9/15/80; 2/5/84; Eph 17, 348, 772 3/27/88

DOCTRINE OF ELECTION

A. Definition.

1. Election is the expression of the sovereign will of God in eternity past before the universe existed and before mankind lived on the earth.

2. Election is the sovereign right of God over His creation.

3. Election is a Biblical term which is applied to the believer only in the Church Age. In this study, election is defined as a computer asset, one of two printouts from the rom chip of the sovereignty of God.

4. Election, along with foreknowledge, predestination, justification and glorification, are all printouts from a rom (sovereignty of God) chip. Therefore, they belong only to the believer, Rom 8:28-30.

5. Election is used for believers only, Eph 1:4.

6. Election is a computer asset which expresses the sovereign will of God for each believer in the royal family during the great power experiment of the Church Age.

7. Election is the expression of the sovereign will of God for your life. Predestination is the provision of the sovereign will of God for your life.

8. Under election, the sovereignty of God willed the highest and best for every believer, having previously deposited it in escrow for each believer in eternity past.

9. The mechanics for the election of the Church is the baptism of the Holy Spirit which occurs at the very moment we believe in Christ. This is one of the forty things we receive at salvation by which each one of us is entered into union with Christ.

10. The election of the Church includes both equal privilege and equal opportunity for every believer. Not only do you have a magnificent destiny under the protocol plan of God, but you have the same privileges and opportunities as all other believers for the execution of the protocol plan of God.

a. Under election, equal privilege is your royal priesthood. (See point 6.)

b. Under election, equal opportunity is logistical grace support and blessing for both winners and losers. (See point 7.)

B. The Three Elections in History.

1. There are three elections in history.

a. Israel under the ritual plan of God.

b. Christ under the incarnation plan of God.

c. The Church under the protocol plan of God.

2. Each election brought a new category into history.

a. The election of Israel brought in the new racial species, the Jew.

b. The election of Christ brought in the Hypostatic Union, i.e., undiminished deity and true humanity in one person forever. Jesus Christ is eternal God and therefore different from humanity. Jesus Christ is true humanity and therefore different from eternal God. He had to become true humanity to be our Savior, our great high priest, and our mediator.

c. The election of the Church brought in the new spiritual species, the Church or royal family of God.

C. The Election of Israel.

1. Israel was elected under the ritual plan of God.

2. Israel became the first client nation in history in 1441 B.C.

3. In the Jewish Age, there were four Jewish client nations.

a. The United Kingdom, 1440 - 926 B.C.

b. The two separate client nations of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, 926 - 721 B.C.

c. The Southern Kingdom, 926 - 586 B.C.

d. Judea, 516 B.C. - 70 A.D.

4. The key to any client nation is the status quo of its believers. A client nation cannot exist without a pivot.

5. The function, prosperity, and perpetuation of the Jewish client nations always depended on the size of its pivots, 1 Kg 19:18.

6. In the Jewish Age, the Tribulation, and the Millennium, there is an election of born-again Jews. Isa 45:3b-4, “ .. . the Lord God of Israel who calls you by your name. For the sake of Jacob, My servant, even Israel, My elected one, I have also called you by your number; I have given you a title of honor [Israel], though you [unbelievers] have not known Me.”

7. There will be no client nation during the Tribulation because of the removal of the pivot of the Church Age, but there will be client nation function through an international pivot of 144,000 Jews, according to Rev 7 and 14. Matt 24:21-22 says, “because of the elected ones [144,000], those days will be cut short.”

8. Isa 65:9 refers to the Jewish elect in the Millennium: “Therefore, I will bring forth from Jacob a seed [the elect of Israel],out of Judah an inheritance for My mountains. Even My elected ones will inherit it, and My servants will dwell there.”

9. Election to privilege is an issue to the Jew. Every Jewish nation depended upon its pivot. Judea survived historical crisis because of a pivot in 135 B.C. Rom 11:1-7, “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew [believers]. . .”

10. More documentation is found in Matt 24:24,31.

11. Since no Jewish nation can be a client nation to God during the Church Age and the times of the Gentiles, the election of Israel is not operational during the Church Age.

