This is how Peter described God’s people (1 Peter 2:9):

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

I see there the words ‘chosen’ and ‘called’. John records Jesus telling the disciples with Him that He had chosen them (John 6:70, 15:16 and 15:19). We read how He literally asked them to follow Him. All God’s people are chosen; thus we read at 2 Thessalonians 2:13:

God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth

I’ve emphasised the phrases “from the beginning” and “sanctification of the Spirit”. In Romans 8:29-30 we read:

For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.

Not only does the Almighty do the choosing, it seems that He did it long before His chosen even lived. Peter calls His people “a chosen generation.” Isaiah writes in chapter 41:4

Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am He.

Later (46:9-10), Isaiah writes:

I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.

Turning to the “sanctification of the Spirit”, we know that John the Baptist went before Jesus. This is what John the Baptist said (Matthew 3:11)

I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.

John the Baptist was a worthy servant of God, surely. Not only does he say he is not “worthy to bear” Jesus’ shoes, Jesus says this of John the Baptist and His chosen people (Luke 7:26-28)

But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet.

This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

Now that to me is a remarkable thing. What could possibly make me greater than John the Baptist? He whom Jesus described as “much more than a prophet”, a “messenger” sent by the Father to “prepare [the] way” for Jesus. I can think of only one thing that would make me greater than John the Baptist: the “sanctification of the Spirit”. So I’ll deal with that next time.