Election

"The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved," Acts 2:47.

To whose number were they being saved? To the number of people who had already received the apostles' word and were baptized into Jesus' name on Pentecost. That's when those 3 thousand folks, too, had then been added. Added to what? To the company of believers who had been devoting themselves to prayer in the ten days between Jesus' rising up into the sky and Pentecost. These included Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (Alphaeus's son), Simon (the Zealot), Judas (James' son), Matthias, James (Jesus' brother), Joses, Judas (Jesus' brother), Simon (Jesus' brother), Mary (Jesus' mother), Mary (Magdalene), Joanna, Mary (James' mother), Salome, the other women, Cleopas, the other men. About 120 real human beings in all. That's the number to which all the others had been added. To which millions and millions now of every race, culture, and language, we too've been added by God's election. Sky kingdom.

Added to that company of elect believers, we meet with a brother or sister today awed by God's grace in Christ. And, together, we join in praise to God from whom every blessing flows.