God is so great He has planned all things from the beginning. God completed all of His works through to the new Jerusalem and then rested on the seventh day. The names of the elect were placed in the Book of Life from the beginning.

However, each person has a "room" of decisions in which he or she operates. Within this area of choice he can choose to fulfill his God-ordained destiny or he can neglect to pursue his "mark." Redemption always is an opportunity.

If this were not true, the Lord never could say well done good and faithful servant, because such praise would have no real significance. If God had caused the individual to do the right thing, then praise would be out of place. The truth is, we either are faithful to our calling or else we are careless and neglectful. The Scripture warns us concerning the punishment that will be administered to the servant who has buried his talent.

There appears to be a spirit of inevitability hovering over the Church of Christ. The believers are drifting in apathy, supposing that if they have been elected to glory, or if they have "accepted Christ," they will arrive in Paradise in spite of their actions. Nothing could be further from the truth. A Divine mark has been set before us. Whether or not we attain our high calling depends directly on the diligence and single-mindedness we apply to pursuing it.

There is an elect whose names have been written in the Lamb's Book of Life from the creation of the world. Every member of the elect must make his election certain by total consecration to the will of God. If he does not he is in danger of being cast into outer darkness, of having his name blotted from the Book of Life.

Let us read what Christ has prayed and prepare ourselves to believe exactly what He has declared, whether or not we are able to grasp all the implications of His words. Let us receive Christ and obey Christ.

We shall see and understand everything in the Day of the Lord.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (I Corinthians 13:12)

And thou gavest them [to] me;

Each of God's elect belongs to Him. Now He has given the elect to His beloved Son, Christ. Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Peter, Paul, you and I—each of us belongs to the Father. Now the Father has given us to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Scriptures, both Old Testament and New Testament, teach us that some people belong to the Lord in a special way. We do not wish to stress this truth to the point that it overbalances the equally important truth of each individual's invitation to choose to believe in Christ and receive the authority to become a child of God.

Nevertheless, a clear understanding of the sovereignty of God in all of the affairs of His creation, particularly in His plan of redemption, is a rock on which the Spirit-anointed remnant will stand during the dark hours of Antichrist's reign, which already appear to be coming upon us.

To be continued.