Jesus Christ is our Lord, the Messiah, and the Son of God. But we rarely speak of Him as the Chosen One, while Scripture calls Him so several times. He is already announced as such in the Hebrew Tanakh.
Isaiah 42 NIV
1 Behold, My Servant, Whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in Whom My soul delights; I have put My Spirit upon Him. He will bring forth justice to the nations.
fulfillment in the New Testament
This prophecy is applied directly to Jesus in the New Testament.
Matthew 12 ISA
17 that the word might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, when he said:
18 Behold, My boy, whom I have chosen, My Beloved, in Whom My soul delights; I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will proclaim judgment to the nations.
In the Gospel of Luke, too, Jesus is explicitly called “the Chosen One.”
Luke 9 ISA
35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying: This is my Son, the Chosen One; listen to Him!
Some manuscripts have “the beloved Son” here, but others explicitly read “the Chosen One.”
Luke 23 ISA
35 And the people stood by and watched. And the rulers also mocked, together with them, and they said: He saves others; let Him now save Himself, if He is the Christ of God, the Chosen One!
Peter also speaks of Christ as the Chosen One. When he quotes Isaiah 28:16, he applies this prophecy directly to Him.
1 Peter 2 ISA
4 to Whom you come, the living Stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, and held in honor.
(…)
6 Therefore it is contained in the Scripture: Behold, I lay in Zion a chosen and held in honor Cornerstone, and whoever puts his faith in Him shall absolutely not be put to shame.
for what purpose is Christ chosen?
That Christ is called God’s Chosen One does not mean that He is chosen for salvation, as the concept of election is often understood. He was chosen by God and appointed for a unique task within God’s plan. He is the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel, the Mediator between God and men, the Head of the ecclesia, and the One through Whom God will realize His purpose for heaven and earth.
all lines come together in Christ
It is remarkable that the election of Abraham, Israel, David, the twelve, etc., ultimately all point to Christ. All lines of election find their fulfillment in Him. He is not merely one of the elect, but the central Chosen One in God’s plan.
Adam created in God’s image
It is said of Adam that he was created “in the image of God” (Gen. 1:27). It is often concluded from this that every human being is the image of God. But this is reserved only for “the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). He is the image of God (Col. 1:15). If every human being were the image of God, the statement that Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15) would lose its special significance.
Genesis 1:27 literally states that God created Adam “in His image.” When God created Adam, He already had His Son “in the picture,” as it were. After all, Adam was a type of Him who was to come (Rom. 5:14). Just as Adam stands at the head of the old humanity, so Christ stands at the head of a new humanity. Through the one man Adam, sin and death entered the world, but through the one man Jesus Christ, justification and life come. (Rom. 5:12, 17).
God makes no mistakes
Adam was not a failure of God’s plan. From the beginning, he was in the service of God’s purpose with Christ. Sin and death, too, did not enter the world outside of God’s plan, but form the dark background against which God’s grace, love, and life in Christ are revealed. The first Adam points to the last Adam. What was lost by the first man is not only restored by the last Adam, but surpassed in glory. Christ is God’s Chosen One par excellence, through Whom ultimately all other blessings come about.
When Scripture speaks of election, Christ is therefore the first and foremost Chosen One. All other elect derive their place from Him:
– Abraham was chosen so that in his seed all the families of the earth might be blessed (Gen. 12:3). Paul says that this Seed is Christ (Gal. 3:16).
– Israel is chosen in relation to Him.
– David was chosen as king and is a foreshadowing of Him.
– The twelve were chosen by Him as apostles and will sit on twelve thrones in the new birth to judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:30).
– The ecclesia is chosen in Him (Eph. 1:4) to be His complement as the body of Christ and to ultimately submit the universe to Him (Eph. 1:10; 22-23; 3:10; Phil. 3:21).
All elections in Scripture find their origin, purpose, and fulfillment in Him. Christ is therefore the central Chosen One in God’s purpose. He was not chosen at the expense of others, but for the benefit of others. God appointed Him so that Israel might be blessed through Him, the nations might come to God, and ultimately all things might be reconciled with God (Col. 1:20).
Election is exclusive in the choice, but inclusive in its purpose.