The Two-Hundred-Fifty-Third (Chosen People)

I hope you had a wonderful week and a great holiday!  This week we’re going to take a look at what it means to be a chosen people of YHWH and who His chosen people are.  This is a topic that can be hard to understand, but is important for us in order to know how to apply scripture and what that application means for us.  Remembering last week’s study, we also need to keep in mind the feeling and intention behind the passage as we apply it.

The key word of being a chosen people is chosen.  When we look at Yeshua’s words, we see that not only does YHWH choose a person, He draws them to Him (John 6:44).  In fact, He says that’s the only way you can come to Yeshua.

We also find from Paul and Peter that when YHWH draws us to Him there is a purpose.  And let us not forget that it is according to His purpose we are called, not any purpose we come up with (Romans 8:28).  Even more than that, this purpose was predestined for us by Him (Romans 8:29).  Peter also tells us part of this purpose involves our offering spiritual sacrifices through Yeshua (1 Peter 2:5).

In Paul’s case, he stated that his predestined purpose was to preach to the Gentiles (Galatians 1:15-16).  Before birth, he was chosen by YHWH for this purpose.  So, we know that Paul, as a Jew, was a chosen person of YHWH, and he was chosen to bring the gospel to the Gentiles, which makes us think perhaps Gentiles can also be chosen people, right?  After all, why would YHWH predestine someone to preach to a certain people group if He didn’t also have chosen people in that group?  Is that even how He draws people to Him?  Or is it some other way?

Let’s take a moment to look at who are actually chosen people of YHWH.  This is where things get a bit tricky for some, because it tends to be a challenge for us to look beyond the natural, like a people’s lineage, and into the spiritual, which is where YHWH dwells.  We’ll start at the beginning, since that’s where we find the first mention of YHWH having a chosen people.  

One of the signs of the Israelites being chosen to be YHWH’s prized possession out of all the people on earth was that He brought them into the promised land (Deuteronomy 7:6).  They were made a chosen people and brought into the promised land because YHWH was fulfilling an oath to their forefathers.  However, this status of being His chosen came with some contingencies.  We’ll get more into that later.  

So, we can see that the first identification of a chosen people is of the Israelites, and the basis of being chosen was due to a promise made to their forefathers (Deuteronomy 7:8).  If you look into it deeper, you find that this promise is referring to YHWH’s promise to Abraham to make of him a great nation and bless all the nations of the earth, but in the verse prior we also see a key characteristic of being a chosen people.  It is always telling when you see something like this specifically called out in scripture because on the face of it, it seems like such an unnecessary addition.  Why point out that the number of Israelites was not the basis for them being chosen?  It could have simply just said that the reason was because of the promise to the forefathers and leave it at that.

This verse tells us that the Israelites were the fewest of all the people of the world (Deuteronomy 7:7), and to me this is a key characteristic of being a chosen people of YHWH.  His people are not the most numerous in the world.  In fact, as we’ll see, a common theme is that the people that remain His chosen are always a remnant from the greater group of people.  There is a separation that occurs as a result of a judgment event more than once throughout history, and those that are faithful continue to be His chosen while the rest are killed or otherwise dispersed as a result of the judgment.

One of the most prominent occurrences of this is the conquering and dispersion of the northern kingdom of Israel (1 Chronicles 5:26, 2 Kings 17:18) while the kingdom of Judah continued (2 Chronicles 32:22), albeit eventually in captivity (2 Kings 24:12).  All the tribes of Israel transgressed YHWH’s commandments, and as a result, judgment was imposed.  A remnant remained and continued to the time of Yeshua.

A similar event occurred in 70AD at the destruction of Jerusalem.  This time however, the remnant were the believers in Yeshua, and this is another key aspect of being YHWH’s chosen: they are faithful to Him.  In order to continue to be YHWH’s chosen, you must love Him and keep His commandments (Deuteronomy 7:9).  These are the contingencies alluded to earlier.

You can see these contingencies mentioned multiple times in conjunction with the Israelites being called chosen (Exodus 19:5, Deuteronomy 14:2).  With Yeshua and His sacrifice, a new group of people had the opportunity to be YHWH’s chosen as a whole rather than being chosen by exception (like, for example, Rahab, Naaman, etc.).  And as it turns out, despite a lack of connecting bloodline, this new group of people, the Gentiles, are no different as chosen people than the Jews, and more generally the Israelites, were.

The reason this is, is because YHWH looks at things spiritually rather than physically.  He looks upon the heart of man rather than at the external, natural aspect (1 Samuel 16:7).  So, why would He care if someone is a son or daughter of someone else?

You may say, but if He didn’t care about bloodlines, why so much emphasis on recording and prophesying about His Son’s bloodline?  Who cares if He’s the Son of David or that He’s of the tribe of Judah?  These are physical aspects of man, not spiritual.

It’s true that there is a lot of scriptural emphasis on genealogies, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that those are at the top of the list of importance for YHWH.  While scripture is inspired by Him, it is written to us.  How would we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Yeshua is the Son of YHWH except we have a preponderance of evidence?  And genealogies are a part of that evidence.

YHWH used something that we can clearly understand, bloodlines, as well as aspects of key historical figures like David, to not only help us be confident Yeshua is our Messiah but also give prophetic clues as to what He was to do for us.  He connected Yeshua to these figures to help us understand His purpose.  We were not necessarily supposed to take all these connections to mean bloodlines mean everything or that we should focus on them personally.

We can understand this by Paul’s explanation of the olive tree and the grafting which we’ve studied before (Romans 11:17-24).  There’s one particular verse in his explanation that tells us how the Gentiles are able to be grafted in, and wouldn’t you know it?  It’s spiritual.  Paul says those grafted in “stand by faith” (Romans 11:20) meaning it’s faith that grafts us into the olive tree, or to put it another way makes us one of YHWH’s chosen people.

The fact that faith is what grafts us into the tree tells us that the branches that remained connected to the tree did so because of their faith.  Those that were broken off by YHWH, were broken off because of their lack of faith not because they somehow lost their genealogical connection to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  It had nothing to do with any physical aspect of them, it was all spiritual.

You see, being a chosen people has always been spiritual.  Just as Israel was to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation (Exodus 19:6), believers today are a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9).   Just as Israel had to obey YHWH’s voice in order to continue to be YHWH’s chosen, we are to obey His voice in order to continue to be His chosen.  

As we close for this week, we’ll look at some indicators of being a part of YHWH’s chosen.  Obviously, being drawn by YHWH to Him is one, and we’ve already mentioned that.  Another indicator is being given miracles.

Isaiah prophesied a word from YHWH pointing out the miracles He did for His chosen in the wilderness (Isaiah 43:20).  He provided water for them in the desert where there was no water.  Not to mention, their sandals did not wear out for forty years (Deuteronomy 29:5).

We also see an indicator of being chosen as a person being zealous for good works (Titus 2:14).  Truly being drawn to Him and becoming one of His chosen changes someone.  One of the changes is a desire to do good, helping others and bringing others to salvation.

Being one of YHWH’s chosen today is no different than it was for the Israelites.  We’re still required to obey Him, and as a result of being chosen we are transformed.  We emulate who has chosen us, by loving others and desiring to help them.  I hope this study has given you a better picture of what it means to be a chosen people, who His chosen people are, and how we are connected to the original chosen people, Israel!

Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!

-Rob and Sara Gene