CHOSEN OF GOD
Isaiah 43:10,11; Matthew 12:15-21;
1 Corinthians 1:27-31; 1 Peter 2:4-10
Another has said that the gospel is not exactly an invitation, but an announcement1. It is the announcement of what God has done. In each of these scriptures there are references to what God has chosen. The first two must speak of the Man whom He has chosen. God never makes a mistake: so if God has chosen One, that One should also be the choice of each one of us. When God makes a choice, it is in perfect righteousness, and He is fully justified in what He has done.
Some of us have been occupied today with the glory of the Man whom God has chosen, and what He means to God. Many scriptures in the Old Testament, including where we have read in Isaiah, must speak prophetically of the Lord Jesus. In the Psalms it says, “I have laid help upon a mighty one; I have exalted one chosen out of the people”, Ps.89:19. That Psalm speaks about David, a type of the Lord Jesus, and in its fulness it must look onto the Lord Jesus Himself. The same Psalm is quoted in the New Testament: it says, “I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who shall do all my will”, Acts 13:22. It must speak of the Lord Jesus, because each and every one of us has done our own will; the Lord Jesus is the only One who perfectly fulfilled the will of God.
What a Man He is for our affections. It says elsewhere, “I lay for foundation in Zion … a tried stone”, Isa.28:16. You think of the perfection of the Lord Jesus: He came into this scene and in the years from His birth to when He started in His public service here, what it meant to the Father that there was a Man here who did all His will and who was a “tried stone”. God had looked down on the race, and as it says elsewhere, “there is not one that seeks after God”, Rom.3:11. But there was one glorious Man here, the Man of God’s choice, who perfectly fulfilled the will of God. We read of when His parents went to Jerusalem to look for Jesus and when they found Him He said to them, “did ye not know that I ought to be occupied in my Father’s business?”, Luke 2:49. What it meant to God, to the Father, that there should be a Man here in whom He found His complete and supreme delight. God is now setting Him forth as a glorious Saviour. It says here, “and understand that I am HE: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, I am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour”. We are often told that Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Lord Jesus in the New. What a Saviour we have! We can put our complete trust in the One whom God has chosen.
The Lord Jesus came into this scene to do His Father’s will. “Then said I, Behold, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me – To do thy good pleasure, my God, is my delight”, Ps.40:7,8. There we see a Man who was altogether different from every other man. We read the scripture earlier today about Judas, and saw how Satan entered into him, and the evil that Judas did; but there was also Peter who, in his zealous love for the Lord Jesus, thought he could rely upon his own strength, but he was found wanting. Every other man has to go. If God has chosen “the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim.2:5), He has no one else in view: He has removed every other man altogether. The scripture says, “He takes away the first that he may establish the second”, Heb.10:9. God has established that Man and has “exalted one chosen out of the people”. It is wonderful that in this great period of grace, a glorious Man has been exalted, and is now sitting at God’s right hand having been tried and found faithful. He perfectly did the will of God.
We read, “I, I am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour”. There is only one Saviour, “for neither is there another name under heaven which is given among men by which we must be saved”, Acts 4:12. How attractive He is to our hearts! He endured in patient, lowly service here to men, “doing good, and healing all that were under the power of the devil”, Acts 10:38. Yet what His perfection exposed was the awful character of the natural man, the hatred against the Lord Jesus. Did it alter His pathway? No, He was here to do the will of Another. Nothing diverted Him from that pathway; whatever the situation, He moved in obedience to the Father’s will.
We are often reminded of the “fine flour mingled with oil” (Lev.2:4 and other references) which speaks of the perfection of the manhood of the Lord Jesus. These features stand in contrast to every other man; they are features of the One whom God has chosen. And I repeat, if God has chosen Him, it is a blessed matter to make Him your choice too. He has done everything for you. “I, I am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour”. We have all gone astray and have done our own will, and we all need a Saviour. Whether the worst kind of man or the best in this world’s view, we need a Saviour. Our Lord has gone the way of suffering and temptation in wondrous perfection – suffering at the hands of men, given a crown in mockery and hatred, betrayed by “mine own familiar friend” (Ps.41:9), denied by one who loved Him. How much was against the Lord Jesus, but He went on His way, onward to the cross.
