Who Won the Election?

 Every few years, in one nation after another, the same question rises to the surface of public life. Whether the vote is for a president, a parliament, a governor, or a city council, millions of people ask: Who will win? And once the ballots are counted, they ask again: Who won? The question fills our news, our conversations, and often our anxieties.

Yet every earthly election, however important, is temporary. Presidents, prime ministers, and legislators serve for a season, and their authority sooner or later passes to others. However much depends on the outcome, no human victory lasts forever.

The Holy Scriptures, however, reveal an election of a very different kind, one that transcends every ballot and every term of office. It is the Father’s election of His beloved Son as the Redeemer and King of all Creation, and, astonishingly, our own election in Him before the foundation of the world. This is the election that truly determines our destiny, and it is worth pausing amid the noise of every campaign season to contemplate it.

Christ, the Elect One of the Father

Centuries before the Incarnation, the prophet Isaiah heard the Father speak of the coming Messiah with words of tender delight: “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights!” (Isaiah 42:1, NKJV). The Father’s choice did not rest on a campaign or a majority. It flowed from His eternal love for His beloved Son, whom He appointed to accomplish His saving purpose for the world.

The apostle Peter takes us further still. He tells us that Christ, the spotless Lamb by whose precious blood we were redeemed, was foreordained before the foundation of the world and revealed in these last times for our sake (1 Peter 1:19–20). The redemption of humanity, then, was never an afterthought or an emergency plan. Before a single star was set in the heavens, the Father had already established His purpose of salvation in His Son.

The Eternal King Appointed by the Father

Earthly leaders are elected for a limited term, and even the most powerful among them must eventually step aside. Christ, by contrast, is appointed to reign forever. All things were created through the Son and for the Son (Colossians 1:16), and the Father has appointed Him heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2). Creation itself is His inheritance.

The psalmist hears the Father proclaim this kingship with sovereign certainty: “Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion” (Psalm 2:6, NKJV). When the angel Gabriel announced the birth of the Savior to the Virgin Mary, he declared that of His kingdom there will be no end (Luke 1:33). Unlike the rulers of this world, the Father’s Elect One never stands for reelection. His throne is not up for contest, and His kingdom is everlasting.

Our Eternal Election in Christ

What is also so wonderful about this revelation is that the Father has not kept His eternal purpose to His Son alone. He has included us in it. The apostle Paul declares that “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4, NKJV), that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, and that He predestined us to adoption as His children through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:4–5).

Notice that our election never stands apart from Christ. We are not chosen on our own merits or in our own name; we are chosen in the Elect One, made accepted by grace in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6). Our place in God’s purpose is secure only because it is hidden in His Son.

Yet this gift is not a passive status. The apostle Peter urges believers to “be even more diligent to make your call and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10, NKJV). Divine election is a gracious invitation that calls for a response, and we answer it day by day with living faith, sincere repentance, and loving obedience.

Elected for Holiness and Good Works

Our divine election is not merely a privilege to be admired; it is a holy calling to be lived. We are God’s workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus for good works, which the Father prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). The path has already been laid out by His love. Our task is to walk in it.

Peter describes the identity that flows from this calling: we are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9, NKJV). Such titles are not honors to hang on a wall. They are meant to shape the way we speak, forgive, serve, and love, so that our daily lives bear witness to the One who chose us.

For this reason Paul exhorts us to “walk worthy of the calling with which you were called” (Ephesians 4:1, NKJV). We are not elected simply to possess a heavenly title, but to manifest the life of Christ in the world, through holiness, humility, forgiveness, compassion, and love.

Living as the Elect of God

Our earthly citizenship carries real responsibilities, and Christians are called to fulfill them faithfully. Still, our ultimate citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20). This heavenly citizenship changes the spirit in which we live through every political season.

Political elections often divide people into winners and losers, and the bitterness of campaigns can linger long after the results are announced. Our election in Christ works in the opposite direction. It draws us into unity, humility, and love. Paul addresses believers as “the elect of God, holy and beloved” (Colossians 3:12, NKJV), and immediately calls them to put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, and longsuffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another, and above all clothing themselves with love, the bond of perfection (Colossians 3:12–14).

These are the true marks of God’s elect. The evidence of our heavenly calling is not pride in having been chosen, but gratitude expressed through a transformed life.

The Holy Eucharist: Communion with the Father’s Elect One

When we gather for the Divine Liturgy, we do not come to celebrate a temporary earthly victory. We come to celebrate the eternal saving victory of Jesus Christ, the Father’s Elect One. The Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world offered Himself for our redemption and rose victorious over death, and in the Liturgy that victory is made present among us.

In the Holy Eucharist we receive communion in His holy Body and precious Blood, abiding in Him as He abides in us and receiving His very life (John 6:56). How wonderful it is that we, who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, are now invited to live in communion with Him at His holy altar!

The Eucharist is therefore our thanksgiving to the Father for His eternal purpose of love, a purpose accomplished through His Son and made present in our lives by the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion: Who Won the Election?

Whenever an election season comes, and millions ask who won, let us remember that every earthly victory will one day pass away. Only the Father’s eternal purpose remains forever.

Jesus Christ is the Father’s Elect One, the spotless Lamb of God and the eternal King of all Creation. In Him, before the foundation of the world, the Father chose us to be His beloved children, holy and without blame before Him in love. Let us therefore live worthy of this election, walk in the good works prepared for us, and draw near to the Holy Eucharist with thanksgiving and love.

The elections of this world decide who will govern for a season. God’s eternal election reveals the King who reigns forever, and the people He has called to share in His everlasting kingdom.

To the Father, through His Elect and beloved Son, by the Holy Spirit, be glory and thanksgiving, now and forever. Amen.

Hegumen Abraam Sleman

www.frsleman.org

frsleman@copticchurch.net

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