His choice, Not ours
Whose service to God He will accept depends on...
His choice, Not oursby Marlex C. Cantor
ARE YOU SURE that your services to God are truly acceptable to Him? "And why
not?" is probably what the majority would give as a defensive answer to
such question. And it is not difficult to understand why.
Many think that they can freely choose
what religious beliefs to adhere to or what church to affiliate
themselves with, and still be deemed worthy before God, as long as they
honestly serve and worship Him. They suppose that since all men are
created by God,
all belong to Him and equally enjoy all the privileges of being counted
as His children, including the right to render valid worship to God.
Convenient
as it may sound, such a popular contention, however, is proven false by
the biblical truth that whether man's services to God would be accepted
or rejected by Him ultimately depends on His choice, not man's. As what
this study will prove, it has been God's policy since the beginning to
elect or choose people to whom He gives the sale privilege of rendering
true worship to Him.
His choice, to stand for all times
The
Bible gives us proof that it is not because of what man does on his own
that he shall find favor in God's sight. Rather, it is by virtue of
God's election or choice. In Romans 9:11, it is stated:
"Before her children were born or had done good or evil, the choice of God was made known in advance; that it might stand, not by means of works, but through him who made the choice." (Lamsa Translation)
This
verse speaks of Jacob and Esau, twin sons of the patriarch Isaac and
Rebecca, According to Apostle Paul, it was Jacob who was given their
father's firstborn blessing because it was God who made such choice even before they "were born or had done good or evil."
Thus,
we see that it is the Sovereign Lord who elects or chooses those whom
He counts worthy as His servants. Such policy of election was "made
known in advance" for it is meant to stand or continue through all ages.
Thus, although all men are created by God, not all belong to Him or are
considered by God as His worthy servants. In Psalm 4:3, it is written:
"But know that the LORD has set apart for Himself him who is godly; The Lord will hear when I call to Him," (New King James Version)
The
people whom God acknowledges as His are the ones whom He "has set apart
for Himself." It is they whose prayers God promises to hear, whose
services He will accept. Clearly, then, not all men are God's servants
simply because all are created
by Him. For, if it were true that God accepts all services rendered to
Him by man, then why would God have to elect or set apart a people for
Himself?
People of His choice
That
the election or the setting apart of people has truly been God's
standing policy since the beginning can further be proved through a
survey of biblical history. In this part of our study, we shall take a
look at two of the first generations of God's elect, the people of His
choice during the patriarchal age.
Seth's descendants, the first set of God's chosen.The
history of God's chosen people can be traced back to the time of Seth,
who was born of Eve when Adam was 130 years old (Gen. 5").
"Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, 'God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.' Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD." (Gen. 4:25-26, New International Version)
In
those times, the human race had begun to multiply. But only the
descendants of Seth were chosen by God to serve Him. They were known as
the "sons and daughters of God" as opposed to the descendants of Cain,
who were regarded as "sons and daughters of men."
However,
the descendants of Seth failed to keep their distinction of being God's
own people. They intermarried with the people from whom God had set
them apart:
"When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and they married any of them they chose." (Gen. 6:1-2, Ibid.)
The
unfaithfulness of God's first people greatly grieved the Lord. For God,
it is such a grave sin for His chosen ones to marry people of the world
that He decided to wipe them out, along with the rest of His creation,
from the face of the earth:
"The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time ...."So the LORD said, 'I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-men and ani mals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air-for I am grieved that I have made them.'" (Gen. 6:5, 7, Ibid.)
Noah's descendants: The second, but not the last.As
wickedness and corruption pervaded the first of God's people and the
whole ancient world, one man found favor in God's sight-Noah, who was a
"righteous man," "blameless among the people of his time," and "walked
with God" (Gen. 6:8-9, Ibid.).
Before causing the great flood that would wipe out all people from the face of the earth, God commissioned Noah to build an ark, which was to be God's instrument in saving Noah and his family from the flood:
"But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD ....
"So
God said to Noah, 'I am going to put an end to all people, for the
earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to
destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress
wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.''' (Gen.
6: 8,13-14, Ibid.)
God
did not simply tell Noah to build an ark; He also gave him all the
specifications of its construction (Gen. 6:14-16). Then, God instructed
Noah to bring into the ark "two of all living creatures, male and
female," and store food for these creatures and for his family (Gen.
6:19-21, Ibid.).
After
Noah had done all that was commanded of him, God told him and his
family to board the ark for them to be saved from the great flood (Gen.
7:1, 7, Ibid.).
For 40 days, rain poured heavily on the surface of the earth,
submerging everything in deep waters except Noah's ark. The flood lasted
150 days;
"All flesh died that moved on the earth:' and only Noah and those who were with him in the ark were saved (Gen. 7:21-24, NKJV).
God's
saving Noah and his family from the deluge that ended the wickedness of
ancient mankind not only marked the beginning of a new human race but
also demonstrated that God's standing policy to elect people of His own
had continued.
Noah's
descendants picked up where the disloyal descendants of Seth left. They
were the second generation of God's chosen people in the patriarchal
age. Thus, after the great flood, God blessed Noah and his family and
commanded them, "Be fruitful and increase in number, and fill the earth"
(Gen. 9:1, NIV).God made a covenant with Noah, and from his three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth sprung the new human race (Gen. 9: 8,18-19).
However, as Seth's descendants before them failed to uphold their
sacred calling, so did the descendants of Noah. Instead of obeying God's
commandment to scatter all over the earth and replenish it, they chose
to do the opposite. The book of Genesis narrates: "At
one time the whole world spoke a single language and used the same
words. As the people migrated eastward, they found a plain in the land
of Babylonia and settled there. They began to talk about construction
projects. 'Come,' they said, 'let's make great piles of burnt brick and
collect natural asphalt to use as mortar. Let's build a great city with a
tower that reaches to the skies-a monument to our greatness! This will
bring us together and keep us from scattering all over the world.'''
(Gen. 11:1-4, New Living Translation)
Because Noah's descendants followed their own will instead of God's, their defiance brought Him great disappointment:
"But the LORD came
down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 'Look!' he
said. 'If they can accomplish this when they have just begun to take
advantage of their common language and political unity, just think of
what they will do later. Nothing will be impossible for them! Come,
let's go down and give them different languages. Then they won't be able
to understand each other:
As
punishment for His people's disobedience, God confused their language.
It was only when they did not understand one another that Noah's
descendants finally went their separate ways and scattered all over the
earth. It was also then that the history of the second generation of
God's chosen people came to an end.
An undeniable truth
What
we have discussed so far are but two of the many chapters in the long
history of God's chosen people as presented in the Holy Scriptures.
Nevertheless, what have been established up to this point of our
study-that there had been an election or setting apart of God's people
in the beginning and that only these people of His choice were counted
worthy before His sight during those times-serve to magnify the truth we
have pointed out earlier: service to God, though being variously done
by many, is a privilege exclusively given by God to those whom He has
chosen or set apart for Himself
.
It is in the light of this undeniable truth that one ought to examine whether his religion or faith truly matters to God, or not.
Did God continue to set apart people to be His own after Noah's descendants fell away? Who were the next generation of God's chosen people?
(To be continued in next month's issue)
(February 2005 | Vol.57 | No.2 | ISSN 0116-1636)
___________________
___________________
Link to StudyIglesiaNiCristo.com
_____________________________
Link to IglesiaNiCristoAndTheBible
_____________________________
|