If you and I are to have Jesus as our glorious Saviour, if you and I are to be redeemed, He had to go that way of suffering and shame. He is the One who always did good, “But they cried out in a mass saying, Away with this man and release Barabbas to us”, Luke 23:18. Over against the Man of God’s choosing, this world’s choice was to crucify the Lord of glory. He allowed Himself to be taken that way. He said, “My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me”, Matt 26:39. The perfection of the Lord Jesus, the perfection of His manhood! The same One is “over all, God blessed for forever” (Rom.9:5), but we should be affected by the perfection of the manhood of the Lord Jesus.
He allowed Himself to be taken that way, to be spat upon and be falsely accused; think of men buffeting Him (Matt.26:67). Then they say to Him when He was on the cross, “… save thyself. If thou art Son of God, descend from the cross”, Matt 27:40. He went that way for you and me, He went that way for all who have put their faith and trust in Him. He has removed entirely the great liability that stood out against mankind; it was removed by that blessed One as He hung upon the cross, bearing the full judgment upon sin and sins of a holy and righteous God. Think of the wrath of God against sin and sins: it was poured upon the head of Jesus: “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us”, 2 Cor.5:21. On the cross He bore the sins of all who put their faith and trust in Him. Have you done that? Can you say along with the apostle Peter in his first epistle, “who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (chap.2:24)? I rejoice that in the glad tidings we are able to proclaim that He “gave himself a ransom for all”, 1 Tim.2:6. God “desires that all men should be saved” (v.4). Such is the heart of God, that the Man of His choice has in wondrous perfection, and to the glory of God, given “himself a ransom for all”. It says, “and he is the propitiation for our sins; but not for ours alone, but also for the whole world”, 1 John 2:2. But you have to take advantage of it.
Having exhausted that judgment, His precious blood was shed. It says, “but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water”, John 19:34. Oh, the precious blood of Jesus! Are you under the shelter of His blood? It says, “and without blood-shedding there is no remission” (Heb.9:22); but that precious blood has been shed, and God is fully satisfied. That is a wonderful thing: if God is fully satisfied with Jesus, we can be satisfied with Him too. And then having exhausted the judgment, His precious blood having been shed, He was laid in the grave. We spoke earlier of God taking away the first order of man altogether. The placing of the Lord’s body in the grave speaks of the removal of that first order of man, vicariously, by Christ; and so in God’s sight the second order is established. The Lord Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of God, a wonderful matter. He “has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father”, Rom.6:4. All things have been committed into His hand. He could say, “I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself”, John 10:17,18. He was “given up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23), and yet ‘this world’s judgment stands recorded’2. That judgment has not altered the heart of God towards men in any way. It is wonderful, and it is a wonderful dispensation in which we live, that God is towards men in blessing; He is “not reckoning to them their offences”, 2 Cor.5:19. It says, “For God has not sent his Son into the world that he may judge the world, but that the world may be saved through him”, John 3:17. What a God we have to do with: how righteous, how perfect is the choosing of God!
The scripture in Matthew shows the kind of people that God, in wondrous grace, has chosen. There were persons who took counsel against Him that they might destroy Him (v.14), but the Lord Jesus “withdrew thence”. Great crowds followed and He healed them all. He is still healing persons; that healing power remains, and He is available to heal whatever the condition might be. I love that hymn,
‘And, though thy case discerning,
No frown is on His brow.’ (Hymn 363)
When you speak to people, as some of us do in the course of work, they sometimes tell you about their troubles and grief and all that lies upon them; and you hardly know what to say. But there is One, of whom the hymn says that He discerns your case, but still there is no frown on His brow. He has the answer to every question. He is able to meet the need of every heart – if only persons will come to Him in obedience and answer to God’s word.
