Redeeming God

Liberating you from bad ideas about God

Learn the MOST ESSENTIAL truths for following Jesus.

Get FREE articles and audio teachings in my discipleship emails!


  • Join Us!
  • Scripture
  • Theology
  • My Books
  • About
  • Discipleship
  • Courses
    • What is Hell?
    • Skeleton Church
    • The Gospel According to Scripture
    • The Gospel Dictionary
    • The Re-Justification of God
    • What is Prayer?
    • Adventures in Fishing for Men
    • What are the Spiritual Gifts?
    • How to Study the Bible
    • Courses FAQ
  • Forum
    • Introduce Yourself
    • Old Testament
    • New Testament
    • Theology Questions
    • Life & Ministry
You are here: Home / When will God will gather His elect (Matthew 24:31)?

When will God will gather His elect (Matthew 24:31)?

By Jeremy Myers
14 Comments

When will God will gather His elect (Matthew 24:31)?

One set of texts which are occasionally referenced in support of the Unconditional Election comes from the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24. The reason these texts are cited is because they make reference to “the elect.”

And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened (Matthew 24:22).

For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect (Matthew 24:24).

And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (Matthew 24:31).

These three texts clearly reference the elect, but we must remember that just because a Bible verse uses the word “elect,” this does not mean that the Calvinistic understanding of election is true.

One sometimes runs into Calvinists who argue that election is true because the Bible mentions election.

elect in Matthew 24

 

The question, however, is not whether or not the Bible mentions election, but rather what the Bible means when it mentions election. And when Matthew 24 refers to election, what it teaches is somewhat surprising, and in fact, seems to undermine the Calvinistic understanding of election.

Matthew 24 and Election

According to Calvinism, those who are elect are unconditionally chosen by God to receive eternal life. They are irresistibly brought by God into His family. Election occurs because a sovereign God rules and controls all.

Yet what is exceedingly strange in these texts from Matthew 24 which mention the elect, is that it appears that “even the elect” could be deceived and led astray by the false christs and false prophets that arise in the last days. If God sovereignly controls the beliefs and behaviors of His elect, then how is it that they could be deceived by false teaching? Indeed, Jesus says that God will cut short those days so that the elect will not die and will not be deceived.

To be even more specific, it is possible that when Jesus refers to “the elect” in this text, He might be specifically thinking of the Jewish elect people, so that when He refers to gathering the elect from the four winds, He is referring to gathering His people Israel back to Jerusalem from the four corners of the earth.

gather his elect

As a side note, it is important to recognize that when Jesus speaks about being “saved” in this passage (cf. Matthew 24:13, 22), He is not referring to justification or receiving eternal life, but to being delivered from death in this time of tribulation. The salvation in Matthew 24 is not about going to heaven when we die, but is about deliverance from physical death during times of tribulation (Wilkin, Grace New Testament Commentary, 110). Paul makes a similar statement about the Jews in Romans 11:26-27.

So when it comes to the discussion of election, Matthew 24 really doesn’t provide any new information about how one becomes elect or what interaction exists (if any) between the human and divine wills.

There is an indication that God does not sovereignly control the beliefs and behaviors of the elect, and since they themselves might be deceived by the false teaching of these last days, He intervenes to cut those days short, but other than this, there is little that this text adds to the discussion of election.

If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Books by Jeremy Myers, Calvinism, election, Matthew 24, Theology of Salvation, TULIP, Unconditional Election

Advertisement

Learn the most essential truths for following Jesus!

Get FREE articles and audio teachings every week in my discipleship emails!


Comments

    Leave a Comment or Question Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Shawn Lazar says

    December 18, 2014 at 8:39 am

    I love your posts on election. I haven’t read them all, but the ones I have read have been helpful because they’ve confirmed most of the positions I’ve taken on the same key verses for the book I’m working on.

    Reply
  2. Shawn Lazar says

    December 18, 2014 at 8:40 am

    We got your Radmacher books yesterday, by the way! Thanks! Who did you print them with? I noticed they were smaller than Amazon’s 6×9.

    Reply
  3. Tony Vance says

    December 18, 2014 at 9:26 am

    Great stuff

    Reply
  4. GaryFPatton says

    December 18, 2014 at 10:57 am

    Your point regarding the Scriptures you quote above, Jeremy, possibly applying to Jews only is interesting and thought-provoking.

