The Chosen People of God Church of Christ at Medina May 24th, 2015 God’s Promises The Chosen People of God Church of Christ at Medina May 24th, 2015

The Promises of God to Abram Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:1-3, ESV

Summary of the Promises to Abram Land Genesis 15:18-21 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” Genesis 15:18-21, ESV “And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” Genesis 17:8, ESV

Summary of the Promises to Abram Land Genesis 15:18-21 Nation Genesis 15:4-6 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:4-6, ESV

Summary of the Promises to Abram Land Genesis 15:18-21 Nation Genesis 15:4-6 Seed Blessing Genesis 12:1-3 Now the LORD said to Abram…“and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:1-3

Abram’s Departure “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” Hebrews 11:8-10, ESV The active faith of Abram was very important in the plan of God. God’s promises to Abram – and to his descendants – were dependent upon their obedience. (Genesis 17:1-2, 22:16-18, 26:2-5).

God’s Fulfillment of the Promises to Abram Land Joshua 21:43-45 Nation Seed Blessing Thus the LORD gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And the LORD gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass. Joshua 21:43-45, ESV

God’s Fulfillment of the Promises to Abram Land Joshua 21:43-45 Nehemiah 9:7-8 Nehemiah 9:22-25 Nation Seed Blessing “You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.” Nehemiah 9:7-8, ESV The land promise had a condition – Israel must remain faithful! (Deut. 30:15-20, Joshua 23:1-13)

God’s Fulfillment of the Promises to Abram Land Nation Exodus 1:8-10 Deut. 4:1-8 Seed Blessing “See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?” Deuteronomy 4:5-8, ESV

God’s Fulfillment of the Promises to Abram Land Nation Seed Blessing Abraham becomes the vehicle through which God will bless all the families or nations of the earth. Families or Nations This means that God did not intend for the blessings to be for the Jews alone. Consider the prophecies of Isaiah: Isaiah 42:1 Isaiah 49:6 Isaiah 56:6-7 Isaiah 55:3-5 What is it that all nations need? Answer: Salvation

God’s Fulfillment of the Promises to Abram Land Nation Seed Blessing God used the physical descendants of Abraham to bring about the greatest blessing of all – Jesus Christ. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” – Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:22. Jesus then is the fulfillment of the seed promise to Abraham to bless believing Jews and Gentiles alike. Those who act in faith become the heirs of Abraham. (Galatians 3:16-29)

God’s Fulfillment of the Promises to Abram Land Nation Seed Blessing “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” (1 Timothy 2:3-6, ESV) “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9 ESV) “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” - 1 John 2:2, ESV

So, what remains of the promise? If God has fulfilled the promises He made to Abram, then what remains? Are the Jews still the ‘chosen people of God’? Will the Israelites again one day receive their land promise? Will, as some premillennialists teach, Jesus set up a kingdom in Jerusalem once again because they were promised an ‘everlasting kingdom’? What does the promises mean to those who are Christians?

The Chosen People of God As we have already proven, the physical descendants of Abraham, the Jews, were the chosen lineage by which God would bring about a universal blessing on all nations. They were also chosen by God to receive a special law through the mediator Moses which provide a means for holiness until the Seed promise came (Galatians 3:21-25). Today, though, the chosen people of God are not a specific physical nationality. Rather, they are the spiritual people of God.

The Chosen People of God “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.” (Galatians 6:11-16, ESV)

The Chosen People of God The book of Galatians refers to Christians in the following ways… “Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.” (4:28) “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (3:29) “But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.” (4:26) The New Testament plainly teaches that the church – those who obey God in faith – is the family, household, temple and nation of God.

The Chosen People of God Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

The Chosen People of God And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:11-22 ESV)

The Chosen People of God As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:4-5, 9-10 ESV)

The Chosen People of God So, it is no longer the physical flesh that God calls His own people, but those who become part of the spiritual family of God. The apostles made it clear that the physical flesh meant nothing under the law of Christ… Philippians 3:2-11

The Chosen People of God Also, the land of Palestine (Israel) is not promised to return to the Jews. They already received their land promise, but lost it because of their disobedience. (2 Kings 17, etc.) Jesus will not be returning to this earth again to establish a throne in Jerusalem because He has already fulfilled God’s plan (John 17:4). Instead, He is coming back to render judgment and call home His faithful ones (2 Thess. 1:7-10, 1 Thess. 4:13-18)

Resources The Kingdom of Promise and Prophecy, Robert L. Whiteside, 1956. The Abrahamaic Covenant, Daniel King Sr., from the 2007 Florida College Lectureships Scheme of Redemption, R. Milligan, Faith and Facts Press, Indianapolis. Pictures taken from “The Bible Visualized Old Testament”