The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum God's elect through the ages

Good day! It has been quite a while since I posted something here.

Today, I heard a WhatsApp message from a pastor who gives short meditations twice or thrice weekly. The theme of a new series is that "God is going forward and starting something new with Abraham." The way he presented this in the first of this series created the impression that there was no other elect on earth at the time of Abraham's calling and that God started anew with Abraham. Article 27 of the Belgic Confession states that "this church has existed from the beginning of the world and will last until the end, as appears from the fact that Christ is eternal King who cannot be without subjects".

So, was there a time between the building of the tower of Babel and Abraham's calling when there was no church on earth? Within the context of the question, what does Noah's blessing of Shem in Gen.9:26 mean, the fact that Shem's descendants are listed in Gen. 11 and that Abraham is a descendant of Shem?

Welcome back!

I guess I would like to know what this man means by "starting something new with Abraham" as well. Is he really stating that there was no one among all the people of the earth before Abraham upon which from all eternity God had not set His electing love? Surely, when one reads the OT especially in regard to Adam's fall and restoration the strong implication, at least when I have read it, that God's salvific love rested upon Adam. And then when I read through the various chronologies of Adam's descendants, there are not a few individuals which appear to have been given God's special favor over all others. So, my understanding is in accord with the Belgic Confession and the teaching of myriad Reformed scholars and teachers that from all eternity God has had a 'people' aka: elect upon the earth chosen out of Adam's fallen race.

In the first meditation in the series, he didn't clarify what he meant by "starting something new with Abraham," but I assume it will become apparent in one of the following meditations. But the way he presented what he said created the impression that there now is something new starting with Abraham. My reading and understanding of, e.g. the Belgic Confession (and others, as you stated) is that "the line of the church on earth" is unbroken, i.e., there never was a time when there was no church (no elects) on earth. In fact, in the OT, that line leads to Christ. In that sense, the calling of Abraham is not the start of something new.