"For many be called, but few chosen" (Matthew 20:16)—Christ made this statement several times. This verse carries the understanding of many being invited in the call, but few being chosen. The Greek here is "many are called (kletoi), but few are chosen" (ekletoi) signifying that the chosen are the called out from the called ones. Many have the call given to them, but only a few out of that number heed that calling. Many hear, but few believe. Many are in the visible churches, but few at the same time are in the invisible, elect church. The sobriety of this statement calls us to consider why some respond and believe while others neglect and reject so great an invitation. A key to those who do respond is in part related to their own longing for holiness in Christ.
The Principle of Drawing
John 6:44 states, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." The word here for draw means "an undercurrent drawing, a silent but powerful pull." In contrast Acts 8:3 speaks of a different kind of drawing: "As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison." Here the word haling is the word suro, which means "to violently drag." Both these drawings appear in the context of John 21:6-8. John 21:6 states, "They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes." The word for draw means "a slow, deliberate drawing" as in John 6:44. Two verses later John 21:8 states, "dragging the net with fishes." This is the word of Acts 8:3; now they had attached the net to the boat dragging the fishes through the water.
God desires to draw us unto Himself by this first kind of drawing—by an inward power, by divine impulse. In John 6:44 the Father does this drawing. Yet, John 12:32 adds, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me," indicating there is also the drawing power of Christ Himself in the human life. Even the Shulamite in Song of Solomon 1:4 prays this desire, "Draw me."
How does this drawing come from God? Often these drawings are longings which God places in the human heart. We read of this drawing in the life of Abraham in Hebrews 11:15, 16:
And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly.
Often one thing intensifies the longing for something else. God uses desires in the drawing of men.
Everyone comes to God for a different reason, with a different longing. In Luke 15:12-24 the prodigal son came to such a low point in his life of failure that he was longing for bread. This longing was part of a pulling toward home and toward the father. In Matthew 20:29-34 two blind men longed to be healed of blindness. This desire became a drawing to Christ. Mark in his rendering of the Gospel (10:46-52), refers to the specific one of the two blind men mentioned in Matthew. His desire and longing was "Lord, that I might receive my sight" (Mark 10:51b). In Mark 5:25-34 there was a woman with an issue of blood for twelve years. She had "suffered many things of many physicians and spent all that she had and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse" (5:26). She pressed behind Christ to touch His clothes. She longed for a healing from Him; this was the drawing in her life.
Men and women in the Gospels sought the Lord for specific needs, for the healing of their children, the hopes and dreams of a better life, etc. Why do people come to Christ today? What is the drawing? A broken home? A wretched and failing life? Many in the prison system turn to God because they are at the end of life's hope. God has used many things as longings to draw individuals unto Him.
Drawings in Christ, the Way
This drawing does not cease at the New Birth. When the individual becomes a Christian, he enters Christ, Who is the Way. The Way is the life in Christ. If the believer is going on with Christ, the drawing of the Lord begins pulling him deeper into that rich life of Christ. A number of questions may be asked,
"Is there a higher way within the Way?"
"Is there more to this Way than what I am living and experiencing?"
"Is there a highway within the Way, an elevated road within the Road?"
"Could the Water of Christ be turned into Wine?"
"According to Romans 6:4, could I be walking in newness of life (that is, a renewing of the new life in Christ)?"
"Could I be walking in the Spirit and not fulfilling the lust of the flesh?"
The Highway Within the Way
Isaiah 35:8 tells us of a highway within the way; that highway is called the way of holiness. The Apostle Paul spoke of a "more excellent way" (I Corinthians 12:31) or a loftier road within the road. This is part of the drawing of the Holy Spirit after we are born again. We are "in the way" which is Christ Himself. However, within Christ there is a highway, a more excellent way, or as stated in Acts 18:26, "the way of God more perfectly."
Why do not many professing Christians desire to grow deeper in Christ? Why are they content in simply being saved? We tend to stay in what we have and never desire to explore beyond the basics. The writer to the Hebrews alluded to this problem in 6:1-3:
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit.
We tend to want to stay in our limited view of Christ, fearing or neglecting to learn more of Him. But God's children must continue to grow both in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Part of that growth must be found in the holiness of Christ.
Seven spiritual ingredients mentioned in I Thessalonians 4:1-8 present the need of holiness in the life, the highway within the way, and insight to the drawings of this deepening life. (1) No man will walk higher than what he sees. Some theological systems hinder a person from seeing the full and rich atonement provided for him. (2) A man must be drawn in the way for biblical holiness. The children of Israel were driven from Egypt across the Red Sea, but they were drawn across Jordan to Canaan's land that flowed with milk and honey. There is a rest to be found when God forgives us of our sins (Matthew 11:28), but there is also a rest to be found in the deepening of our walk in Christ (Hebrews 4). (3) Holiness or sanctification is a biblical distinctive needed for the heart and the Way. (4) There must be a calling to holiness (4:7). (5) Holiness is for those who desire to walk with God, to please God, and to abound more and more. (6) Holiness deals with the small things in the Christian life. And, (7) holiness is a separation from sin unto God; it is an enabling grace to say no to evil on the road.
Holiness Leads to Consecration
The brethren at Jerusalem in a letter to the Gentile Christians stated that Barnabas and Paul were "men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 15:26). The word hazarded is in the perfect tense meaning that they have not only jeopardized their lives for the Lord but also "they have handed over" their lives for the Lord. It is a precious phrase declaring their consecration to Christ. Such a commentary on two individuals could only be true because the will and heart have been drawn by both the bold words of heaven as well as the whispers of heaven. Such a highway within the way is for those, like Moses, who will turn aside to this burning bush to see this burning truth of the holiness of God.
