Why Did God Choose The Jews?
by George F Spall
It is time we all came to a true understanding of Israel's place in God's plan. Both the people of Israel and the land of Israel were chosen of God as many Scriptures indicate. Genesis 12:1-9 and 15:1-21 are but two of them. Likewise important is Deuteronomy 4:26-39. We dare not draw only spiritual lessons from Old Testament passages of Scripture, for this will lead to a degree of ignorance about the sovereignty of God in His choice of Israel.
God's plan of redemption is not just to redeem lost sinners; they are being redeemed as part of God's intention to re-establish His throne. The spiritualizing of the Word of God has resulted in big areas being left out because they do not lend themselves to preconceived notions we may have espoused.
THE WOMAN WAS CHOSEN
Adam lost communication, communion and command when he disobeyed God. Man immediately needed a Redeemer who would be a Prophet to restore communication, a Priest to restore communion, and a King to restore command. Because mankind came from Adam, the Fall came upon us all. And if the wages of sin, death, came upon all, then the Creation spelt utter failure. If God did not punish sin, then the Devil could impeach God's justice. He could challenge: "Why punish me and not them?"
To create another Adam would risk the whole process over again. And what would happen to the present Adamic race? God's incredible answer to the problem was to become Man Himself so that He could suffer the punishment and so be seen to be just, and the justifier of all that believe in Him.
Adam was created innocent. God in the person of His Son the Messiah was born innocent. To ensure that the Messiah was God in the flesh, it was necessary that God implant His God-life into such a mother who could nurture that special life. It called for a virgin, indeed, THE virgin, for she was chosen as surely as the people and the land of Israel were chosen.
THE RACE WAS CHOSEN
Thus God separated Abraham from his idolatrous nation in order to give the Son who would be born racial identity; he chose Isaac and not Ishmael to demonstrate His sovereignty in this special life; He next separated Jacob from Esau to give the Messiah nationality, for Jacob became Israel; He chose Judah, establishing his superiority so that the house of David would bestow royalty and the right to reign over the chosen nation which would be a blessing to the whole world; finally a human mother gave Him His humanity.
These deliberate and sovereign choices demonstrate the Messiah's right to be Prophet, Priest and King, and His death as the Lamb of God, in Jerusalem and at Passover when millions of observant Jews were there to witness it and the miracle two earthquakes, the darkness and the resurrection, meant that the story went round the earth as they returned to their homes.
We read in the fifth chapter of the Letter to the Romans of the principle, extant even in human government, that the head represents the whole.
So if "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men ... even so by the righteousness of one came upon all men justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (Romans 5:12,18,19).
One man brought in death, so it is right for one Man to bring in righteousness. The righteousness of God made it inevitable that He become involved with our sinful estate. And pay the price! Such grace! In the Greek, the word for just, dikaios , and the word for righteousness, dikaiosune , are twins. No wonder God says "there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12), for neither Buddha nor Mahomet nor any other religious leader is in a position to put sin away. No one is saved by being nice or good or sincere; only the Messiah who is the God-Man who died can effect this salvation.
THE LAND WAS CHOSEN ALSO
Nimrod established Babylon worship, which spawned all kinds of idolatry all over the world with its centre in Babylon itself. The last book in the Bible speaks of God's judgement, not only on the wicked Babylonian religious system, but also on the place where it all originated, Babylon the city. The religious system's destruction is recorded in chapter 17 and the destruction of the city Babylon, which will yet be rebuilt, is recorded in chapter 18 of Revelation.
God's answer to Babylon is Jerusalem, and the land of Israel, formerly called Canaan, nurtured the nation of Israel into which was born the King of Israel, even Yeshua the Messiah. A man must live somewhere and to have identity needs a nation and a family.
In the days of the Old Testament the location of the Land lent itself to being the venue for demonstrating the blessings of being the people of God. Had the people of Israel kept all God's laws constantly, their prosperity and peace as in Solomon's day would have brought blessing to all the world, whose diplomats and traders could see how good it was to belong to the LORD Jehovah. The Land was a showpiece of righteousness till sin brought in such devastation. It was cheap missionary work in those halcyon days, for the people needing the teaching about God's ways would actually come to the Land to see what was happening! Did not the Queen of Sheba and her retinue?
The Land was hallowed by the Jewish monotheism. It provided the perfect place for the Cross and the empty Tomb. Its centrality meant that millions witnessed the event and could speedily travel from where it all happened to their home countries to spread the word of the Lord's salvation.
Prophecy teaches us that in the latter days this very centrality will bring all nations to the Land for God's final judgement. "I will gather all nations against Jerusalem ... then shall the LORD go forth to fight against those nations" (Zechariah 14:2,3). Armageddon will be fought in that Land, and the LORD will reign in Zion in the "times of restitution of all things" (Acts 3:21), the Millennium, when all the surviving peoples of the world "every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles" (Zechariah 14:16).
Why did God choose the Jews? "Thus says the LORD of hosts, There shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also. Yes, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD ... ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the garment of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you" (Zechariah 8:20-23). That's why.