12. The election of Israel, as with all elections, applies only to those who have personally believed in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was very clearly revealed to the Jews in the Old Testament. Therefore, those who believed in Christ had an election and a plan.

13. Wherever you have an election and a plan, that adds up to having a destiny. An election from God plus a plan of God equals a destiny.

14. The election of Israel began a new racial species, beginning with Abraham at age ninety-nine.

15. True Israel refers only to those who were born again, Rom 9-11.

16. Jesus Christ is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Those first three Jews set the precedence for true Israel, for all three were believers in Jesus Christ.

D. The Unique Election of History: the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Our Lord Jesus Christ was elected under the salvation plan of God.

2. In eternity past, the omniscience of God programmed the decrees regarding the Hypostatic Union of Jesus Christ. Impeccability, the cross, and our Lord’s resurrection, ascension and session are all printouts of that decree.

3. Christ was elected in eternity past; His election was fulfilled through the virgin pregnancy.

4. As a result of the First Advent, Jesus Christ controls history.

5. The election of Christ is the basis for the other two elections.

6. The election of Christ is the basis for His saviorhood. He is the only way of salvation. He was qualified to be the Savior by His impeccability.

7. Without the ascension and session of Christ, there would be no royal family to act as a pivot.

8. All history focuses on the person of Jesus Christ. Isa 42:1, “Behold My Servant whom I sustain, My elected One in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.” Eph 1:4.

9. The election of Jesus Christ was impossible without logistical grace support provided for Him. Election is closely related to logistics.

a. Logistical grace support allows you to fulfill your election to privilege by delivering the nation. Never think of election without realizing the importance of logistics.

b. The proper utilization of logistics delights God the Father.

c. The cross was the ultimate in logistical support. Jesus Christ was sustained and kept alive until all sins could be borne by Him, Acts 2:23. Had logistical support been withdrawn, there would be no salvation for us.

10. 1 Pet 2:4,6, “And coming to Him as a living stone, rejected by men, but elected and precious in the sight of God . . . Behold, I lay in Zion the chief cornerstone, the elected One, held in honor; in fact, He who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”

E. The Election of the Church.

1. The Church was elected under the protocol plan of God.

2. After the first forty years of the Church Age, 30 - 70 A.D., the royal family of God provided a pivot for all Gentile client nations. The Jew could only be elected to privilege by belief in Christ, just as in the Jewish age. But now there could be no Jewish client nation.

3. Election to privilege occurs at salvation. We have the privilege of historical impact by advancing to maturity, 2 Pet 1:3.

4. The function of Gentile client nations demands a pivot for freedom, evangelism, and advance to maturity.

5. The Church Age believer must not only understand his relationship to God, but his relationship to history as well. You must understand your relationship to God, man, and history. In fulfilling our relationship to God, we fulfill our relationship to the other two.

6. 1 Thes 1:4, “Knowing, brethren, beloved of God, His election for you.” You must know that election is God’s plan for you.

7. Col 3:12, “As elected ones of God, holy and beloved, put on the affections of grace compassion.” To understand your election, you must function under grace orientation. Understanding election is orientation to the plan of God for your life.

8. 2 Tim 1:9, “He has elected us into a holy station in life, not according to our works.” Our works have no relation to our historical impact.

9. Rom 8:33, “Who will bring any accusation against the elect of God?” Heaven itself cannot stop our historical impact because of the fulfillment of our election.

10. Blessing by association is the fulfillment of our responsibility to man. Historical impact is the fulfillment of our responsibility to history.

11. Knowledge of doctrine is essential to fulfilling our election to privilege. Tit 1:1, “According to the doctrine of God’s elected ones, and the full knowledge of doctrine according to the norms of godliness.” Election means we are responsible to preserve the client nation by advancing to the pivot.

12. Since the believer has been elected to privilege, he must function under the royal family honor code. Eph 4:1, “I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk in a manner worthy of your station in life, for which station in life you have been called [elected].”

13. Eph 1:4, “Since He Himself has elected us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.”

a. This verse teaches that election was provided before the creation of the world.

b. “Holy” is a reference to both the absolute and relative concept of experiential sanctification. Election relates to the experiential part of God’s plan for our lives. Holiness has to do with separation unto God, the execution of the protocol plan of God.

