Really? What do you do with this passage?....
Amos 3.2 You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth.
Israel was specially chosen as God's 1st born among the nations, as the direct descendants of Abraham and Isaac. And they were barred from connecting with pagan nations around them. This involves biological descendancy and restriction to a single ethnicity.
Other nations were not subject to the entire Law of Moses as Israel was. That is discrimination, though certainly not partiality.
All this is debatable. I think all nations have always been under a law of conscience. Lacking the Law of Moses other nations were not without God's Law.
I don't think God's Law was ever kept from people generally. But when they turn away from God, then God gives them a delusion to believe in something other than Himself. That is, He allows them freedom to Sin.
The Law of Moses was a means of exposing sin 1st in Israel and later in all nations so that final judgment can come to the world. Judgment follows God's Law.
I agree that physical characteristics have nothing to do with having Faith. But I wouldn't say physical characteristics are not important to the Promise. Can you have Salvation without human beings? No, neither can you have Salvation unless there are a multitude of nations, including especially Israel. And that's because that is what God promised Abraham, the salvation of both Israel and a company of nations.
Again, this is debatable. I think God knows in advance who His Elect are. And I think we can also know who they are, to some extent. They are those who are open and ultimately willing to respond to the word of Christ.
Israel is called to be a holy nation, but God only chooses those who are or will be His Elect.
These are all arguable points, but thanks for sharing your thoughts and opinions.
Hello! That was under the old covenant. BREAKING NEWS! The old covenant has been abolished. The new covenant has superseded it. There is no racial preference under the new. It is time for you to embrace the New. The cross removed all the old covenant ordinances. Christ nailed them to the tree.
1 Peter 2:9-10 declares, whilst addressing the New Testament Church of Jesus Christ,
“ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy (Hosea 2:23)
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Peter describes the Church as “a chosen generation” (or a chosen race), “a royal priesthood” and “an holy nation.” He relates this to all believers, irrespective of natural race. This shows us the spiritual nature of the Israeli designation in the New Testament.
Peter takes this teaching, which was describing the Israel of God in the Old Testament, directly from Exodus 19, and applies it to the people of God in the New Testament. Far from restricting the “chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people” description to the remnant elect of the nation of Israel, Peter expands it out to embrace the many Gentile believers in this new covenant period. In doing so, he explains the continuity between the people of God in the Old Testament and the people of God in the New Testament, showing the people in view to be the New Testament Church (consisting both of Jews and Gentiles). In fact, he applies this mainly to Gentiles.
To support his reasoning, he employs Hosea 2:23 which predicted the enlightening of the Gentiles, and their integration into the people of God. This is demonstrated in verse 23, where he testifies that the mainly Gentile Church who were once “not a people, but are now the people of God” had now been integrated into the Israel of God. He reinforces this point, telling us that they “which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”
False. Both the Fig Tree and the Olivet Tree can represent Israel. Gentile believers could be grafted into the Israeli "Tree" during the OT era. Paul used this example in the NT era because there were not yet any nations of faith other than Israel.
Jer 11.16 The Lord called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form.
The fig tree in Scripture symbolizes natural Israel. During the Lord’s earthly ministry, He taught of the demise of natural Israel by way of this symbol and by way of a parable, in Luke 13:6-9, saying,
“A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.”
Here Christ is speaking of Israel’s fruitlessness (as a fig tree). He presents this as the reason why the fig tree must be cut. Here, He is referring to how they rebelled against His message of salvation and hence brought forth no fruit acceptable unto God. That ministry lasted 3 ½ years on this earth and culminated in the Jews crucifying the Messiah. In the parable Christ refers to the length of His ministry.
On the day after His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, many of the citizens of Jerusalem heralded Him, saying, “Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest” (Mark 11:9-11).
But the text continues in Mark 11:13-14,
“seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever.”
Did Christ curse this fig tree simply to prove His deity? Did He do it for no obvious reason? Or was He impressing some great spiritual truth upon His disciples in regard to natural Israel?
This was not some pointless irrelevant act to prove Christ’s deity or omnipotence; it was an object lesson in regard to Israel. The fig tree symbolically represents the physical nation of Israel whereas the olive tree represents the spiritual people of Israel. When Christ cursed the fig tree He was demonstrating the removing of the exclusive theocratic favor of God from the physical nation of Israel, whereas, the olive tree will exist forever. Years of abusing God’s favor, years of successive misrule among the national judges and kings, and the spiritual leaders, especially among the priests, and ongoing idolatry and stubborn rebellion among the people, finally brought the theocratic reign to an end. Never again will God’s favor be restricted to a genetic temporal earthly nation, but rather to a spiritual eternal heavenly nation.