One trend that I hear and see is a belief that certain people in this world, no matter how they act or behave are “chosen,” “select,” “elect.” In my recent series on the Olivet Discourse I hit upon this theme and I now wish to expand upon it further.
To understand who the “elect” are we must look at Jesus Christ’s point of view when He talked to His apostles on the Mount of Olives just a few days before His arrest by the Pharisees. Jesus made it very clear when you read His wording of His teachings correctly. That He was here in this plain of existence for the Jewish people. To be their Messiah. The descendants of Abraham and Jacob rejected Him as was foretold in the book of Isaiah. However, this did not change His mandate. When a gentile woman saw the truth of who He was. He told her He was not here for the gentiles, yet He still accepted her.
My point. When he was speaking His discourse upon the Mount of Olives. He was speaking to the Jewish people still for that was still His mandate given Him by His Father the Lord God.
When He spoke of the “elect” being gathered just before His return. He is only speaking of those chosen from within the tribes of Israel. This is spelled out in Revelation 7:
Revelation 7: 2 And I saw another angel coming up from the east, carrying the seal of the living God. And he shouted to those four angels, who had been given power to harm land and sea, 3 “Wait! Don’t harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on the foreheads of his servants.” 4 And I heard how many were marked with the seal of God—144,000 were sealed from all the tribes of Israel: 5 from Judah 12,000 from Reuben 12,000 from Gad 12,000 6 from Asher 12,000 from Naphtali 12,000 from Manasseh 12,000 7 from Simeon 12,000 from Levi 12,000 from Issachar 12,000 8 from Zebulun 12,000 from Joseph 12,000 from Benjamin 12,000
So as is made clear in these verse. These are the elect, the select. Chosen and picked from each of the twelves tribes of Israel.
“Then what of those that are ‘Christian?’” someone asks.
As was also pointed out in the Olivet Discourse there are to be multiple Raptures.
Those that are prepared and ready will be taken in the first Rapture when Christ returns like a thief in the night. (1 Thessalonians 4:17; Revelation 3:10)
Then billions will know the truth and accept Jesus as the Messiah and they will realize this temporal existence is nothing compared to the eternal life ahead for all that ask Jesus Christ to be their Savior. These billions due to the first Rapture will endure persecution and hardships then ultimately death. Then right after the 144,000 receive their mark upon their foreheads the next Rapture occurs and these now martyred billions will stand before the throne of God. (Revelation 7:9-17)
Then all that will be left upon the earth are the 144,000, the rest of the Jewish people that are yet to be killed and billions who rejected God and Jesus and chose to accept the mark of the Anti-Christ. It is during this next three and a half years that the earth will itself suffer greatly to the point that debris will be hurtled into the upper atmosphere. This will cause the sun, the stars and the moon to diminish in light as is foretold by Jesus Christ Himself during the Olivet Discourse. Then just before He is to return to the very Mount He taught His discourse from just over two thousand years ago. He will gather the 144,000, the elect. Then the final battle will occur that will usher in the Thousand Year Reign of Jesus Christ.
So who are the elect? Those that are Messianic Jews and are given the mark of God.