Introduction
The nation of Israel is, and always has been, an imperfect type or a picture of that which is perfect, which is the Church, the redeemed people of God. The nation of Israel is also a revelation of the nature of election. God’s choosing of the people of Israel out of all the peoples of the world, points to God’s choosing of His redeemed out of all the peoples of the world. This is true of both the corporate redeemed (the Church), as well as all the individual redeemed who make up the corporate body of the redeemed.
The choosing of Israel involved the choosing of every single person who made up Israel. Likewise, in choosing the Church of Christ (Eph 1:22-23; Eph 5:23; Col 1:24), it involves the choosing of every single person who makes up the Church.
The choosing of Israel answers the question of what election actually is under the New Covenant of Christ. It answers the question of who God chose to receive salvation in His Son.
When we read the Old Testament, we see that God chose to reveal Himself to the nation of Israel out of all the nations of the earth. This means He chose to reveal Himself to the people who make up the nation of Israel. Israel was a tiny light among the nations, which stood as a reflection of God’s grace to them. God revealed Himself to Israel in ways He chose not to for any of the other nations. Israel stood alone among all the nations as the only country whom God chose to reveal His glory to. God didn’t choose to reveal Himself to the nations of the world (the Gentiles) in any significant way until we get to the New Testament era, the era of grace, as we see in the following passages:
(Romans 9:22-26 – BSB) – [22] What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction? [23] What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory — [24] including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles? [25] As He says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people, and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,” [26] and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”
(Romans 10:19-20 – BSB) – [19] I ask instead, did Israel not understand? First, Moses says: “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation without understanding.” [20] And Isaiah boldly says: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me.”
(Ephesians 2:11-13 – BSB) – [11] Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands) — [12] remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. [13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
So we see that before the time of Christ, God chose to reveal Himself only to the nation of Israel out of all the nations of the world, while essentially leaving the rest of the world in the dark. In general, we as Christians have no problem with that—both Calvinists and non-Calvinists alike. However, what many don’t consider is that this means God chose not to reveal Himself to the individuals who make up those nations, which is a demonstration of unconditional Sovereign election. Because in not revealing Himself to the rest of the world, this means that none of those people obtained salvation in Christ. That’s simply a reality, and I don’t think non-Calvinists (self-determinists) give this as much thought as they should. Because when we get to the NT of Christ, non-Calvinists have a serious problem with the idea that God has chosen to reveal Himself to certain people, while choosing not to reveal Himself to the rest of the world (in the form of salvation). Yet, there’s literally no difference between the way God chose the people of Israel and the way He chose the people of Christ. One is a reflection of the other. Both leave the people of the rest of the world in the dark, outside the realm of God’s grace.
Just as God chose to shine His light upon His chosen nation of Israel under the Old Covenant, while leaving the rest of the world without that same light, so did God choose to shine His light upon certain chosen individuals of the world under the New Covenant of Christ, while leaving the rest of the world without that same light.
Therefore, we must realize that the choosing of Israel out of all the other nations of the world, points to the choosing of certain individuals within the nation of Israel itself. We must also realize that they were saved the same way that we are in the NT of Christ, which is via faith. Faith is given as a gift of God’s grace in both time periods. Faith has to be a gift if God chooses people unconditionally, and as we’ve seen in this study, that’s exactly what the evidence reveals.
So we see that when we get to the NT, we’re to understand that the nature of election is the choosing of specific individuals for salvation, while not choosing the people of the rest of the world. This describes unconditional Sovereign election—God’s choosing of particular individuals for salvation.
We’re now going to take a look at certain OT passages that will help support what’s been talked about in this introduction:
(Deuteronomy 7:6-8 – BSB) – [6] For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth. [7] The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. [8] But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Here God reveals why He chose the nation of Israel out of all the nations of the world. It’s simply because He loved them and wanted to keep the oath that He swore to their fathers (referring to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), that He would make them a great nation, and that all the people of the world would be blessed through them (Abraham, as the beginning of Israel):
(Genesis 12:1-3 – BSB) – [1] Then the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you. [2] I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. [3] I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
(Genesis 18:17-18 – BSB) — [17] And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? [18] Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
(Galatians 3:7-8 – BSB) – [7] Understand, then, that those who have faith are sons of Abraham. [8] The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
(Also Romans 4:16-18)
This “blessing” of all the nations refers to the salvation that would come to the rest of the world, and not just Israel. This blessing refers specifically to Christ, who came through the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
God further revealed why He chose Israel out of the rest of the world in the next passage:
(Deuteronomy 9:4-6 – BSB) — [4] When the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say in your heart, “Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land.” Rather, the LORD is driving out these nations before you because of their wickedness. [5] It is not because of your righteousness or uprightness of heart that you are going in to possess their land, but it is because of their wickedness that the LORD your God is driving out these nations before you, to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. [6] Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.
