“… called, chosen and faithful …”
(Rev. 17:14, NKJV)
According to Eph. 1:4 the Bride is pertinently chosen. But this is not all – the following verse presents this great truth which is linked to the fact that they are chosen sons of God: “(He was) marking us out beforehand unto sonship” (Rotherham). Before time/in eternity a mark was placed on each of the sons of God; the concept of sin is to miss that mark!
Let’s understand this in proper terms – everyone who is chosen (AND ALAS NOT EVERYONE IS CHOSEN, or the concept would be a contradiction in terms!) has their origin in God, and existed in Christ before creation had taken place, before we fell to earth. What exactly caused us to fall from eternity and from the perfection of God’s reign is not spelled out, but we will get to this in more detail later. What is however important is that we cling onto the warning in Rev. 2:5: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works …”
These “first works” flow from the mark of the chosen sons’ identity in Christ. Eph. 2:10 explains it beautifully: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand [= first works] that we should walk in them.” These first works are the sum total of your calling and purpose. The marked sons of the Lamb are “… called, chosen and faithful …” (Rev. 17:14).
In Christ we are already sanctified and made complete: “He has perfected” (Heb. 10:14, ESV). “Perfected” = “completed, made what you ought to be” (2 Kor. 13:11, AMP). We become like our Leader and Example, Jesus: “Though he was God’s Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do. Then, having arrived at the full stature of his maturity …” (Heb. 5:8-9, MSG).
It is a fact that we, as those chosen, have fallen to this realm of death, and that we live here in a shadow land where we need to endure a furnace of persecution, suffering and terrible experiences, so that by “reason of use have … [our] … senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14). God’s statement through the prophet Malachi is still true today, when it comes to the refining of His sons: “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.” (Mal. 3:2-3). “We as sons are thus changed to His image: For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Rom. 8:29). He is truly “the author and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2, ASV).
It is indeed difficult to ponder, but long, long ago, before any light shone on earth, or anything had come into being, before the stars sparkled in the sky, God revealed his glorious plan concerning the creation and the salvation of His spiritual sons, who were already then chosen in Christ. He chose us to be sons, and made us part of the blueprint of the fulfilment of all things, long before the fall!
- Selah: Ponder the last sentence.
- Read: 1 Cor. 2-4
- Memorise: 1 Cor. 2:75 (very important for this teaching)
