To Encourage You

1 Peter 2:9 “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.”

One of the many ills that has plagued mankind over the centuries is the issue of prejudice.  It is evident in the racism that has existed for hundreds of years in the United States. It’s behind the torturous treatment of the Uyghurs in China today by the communist government.  In Israel today there is the ongoing conflict between the Palestinians and the Jews. Of course, that’s nothing new, as the Jews have expressed hatred for those who weren’t Jews (and vice versa) since the very beginning of this nation’s existence.  Since Israel’s founding, they’ve been characterized by the moniker “God’s chosen people,” for God Himself called them by this name.  For example, in Deuteronomy 7:6 we have these words: “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”  And in Isaiah 41:8-9 we have this: “Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, ‘You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off.’” This concept was deeply engrained, especially among the leaders of the Jews, at the time of Jesus. The Jews of the first century hated those who weren’t Jews (i.e., Samaritans, Gentiles, and Christians) and viewed them as little more than dogs.  Which raises the question, if God so viewed the Jews as His chosen ones, why wouldn’t everyone else be viewed by them as something less?  But that raises a second question, i.e., if the Jews were God’s chosen people, what were they chosen FOR?  

In the Isaiah 41 passage mentioned previously, the Jews were also called God’s servants. So, how exactly were they to serve God?  We get an indication of this in the original covenant God made with Abraham. You know the story about how as Abraham was about to plunge his knife into his son’s chest as a sacrifice, God stopped him and provided a ram as a substitute.  This account served as a shadow of God offering His own Son as a sacrifice for us.   It was because Abraham obeyed God that He said to him, “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”  And so again, we see Abraham and his offspring as God’s chosen race.  But chosen for what? So that “in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”  And how would this happen? For one, it was through the nation of Israel that the Messiah would come. It was through the nation of Israel that the Scriptures would be given. And it was through the nation of Israel that the gospel would first be preached for the salvation of many so that one day in heaven, there would be “a great multitude that no one could number, FROM EVERY NATION, FROM ALL TRIBES AND PEOPLES AND LANGUAGES” (Revelation 7:9).  

The best analogy I’ve ever been able to come up with of this concept of being “chosen” in this sense is the concept of godparents.  We “choose” godparents for the purpose, should we die when our children aren’t yet of age, that those godparents would raise our children like we would want them to be raised if we were still alive. We would want them to love our children, care for them, and instill in them, if we are Christians, the teaching of the faith.  Of course, the godparents we choose will be people that we love.  But there’s more than that in our reason for choosing them. We choose them BECAUSE of our love for our children. It’s certainly not because we love the godparents MORE THAN our children. Although this is not a perfect analogy, I think it is an appropriate one, for it’s in this sense that Israel was chosen by God as a means by which He would bless the world that He loved.  

Which brings us to the passage above in 1 Peter 2.  Like the nation of Israel, Christians are known as a “chosen race.” They are people on whom God has particularly placed His love as His own possession.  But again, what are we chosen FOR? It’s for exactly the same reason that Israel was chosen, i.e., “THAT YOU MAY PROCLAIM THE EXCELLENCIES OF HIM WHO CALLED YOU OUT OF DARKNESS INTO HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT.”  So, who are we to proclaim these excellencies TO, if not to those who don’t yet know Him?  We are not to view ourselves as better than anyone. We are not to be engaged in the sin of prejudice against the people who aren’t like us because they’ve not yet been born again. Rather, we are to love them. We are to be the vehicle through which God loves them. We are to be ambassadors of the kingdom of heaven, sharing the gospel and inviting as many people as possible to come into that kingdom and be included as people of God’s own possession so that they, like us, can be blessed forever in heaven.  

So, if you are a Christian, is that how you see yourself?  Are you fulfilling the purpose for which God has chosen you? Are you fulfilling the command that Jesus gave you with His parting words as He was ascending into heaven, i.e., to “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15)?  It’s one of the main reasons we are still on the earth. It’s one of the main reasons that we’ve been “chosen.”