(1) Absolute holiness describes the mandates related to the filling of the Spirit. When the believer is inside the divine dynasphere, the Holy Spirit controls his soul, and the old sin nature is restrained in his body.

(a) The believer in cosmic one is said to be grieving the Spirit because the old sin nature controls the soul, though still indwelling the body. (b) The issue is who controls the soul: the old sin nature or the Holy Spirit.

© This is an absolute; you’re either filled with the Holy Spirit and inside the divine dynasphere, which is 100% spirituality, or you’re in the cosmic system, which is 0% spirituality and 100% carnality. This absolute status applies to any stage of spiritual growth.

(2) Relative holiness refers to advancing through the stages of spiritual growth, or retrogressing through the eight stages of reversionism.

b. “Blameless before Him” is a reference to ultimate sanctification in the eternal state.

14. Believers are commanded to make their calling and election a reality in 2 Pet 1:10-11. “Therefore brethren, be more motivated [perception of doctrine regarding your portfolio of invisible assets] to make your calling and election a spiritual reality; for by doing these things [fulfillment of the protocol plan, perception of doctrine], you will never stumble [become a loser in cosmic system]. For in this manner [execution of the protocol plan], your entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ [ultimate sanctification in the resurrection body] will be richly supplied [conveyance of eternal escrow blessings to winners].”

a. How do you make your election a spiritual reality? Through perception, metabolization, and application of election and lapsarianism. You use the privacy of your priesthood; you learn the doctrine; you learn the mechanics.

b. Election is only the potential for impact on history. By the daily function of GAP, we make our calling and election a reality when we advance to spiritual maturity.

15. Election is a reason for thanksgiving for others. 2 Thes 2:13, “But we are always obligated to give thanks to God concerning you, having been loved by the Lord, because God has elected you from eternity past.”

16. The election of the Church brought in a new spiritual species. By being placed in union with Christ by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we can now use the 100% available divine omnipotence.

F. Selection and Election.

1. At the point of birth you come under the concept of selection, not election. God selected you to be a member of the human race rather than an animal. The fact that you have life is selection from the sovereignty of God.

2. The fact that any person believes in Christ and receives eternal life is a matter of common and efficacious grace. At this point selection becomes election. This opens the door for the greatest opportunity ever known to man. You are a royal priest sustained by logistical grace, a person in union with Christ, and you can function under the power of the Holy Spirit in the operational-type divine dynasphere. This means you can capitalize on your escrow blessing on deposit.

3. That any person is given election to privilege is a motivational challenge which you cannot ignore.

4. The selection of the sovereignty of God at birth is followed by the election of the sovereignty of God at the point of regeneration.

5. You have been given the greatest opportunity and privileges ever conveyed to any member of the human race. Therefore, the dynamics of the ordinary life in the Church Age become extraordinary.

6. Selection precedes election. Selection relates to physical birth; election relates to spiritual birth. God’s purpose in election is that you receive your escrow blessings.

7. Between selection and election is the most important decision in your life: that you believe in Christ.

8. Selection, salvation, and election explain the chronological concept of election. We are selected by God to resolve the angelic conflict, saved by faith in Christ to enter into His protocol plan, and elected to fulfill His protocol plan and thereby glorify Him upon the conveyance of His highest and best to us, i.e., our greater blessings for time and eternity. This is His sovereign will for us.

G. The Computer Analogy to Election.

1. ROM and PROM Chips.

a. The ROM chip is the sovereignty of God chip. The PROM chip is the free will of man chip. The sovereignty of God and the free will of man coexist in human history in order to resolve the angelic conflict.

b. ROM stands for “read only memory.” ROM is an integrated circuit from which unchanging data can be read, but into which no new data can be written. ROM chips can only be programmed at the factory, analogous to heaven in eternity past.

c. Hence, the ROM chip is the sovereignty of God integrated circuit, and it has two printouts which relate to the protocol plan of God: election and predestination. Election is the expression of the sovereignty of God in eternity past. Predestination is the provision of the sovereignty of God in eternity past.

