The Elect

The scriptures speak of the “elect,” especially in conjunction with the last days.  Who are the elect and what do we know about them?  Isaiah also spoke Messianically about the Savior calling Him “mine elect” (Isaiah 42:1).  Ultimately the Savior is the only one who is truly elect—He was the foreordained and the One chosen in the council in heaven.  Yet despite human weakness and sin, the “elect” as defined in the scriptures include other groups.  In another Isaiah passage Jehovah also called Israel “mine elect” (Isaiah 45:4).  Israel is the covenant people, and so perhaps one way to describe the elect is that they are the covenant people of the Lord.  In our dispensation the Lord said this: “And ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect; for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts” (D&C 29:7). He further described the elect in another revelation: “And even so will I gather mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, even as many as will believe in me, and hearken unto my voice” (D&C 33:6).  So if we want to know if we are elect, I guess we have to evaluate ourselves against these two verses: do we hear His voice and harden not our hearts?  Do we believe in Christ and hearken to His voice?  The elect is not a group that was elected unconditionally before this world; the elect are those who use their agency to hear and heed the Savior’s voice. 

We know that part of the great mission of the kingdom of God in the last days is to gather the elect.  In the vision to Enoch in the Pearl of Great Price the Lord said this: “Righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth” (Moses 7:62).  The elect are not confined to a single country; they will be found across the whole earth and we will recognize them by the fact that they can hear the voice of the Savior and not harden their hearts.  One of the most troubling scriptures about the elect is found in the Savior’s Olivet discourse.  Speaking of the last days He made this prophecy: “For in those days there shall also arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch, that, if possible, they shall deceive the very elect, who are the elect according to the covenant” (JSM 1:22).  In that same discourse speaking of the events around 70 AD He said, “Except those days should be shortened, there should none of their flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake, according to the covenant, those days shall be shortened” (JSM 1:20).  Surely that verse applies also to the prophecy’s concerning the last days, and the Lord is going to shorten the suffering and trials and deceptions of the end times so that the elect will not be deceived.  The scripture certainly suggests that it will not be easy to stay faithful in the last days or to see clearly truth from error.  With so many false Christs and false prophets and unexplainable signs we will have to be extremely tuned to the voice of the Spirit to understand and see the truth for what it is.  We must never stop seeking to hear the voice of the Lord, or the other voices of the world will drown it out and we will be deceived.