Here is the question: Does God’s choice of one man (Abraham), one family (descendants of Jacob), one nation (Israel) show favoritism? He did, indeed, make this choice. Read Deuteronomy 7 if you doubt this. But to understand how God so loved the world that He chose one nation, let’s spend some time in the OT.
· Gen. 12:2-3: the one man, Abram, was promised to be a blessing to all nations.
· Gen. 25:1-6: Abraham, the one man, was the father of many nations. Notice in this passage how he was gracious to those nations (other sons he had) while recognizing the special place of his son Isaac and his family.
From the beginning God’s choice of Abraham was intended to be God’s way of bringing salvation to the world, to all the nations (Gentiles).
· Isaiah 42:1-9: The prophet Isaiah recorded four Servant Songs, as they are called. They speak of the Messiah, the Savior, as God’s Servant. This passage contains the first of those Songs. Note what it says about the Savior.
o v1: He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
o v4: He will not stop until He has established justice in the earth, the “coastlands”. This is a reference to Gentiles. Israel was on the Mediterranean Sea, and all around that Sea were nations. Thus they are the “coastlands.”
o v5: God gives breath to the people on earth.
o v6: His Servant will be “a light to the Gentiles.”
· Isaiah 49:1-13: This is the second Servant Song.
o v1: The “coastlands” again.
o v3-4: The Servant was not rewarded much from Israel.
o v5-6: He, the Servant, the Savior, the One who became Man, being formed in the womb, and sent to gather Jacob (Israel) back to the Lord, will also be rewarded “to the ends of the earth.”
You can read more on these wonderful Songs (Isa. 50:4-9; 552:13-53:12 which emphasize the suffering of the Servant). But notice what the prophet Isaiah is telling us. He reveals how Abraham would be a blessing to all the nations. Through Abraham, and then Isaac, and Jacob, and through one son of Jacob named Judah, the Savior, the Son of God would come, so that the entire world full of people would not perish but could have eternal life.
As Paul explains in Romans 11, the Savior had to come to earth in a real, historical setting. God chose Israel to be that setting. But then, it was necessary for Israel to reject that Savior, so that through their rejection the Savior would suffer, even to death on the cross. In His death He provided atonement or a “covering” for the sins of the whole world. This was and is God’s plan, so that the good news of salvation could be preached to all the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment