Welcome back, friends! Yesterday we began a dive in search of knowing who the ‘chosen people’ of God are. Are they Jews, are they Christians…or is there something deeper we need to understand? As noted yesterday, Scripture is very specific in Deuteronomy that God chose the Jewish people. “Chosen” meaning selected for a specific purpose, not because they are more highly favored. God had a specific mission for the Jewish people which is being fulfilled even to this day.

Check out yesterday’s post if you missed it, then let’s pick it up here…

But why Israel? Because God had a specific assignment for a people group He would raise up from nothing! (There were no Jews before Abraham! Abraham himself was a pagan Gentile with whom God unilaterally made a covenant, making him the father of the Jews!) God would demonstrate His promise-keeping character despite the obstinance and rebellion of the Jewish people! They were far from perfect, but a perfect God in heaven would do what only He can do: use a broken instrument to become the vehicle of world redemption!

God’s work through the Jewish people was not because of their righteousness or for their sake. In Ezekiel 36:22-32, God makes that point very clear. The house of Israel profaned His name, and God acted for the sake of His holy name, not for the sake of Israel. By doing so, the nations would know that He is the Lord!

That passage also tells us that, because they profaned His name, God would drive them from the land He gave them (Israel), then would ultimately bring them back home, proving to all the nations that He is God. In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, scattering Jews literally around the world. Yet, following the Holocaust, the world witnessed the “dry bones” of Israel come alive once again (as Ezekiel 37 prophesied). To this day, Jews continue to return to Israel.

So, we see that Israel was called for a specific purpose, but does that mean they are more important or loved more than the rest of us? Of course not! Remember yesterday’s illustration regarding the wire brush and the toothbrush? You don’t love one more than the other, you simply choose the proper brush for the purpose you intend.

Part of the mission God gave the Jewish people is to bless all the people of the earth (Genesis 12:3). You see, God loves us enough to make us the object of blessing that He commanded of the Jewish people! He uses Abraham and his descendants to demonstrate His character…or at least that was the mission given. Because of Israel’s imperfection, God sent His only Son to be the Savior of the world! God accomplished His mission, but even that, He did through the Jewish people! Jesus was a Jew!

There is no legitimate way we can say God loves or prefers one over the other! God gave one family (Abraham and his descendants) a specific purpose through an everlasting covenant, so that we (Gentiles) would have an open door to the “chosen family.”  Romans 11 tells us we are grafted into the olive tree…and the heritage of Abraham. We don’t become Jewish, nor does the church replace Israel. But by faith, we become partakers of the promises and destiny of Israel.

The apostle Paul writes that, before faith in Jesus, we were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise (Ephesians 2:12). Yet through Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, we are brought in!

You see, despite Israel’s disobedience and, at times, obstinance, God never changed His mind or inserted the church in place of Israel. Instead, He brought us (Christians) into the benefit of the promises made to Abraham. We are truly blessed by the Jewish Messiah, and we are to reflect that blessing back to the Jewish people and to everyone around the world!