Volume 21, Issue 1 _________________________________Bible Prophecy Ministry
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I Chronicles 16:13 says: O ye seed of Israel his servant,
ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
The Bible is quite conclusive about the fact that
God has indeed chosen one people over all others in
the world. Why would God make such a distinction?
It would seem to be an antithetical action for the
Creator of all people to choose one people from all
other peoples, to a status of "God's Chosen people".
I was speaking at a particular church once about
the significance of Israel in end time prophetic events,
extolling the fact that God had promised the Jews
the land of Israel, and would honor his commitment
to his chosen nation. After the service, a man shook
hands with me on his way out the door, and stated,
"I wouldn't serve a God that favors one people over
another".
His statement briefly caught me by surprise, but I
quickly realized his sincerity in making that remark.
I looked him in the eye, realizing his unfamiliarity as
to why God would choose Israel; and simply replied,
"Well, sir, I wouldn't either!"
His statement caused me to reflect on the various
implications that result from misunderstanding God's
divine providential plan concerning Israel. History is
filled with examples of misguided theology as to why
God has chosen Israel, and specifically whether God
has in fact replaced Israel with the Church.
The man's statement, "I could not accept a God
that favors one people over another", carries with it
the attached stigma that if God prefers one nation
over another, then he isn't a fair and just God. This
attitude also diminishes the role of Israel in historical
prophecy. This is a serious mistaken point of view if
God has indeed made a choice among nations.
This disassociation of Israel as being the "Chosen
Nation," is in essence the foundational basis for the
teaching of Replacement Theology. It lays the footing
for religious terrorism.
Replacement Theology teaches that Israel lost its
covenant heritage that God promised Abraham when
Israel crucified Jesus, and that the institution of the
Church has replaced Israel in God's covenant.
This type of theological interpretation has served
as the launching pad for church sponsored aggression
and persecution of Israel for centuries.
I think it is important to realize, that when God
makes a promise, he keeps it, regardless of whether
or not the contracting party involved is faithful to
their promises or not.
God is faithful and true to his word. His actions
do not diverge, or change, simply because someone
else could not, or would not honor their pledges. If
God were to change anything based on the actions
of others, then he wouldn't be God! Thusly, salvation
could never be an assurance, if God simply changed
his mind to offer it to us, because we failed to live
up to our side of the bargain.
Personally, I wouldn't serve a God who changes. It
would be very hectic, and not very reassuring!
In light of today’s world events, it is essential to
understand why God set aside Israel from all other
nations, and that he is not prejudiced, or biased in
that association. The Christian message always suffers
in regions where antisemitism has taken root.
Abraham was born only about 400 years after the
great flood, indicating that the world's population at
the time of the calling of God was quite small. In
fact, Noah died only two years before Abraham was
born.
In reality, there wasn't any nations with established
and defined borders such as is common today. There
only existed a network of city-states. It was just such
colonies as these that Nimrod established a system of
defensive alliances for, thus enabling him the capacity
to enforce a consolidation into a one world order!
Nimrod was born only about 250 years earlier than
Abraham. It became Satan’s scheme to compel all the
tribes of the earth to "come together", to conform to
a centralized and uniform system of religion, culture,
and economic geopolitical union.
All these city-state and tribal regions were involved
in pagan polytheism. Nimrod was even worshipped as
the manifested son of God, or sun god. Among these
city states were Erech, Accad, Larsa, Babel, Fara, Kish,
Lagash, Eridu, Nippur, and Ur.
It was from out of the city of Ur, that God called
Abraham for the purpose of constituting a nation to
be a testimony of the one true God!
Genesis 12:3 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee
out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy own
fathers house, unto a land that I will show thee:
This is the Abrahamic Covenant. God could have
chosen anyone he wished to become the Father of a
new nation to be the vehicle of his testimony. Maybe
he did call others. The Bible doesn't relate any info
about whether anyone else was called upon to father
a new nation, but one thing is for certain; if anyone
else was called they didn't respond the way Abraham
did. Abraham obeyed, and left Ur, and departed from
the Pagan world to follow God.
So, in essence, God did not choose Israel, he chose
Abram, and Abram chose to accept. It is noteworthy
to remember that the name of Israel only came into
existance when God changed Jacob's name to Israel.
Genesis 12:2-3 And I will make of thee a great nation,
and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou
shalt be a blessing:
And I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse him
that curseth thee: and in thee shall ALL families of the earth
be blessed.
In this covenant, God pronounces blessings for all
people through the action that he and Abraham have
entered into agreement on.
Now, does that sound like God favors one people
over another in so far as his love and compassion is
concerned? Indeed not.
God loves every nation, and every tribe, and every
family. It was expedient for God to choose someone
to embody the lineage of his intended blessings. The
great irony of God having a "chosen nation", is that
if God hadn't chosen someone, somewhere, sometime,
then; nobody could ever be the benefactor of an all
encompassing love that God wishes to bless us with!
Regular subscribers will remember from October's
newsletter that God foreordained from before creation
that he would manifest himself into the human seed
pool of nations, to become the expressed manifestation
of God's love for all mankind. By entering into the
covenant with an obedient Abraham, God was in fact
keeping his word!
The great concern and mystery to me is not that
he chose who he chose, but that he would choose at
all! Thanks be to God for choosing anyone, anytime,
anywhere!
This choice proves that God is love. This choosing
by God further shows that he loves lost people just
as much as he loves obedient people.
After all, the Abrahamic Covenant instituted a plan
whereby all people could be blessed through their
own freedom to choose to accept God's manifestant.
II Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise
as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come
to repentance.
So then, in our modern world of nation states, we
need to be mindful of the explosive nature of ethnic
undercurrents, which Satan utilizes in his pursuit to
destroy that ages old testimony of National Israel to
all the gentile nations of the world.
The gospel is to be preached unto all nations, and
all peoples, races, and cultures.
God is not biased against the Arab nations, or the
Palestinians, or anyone else. To the contrary, he has
offered even the enemies of Israel his love. There are
Christians today in every nation of the world. Christ
is the only means of peace and harmony among the
nations. The nations of our world are afflicted with
a demonic madness that hates the fact that God has
chosen a nation to demonstrate his omnipotence.
At this point in this article, I would like to shift
your attention from the fact that God chose Abram
to father the national vehicle of Israel, to the reality
of the consequences of being the one chosen by God.
Most people presume that Israel had been elevated
to a status of elitism, or preferential treatment simply
because God chose a nation. But let me make clear
a very important point about this selection.
The point of emphasis is this: When God chooses
anyone, nation or person, Satan singles them out as
targets of persecution. So, when God chose Israel, in
essence the devil chose them also.
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Israel is often referred to as the "chosen people",
or the "chosen nation". It is a monicker that often
seems to indicate that God has historically preferred
and favored one nation or people over all others. 