God’s choice, yet failed…except?

Throughout biblical history, many have been called and chosen by God, yet they failed. But why? What message is God telling us from these historical accounts? What predicate was he establishing? Since they failed, was God wrong in choosing them? As God cannot be wrong (Job 34:12) nor can be faulted (Isaiah 55:8-9), why then were they chosen?

Consider the following examples:

1. Adam, chosen in Genesis as the first man created to represent mankind. It was this particular man and not any other human living at that time or before. The Genesis account of man’s creation does not exclude pre-Adamic human creation. While he may not actually be the first human created prior to the Moses’ writing of Genesis,(1,2,3), he was the man on which God established the mechanism of creation and imputation (Romans 5:12) of mankind’s sin. He came from “the ground” and became alive with the “breath of life”(Genesis 2:7). He was also the man, whose sin was imputed to all mankind(Romans 5:12). He was chosen, yet sinned, why?

2. Abraham, like all humans sinned Yet, he was chosen from all men and called “father of the faithful.”

3. Israel, also chosen from all nations before and during that time (Deuteronomy 7:6-9), yet abandoned /divorced God(Jeremiah 3:8).

4. David..also chosen and “after my own heart..,will do everything I want him to do“? as in:

Acts 13:22 “After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’‘(NIV).

Yet, David as noted in Psalm 51:1 also sinned.

5. Job, who was described in Job 1:8 as “Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

“…perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and eschews evil?“ (Job 1:8, American KJV)

and won over his friends regarding the reasons for his personal disasters, acknowledged in Job 42:5 “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”

He was “perfect” as defined by humans but God said “my thoughts are not your thoughts” as in Isaiah 55:8 . Job still needs a Savior to make him perfect as God defined it.

Incarnation

The preceding choices of humans all failed. And, this failure was purposeful. They were all human types of an anti-type to come. The message is about demonstrating the emphasis and focus on a particular prophesied human. (Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6). The God of Israel, the Almighty God(El Shaddai), the Lord God(YHVH Elohim/I AM), the LOGOS(Word) was planned to be incarnated to a human being, Jesus. This shows that man created from the “ground” and therefore “earthy“, while chosen, was only a “template/image“, an earthly precursor of what was to come. The “true chosen one” had to come “from above/heavenly” and did not carry the imputed sin of Adam to qualify as a Savior of mankind. And, he is the first human, the “anthropos -Jesus”(1 Timothy 2:5), into which the Father will in-dwell his unique Holy Spirit at River Jordan. The Father’s plan has to start with a human being (by incarnation) as a “first of the firstfruits) to become a “captain,author/finisher trailblazer” of our salvation predicated on “faith of Jesus”

Summary

Sovereignty of God is a given and while his choice of humans failed, it was purposeful and based on hope. But, this hope is not on “weak flesh“(Matthew 26:4). Instead, this hope was on a specific human that “came from above/heavenly“(John 3:31), the one who would be the “first of the firstfruits” as in;

1 Corinthians 15:23 “But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.“(New Living Translation)

He was the first man to be empowered by the Holy Spirit after water baptism in river Jordan(John 1:32) and the first man to be resurrected to eternal life as a “trailblazer” for humans. This is why the “hope” of mankind is in Jesus as in Jeremiah 17:7

“Blessed is the man that trusts in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.“King James 2000 Bible

References:

1. Salemi, Peter, Who wrote the book of Genesis? Retrieved 5/21/19from http://www.british-israel.ca/Genesis.htm

2. Sewell, Kurt. The tablet theory of Genesis authorship. Retrieved 5/21/19 from https://trueorigin.org/tablet.php

3. Grigg, Russell, Who wrote Genesis? Retrieved 5/21/19 from https://creation.com/did-moses-really-write-genesis

Original post: May 28, 2019

Hyperlink version: Dedicated to the one having surgery (TEP) today.