No one will know God and Christ unless HE wills it so. We are not enabled to know them and be saved on our own without His help.
Yes, we are chosen by Him, we did not choose Him, He chose us.
Our desiring to see and know is not enough as God is the one who chooses to whom He will reveal Himself.
Luke 10
21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. 22 All[
g] things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and
the one to whom the Son wills to reveal
Him.”
23 Then He turned to
His disciples and said privately, “Blessed
are the eyes which see the things you see; 24 for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen
it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard
it.”
Dear Scott Downey,
I agree with most of your post except for your comment "We are not enabled to know them and be saved on our own
without His help." Your comment implies that mankind must still do some of the work to be saved. However, scripture clearly teaches that Christ will do 100% of the work for our salvation. Mankind contributes nothing. I'll explain below.
Carnal mankind has no ability to seek and understand Christ (Rom 8:7 & 1Cor 2:14) unless Christ intervenes and draws them to Himself. To cause a person to be drawn to Him, Christ will spiritually come to an unbeliever (without their asking or permission) and freely give them the
Early Rain of the Spirit. This is what Paul's Damascus Road experience "typed".
If Christ doesn't come to a person with this gift, the person will continue as an unbeliever until they die. They have no choice in the matter. Most of the world falls into this group of individuals who are
not called to be a saint.
Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
However, Christ will call "many" to be saints. Christ calls them by giving them the Early Rain of the Spirit. With this small amount of the Spirit, the person will have a measure of faith and certain spiritual gifts. Then, when the person is presented the Gospel, they will make a confession of faith and enter the church.
This verse applies to their confession of faith:
1Cor 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit.
This is how Christ draws a person to Himself and how He calls them to be a saint. 1Cor 1:1-8 teaches this truth.
But since the Early Rain of the Spirit does not convert the person or heal their pre-existing spiritual blindness, Christ will only appear to the new believer (a babe) in a
carnal way. They will be able to understand "Christ and Him crucified" (Christ's physical work He performed under the OC) but the spiritual teachings of the New Covenant will mostly remain concealed from them. Mark 8:15-25, Mat 12:43-45 and Paul's conversion experience testify to this truth.
However, because the new believer remains spiritually blind, Satan has no problem deceiving the new believer. Satan deceives them by planting his seed of the spirit of anti-Christ within them. With the spirit of anti-Christ within them, the Abomination of Desolation will occur within the new believer. Satan will then kill the new believer (loss of salvation) by causing the new believer to "fall away" (mix works with faith). This is the sin that leads to death which Paul and John both mentioned. It is the only sin that a believer can commit that will cause them to lose their salvation. Satan knows this truth so he uses this sin to
kill the saints (Mat 24:9, Rev 11:7). This is how Satan builds his apostate church which is manifested in the world as all the various 2,000 different denominations/sects of Christianity.
Since Paul's death, "falling away" has happened to ALL new believers shortly they have entered the church. The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, Paul's conversion experience and Mat 12:43-45 are just a few places in scripture which teach this spiritual truth. No new believer can avoid experiencing their "Day of Evil" when they are made "worse than the first" (a man of sin).
Christ explains how it happens below:
Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. 45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself SEVEN other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
The spiritual symbol of an unclean spirit represents a spirit which teaches Satan's false truth through lies and deceptions.
Since a new believer remains
spiritually blind (
Mark 8:21-25) after receiving the Early Rain of the Spirit, they cannot replace their worldly false beliefs with the truth of Christ. ONE unclean spirit leaves but comes back with SEVEN more. The number "seven" represents perfection. In this case, the number seven represents the perfection of Satan's lies/deceptions which come to a believer by the indwelling of the spirit of anti-Christ. Now, instead of ONE unclean spirit within the believer, they now have EIGHT. The number eight is a spiritual symbol which represents a
new spiritual condition. In this case, the new spiritual condition is
worse than the first.
This "worse than the first" spiritual condition causes the believer to become a
False Prophet, a
Man of Sin, a
Minister of Satan and a
Seven Headed Beast with Ten Horns & Crowns.
The scripture below also applies:
Isa 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts (no longer babes/converted). 10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: 11 For with stammering lips and another language will he speak to this people. 12 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken (by Satan).
Since all new believers will fall away, Christ will return to the "few" who have been chosen for salvation in this age and pour out the Latter Rain of the Spirit. With the Latter Rain of the Spirit, the Elect believer's spiritual blindness will be healed and the true Christ will appear to them. This is when the person will "see" the Abomination of Desolation (Mat 24:15) and when they will come out from Satan's deceptions. Judgment (Day of the Lord/Thousand Year Reign) will then commence upon the Elect believer to remove the spirit of anti-Christ and the Great Harlot (their worsened carnal nature). This judgment is taught in Mat 24:36-41 and Rev 19:11-20. After this judgment is complete, the believer will be converted and will then begin spiritually growing into a perfect man.
This same conversion experience happened to Paul after his 3 days (types Paul's Day of Evil) in Damascus were complete.
All of what I have presented above to save an Elect person is a
result of the spiritual work of Christ that He does under the New Covenant. The Elect person contributes nothing toward their own conversion - it truly was a gift from God:
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Rom 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth.
Is this the pathway to salvation that you understand and believe?
Joe
