Weekly Devotional: April 29, 2026

GOD’S WORD
Ephesians 1:11-14

"In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.

When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of His glory."

DEVOTIONAL BY
This eight-week series will be excerpts from the late Lt. Colonel Allen Satterlee's book “Heavenly Places Revealed"

DEVOTIONAL
“SEALED BY THE SPIRIT”

Election

One of the most difficult concepts in Christianity is what is called "election." A key passage to our understanding of it is this one. Those of the Calvinist tradition assert that God has from all eternity chosen those who will be saved and those who will be lost. This has been done, not based on the merits of an individual but on grace alone. They would say that because of the depraved nature of individuals, it is a wonder that God would choose anyone at all since no one deserves salvation. And since God has chosen individuals for salvation, that salvation cannot be lost in that God has sovereignly ruled who is to be saved. No act, then, can merit salvation nor can any act disqualify someone from salvation.

Others see election as working quite differently. The Bible clearly speaks of election in multiple places, beginning with God selecting the nation of Israel as His chosen people. A sample reference is Deuteronomy 7:6: "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession." Part of their election was to receive the Promised Land, the gift of the Holy Scriptures, the legacy of the Law, and the Temple (Tabernacle). They did nothing to earn this as God showed His favor to them.

Individual Response to Covenant

But with that election as a people, there was still the matter of how individuals responded to their favored status. We have those who appreciated the grace they enjoyed, such as Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Elijah, and many others. But there were also those who despised their birthright, turning away from the love that God showed them to live lives of rebellion. We can quickly name Saul, Jeroboam, Ahab, and Manasseh as well as those who started well but later turned their backs on God, the most startling example being Solomon. Although among the elect of Israel, God's chosen people, they still had the capacity to live in a way totally foreign to the covenant that God had established. To make things even more interesting, there were non-Jews who became believers and in doing so, except for legitimate ownership of a piece of the Promised Land, enjoyed the benefits that the elect of Israel claimed.

When Jesus came as a Jew, He perfectly fulfilled the human side of the God covenant that had been extended to the Hebrew people. His perfect obedience was unrivaled not only in His generation but in the history of humanity. Because of His divine nature, He also understood, as no one before had, the intention of God's election. The nation of Israel was meant to be the gateway people to all the people of the earth, communicating God's salvation for all. When God established His promise through Abraham, He said, "I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed' (Genesis 26:4).

Then Came the Gentiles

Soon after the Church was launched, God declared unmistakably that Gentiles were included. In Acts 10, Peter had a vision that resulted in action with the household of Cornelius whereby the floodgates of salvation opened to all peoples. Here in Ephesians, Paul explained more about the theological framework that made it clear that while Israel as God's covenant people has not been pushed aside, the blessings that were hers as a people are now opened to all. The exception is the Promised Land since this was a once and for all transaction of God. The sole condition to this election is coming to God through Christ.

Election then, is still a matter of grace alone. None of us has ever done one thing in any way that we could present to God and with it, show Him that we merit His salvation. We have a host of sins that more soundly condemn us than righteous acts that commend us. When you ask Christ into your heart, His Holy Spirit cleanses what could otherwise never be clean because of the merits of Christ's blood. You have abandoned your citizenship from a country at war with God to become a citizen of His country with all the rights and privileges therein.

If you struggle to grasp this, you have joined the generations who, while they rejoice in what God has done, are dumbfounded by the breadth of all it entails. As Paul has said in this passage, we are "God's possession to the praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:14).

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What did election mean for the nation of Israel? What did it NOT mean?
2. How does a person become one of God's elect?
3. How do election and grace work together?