Called, Chosen and Faithful

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

INVITED, SELECTED AND FAITHFUL

Rev 17:12-14

12 "The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. 13 They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings — and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers."

NIV

Our renowned scholars of old would once again peer into the history books to find these tens kings, or monarchs who swear their allegiance to the Papal authority, the beast in this case. If we were to indulge that idea we could see that over the ages, various forces were at play by Papal Rome using its power to dominate both the religious and political lives of people within its grasp. It may also be true that in some case Papal Rome did in fact wage war against anyone who did not pledge their faith to this power. But then we would have to dismiss all this as history and thus it bears no meaning in our lives. If the word of God, all the word of God, including this revelation which was shown to John, is the living breathing word of God, relevant for all men in all ages and all of it is in fact God breathed, and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, then we must use it as such.

2 Tim 3:16-17

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

NIV

So then rather than be stuck with history we need to view this with either the present or future in mind, and as we may not see the day of the Lord during our lifetime on this earth and there will be our posterity after we are gone to still be reading and understanding this we need to see all this as future events to take place. Although it may be true some of this is in action, and has been in active for a while as we might just be in the last days. Nevertheless the truth we can hang our hat on, or live our lives by is in the fact that the Lord Jesus will prevail and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers. These are the invited, the selected or in some sense favorite and  the trustworthy followers, as least looking at the Greek words here that is what is conveyed. Are these three different categories of believers or is this a full definition of a true believer?  First we should note that even the Apostle Paul in the beginning of is letter to the Romans says that he has been invited to be an Apostle set apart for the Gospel. He goes on to tell all those who read his letter they too have been invited to belong to Jesus. We know that God desires all men to be saved and thus he invites everyone to belong to Jesus. His call is to all of his creation, all mankind, for Jesus came to save all, not just a selected few. So all of us are invited or called. To consider that fact that God loves us so much he sent his Son to die for us, and thus he invites us to his side, to belong to Jesus, so that his righteousness is ours. Now about this chosen word, this selected word. How are we not to think that God has selected one over another? That would be the implication of that word, to be chosen. When we were children playing a team game, we stood in line until we were chosen by the captain of one of the teams. Some of us were chosen first, some were chosen last, but the fact remains all of us were chosen, none of us were left standing not allowed to play at all. It may be true that some of us were chosen early in our lives, others may not have been chosen until their later years, for whatever reasons, but the fact still remains God chooses everyone, we all get an opportunity to play or in this sense be saved, belonging to Jesus. When we get to this faithful or trustworthy follower word that might be a horse of a different color. Although we all are invited and chosen to be a part of the winning team, it does seem to be up to us to fulfill the part about being faithful, being trustworthy. God can call or invite us, he can choose to have us on his side, but it is up to us to play to the best of our ability. We need to be true to him in every sense. We cannot flirt with the world. We cannot play on both teams. We cannot be enticed to throw the game, so to speak. We cannot do anything other than give our all to him, all the time, doing whatever he determines is the best for us, to play the position on the team which best suits him. We are invited, chosen and must remain faithful and we will be with him as he overcomes all adversaries.