d. PROM means “programmable read only memory.” PROM is the free will of man chip, programmed by the omniscience of God in eternity past. It is defined as a memory device, or integrated micro circuit containing fixed data that can be read but not altered. In other words, your free will, thinking, motivation, and actions operate right now in time. However, God knew your thoughts, motives, volitional decisions, and actions in eternity past. Therefore, the omniscience of God entered into your very own PROM chip every decision you will ever make in life, as well as your every thought, motive, and action.

e. The entering of the data is performed after the device is manufactured. God manufactured free will in both angelic creatures and in mankind. Then He programmed into the PROM chips just exactly how each free will would function.

f. Each PROM chip is programmed on the basis of the fact that the omniscience of God knew when each free will would operate independently of His sovereign will, and when each free will would operate in conformity with His sovereign will. God invented free will to function either for or against Him; the choice lies with each individual.

g. Omniscience is God’s knowledge of all creation simultaneously. Therefore, there never was a time when He did not know just exactly how your free will would work.

h. In the computer of divine decrees, both the ROM chips and the PROM chips operate simultaneously.

i. In eternity past, God made one sovereign decision, one with many aspects. That one decision was to provide for you your very own election related to His plan for your life, and to provide for you your very own predestination related to His plan for your life. This is all contained in the ROM chip.

j. In the PROM chip is a precreation record of each one of our lives, and it reads either winner or loser, depending upon your decisions. But there’s no excuse for being a loser, because in your ROM chip you have equal privileges and equal opportunities under election and predestination. Losers choose to be losers by their ignorance of Bible doctrine and its resultant arrogance.

k. The winner is the believer who uses his invisible computer assets of election and predestination. The loser is the believer who, through wrong decisions from a position of weakness, fails to learn, to understand the mechanics, and to utilize these invisible assets. Hence, the distinction between the winner and the loser is in the PROM chip, but never in the ROM chip.

l. This important principle of equal privilege and opportunity for each individual Church Age believer under both election and predestination was left out of the lapsarian controversy in the history of theology.

2. The Computer of Divine Decrees.

a. A computer is a device that stores and manipulates data which can control other devices as a result of its manipulation and storage data, and which can communicate with other computers, with other types of devices, and with human beings.

b. Our computer is the computer of divine decrees. The storage data is the content of the divine decrees, both election and predestination. This computer can control other devices; for example, the printout of the canon of Scripture becomes our controlling device. It can communicate with human beings; for example, the pastor-teacher’s gift is designed to communicate information.

(1) “Input” is a technical word in computer science for data entered into a computer system. It’s analogous to the fact that in eternity past God programmed all the facts of history into the computer of divine decrees.

(2) “Output” is the data signal emitted from the system. Your output today is either positive or negative; it refers to your growth or retrogression, your spirituality or carnality.

(3) “Program” is a sequence of instruction that is determined before the start of the operation, like the portfolio of invisible assets or the protocol plan of God, and is translated into a series of actions, like human history.

(4) “Hardware” is a part of the physical components of a computer system, like the sovereignty, love, and omniscience of God.

(5) There are three factors about “software” that are analogous to the three elections in history: Israel, Christ, and the Church.

(6) A “chip” is a piece of silicon or similar material on which an integrated circuit is manufactured. Therefore, the chip belongs to the computer as a device to store data. We’ve noted the ROM and PROM chip.

(7) “Parallel processing” is a method of data processing in which more than one bit is handled at a time. It’s analogous to the sovereignty of God programming the ROM chip in eternity past while the omniscience of God programmed the PROM chip in eternity past.

(8) “Parallel transmission” is a method of data transmission in which more than one bit is sent at a time, like the transmission of both our portfolio of invisible assets in eternity past and the protocol plan of God in time.

(9) There are even “gates” in computer science. A gate is a circuit with two or more inputs but only one output.

H. Application of the Election of the Church.

1. The whole purpose of the doctrine of election is to describe God’s way of providing invisible assets so we can fulfill His will and His plan.

2. Election is the expression of the sovereignty of God for every Church Age believer made in eternity past. God’s sovereignty wills for you personally the highest and the best. Election expresses this sovereign will by providing equal privilege and equal opportunity for you, which we must use to fulfill His plan and to execute His will for our lives.

