His choice, Not ours [part 2]

Published in Pasugo, March 2005

God sets apart a people for Himself according to …
His choice, Not ours (second of six parts)

NOT ALL SERVICES TO GOD are worthy of His acceptance. Others may find this statement hard to swallow but it is the truth. Since man began yearning to return to God after falling from His grace, it has been manifested through generations that, indeed, there are services to God which He accepts and there are those He rejects. It’s not a question of God’s kindness and mercy. It’s a matter of His being the Sovereign Lord whose will is to prevail over all.

Adam and Eve’s son, Cain, could not accept God’s will that it was only his brother Abel’s offerings which the Lord deemed worthy. And what happened to Cain? Filled with envy, he committed an unprecedented evil during his time – the murder of his own kin – which only pushed him farther away from the true God whose love he once sought (Gen. 4:1-24).

So, if we truly yearn to seek God and obtain His grace, we ought to accept and respect His sovereign will that it is He who chooses or sets apart people to serve Him, and that apart from such an election, any service to God is unacceptable to Him.

God’s election continues
In the first installment of this series, we browsed through the history of the first two successive generations of God’s chosen people, both of which started with one man. First, there was Seth, from which came the first generation of “the Lord’s people” (Gen. 4:25-26, Living Bible). These people, however, failed to uphold their distinction of being God’s sons and daughters, as they mixed the holy race by marrying people from whom He set them apart.

And then, there was Noah. The lone person during those times who found favor in God’s sight, Noah was divinely commissioned to build an ark, which served as God’s lone instrument in saving him and seven members of his family from the great flood that ended he first generation of God’s people along with the rest of ancient mankind.

From Noah began a new age of mankind, which like their fore-fathers later on grew stubborn and self-willed. Refusing to obey God’s commandment that they should scatter all over the earth, these people conspired to build a city with a tall tower that would have kept them from going their separate ways. So, like the generation they replaced, the descendants of Noah fell away from God’s love and they were given to confusion.

But that was not the end of it all. God’s sovereign will of choosing people to serve Him continued. From among the descendants of Noah’s son Shem, God called Abram and told him, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen. 12:1-3, New International Version)

Note that Abram, who was later renamed Abraham, was commanded by God to leave his country, his people, and his father’s household. Clearly, Abraham was set apart from the rest of the people so that from him a great nation would rise to render true service to God. As it was with Noah, God’s calling of Abraham signaled the beginning of a new chapter in the history of God’s chosen people.

God’s nation Israel
A great nation did spring from Abraham as promised to him by God. From Isaac, Abraham’s only son with Sarah, came Jacob who, in turn, fathered twelve sons from whom came the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus came to pass God’s promise contained in the covenant He made with Abraham. Israel, Abraham’s seed in the flesh, was established as the people chosen by God as His own:

“The covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant.” (Ps. 105:9-10, Ibid.)

By virtue of their divine election, the Israelite nation enjoyed many God-given privileges exclusive to them. These included the following:

· The distinction of being God’s own people
Of all the many peoples on earth at that time, all of whom were God’s creation, it was only the Israelites whom God recognized as His own people, His treasured possession:

“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.” (Deut. 7:6, Ibid.)

· The right to inherit God’s promises
God did not merely pronounce to the Israelites their being His people; He proved this to them by blessing them with the many triumphs and victories He promised them:

“There is no other nation on earth like Israel, whom you rescued from slavery to make them your own people. The great and wonderful things you did for them have spread your fame throughout the world. You drove out other nations and their gods as your people advanced, the people whom you set free from Egypt to be your own. You have made Israel your own people forever, and you, LORD, have become their God.” (II Sam. 7:23-24, Today’s English Version)

· The revelation of God’s law
One great blessing unique to God’s nation Israel is the giving of the Law to bind them in their services to Him:

“He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the LORD.” (Ps 147:19-20, NIV)

· The right to render true worship
With the Law revealed to them, the people of Israel were blessed with the exalted position of having the Lord as their God. As such, they had the exclusive right to acknowledge and worship God, and be acknowledged by Him in return:

“…There is no God in all the world except in Israel…” (II Kings 5:15, Ibid.)

“They are God’s people; he made them his sons and revealed his glory to them; he made his covenants with them and gave them the Law; they have the true worship; they have received God’s promises.” (Rom. 9:4, TEV)


The basis: His choice
All the wonderful blessing which the Israelites received from God manifested His great love for His chosen people. Why they alone, and not other nations, were blessed by God with such an exalted position was not because of their size for, indeed, many other nations in those times outnumbered them. Israel became God’s elect based on the choice made by God Himself:

“It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples; but it is because the LORD loves you, and is keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.” (Deut. 7:7-9, Revised Standard Version)

Faithful as He is, God chose to keep His covenant with His friend, Abraham (James 2:23), that it was only to him and to his seed that He would give the right to serve Him on the condition that they would be true to Him. This was the basis of God’s election of Israel as His people. As it had been since the beginning, so it was in the time of ancient Israel; it was His sovereign will – and not any body else’s – that should prevail over all.

