul knew their names were written therein because of the evidence. He could see by the evidences of their labors that they were children of God and therefore had their names written in heaven. When God grants us to see the evidence in our own labors that we are children of God then we can
have the same assurance and confidence that our names are written in heaven.
Finally, those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life are the same ones whom God foreknew in the covenant of redemption because the ones he foreknew are the ones that are ultimately the heirs of glory. Next, we will consider God's elect in light of the bible teaching of the "seed of Abraham."