3. The election of the Church is the expression of the sovereign will of God for the royal family of God as the body of Christ.

4. Therefore, the protocol plan of God is mandated for the election of the Church. You are elected to only one plan, the protocol plan, which is God’s plan for your life. No other plan will do.

5. A right thing must be done in a right way under the precise and accurate function of the protocol plan of God.

6. The mechanics of the election of the Church is the baptism of the Spirit, the means of creating the new spiritual species, the means of forming the royal family of God, and the means of providing so many wonderful invisible assets.

I. The Equal Privilege of Election, the Universal Priesthood of the Church Age Believer.

1. Our royal priesthood shows that God’s plan for us in the Church Age as royal family is totally and completely unique. Never before the Church Age and never after the Rapture is there ever another universal priesthood; it is only for us in the Church Age.

2. A priest is a human being who represents people before God. In the Church Age, since every believer is a priest, every believer represents himself before God. This establishes a system of privacy.

3. Under the privacy of your priesthood, you are responsible for yourself before God. This means you are responsible for every thought you think, every motive you have, every good decision you make, and every action you take, good or bad. God is holding you responsible for your own decisions. Why? Because He made you a priest so that you could represent yourself before Him.

4. The royal priesthood of the believer is taught many times in the New Testament. It was a favorite subject of Peter. Although his teaching was misunderstood by the Catholic Church, he was really teaching about the royal priesthood of each Church Age believer. Peter was the first to teach this doctrine, found in 1 Pet 2:5 and 9. John taught the doctrine as well.

5. As a royal priest, every believer has a direct line to God, which means he represents himself before God, he evaluates himself, and he offers prayer for himself.

6. Hence, the privacy of your priesthood is related to the importance of epistemological rehabilitation. You have privacy so that you can learn Bible doctrine yourself. You can never learn anything if you are not objective, if you reject authority, or if you have any form of arrogance. To learn Bible doctrine under epistemological rehabilitation requires a tremendous amount of objectivity.

7. This is why the local church should be an environment where believers can gather together and yet have their privacy respected. This means both your sins and your strengths should be kept private. The pastor- teacher, as the final authority in the local church, must protect the privacy of all priests in his congregation by disciplining or removing those who violate or impose upon others’ privacy.

8. The believer-priest cannot account for his thoughts, motives, decisions, or actions in undefinable terms. Under the privacy of your priesthood, you must be able to define your life in terms of the protocol plan of God, which means you must learn the technical language and vocabulary. Once you do, you as your own priest can analyze and evaluate your own life and your own problems, and apply doctrine and make corrections to your own life under the privacy of your own priesthood. Therefore, the privacy of the priesthood demands that we learn doctrine so that we can define our situation at any given time.

9. The royal priest’s self-improvement is based on the function of perception of doctrine. Any self-improvement based on the advice and counsel of others is really a set-back.

10. The royal priesthood is designed by God to function under conceptualism. No believer can think, apply doctrine, or solve problems through the mind or the personality of another Christian. This is why each one of us is a priest. To the extent that we seek counsel or advice, we’re not getting enough doctrine or we’re not using our own doctrine. Initially there’s a place for counseling with new believers, but as you grow you should begin to handle your own life. You should know when you’re wrong and when you’re right, and you should be able to utilize all the doctrine you have learned to advance to maturity. Only in spiritual maturity will you glorify God.

11. Under the privacy of your priesthood, you have the right to assemble with other believers in a group, where your privacy is respected, to learn doctrine from whomever is your right pastor-teacher.

12. The privacy of your priesthood permits the function of both your positive volition toward doctrine plus the right to metabolize and apply that doctrine to your own experience. (The tendency is to get arrogant and want to apply it to everyone else’s experience.)

13. The only human dependence of the royal priesthood is the divine provision of your very own pastor-teacher, and consistent positive volition under his teaching ministry. In that sense, a pastor is very much like a parent and should be honored, not loved. Your pastor should not bully you or intrude upon your privacy (unless you intrude on someone else’s privacy); he should communicate and teach doctrine faithfully.

14. Faithful Bible teaching from your right pastor demands your faith perception, metabolization, and application of that teaching to your own life as a royal priest. You cannot advance to maturity on your own; someone has to train you.

