Called, Chosen And Faithful

In this passage, we have three titles given as a description of those who, with Christ Jesus, battle with and gain the victory over the Harlot (the Apostate Church; that is, the Roman Catholic Church) and her political allies. In a broader context, these three titles are an accurate description of those who will gain the ultimate victory over this world and who will inherit the eternal heavenly kingdom.

These three descriptive titles - "the Called, the Chosen and the Faithful"- reflect three phases of our spiritual journey according to the plan of Jehovah God. I want us to examine those three phases in this study.

First, we need to understand that none of us could be "the Called, the Chosen and the Faithful" had not the Son of God become the original and True ’Called, Chosen and Faithful.’

Before the foundation of the world, God "called" His Son to a specific service and destiny. He "chose" His Son to be the Messiah. And, it was the Father’s will and hope that the Son would be "faithful" in His life and in the appointed office of Messiah.

1 Peter 1:20, "He was foreknown before the foundation of the world."

Isaiah 42:6-7, 1-4, "I am the Lord, I have CALLED You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, and I will APPOINT You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations (KJV - Gentiles), to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and to those who dwell in darkness from the prison... Behold, My Servant, Whom I uphold; My CHOSEN ONE in Whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations (KJV - Gentiles). He will not cry out or raise His Voice, nor make His voice heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not be disheartened or crushed, until He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law."

Isaiah 49:1, 5-6, "Listen to Me, O islands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord CALLED Me from the womb; from the body of My mother He named Me. .. And now says the Lord, Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, in order that Israel might be gathered to Him (for I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and My God is My strength), He says, ’Is it too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will make You a light of the nations (KJV - Gentiles) so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’" (See Matthew 12:18-21)

That the Son was called and chosen before His incarnation is acknowledged by Christ Jesus, Himself, in John 10:36, as He refers to Himself as He, "Whom the Father sanctified and sent into the World."

If there was any doubt as to Jesus being God’s Chosen One, the Father erased them in His declaration to the apostles, in Luke 9:35, "And a Voice came out of the cloud, saying, ’This is My Son, My CHOSEN ONE; listen to Him."

All aspects of His earthly ministry (including His death) and His subsequent glorification were according to God’s eternal purpose or plan. Thus, the resurrected Christ could say to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, as recorded in Luke 24:26, "Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory."

Even though it was God’s eternal plan for the Son to be called and chosen; yet, it was up to Jesus the Son to choose whether or not He would heed the Father’s Calling and be Faithful to the purpose for which He was Chosen. Thankfully, as Paul says in Hebrews 3:2, "He was FAITHFUL to Him Who appointed Him."

What was God’s eternal plan that He was wanting to accomplish through His Chosen One? It was God’s eternal purpose that the Son, as the Christ, would be the instrument by and in which the Jews and Gentiles would be redeemed, be accepted by God as His children, be conformed to the image of His Son both in this world and in the world to come. Paul informs us, in Ephesians 1:3, "every spiritual blessing is in Christ."

1. To these blessings in Christ, we are first CALLED.

Certainly, it is not coincidental that the Greek word which we translate "Church" in the English Bible is the Greek word ekklesia, which literally means "the called out". Indeed, the Church consists of those, says 1 Peter 2:9, "CALLED... out of darkness into His (Christ’s) marvelous light." This implies that those who are in the Church were in darkness when they received the Call to come out.