So we see that God didn’t choose the people of Israel because of anything honorable that He saw within them (because they were an “unrighteous and stiff-necked people”), but because of the “wickedness” of the nations.”
What we see here is simply the grace of God. He chose to grant grace to Israel not because they were better than any of the other nations, because Israel was in the same sinful boat as the rest of the world:
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Ro 3:23).
Not only was Israel in the same sinful boat as all the other nations, but they became even more evil than they were (2 Ki 21:9), which is why God destroyed them and sent them into Assyrian and Babylonian captivity. Thus, the grace that God extended to them was not because of anything He saw within them, because He saw them the same way He saw the rest of the world, a world of sinners. So we see that God chose Israel simply because it was His will to do so. It was according to the unconditional grace of God, according to His own will and purpose.
We see this same unconditional grace of God extended to certain individuals in the New Covenant era (read Ephesians chapter one). In both the Old and New Testaments we see the giving of grace and the withholding of grace—all according to the sovereign will and purpose of God.
Before we move on, I want to talk about the “good land to possess” mentioned in the above passage of Deut 9:6. This refers to the Promised Land. This is the land that God promised to Israel. What we need to see here is that the Promised Land of the OT is a type or a picture of the true Promised Land that we have to look forward to in eternity. This is the “Eternal Kingdom” of the “new heaven and new earth” (2 Pe 1:11; Rev 21:1-4). This of course refers to Heaven, the place where we will spend eternity in the presence of the Lord.
The passages below further reveal that when God chose Israel, it was in isolation of the rest of the world (the Gentiles):
(Romans 9:3-5 – BSB) – [3] For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood, [4] the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. [5] Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Christ, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise! Amen.
(Ephesians 2:11-13 – BSB) – [11] Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands) — [12] remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. [13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
In light of all these confirmatory passages, the point I want to make is that when God chose to reveal Himself to the nation of Israel, that meant that He chose not to reveal Himself to the rest of the world, at least not in any significant way. Because it was only to Israel that He revealed His will, His Law, His promises, His protection, etc. He also provided and revealed the means of salvation for the people, which of course includes the fact that it was through Israel that God chose to bring the Savior into the world. God chose to bless Israel in a vast number of ways He didn’t do for any other nation, and that includes the way of salvation, the way to the one true God.
This is all a reflection of unconditional Sovereign election, because again, in choosing Israel, He was also choosing to provide salvation for the faithful followers of the God of Israel. In choosing NOT to reveal Himself to any of the other nations of the world in all the same ways that He did to Israel, He was also choosing NOT to provide salvation to them. That’s a reality that we cannot miss.
Note: The Gentiles who lived in proximity to Israel, and who knew about and believed in the God of Israel, they too received salvation. The people of the rest of the world didn’t receive salvation in any significant numbers until the coming of Christ, where God chose to extend salvation to all the whole world (Jn 6:33,51; Jn 12:32; Rev 5:9; Rev 7:9).
Conclusion
The point of this whole study is that if we as Christians can accept that God chose Israel out of all the nations of the world – which included salvation for those among them who believed in the God of Israel – then we must also accept that God chose certain individuals for salvation out of all the people of the world (Eph 1:4). To deny this, to choose not to accept it, is a denial of the revealed truth that we see in all these combined passages. While we may not understand the whys of all this, we are required to believe the light that God reveals to us. The light of truth points to God’s unconditional grace that He extends to particular individuals. We must let go of our personal and positional biases if we’re going to see the true nature of election (I speak from experience as a former non-Calvinist). This is the only way we’re going to have a correct understanding of the doctrine of election.
