“If the Lord of host had not left us offspring we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.” Romans 9:29
Sold under the curse of sin mankind was doomed from the moment that Adam transgressed. In him there remained no ability to walk uprightly before God on his own agency. “Their foolish hearts were darkened”. Such that if God had not set aside an offspring for himself from among mankind all would have remained doomed, deceived, and darkened. The default of mankind since the fall is to rebel against God and all would unless God would choose to rescue some to display the glory of his grace and the immensity of his mercy. If God had not done this we would be “like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.” Unless God had left us an offspring we would have all headed to destruction and eternal ruin, a display to the universe of the infinite justice of God. In choosing an offspring from among fallen man God did not pervert his justice but he sent Christ “who came in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh”. The curse of Adam became his on the cross in order that God could justly gather in his remnant offspring. We (the elect offspring) were vessels prepared beforehand for glory, but hostage to our deadly curse of sin and the wrath that was stored up against us, thus God ransomed us with the blood of Jesus.
In other words election is God’s vehicle to gather in his children from the corners of the earth. Apart from this wonderful grace of God we would all justly be destroyed. It is a great mystery as to who God has “given the right to become children of God” but it is one that we rejoice in. It is impossible for man to justify himself or even choose a sort of assent to a creed that some might call faith for so deep is our depravity. We would be without hope as the race of mankind if God did not adopt from among us an offspring. In this mystery the mercy and severity of God are made clear.