We read, “Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul has found its delight. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he shall shew forth judgment to the nations. He shall not strive or cry out, nor shall any one hear his voice in the streets”. How much noise and confusion there is in the world around, but this precious One in His service to men was always patient and gracious, displaying the heart of God to men, fully displaying grace and mercy. It goes on to say, “a bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench”. He came here to heal such. Luke’s gospel speaks of Him in this way: “he has sent me to preach to captives deliverance, and to the blind sight, to send forth the crushed delivered”, Luke 4:18. He has the answer to every question, and it is in Himself. It adds, “and on his name shall the nations hope”. We belong to that class of persons, the nations. Where is your hope? Is your hope in that glorious One whom God has chosen? The world may have its hope, but it is all going to be dashed, and it is dashed. Death, corruption and violence mark this scene. What hope is there in the world? The scripture says, “having no hope, and without God in the world”, Eph. 2:12. The two go together; but as trusting upon Him and on His name, we of the nations have hope.
The verse we read in Corinthians says, “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world, that he may put to shame the wise”, and it goes on to speak of God choosing what is foolish, weak, ignoble, and despised. That refers to persons, and God has chosen them. It is a wonderful thing that because of the work and Person of the Lord Jesus, God is able to choose such. It goes on, “that he may annul the things that are; so that no flesh should boast before God”. The world is full of boasting. We have nothing to boast about save in the Saviour. There is nothing in man and nothing that man after nature can do to please God, and God has seen to it that no flesh should boast before Him. Our boast is to be in another Man altogether. God has set aside the first order of man. We are weak, and there is nothing that we can do for ourselves except to turn in repentance towards God, acknowledging our need, that we are indeed foolish, weak, and helpless and must call on the mercy and grace of God set forth in Jesus.
Then we read, “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus”. Can that be said of every one here? If you have put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, you can take your place in that sentence: “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness”. How different from the foolish, ignoble and weak things! What God has done in Christ is beyond our comprehension. It goes on, “… holiness, and redemption; that according as it is written, He that boasts, let him boast in the Lord”. That is the believer’s only boast. Men’s boasting will come to nothing, but those who boast in the Lord are those to whom He has been made wisdom, righteousness, holiness and redemption. May each of us here be numbered among those who boast in the Lord.
The question then arises: ‘Is He Lord to me?’ Many souls are under the shelter of the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, but the question will arise as to whether we acknowledge Him as Lord, acknowledge His claim on us. If He is Lord to me, then it changes my life altogether. The scripture also says, “no one can say, Lord Jesus, unless in the power of the Holy Spirit”, 1 Cor.12:3. God has given of His own blessed Spirit; we have not power in ourselves; we have no strength of our own, but God is able to give us a power outside of ourselves. That power is in God’s own Spirit, the indwelling Spirit. How great and glorious these things are.
The scripture in Peter is well known: “To whom coming, a living stone”. Is that the object of my life? The word “coming” indicates that it is to be a constant matter. I challenge myself: am I coming to Him, a living stone? Peter goes on, “cast away indeed as worthless by men” – that is obvious in the world around – “but with God chosen, precious”. And then in wondrous grace he adds, “yourselves also, as living stones”. The scripture goes on to say, “Behold, I lay in Zion a corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believes on him shall not be put to shame”. No one who believes on the Lord Jesus is ever put to shame. God has great blessings in mind for those who believe, those who know the blessed power of the Holy Spirit. It says, “But ye are a chosen race”. The building up that is referred to in verse 5 is going on now; it is the Spirit’s service throughout the entire Christian period. The Lord Jesus is the corner stone and everything must take its bearings, its place, from the One who is the corner stone. He is the One who is chosen, who so delights God that He has chosen a whole race in relation to Him.
It is a wonderful thing that the believer can stand before God as “in Christ Jesus”, and be part of this great vessel, this great building that is going on. Peter writes of “a people for a possession”: think of God securing for Himself myriads of persons like His beloved Son. The object in mind is “that ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his wonderful light; who once were not a people, but now God’s people; who were not enjoying mercy, but now have found mercy”. If our hearts are occupied with the glory and greatness of the things to which we have been called, we will never forget the mercy that has been shown us. It all emanates from the heart of God Himself, and the One whom God has chosen is the glorious Centre of it.
May our hearts increase in appreciation of what God has in mind for those who believe, knowing Christ as the glorious Saviour, accepting Him as our Lord, and being here to show forth the excellencies of Him who has called us.
May it be so, for His name’s sake.
Preaching of the gospel, Colchester
25 May 2025
Ian Barlow