There are various words for holiness in the Old Testament. The most prominent word qodesh is used approximately 830 times. It is translated "to sanctify, holiness, holy" with also the meaning to "separate unto God." It has the more literal understanding of that which is "effulgent, brilliant." There is also the word kabod, which means "glory, weight, heaviness." In the New Testament we have the word hagios, which is translated "sanctify, or holiness." There is also the word exagorazo, which literally means "to be bought out of the market," bought and taken out of the market of sin. In John 17:17 we have the word hagnizo, which literally means, "a cleansing unto consecration."
Each of the above words is unique in presenting a certain aspect of the Holiness of God and that which a true believer can partake of (Hebrews 12:10b). The Shulamite in the beautiful Song of Solomon had constant longings for her King-Shepherd. We discern these longings in such cries as "draw me" (1:4), "tell me" (1:7), and "stay me" (2:5). It is evident throughout the story that her Beloved was calling unto her with consistency.
Reasons for Holiness in the Life
Just as the sinner comes to God for different reasons, so the longing in the Christian for the holiness of God may be for different reasons. Throughout the Bible we read of those who had longings for holiness of heart and life in a variety of drawings of heart. In Genesis 32 Jacob had the longing of being delivered from his "Jacob" nature, the need of the self-life to be changed by coming "face to face" with Christ. In Isaiah 6 the prophet Isaiah had been preaching for some six years before the death of "King Uzziah," a type of the Old Man (Romans 6:6). It was when this king died that Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up. The prophet Isaiah who pronounced woes against God's people in chapter five cries, "Woe is me" in chapter six. He came to know through the burning holiness of God of the purging needed in his life. Romans 7 speaks of the longing to be delivered from the spiritual civil war within, between the New Man in Christ and the Old Man. It is the cry, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (7:24). Gladly, the answer came, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." In Psalm 51 David's longing was to be made "whiter than snow," for a deliverance from the power of his birth pollution.
It is one thing to have the holiness of Christ to be imputed in our behalf in heaven, and it is another thing to have that holiness imparted in the heart and life. Once the working of sanctification and holiness is wrought in the heart and life, there is a longing for consecration of that life. The Christian may be able to dedicate his life to Christ, but only God can consecrate the life unto Himself.
Therefore, there is another longing that comes on the road, the Way, yea the highway within the Way. It is the longing for the consecration of one's life by God. The Nazarite vow of Numbers 6 typifies the longing of such a Christian in consecration. The consecrated Christian is no longer simply choosing between good and evil, but between good and best. The things of life, even the legitimate things are given up for Christ's glory. Another example of the consecrated life is in the Love Slave of Exodus 21. Consecration is when we begin serving Christ not out of obligation and necessity but out of deep love for Him.
When this longing and desire begins in the life, Christ begins to draw us to the whole burnt offering of Leviticus chapter one. This is a voluntary offering of wanting to lay the entirety of the heart and life upon the altar of Calvary. This is the life of Romans 12:1-2. In Exodus 33 Moses wanted God to show him His glory. Moses had a deep longing to know the kabod of God in his life; this is that weight of God's glory manifested in the life.
Yes, men come to Christ initially for different reasons, and Christians are drawn deeper in Christ initially for different longings and hungerings.
Conclusion
How often we have read the biographies of men and women who expressed these longings in their lives, even at times not knowing what the hunger and longing was about. They only knew there was a drawing for more of Christ in the life, more love for Christ, a pure heart, an anointed life they knew they did not have. Robert Murray McCheyne, David Brainerd, Hudson Taylor, Elizabeth Prentiss, Frances Havergal, George Whitefield, and John Wesley all possessed this longing for and drawing by Christ. They poured out their hearts to God with intensity for a variety of needs.
Have you known the drawings of God for a deeper prayer life, a deeper anointing in witnessing, teaching, or preaching? Have your desires for Christ intensified after a season of living with Christ? Do you want a deepening of His Presence, His Glory, and His Love?
In these days when professing Christians seem to care nothing for a life with Christ, to say nothing of an intense life with Christ, such a hunger must come to the Christian heart. The absence of such a drawing and hungering will produce the "lukewarmness" that Christ spoke about in the Laodicean Church (Revelation 3:15-16). Many truly are called unto holiness, but only a few will be chosen, will respond, and will yield to the drawings of their Beloved One. As God is not calling everyone at the same time to conversion, for many continue to have no moving of the Spirit upon them, there will be many professing Christians who will seem to have no moving of the Spirit toward a holy life. This lack is because they do not want a full life with Christ. They may hear the call to such a life, but they have no desire for it. Only God knows if they are truly saved.
Sadly, we often meet ministers and professing Christians who simply have no desire for the deeper things of God; they are content to live at the entrance of the Kingdom and hunger not for the exploration of that Kingdom in Christ and His Grace. And yet there is no Christian life without holiness of heart and life. "For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth [holiness], despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit" (I Thessalonians 4:7-8). But, "faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it" (5:24). Only a few seem to respond to this deeper call from God.
May the Lord not only draw sinners unto Christ, the Way, but also Christians, who are already in the Way, into the highway of holiness found within that Way. May our hunger for God truly intensify as the years unfold in our Christian walk.