This is my third bulletin article regarding the topic of “God’s chosen people” and where the nation of Israel really fits into that topic. I believe this to be very important, mostly because it is misleading to many Christians.
Perhaps the biggest question you have is this: If the Jews really aren’t God’s chosen people—as you say, Pastor—then why did God give them that title? Well, I think that is a great question. The disconnect has to do with what God really meant by that statement and what we assumed He meant. The answer is simple: When God directed the phrase, “My chosen people” toward the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, He was only addressing a subset of the whole nation. In several places, this subset is referred to as the “remnant” of Israel.
The Old Testament must be interpreted with the New Testament in mind; they are not separate. In fact, the Old Testament supports and predicts the coming of Christ and the need for His death and resurrection to bring salvation to mankind. The coming of Christ is central to everything in the Bible and cannot be disregarded or treated as disconnected from the Old Testament.
Later in the Old Testament, the Prophet Elijah was on the run. 1 Kings records a conversation the Lord had with him when he was “found” hiding in a cave. “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me too.”
The Lord said to him, “…I reserve 7,000 in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.” 1 Ki 19:13-18.
Because the nation never had faith, they resented and rejected the Lord’s covenant with them. Without faith, you cannot worship Him as He really is, and His law is a hated burden. Through faith, His law is a precious reflection of His righteousness, love, and provision. Out of the millions of Jews inhabiting the northern and southern kingdoms at that time (for the nation had split), the Lord only counted 7,000 among them who believed Him according to faith! This is also referred to as the remnant. The Apostle Paul recounts the following: “Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ‘Though the number of Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.’” Rom 9:29. In chapter 11, Paul then asks the very question we are tackling here: “Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew…So too, at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. Rom 11:1,2,5,6. God “foreknew” (chose) the remnant before time began.
God tells the story of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament simply to show that mankind needs a Savior. Israel’s story proves that mankind is ruled by sin and rebellion and cannot, as an act of his will, seek the one true God or please Him. It is simply impossible. And Israel’s story is overflowing with details of God’s bountiful blessings amid their inability to worship Him with their hearts. God KNEW this is how the story would go. All the better to prove His point. The Lord, speaking to Moses, said, “When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their forefathers, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant.” Dt 31:20. What a prediction! If that is the case, we might ask why God bothered with Israel at all! Answer: Because the story must be told. It is OUR story. He could have used any nation. The result would not have changed. When left to his own intentions and devices, mankind’s righteousness is as filthy rags. Man is born in opposition to God and ruled by sin. These are things that he cannot change, no matter how hard he tries. The story is cleverly and precisely interwoven with prophecies of the coming Messiah. Israel’s story is quoted often in the New Testament to clarify why Jesus came, illuminate the magnificence of the cross, and lay a foundation for why we must be born again to enter God’s kingdom.
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