Israel, the elect, the saints, and the gentiles (part IV)

Now that we understand that Israel is not simply the Jews, we can determine that the elect and saints are not only the Jews as well. This is very important in understanding the last day’s prophecies and some key verses from the book of Revelation along with other books concerning the end times.

Matthew 24:24

For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

Mark 13: 22

For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

We can see that the elect have the possibility to be deceived. These signs and wonders will be absolutely believable. Something we need to think about when studying end times prophecy is, are the elect actually all the entire followers of Christ, including the “gentiles” church?

Ephesians 2: 13-19

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,

Speaking to the gentiles, not only those gentiles that were once part of the northern kingdom of Israel, but also those gentiles that never knew YHWH, he says, you are now a fellow citizen with the saints.

Why is it then that so many people claim otherwise? Why do Christians believe that they are not part of the elect, or the “tribulation saints”? [Quick side note: there is no mention of “tribulation” saints as a specific group found anywhere in the bible.] Could it be that because of all the terrible things to come, Christians are scared to face these things? We are not supposed to be scared once we have Yeshua (Jesus) on our side, but I believe that is one of the issues. The faith of a mustard seed? Many of us pay lip service to YHWH, but in reality there is no real faith that we would be delivered through such a time as that. But lets just look at a few of these verses that scare us so much that we have decided to change who the elect are in our own minds and teachings.

Matthew 24: 9

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.

Matthew 24: 21

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Revelation 6:9

When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.

Revelation 13: 7

It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Revelation 20: 4

And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.

As we can read here, believers will die. They will be tormented, and deceived. We do not want to believe that this is our fate for believing in our Savior. But, this is what the text tells us will happen. We are part of the elect once we accept Yeshua as our savior.

Matthew 24: 13

But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

Revelation 2: 7

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”’

Those that “endures to the end”, to the end of what? To find out we must go back a little bit to see what is being discussed here.

Matthew 24: 9-12

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

The book of Matthew tells us in the verse just before that what we must endure is tribulation, being hated for our faith, offensive issues, the betrayal of one another, hate, deception put forth by false prophets, and lawlessness.

What does it mean to be chosen compared to called? Lets go back to the book of Matthew and see if we can find the understanding we need.

Matthew 22:14

“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Matthew 22: 1-14

And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

As we can see here, some, even bad and unworthy can be called, that does not mean that they are chosen. YHWH has called the whole world to the Son, but only the Chosen will be allowed into the kingdom. So then, what does it mean to be chosen?

Romans 11: 7,15,17,20

What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,

Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.

Romans 11: 5

Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

In order to be chosen we must have the belief of Christ as our savior because election comes through Grace, we also must have the fear of YHWH. We too, must understand what it means to believe in the Hebrew culture, since the Bible was written by Jews and Hebrews, one must take into consideration what the definitions of the words were to that particular group of people. This is the Strong’s definition.

Strong's H539 - 'aman

to support, confirm, be faithful

(Qal)

to support, confirm, be faithful, uphold, nourish

           One of the word used to describe it is “uphold”. Uphold what? The only thing we are told to uphold are the words Christ gave us, those were to follow His commandments. He later tells us that His words are not His own, but the Fathers. So, at minimum, to believe in Christ as a savior, means we must follow the commandments given to Moses. Consider this, YHWH, does not change, He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. That being said, when He tells us to follow His commands, and Christ says follow His lead and keep the commands and then tells us that the words He is speaking are coming from the Father, one can only come to the conclusion that we are to follow the commands of YHWH.

Acts 15: 8-9

So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us (Jews) and them (Gentiles), purifying their hearts by faith.

Acts 14:15

Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles.

              It was YHWH’s plan to select some from the gentiles as part of the chosen people. These chosen people are the same as the elect. Now that we can see that once we are saved, and we believe Yeshua died for us, we become part of the elect, we must accept that during the great tribulation we are part of the elect that is being discussed in the book of Revelation. Understanding this, at least in my opinion, leaves no room for a pretribulation rapture. Upon Christ’s return He will gather all the elect from the four corners of the earth, not before.

Matthew 24: 29-31

“Immediately after the distress of those days, “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

It is very clear that the elect are not gathered until the end at the return of Christ. It also seem clear that all believers in Christ are the elect, the saints, and the chosen. We are the ones that may be deceived, we are the ones that will be persecuted for our faith, and we are the ones that must endure until the end. What we must understand is this,

Romans 8: 31

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Psalm 118: 6

The Lord is on my side;

I will not fear.

What can man do to me?