    However, regardless of whether they are referring to Jews or believing Followers of every race, I question whether you can define the phrase, “elect’s sake” as meaning: “Jesus says that God will cut short those days so that the elect will not die and will not be deceived.”

    The passage does NOT say that.

    Even in the context of the Great Tribulation, your statement is from “Opinions One” and places your argument on extra-Biblical comment, in my opinion.

    Blessings in Jesus, Gary in Toronto

    Reply
    • Jeremy Myers says

      December 28, 2014 at 10:15 am

      I get the idea of death and deception from Matthew 24:7-12. When Jesus uses the word “saved” in verse 13, it points back to being saved from the things he just mentioned.

      Reply
  5. Sam says

    December 18, 2014 at 12:47 pm

    These are good examples (“elect” and “saved”) of taking English words from Bible translations and assuming that those words mean the same thing as the way I define them. The result may be damaging, dangerous and truly heretical theology.

    Reply
  6. Jeremy Myers says

    December 18, 2014 at 10:55 pm

    Shawn, I liked your article on Election recently in one of the GIF newsletters. I think I cite it one of the posts.

    I publish through CreateSpace. You can select various cover dimensions. I think that one is 5.5 x 8.5?

    Reply
  7. Shawn Lazar says

    December 19, 2014 at 7:23 am

    Ahh! So do we! I never noticed the other options!

    Reply
  8. Jeremy Myers says

    December 19, 2014 at 9:55 am

    I thought you all used some sort of printing company to print thousands of copies at a time?

    Reply
  9. Shawn Lazar says

    December 19, 2014 at 10:13 am

    We were. But I switched us to CreateSpace because the per-unit cost isn’t much more than going with a big printer, the upfront costs are way lower (maybe $250 vs $5000?), and it saves on storage space because we order books as we need them. We might go with a printer to do case-bound hardcovers for new books, but as far as reprinting and the journal is concerned, I think createspace is the way to go.

    Reply
  10. Jeremy Myers says

    December 19, 2014 at 10:33 am

    Definitely better. But you still ship from the office, right? So you place small orders and fulfill them directly, rather than placing each individual order through CS?

    Reply
  11. Shawn Lazar says

    December 19, 2014 at 10:59 am

    Right we fulfill through the office if people order through the magazine or website. Or they can order directly from Amazon, and we get a royalty.

    Reply
  12. Tony Vance says

    December 19, 2014 at 2:02 pm

    Just published my book thru CreateSpace-& found its process and ease of use, refreshing. Modding hurt I had a great book from Jeremy about self publishing-thanks Jeremy!

    Reply
  13. Jeremy Myers says

    December 19, 2014 at 8:57 pm

    Glad you found it helpful, Tony! I primarily wrote it for myself to remind me what to do every time! Ha!

    Reply

Leave a Comment or Question Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Join the discipleship group
Learn about the gospel and how to share it

Take my new course:

The Gospel According to Scripture
Best Books Every Christian Should Read
Study Scripture with me
Subscribe to my Podcast on iTunes
Subscribe to my Podcast on Amazon

Do you like my blog?
Try one of my books:

Click the image below to see what books are available.

Books by Jeremy Myers

Theological Study Archives

  • Theology – General
  • Theology Introduction
  • Theology of the Bible
  • Theology of God
  • Theology of Man
  • Theology of Sin
  • Theology of Jesus
  • Theology of Salvation
  • Theology of the Holy Spirit
  • Theology of the Church
  • Theology of Angels
  • Theology of the End Times
  • Theology Q&A

Bible Study Archives

  • Bible Studies on Genesis
  • Bible Studies on Esther
  • Bible Studies on Psalms
  • Bible Studies on Jonah
  • Bible Studies on Matthew
  • Bible Studies on Luke
  • Bible Studies on Romans
  • Bible Studies on Ephesians
  • Miscellaneous Bible Studies

Advertise or Donate

  • Advertise on RedeemingGod.com
  • Donate to Jeremy Myers

Search (and you Shall Find)

Get Books by Jeremy Myers

Books by Jeremy Myers

Schedule Jeremy for an interview

Click here to Contact Me!

© 2025 Redeeming God · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Knownhost and the Genesis Framework