15. Life in the divine dynasphere is not only spiritual freedom under the filling of the Spirit, but spiritual independence within the framework of your royal priesthood. This means that as a believer-priest, you cannot fulfill the protocol plan of God by advancing to spiritual maturity on someone else’s thinking, motivation, decisions, actions, advice, counseling, emotion, or even their leadership (the only exception is your dependence on the teaching of your pastor-teacher). You have to advance to maturity on your own. The first stage of spiritual adulthood is spiritual self-esteem, which is when you know how to do it on your own, and you no longer feel threatened by all the things in life that cause fear, worry, and anxiety.

16. Major functions of the royal priesthood include:

a. Rebound as the basic technique for the recovery of fellowship.

b. A consistent prayer life.

c. Perception, metabolization, and application of doctrine to your own experience (and if you’re in authority, to the experience of those under you).

d. Worship.

e. The sacrifices of life, such as praise, which is your doctrinal momentum resulting in spiritual adulthood and the modus operandi of virtue-love.

f. Divine viewpoint mental attitude from metabolized doctrine. (It isn’t what the other person thinks that counts; it’s what you think from metabolized doctrine that counts.)

g. Self-motivation from metabolized doctrine. You have to motivate yourself; you can’t depend on someone else’s leadership. If you depend on them, then you are borrowing their inspiration. That will never work, for it results in stifling your own motivation. Then when you are under adversity, you have no motivation to keep driving.

17. Remember, your pastor is neither the leader of your social life or the “madam” of a lonely hearts club. He is neither a counselor nor a crutch to lean on.

18. Your priesthood demands that you live your own life as unto the Lord and take the responsibility for your own decisions. This is your equal privilege under election.

J. The Equal Opportunity under Election, the Divine Provision of Logistical Grace Support and Blessing.

1. Two aspects of logistical grace come to you down the grace pipeline from the justice of God to His indwelling righteousness in you. Logistical support is designed to sustain you. Logistical blessing is additional blessing, more than just support.

2. Both logistical grace support and blessing is provided for winners and losers alike, because both types of believers have the perfect righteousness of God. This gives all believers equal opportunity.

3. The holiness or integrity of God is made up of divine righteousness and divine justice. At the point of salvation, God’s righteousness was imputed to you so that you possess one-half of divine integrity. Righteousness demands righteousness; justice demands justice. What the righteousness of God demands, the justice of God executes.

4. The righteousness of God has demanded, ever since the moment of your salvation, that the justice of God sustain your life through every stupid mistake and every dumb decision you make. The righteousness of God demands that the justice of God keep you alive to fulfill your personal destiny. All of us are alive by the grace of God after salvation.

5. The justice of God is the initiator of grace. On a daily basis, the justice of God sends down the grace pipeline to the indwelling righteousness of God everything it takes to keep you alive and to sustain you, and as well as great and fantastic blessings. The justice of God sends undeserved blessings to all believers, winners and losers alike. This is why the wicked prosper, due to their equal privilege in God’s plan.

6. All logistical blessing in the Christian life comes in this manner to the winner and loser alike. We do not earn or deserve any of it; it is a matter of grace. We’re not blessed because we give, witness, perform Christian service, or because of anything we can do or anything we are. That would be a compromise of the integrity of God. God blesses you only because you have His righteousness indwelling you; hence, His integrity is not compromised.

7. The very air that you breathe, the food you eat, everything you have, the only reason you are alive through every type of vicissitude in life is based entirely upon this principle of logistical grace.

8. Our blessing is a matter of grace, just as our salvation was a matter of grace. We are saved by grace through faith, and we are sustained by grace.

K. Conclusion.

1. Therefore, the equal privilege and equal opportunity of election means there never has been and never will be a Church Age believer who did not have exactly the same privilege and same opportunity to fulfill God’s plan, to reach spiritual maturity, and to receive the fantastic escrow blessings provided for him by God the Father in eternity past.

2. Under the doctrine of divine decrees, election cannot be divorced from predestination. Predestination is the provision of the sovereign will of God for the royal family. Predestination provides equal privilege (union with Christ) and equal opportunity (the divine dynasphere) to execute the protocol plan of God.

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