Isreal's God Is Our God

Not only is Israel’s God our God, but His ways with Israel typify His ways with all Christians, as the chosen ones of God. The purpose of Israel’s discipline was to lead to repentance. The covenant God said to the prophet Jeremiah, “When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:10-13).

Those who did not repent would be treated “…like the bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness—indeed, thus says the LORD—so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt. I will make them a terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places where I will scatter them. I will send the sword, the famine and the pestilence upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers” (Jer. 24:8-10).

God had a reason for Judah to be driven away into captivity for 70 years. Often times it is necessary that we be carried from the Jerusalem of comfort to the Babylon of affliction. Sometimes our providential duties are a kind of affliction to us. We had no choice in determining whether we would assume them. However, the state of affliction is not forever. How many of our idolatries have not only been rebuked but rectified by God? Others have worshipped their jobs and, in bad health, lost them forever.

God’s people are under Divine discipline for a blessed and glorious conclusion. Listen to the prophet! “For thus says the LORD, I have heard a sound of terror, Of dread, and there is no peace. Ask now, and see If a male can give birth. Why do I see every man With his hands on his loins, as a woman in childbirth? And why have all faces turned pale? Alas! For that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s distress, But he will be saved from it. It shall come about on that day, declares the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves. But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them” (Jer. 30:5-9).

God’s choice of Israel began with a single person—Abraham. It continued with a single family—Jacob. Finally, God’s choice was completed with Israel—the smallest nation (Deut. 7:6-11). Concerning depraved men and their comprehension, they reprehend (voice disapproval of) what they do not apprehend (take in).

God’s sovereignty is the Divine will exercised without restraint, constraint, or obligation. Paul expressed it in Ephesians 3:14-21—“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

“Knowing the unknowable” is an intriguing subject. The word “intriguing” applies to something that attracts attention by arousing one’s curiosity, by baffling one’s understanding, or by thrilling one who knows that he has done nothing to deserve such a blessing. Consider the number of one’s objects, the value of the benefits, the cost of the sacrifice, the perpetuity of the superaddition, and the tenderness of compassion while it is going on. What a blessed attainment! When one considers the accomplishment (fulfillment, execution, completion, perfection, etc.), he realizes we can know by grace what we could never know by nature; and we can know by faith what we could never know by reason.

Solomon said, “…the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, That shines brighter and brighter until the full day” (Prov. 4:18). The path of the sheep is entered by the gateway of justification; its course is sanctification; and its consummation is glorification. The path of the righteous resembles the shining light in three respects: (1) As to origin, it emerges from the darkness at the dawn of day. Paul said, “…you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light” (Eph. 5:8). (2) The light is dim at the beginning. Christ said, “…I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness…” (John 8:12). The fruit of the Spirit is not hysteria and senseless muttering and screaming, but it is self-control. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Gal. 5:22, 23). (3) The light is progressive, until it reaches the perfect day.

The righteous person is not the believer who merely begins, but the individual who perseveres. His path is no meteor that gleams and expires, but it is the path of the cloudless light of heaven. It is not actuated by mere human impulse but by Divine principle. In whatever path we set out on in our spiritual journey, there is no standing still, because the grace of God never lies dormant.

Election is a fundamental fact of Scripture, and it has its relationship to the kingdom—“Then the King will say to those on His right, Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). Election is also the foundation of salvation. For anyone to avoid election as the foundation of either salvation or the kingdom is to disregard both. The covenant was made with Jews and not with Gentiles. Salvation was first given to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are to inherit with the chosen descendants of Abraham, as they are incorporated. The following things are to be fully considered concerning Israel and the assembly:

1. The Jewish nation was chosen with a view to the kingdom. “Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel” (Ex. 19:3-6). This is the first reference to Israel concerning God’s sovereignty and mercy in raising up the smallest nation to become God’s kingdom.

2. God’s choice of Israel, including Abraham’s descendants, in their associated capacity, is mentioned by Paul: “…who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons…” (Rom. 9:4). Paul also wrote, “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:28, 29). If the doctrine of election is not sufficient to stand on its own merit, why would more evidence be needed?

3. This election is unconditional according to God’s eternal purpose. Paul has much to say about the Greek noun for “purpose.” The noun is derived from the preposition pro and the verb tithemi. It literally means “to place beforehand” or “to set forth prior.” Jonathan Edwards said, “God does not do what He does, nor order what He orders, accidently and unawares; either without or beside His intention. And if there is a foregoing design of doing and ordering as He does, this is the same with a purpose or decree.”

4. The unbelief and sinfulness of the nation may remove the favor of God, but it does not affect the election. Hence, the restoration of Israel is linked with the establishment of the kingdom (Rom. 11).

5. The same chosen nation, chastened and scourged, scattered and dispersed, shall be recalled and exalted. “…I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both your older and your younger; and I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant. Thus I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, so that you may remember and be ashamed and never open your mouth anymore because of your humiliation, when I have forgiven you for all that you have done, the Lord GOD declares” (Ezek. 16:60-63).

6. While the nation comprising the natural descendants of Abraham is thus chosen, it does not follow that every individual in it is personally elected. The election is twofold, national and personal. This is the reason Paul said, “…For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel” (Rom. 9:6). The nation in its corporate capacity may reject the truth, but God is able to raise up children to Abraham out of stones (Matt. 3:9).

7. God has made provision for the chosen Gentiles by electing them, and by grafting them with preceding believers. Hence, they become heirs of the kingdom. James said, “Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” (James 2:5). Abraham represents the spiritual seed of the Jews. The middle wall of partition is broken down between Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 2), because there are believing Jews and believing Gentiles.

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The NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE—UPDATED EDITION is the source of all Scripture quotations in this message, unless otherwise noted.