Volume 21, Issue 1 _________________________________Bible Prophecy Ministry


Why Did God Choose Israel?



      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.

      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.

      Lets begin by establishing the fact that God didn't actually choose an existing nation when he struck a covenant with Abraham. God had recently judged the entire world of nations with the Great Flood, when he called unto Abraham to leave his native land of Ur, and embark on a journey into another land.

      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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