Hold on. Would God be fair to judge someone who never heard about Jesus? He judges them based on what they know.
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse." Romans 1:18-20
Who are the Elect? Those who are predestined?
Those that accept Him into their lives!!!
In the Bible we find:
called, chosen, and faithful. Those who are with Him are all three of those things! If called, then elected by Him. If chosen, then predestined to be with Him in heaven. Yet we are saved by faith, and a faith that results in us hearing Him and doing what He asks us to do. Like this morning - I sat with Him and again He asked me to post on this forum. I heard Him. He called me. He has predestined me to be with Him in heaven. But I still have a choice to make. To post like He asked me to, or to blow Him off and just start to work on my business which makes me money.
Ultimately, those with the Lord are called, chosen, and faithful (See the last verse in this post!). The Lord has made a place for those who wind up called, chosen, and faithful. I was talking with Him yesterday and talking with Him on this subject and He told me, that He predestined a place for us. Heaven, even the Kingdom of God is a place we are predestined too, but will we make it there?? Had not He elected, called, and chosen people to be with Him in heaven?? That was the plan!! So what happened? It turned out that Adam and Eve were not "faithful"!! So can we say that Adam and Eve were not called by God to live with Him? No, they were called by Him! Can we say that Adam and Eve were not chosen (Elected) to be with God for Eternity? No, they were chosen by God to spend eternity with Him in heaven! So what happened that they who were even created, called, and chosen by God that they wound up falling? The answer is that they were not faithful!!
So faith then becomes the very thing we need for salvation! And 'faithful' is they way our faith is shown!! A person of faith that hears the Lord by faith but does not do what the Lord tells Him is not faithful. And we have a choice to do what He tells us or not. We have a choice to listen to Him who stands there knocking with His voice or not!! So the faithful listen and respond, but the unfaithful, even though they might have been called and chosen, are not the Lord's because they did not have a faith that could be called "faithful' and thus obtain salvation!
Below I have verses to show what I am saying. The Israelites were called by God, and chosen by God, and we can see even today that the Jews in general express a belief in God, but not a belief to where they actually have gotten to know Him personally - by listening to Him and doing what He asks! They don't get to know Him - of course some did and do, but not in general. And this same then has come to the gentiles (the rest of us).
Is 1:2,3 Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks,
“Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me.
“An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger,
But Israel does not know,
My people do not understand.”
(You see - Isaiah spoke to those called "Sons" by the Lord, but they were rebellious and so did listen to the Lord and so did not know Him)
Is 45:4 “For the sake of Jacob My servant,
And Israel My chosen
one,
I have also called you by your name;
I have given you a title of honor
Though you have not known Me.
(again we read that Israel was chosen, even elected by God, and given a title of honor, thought they didn't get to know Him)
Is 30:9 For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD;
(So the Sons who refuse to listen are now called 'false sons' - They were called - even called Sons. They were chosen - even elected for eternal life but it escaped them, because they did not combined it with actually hearing the Lord by faith and doing what He asked!)
Mat 22:14 “For many are called, but few
are chosen.”
And did not the call go out to the entire world.
Romans 10:18 But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have;
“THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH,
AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.”
(So we find the call went out to all the world, so was not everyone given a change at what was "predestined" - even a change at eternal life with God in the place He PRE-destinated for people to live with Him! So He was found by those who did not seek Him and became manifested to those who did not even know to ask for Him!)
Romans 10:20
And Isaiah is very bold and says,
“I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME,
I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME.”
(Therefore it is not enough to be called and even elected to be with Him! We must also have a faith that results in faithfulness! And that requires a choice that is made when He calls us. Even a choice to be made on that day called TODAY)
James 2:17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead,
being by itself.
So the faith in Jesus Christ that saves us is a faith that He is there to be heard and which we respond to by doing what He askes. Maybe not perfectly, because only the Lord is perfect, but never-the-less it is a faith to where we actually get instructions from Him and respond! That is called, faithfulness!
Rev 17:14 “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and
those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.”