The
Elect
First Peter 1:2 “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”
1. Sprinkling Of The Blood
2.
Sanctification Of The Spirit
3. The Foreknowledge
Of God
1. Sprinkling Of The Blood
Now, we are ready to get into some real heavy weight terms here.
These strangers were the “elect” [or were elected “unto obedience”].
Furthermore, these strangers were the “elect” or were elected to be sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb of God.
In Hebrews chapter eight, we can see by the Holy Ghost that certain things were done [in the Old Testament] as an example, or to be a shadow of something that is existent in Heaven.
“Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.” [Hebrews 8:5]
Now, just as God has a pattern [which is Heaven] for the tabernacle that Moses was to make in the wilderness [which was on the Earth], there was also, a necessary, and very exact pattern prescribed in Heaven for the use of the blood of the ATONEMENT.
In the book of the Exodus, in chapter twelve, we see GOD is preparing for the exodus [or the departure] of HIS people from Egypt.
We need to see the pattern that is established there, starting with verse three: “Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb,”
[We see a LAMB!] “according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:”
[Now, we see a LAMB for a house] “And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish,”
[Now, we see a LAMB WITHOUT BLEMESH] “a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month:”
[Now, God has a perfect TIME for the LAMB to be slain.] “and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.”
[Now, it is time for the sprinkling of the BLOOD.] “And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.” [Exodus 12:3-7]
It is the shedding of the BLOOD, and then applying of the BLOOD that gives the PASSOVER!
Thereafter, we see this pattern with the sprinkling of the blood of goats and sheep established [over and over again] by the priests in the Old Testament sacrifices.
Read this in Exodus chapter twenty-nine: “And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.” [Exodus 29:16]
Remember, according to the BOOK, the shedding of blood was absolutely required if anyone’s sins are to be remitted.
We see this stated in Hebrews chapter nine, verse twenty-two: “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” [Hebrews 9:22] There it is!!!
This was all done in the shadow [or to serve as example] of the heavenly thing [the pattern] of what we must all do if we are to be saved from the wrath of God. “For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.” [Exodus 12:23]
[It is the blood of Jesus Christ that obtains the Passover from the destroyer’s [THE LORD] wrath.]
Friend, we need to apply [or be sprinkled with] the blood of Jesus Christ in order to obtain this true salvation.
2. Sanctification Of The Spirit
John chapter six can only be understood in the light afforded by Exodus chapter twenty-nine, verse thirty-three: “And they shall eat those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat thereof, because they are holy.” [Exodus 29:33]
At the very instant of the “sprinkling” with the BLOOD of LAMB of GOD a sinner is made clean.
Remember: “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” [Romans 10:17].
The operation of Holy Ghost and the word of God, together CLEAN the sinner of all unrighteousness, and “quickens” that very sinner unto eternal life. Notice what the word of God says in John fifteen: “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” [John 15:3]
This is the sanctification of the Spirit in this age of GRACE. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:” [1 Corinthians 1:30].
The New Testament SALVATION [“redemption”] always involves “sanctification” along with the “righteousness” by the SPIRIT of GOD.
Consider what the Second letter to the Thessalonians says in chapter two, verse thirteen: “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:” [2 Thessalonians 2:13]
3. The Foreknowledge Of God
It is one of the most basic attributes of the God of the Bible, that HE has knowledge all things.
Nothing is hid from HIM! “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.” [Ecclesiastes 12:14]
GOD knows all the secrets and hidden things, whether it be in the heart of man, or deep, deep within the earth.
Now, the “fore” in “foreknowledge” simply means, GOD knows the thing even before it happens.
Get this! God stands outside the confines of time. Why, because God is ETERNAL, which means HE has no beginning, nor does HE have any end.
Question, what does the BOOK say in the Revelation about Jesus Christ?
It says this, in chapter one, verse eight: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” [Revelation 1:8]
In fact, it is GOD WHO created the very concept of TIME. Chew on that one for a little while.
Now, something else!
Since God has foreknowledge of all things, HE can determine mile-stone events in advance.
This truth is shown the mile-stone event of the SON of GOD going to the CROSS … as the Lamb of God. Look with me for a minute in the book of Acts, in chapter two, verse twenty-three. “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:” [Acts 2:23].
Now, we are ready for a heavy weight term used in the Bible. Are you ready for this?
This is the word: “predestinate”.
Now, predestinate is used twice in our King James Bible.
In both instances, it is located in the book of Romans, in chapter eight, in verses twenty-nine and thirty.
We will now read from there. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” [Romans 8:29-30]
Here is the order in these two verses:
1. God foreknew those that would come to Jesus Christ.
2. God predestines those that come … to be conformed to the image of His Son.
3. God calls those that come to be saints. [Romans 1:7]
4. God justifies … by faith. [Romans 5:1]
5. God glorified … in His saints. [2 Thessalonians 1:10]
We see that it is the foreknowledge that precedes the predestination. God [“by the determinate counsel”] in conjunction with HIS foreknowledge of all things, determined to conform all who would come [“whosoever”] to Jesus Christ for the so great salvation [Hebrews chapter two].
Who are they who will come to Jesus Christ?
It is the “who-so-ever” of John chapter three, verse fifteen and sixteen that provides the answer.
Let me quote to you from there. “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” [John 3:15-16]
Comparing Scripture with the Scripture, and not wresting anything from the context, along with just believing what the BOOK says, where the BOOK says it, will lead you through all the way home … to sound doctrine.
The people that are “elect” here, in First Peter chapter one, are the very same people of John three, sixteen.
These are “whosoever” will believe in Jesus Christ, which same are identified as the elect, who will come “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.”
Peter is saying to the Jewish believers in Jesus Christ that are scattered among the nations, “Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”