Psalm 125:2 - As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even forever.

Psalm 121:4 - Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Deuteronomy 7:6 - “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.  The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession.”

Deuteronomy 10:15  -  “Yet the Lord set His affection on your ancestors and loved them, and He chose you, their descendant, above all the nations - as it is today.”

 

Why does the Lord love this tiny nation of Israel so very much?

 

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 - The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:  But because the LORD loved you, and because He would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers….

   

     God chose the nation of Israel to be the people through whom Jesus Christ would be born - The Savior from sin and death.  God first promised the Messiah after Adam and Eve’s fall into sin (Gen. 3:15).  God later confirmed that the Messiah would come from the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Gen. 12:1-3).  Jesus Christ is the ultimate reason why God chose Israel to be His chosen people.

 

     God desire for Israel was that they would go and teach the Gentile nations about Yahweh.  Israel was to be a nation of priests, prophets and missionaries to the world.  God’s intent was for Israel to be distinct people, a nation who pointed others towards God and His promise of a Messiah.  For the most part, Israel failed in this task.  However, God’s ultimate purpose for Israel - that of bringing Messiah into the world - was fulfilled perfectly in the Person of Jesus Christ.  However, God is not through with His people.  “Hath God cast away His people?  God forbid,” Romans 11:1.  He will graft them back into the tree again.  Read Romans 11:18-32.  Keep your eyes on Israel - politically, militarily and most of all, spiritually.  Things are going to get very interesting.

 

                                                                    ~Pastor Carpenter