There is one important point here that should not be overlooked, especially by those who think it is unlikely that God would elect only one small group of people to serve Him. When it comes to serving God, the adage “the majority rules” does not apply. In the prophetic era, Israel was “the smallest nation on earth” (Deut 7:7, TEV), and yet, it was the only nation on earth that was with God at that time (II Kings 5:15).

A holy nation gone awry
The people of Israel, however, did not remain as God’s faithful servants. Glancing at the history of this nation, one could see a repeated pattern of disobedience and disloyalty to the one true God who gave them the best of everything.

From as early as the time they were delivered from slavery in Egypt through Moses, the Israelites had risen against God. They doubted His power, questioned the authority of His messengers, and exchanged Him for other gods by worshiping idols. Many times, God’s anger burned against them for their sins. It even came to a point where, as punishment for their unbelief, God made the Israelites wander in the desert for 40 years “until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone” (Num. 32:13, NIV).

And yet, their unfaithfulness continued. Throughout their history as a nation – from their entrance to Canaan to the establishment and eventual split of their kingdom – the Israelites went to violate the sanctity of their calling. They intermarried with pagans, worshipped their idols, and defiled themselves (Ps. 106:35-40, Ibid.)

Because of their stubbornness, the Israelite nation was given to spiritual decline which, in time, terminated their history as God’s chosen people. This is apparent in the writings of the latter prophets, one of whom was Jeremiah:

“The LORD answered, ‘This has happened because my people have abandoned the teaching that I gave them. They have not obeyed me or done what I told them. Instead, they have been stubborn and have worshipped the idols of Baal as their fathers taught them to do. So then, listen to what I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, will do: I will give my people bitter plants to eat and poison to drink. I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have heard about, and I will send armies against them until I have completely destroyed them’.” (Jer. 9:13-16, TEV)

Thus, the Israelites lost their blessed position of being God’s chosen people. No longer are they recognized by God as His chosen nation.

But this was not where it all ended. God’s covenant with Abraham and his seed, everlasting as it is, was to continue even after Israel fell in the way of apostasy. Thus Apostle Paul alluded to a “remnant seed” prophesied by Isaiah that will be saved:

“Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: ‘Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, The remnant will be saved.’…

“And as Isaiah said before: ‘Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah.’” (Rom. 9:27, 29, New King James Version)

Lessons to be learned
To whom this prophecy was fulfilled and how through such a remnant seed God’s election of His people would continue are topics for discussion in the succeeding parts of this study.

At this point, however, it is important to note that there is much to learn from what happened to Israel. In tracing its history, we see the truth shine even brighter. Indeed, it is God’s standing policy to set apart a people for Himself. And it is only to the people of His choice that God grants the exclusive right to serve Him, along with all the many blessings and privileges of being counted as His own.

But being chosen by God does not come without responsibility. Failure to comply with God’s laws and requirements, as what the Israelites and their ancestors before them did, will result in the loss of one’s God-given right of being counted among His chosen people.

May these truths, though unappealing to others, serve to enlighten all who yearn for God’s acceptance and salvation.

Note: summary

· From among Noah’s descendants, God called Abraham, and promised to make him a people of His choice
· God blessed Abraham with a son with Sarah, Isaac
· Isaac begot Jacob from whom sprung the twelve tribes of Israel
· From slavery in Egypt, the Israelites were delivered by God through Moses
· The Israelites sinned against the Lord (unbelief, idolatry, disloyalty…)
· God punished the Israelites for their unbelief – allowed them to wander in the desert for 40 years
· The Israelites’ entrance to Canaan, the land of promise
· The Israelites sinned against the Lord (idolatry, intermarriage with pagans, defilement of their sacred calling…)
· The establishment of Israel as a kingdom
· The Israelites sinned against the Lord (rejection of temple worship, idolatry, refusal to listen to God’s messengers…)
· The kingdom became divided – Ten tribes in Israel (North); two tribes in Judah (South)
· The people sinned against the Lord (stubbornness, idolatry, intermarriage with pagans…)
· From glory to shame: The people were given to defeat, captivity and spiritual decline
· God promised to continue His covenant with Abraham through a prophesied “remnant seed”

(TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT MONTH’S ISSUE)