Trumpet Ministries,The Elect Receive Eternal Life in Advance of the Saved of Mankind
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Let us turn now to the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John. In this chapter the Lord Jesus speaks especially to the royal priesthood.
As thou hast given him power [authority] over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. (John 17:2)
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: (Exodus 19:5)
Notice the parallels: "Authority over all flesh." "All the earth is mine." "To as many as thou hast given him." "A peculiar treasure unto me."
All the earth belongs to the Lord Jesus. He retains authority over all people. But found among the members of mankind is a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a chosen people destined to act for eternity as priests between God and the members of the saved nations.
God has given the chosen people to Christ. Christ gives them eternal life.
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. (John 17:6)
The members of the royal priesthood have belonged to God from the beginning of time. God gives them to Christ. The elect keep God’s word by following the Lord Jesus.
Notice the distinction between the world and the royal priesthood, those who belong to God in this special manner.
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. (John 17:9)
Again, the distinction between the people of the world and those whom God has given to the Lord Jesus.
I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (John 17:14)
When we truly are living a holy life unto the Lord the people of the world will hate us. We are not to seek the friendship of the world. Whoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. (James 4:4)
James, the Jew, was speaking to God’s Israel!
The members of the royal priesthood are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Our task is to represent God, to bear witness both of the goodness and the severity of God. We are to inform the world of the soon coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. We are to announce that God has appointed a day in which He will judge all of mankind by the Man whom He has raised from the dead, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (John 17:14)
The Word of God is a rebuke and warning to the people of the world.
The royal priesthood is not a part of the world system, of the secular nations of the earth.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (John 17:16)
The royal priesthood has been chosen from among the members of the human race and no longer is part of the nations.
We are emphasizing the separation of the royal priesthood because the concept of being a chosen nation has often been offensive to Jews and Christians alike. This distaste is proof of the spirit of rebellion in us.
We prefer to be part of the human race rather than accept the fact that God has drawn us to Himself so we may live a holy life and praise Him continually, at the same time revealing His Person and will to the peoples of the earth.
One time the writer was hitchhiking home from high school. There were a number of students strung out along the road waiting for a ride.
A car pulled up a short distance ahead of where I was standing. One or two aggressive students who were nearer to the car rushed to get in. But the man pointed back to me. Evidently he knew my parents and wanted to give me a ride.
I was embarrassed and moved slowly toward the car. The man became impatient because other students were attempting to press in ahead of me, but he waited. I finally got in and we drove off.
That incident has stayed in my memory over the last fifty-five years, probably because of my embarrassment in front of the other students and because the driver was upset that I was not more aggressive. The incident is true of Divine election. We may be embarrassed in front of other people to keep ourselves separate as being special unto the Lord. But let us not make the "driver" impatient. He has selected us for His own reasons. Our part is to "accept the ride."
By keeping ourselves separate we do not mean we are to be filled with religious pride and haughtiness or to hold ourselves aloof from the members of our family who still are involved in the world. Rather we are to fulfill all family, social, and vocational responsibilities cheerfully as unto the Lord. But in our heart we are serving the Lord and Him alone. We are not a part of the world system.
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe thou hast sent me. (John 17:21)
The above verse is one of the most startling of the entire Scriptures. It reveals to us that the members of the elect, the royal priesthood, are to become one with the Lord Jesus in the Father until the Whole is one Expression of the Father.
As we said previously, the term salvation is used in two different ways in the New Testament. "Salvation" sometimes refers to the entire program of bringing the elect, the royal priesthood, all the way from the moral image of Satan and the spirit of Satan to the moral image of Christ and untroubled union with the Father through Christ. "Salvation" is used also to refer to preservation from the wrath of God.
We see the aged Apostle Paul pressing toward the fullness of the salvation offered to the royal priesthood.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ. (Philippians 3:14)
Obviously Paul is speaking of more than salvation from wrath.
Salvation sometimes means primarily to be preserved from the wrath of God in the Day of Judgment.
And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. (I Thessalonians 1:10)
The above verse was written to members of the royal priesthood, to "the church of the Thessalonians." This fact tells us that during the present age people are delivered from wrath, the primary meaning of "salvation," and then invited to run the race that leads to the fullness of salvation, that is, to possess Christ fully.
We see the two aspects, salvation from the Divine wrath, and then membership in the Church, the Israel of God, in the following verse.
Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. (Acts 2:47)
On the one hand we read that whoever believes in the Lord Jesus and is baptized shall be saved. Then we find numerous exhortations to lay aside our life and run with patience the race set before us. He who endures to the end shall be saved. Perhaps the concept of the race, the battle to apprehend the promise of the Lord, is directed especially toward the royal priesthood.
Let us add a reminder that if one is called to the priesthood he cannot say, "I will settle for naked salvation from wrath and then go about my business in the world." There may be some who will attempt to "make a deal" with God in this manner. But the end is destruction. The members of the royal priesthood are not judged according to those with a lesser calling but with a much stricter judgment. The higher our calling the more is given to us. The more that is given to us the heavier are the requirements. Much shall be required of them to whom much is given. Jerusalem always receives double for her sins.
The Book of Hebrews is a stern warning to experienced Jewish saints who, it seems, were not as intense as when they first put their faith in Jesus. The writer of Hebrews could not be more severe in his warning to them that they will experience Divine judgment and destruction if they do not press forward into the rest of God.
But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. (Hebrews 6:8)
We have never read a Bible commentator who left the text of Hebrews 6:4-8 intact. Every editor rushes to assure the believers, sometimes making elaborate analyses of the Greek text, that no person who makes a genuine profession of faith, no individual called to the royal priesthood, could ever be near to cursing and then burned in the end.
The editors and commentators who attempt to manipulate the plain, clear Word of God are false prophets and teachers. Our land is filled with error because of false teachers—teachers who are so filled with the spirit of humanism they are willing to pervert the Scriptures. They are on the side of people rather than on the side of the Lord. They are rebelling against God though they are not aware of it.
The following verse, Hebrews 6:9, reveals clearly that the author is referring to genuine believers when he warns them about falling away.
But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. (Hebrews 6:9)
The writer of the Book of Hebrews was reminding the saints that the fruit of righteousness must accompany their salvation. If it does not, the heavenly Farmer will come around to see why His crop is failing to bear fruit.
It is time for the Christian people to cast off the current teaching that a believer can never put himself in jeopardy of the fires of Divine judgment. We have been lied to. We need to awake to righteousness and cease our sinning before the Judge comes and chastens us severely.
Let us turn now to the third and fourth chapters of the Book of Hebrews and note the manner in which God deals with His chosen.
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