When any of us come into this world we have no choice over which country we are born into or who are parents are. Our choices only begin after birth as we are able to make choices. I was personally born in the United States of America from one parent who is Jewish and the other being Gentile. I had no choice in this matter but accepted the reality of my identity as I grew up.
My mother’s family is Jewish and I remember spending time with her mother (my grandmother) and some of my mother’s other family members in order to try to understand my Jewish roots. My father’s family is Gentile and in the same way I remember as a teenager thinking about my connection to his family in an attempt to “find myself.” In high school I remember well considering my identity and grappling with who I was. My friends at school all knew that my mom was Jewish and so I was considered Jewish but I attended a Christian school and I sort of just flowed in both circles, and the world as well. I basically lived in a lot of confusion in those days.
It wasn’t until I became an adult that I had a powerful encounter with the living God through the Messiah Yeshua that I finally was able to understand my true identity. God’s love overwhelmed me and God called me to Himself through faith in Yeshua. It was through this life-changing experience that my identity was firmly grounded as a creation of the God of heaven and earth. I also knew that I was chosen by God to be part of His people of faith. God had chosen me to be called by his Name and I knew that I was His. I now had an identity far beyond my parents’ heritage and the place of my natural birth.
Every human being grapples with these questions of identity at some point along the journey and I wholeheartedly believe that our actions and choices in life are a direct result of how we understand our identity. Who are you? Where do you come from? To whom do you belong?
A Chosen People
On three different occasions in this week’s Torah Portion Moses reminded the children of Israel of who they were as a people in relation to the God of heaven and earth. It had been forty years since the children of Israel were redeemed from being slaves in Egypt and the older generation, those sixty years old and older, had all passed away, except for Joshua, Caleb, and Moses. The children of Israel were on the verge of entering into the Promised Land as the nation of Israel and they needed to be secure in their identity.
Knowing who we are, from where we came, and to whom we belong gives us a clear perspective of our identity. Moses understood this principle well and he knew that the children of Israel had to be grounded in their identity in order to properly live according to God’s commands in the new Land. There would always be strong outward influences from the surrounding peoples to temp them to chase after others gods. Moses knew this and cared enough for the children of Israel to help form their identity in their relationship with the LORD.
Moses reminded the children of Israel again and again of who they were as children of the living God. The first time that Moses declared this truth to the Israelites in this week’s study is found in Deuteronomy 26:
You have today declared the LORD to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice. The LORD has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments; and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the LORD your God, as He has spoken. – Deut. 26:17-19
Moses was actually reminding the children of Israel of the covenant between the LORD and His people by emphasizing two distinct commitments that totally defined them as a people;
- The people were agreeing that the LORD was their God and that they would walk in His ways.
- The LORD Himself had declared that He had chosen the children of Israel to be His people, His treasured possession.
The Israelites were clearly the chosen people of God!
The Purpose of Being Chosen
This whole subject of being a “chosen people” is often misunderstood by the human race in general. National pride can be a good thing but it can also lead to arrogance and be used to justify lording it over others who are not considered to be part of the “chosen people.”
In the verses quoted above we are given a very clear reason why the Israelites were to be the chosen people of God: “He will set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the LORD your God” (Deut. 26:19). The desire of God was to elevate the children of Israel above the other nations for praise, fame, and honor for the sole purpose that the world would see what a “consecrated people” looks like. There was to be a mutual devotion between God and the Israelites for the sake of displaying God’s holiness on this earth.
Holy unto the LORD
To be a people called out by the God of the universe and to walk in His holy ways is a beautiful and awesome reality. God’s anger burned against the sinful nations of this world (Deut. 9:1-6) and He wholly desired a people who were consecrated unto Himself to display His glory on this earth. We see this same purpose repeated later in this week’s study in Deuteronomy 28:
The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will be afraid of you. – Deut. 28:9-10
A holy people! This is what God desires. A people that will walk so closely in His ways that all the peoples of the earth will see this holy nation and it will be self-evident that they are called by the name of the LORD. A people that are so absorbed in worship of their creator and doing His will that the other inhabitants of the earth will live in a holy fear of them because it is known to whom they belong, to the LORD of the universe. His Name will be on them.
The nation of Israel fluctuated in their calling as the “chosen people.” There were times when they represented the holiness of God well and other times when they miserably failed and marred God’s name through their lifestyle and actions.
It is easy to read the Bible and see where the nation of Israel fell short of fulfilling their role as the chosen people. What about you? What about me? How are we doing today in representing the God of this earth as the chosen people who supposedly know their God?
Chosen to do God’s Will
God is not finished with the people of Israel (Romans 11:25-32), however, since the first coming of the Messiah there has been a wide open door for Jew and Gentile alike to become the chosen people of God on this earth:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. – 1 Peter 2:9-10
Everyone who identifies himself with God through the Messiah, Yeshua, has become part of God’s chosen people and His treasured possession. We who identify with being the chosen people of God are to live out our calling as a holy nation so as to be God’s representatives on the earth. We are to proclaim His excellencies through the life we live.
Can others see the evidence of the LORD God in and through our lives? Do others live in holy fear as they look upon the community of believers that we are a part of because it is self-evident that God’s Name is on us?
We are to live as the people of God so that other people may see our good deeds and glorify God in heaven. We are chosen for the purpose of glorifying His Holy Name!
Shabbat Shalom!
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Torah Portion: Deut. 26:1 – Deut. 29:9
Hafatara: Isaiah 60
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