A Note From the Author — Revisited
This article was written during a period when my theological framework was firmly Reformed and Calvinist.
I believed wholeheartedly in the doctrines of election, limited atonement, and divine sovereignty as articulated within that tradition — and I wrote accordingly, with conviction and sincerity.
My understanding has since undergone a profound shift. I no longer hold that the God described as sovereign in these passages is the ultimate and unknowable Father.
What I once read as divine election I now recognize as a subtler question: not who God chose, but which God these texts are reflecting at any given moment.
The Demiurge and the true Father are not the same being, and the failure to distinguish between them — embedded in orthodox theology through centuries of deliberate and demonic corruption of the original transmission — produces exactly the kind of theology this post once defended.
The Christ I now understand did not come to satisfy the wrath of a territorial creator-god.
He came as a messenger of the Pleroma — the true Fullness — to awaken the Pneumatic spark within those capable of receiving it.
The elect, in this reading, are not arbitrarily chosen by a sovereign deity’s inscrutable will.
They are those in whom the light is alive enough to recognize itself when it is called.
The original post stands here as a record of a genuine and earnest season of seeking. The seeking was always real. What I was seeking, I understand differently now.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
Jesus ransomed people from every tribe, language, people and nation – Revelation 5:9
“It is NOT written: ‘He ransomed everyone, everywhere…”
Instead, it is stated that Jesus, through His sacrifice, has redeemed specific individuals from all tribes, tongues, and nations. The inclusivity of salvation is not limited by any physical characteristics or distinctions, but upon God’s Choice.
When we interpret Scripture, we find a beautiful interconnectedness between different passages.
For instance, we witness Jesus, who for a short time was made lower than the angels, being crowned with glory and honor. This exaltation is a result of His godly willingness to suffer death so that, by God’s grace, He could taste death for people from all walks of life (Hebrews 2:9).
It was fitting for God, to whom all things belong and by whom all things are created, to bring many sons and daughters to glory through the perfection of the Captain of their salvation via sufferings (Hebrews 2:10).
God Initiates Redemption
Jesus, as the founder of our salvation, establishes that our salvation is rooted in God’s divine plan. It is God who initiates this process, setting the foundation for our redemption.
The scope of Jesus’ sacrifice can be understood in three ways.
Firstly, if we consider that He died for every single person in the entire world, we know this to be untrue.
Secondly, if His atonement is meaningless and He died for nobody at all, that also contradicts the truth.
Lastly, the most accurate understanding is that Christ died for His elect, a chosen group of people from all corners of the world.
Jesus’ sacrifice accomplishes complete salvation for all those whom He died to save. The work of Christ is flawless and perfect.
How do you know if you’re one of those? If you seek Him, it is you!
The Scriptures explicitly state that Christ was slain, and by His blood, He ransomed a multitude of people from every tribe, language, people, and nation (Revelation 5:9).
Jesus Himself affirms that He lays down His life for His sheep and His sheep alone (John 10:14).
However, He goes on to explain that He has other sheep from different folds, and He must gather them. These sheep will hear His voice and become one flock with one shepherd.
Jesus assures us that He knows His sheep and they will respond to His call.
God’s sovereignty eliminates any room for uncertainty or speculation regarding the individuals who will be welcomed into His glorious Kingdom. To question the sovereignty of such a majestic and all-knowing God is nothing short of foolishness. He, being the ultimate orchestrator of our salvation, holds the pen that writes the true narrative of our deliverance, even if there are those who stubbornly reject this undeniable truth.
Lack Of Belief
In the encounter captured in John 10, Jesus tactfully addresses the hypocritical Jewish leaders who question His authority. He skillfully emphasizes that their lack of belief is not the cause of their separation from Him; rather, it is their inherent disconnection from His flock.
Jesus highlights the profound truth that those who do not believe simply do not belong to Him, underscoring the importance of genuine faith and spiritual alignment with His teachings.
His Sheep
Furthermore, Jesus declares that His sheep hear His voice, He knows them intimately, and they follow Him.
He grants them eternal life, assuring that they will never perish, and no one can snatch them out of His or the Father’s hand. The unity between Jesus and the Father is unbreakable.
It is crucial to acknowledge that Jesus knows us even before we realize He knows us.
To come to the conclusion that Jesus appeased God’s anger and carried the sins of those already experiencing torment in hell would contradict the principles outlined in the Bible. It would be illogical for them to be punished a second time if their penalty had already been paid.
The passage in Hebrews 10:10-14 explains that Jesus Christ offered himself as the ultimate sacrifice that satisfies God’s wrath once and forever. Through his death on the cross, Jesus “perfected” or completed the sanctification of those whom God is saving.
Sanctification is the ongoing process by which God makes his people more holy through faith in Christ. It starts at the moment of salvation and continues throughout one’s life.
Jesus’ one-time sacrifice is utterly sufficient to both justify sinners and progressively sanctify God’s people. All those whom God designated to be sanctified will most certainly be sanctified, because the debt for their sins has been paid in full by the perfect Lamb of God.
Christ’s sacrifice was a “finished work” that reconciled believers unto God permanently.
There is no need for further offerings or rituals, because what Jesus accomplished on the cross is completely satisfactory to pardon sin and transform souls into his likeness.
If Jesus sacrificed Himself and tasted death for every individual without exception, it would imply that He has “perfected” every single person in the world, leading to universal salvation, which is not the case.
Eternal Inheritance
The “eternal inheritance” mentioned by Christ is exclusively received by those who are called by God, His elect (Hebrews 9:15).
Jesus expresses to the Father that He is not praying for the world but for those whom the Father has given Him because they belong to Him. This emphasizes the distinctiveness of His chosen ones (John 17:9-10).
When the Son of Man returns in His glory, He will gather all nations and separate people as a shepherd divides sheep from goats. The sheep will be placed on His right, while the goats will be on the left (Matthew 25:31-33).
Jesus assures us that all whom the Father gives Him will come to Him, and He will never cast them out. He came down from heaven to fulfill the will of the Father, which is to lose none of those given to Him but raise them up on the last day (John 6:37-40).
Scripture reveals that Jesus’ sacrifice is not meant for every individual without exception but for His elect, chosen from every tribe, language, people, and nation.
God’s plan for salvation is rooted in His divine sovereignty, and Jesus’ sacrifice accomplishes complete redemption for those whom He died to save. The unity between Jesus and the Father is unbreakable, and those who belong to Jesus will hear His voice, follow Him, and receive eternal life.
The assurance of salvation is secured by the power of God, who will never cast out those whom He has chosen.
John Owen entitled ‘The death of death in the death of Christ‘:
Most apparent, then, it is that the new covenant of grace, and the promises thereof, are all of them of distinguishing mercy, restrained to the people whom God did foreknow; and so not extended universally to all. Now, the blood of Jesus Christ being the blood of this covenant, and his oblation intended only for the procurement of the good things intended and promised thereby,—for he was the surety thereof, Heb. 7:22, and of that only,—it cannot be conceived to have respect unto all, or any but only those that are intended in this covenant.
