God’s Chosen People, Nation and Kingdom

3rd Semester / Week 4

What’s the proper, Biblically “balanced” worldview? Should we be empowered with the knowledge that God’s Kingdom is steadily growing, as taught in Daniel 2, and that it will break and consume all of the other kingdoms of this world (Daniel 2:44). Or, should we pessimistically expect for this world to become more evil until it gets so bad that Jesus finally gets to come back to fix everything? Those are radically different worldviews, but which is correct?

We’ve learned in 1 Peter 2 that the new plan regarding the definition of God’s “chosen people” was this:

“YOU also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood… chosen… a holy NATION, His own special people… who once were not a people but are NOW THE PEOPLE OF GOD,” (1 Peter 2:5, 9-10).

So, who is in this new holy “NATION?” And according to that passage, who are the “chosen people?” It’s clearly now a worldwide spiritual “nation,” but what is its name? Who is it that “once were not a people but are now the people of God?” The Jewish descendants of Abraham were the original people who were considered to be God’s special possession and had the privilege of being the first to know the one true God and were shown mercy (“to the Jew first, then to the Gentile”), yet according to Peter, the holy nation is now made up of those who “once were not a people but are now THE people of God.” As we’ve been learning, the name of our global spiritual nation is “Israel.”

As we’ve been learning, when we hear or see the word “Israel,” we should primarily be thinking of “Jesus” rather than thinking about a piece of land in the Middle East or a group of people who have a particular DNA. When studying Scripture, context is critically important, because as we’ve learned from Romans 9:6, there are 2 different Israels. One is the mostly unregenerate Israel of the flesh, and the other is the true, spiritually “born again” spiritual Israel, and each one is discussed in Scripture and must be properly identified and distinguished from the other. There are clearly times in the New Testament where the word “Israel” is used to refer to the Israel according to the flesh, therefore, again, context is the key to properly understanding God’s Word.

Many of us who were indoctrinated with dispensationalism were taught that God’s “chosen people” are those who have Jewish DNA. However, according to the New Testament, have Christians really become God’s “chosen people?” According to passages such as 1 Peter 2 (as well as Ephesians 1:4, 2 Thessalonians 2:13 and Romans 8:29-30), the answer is absolutely YES because, again, we’re:

“CHOSEN…a holy NATION, His own special people… who once were not a people but are NOW THE PEOPLE OF GOD.”

Regarding being “chosen” by God, this is what Paul taught believers living in Rome who has formerly been Gentiles:

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God… For those He FOREKNEW, He also PREDESTINED to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the FIRSTBORN among many brethren. And those He predestined, He also CALLED; those He called, He also JUSTIFIED; and those He justified, He also GLORIFIED,” (Romans 8:14,29-30).

That entire chapter is truly “Good News” of the great lengths God goes through to change us with His Holy Spirit and to prove to us that we’re His children. It shows us the large degree to which God actively works to save us. God has always had a plan for His people, which now includes Gentiles who’ve been brought into the Covenant community ruled by King Jesus.

Yet these are the words that Jesus spoke to the physical, fleshly nation of Israel:

“I say to you, the KINGDOM of God will be taken from you and given to a NATION bearing the fruits of it,” (Matthew 21:43).

That passage shows that the “Kingdom” was to be moved away from one nation, and to instead be given to a different nation. The physical nation of mostly unregenerate fleshly Israel lost the Kingdom in 70 AD when its Covenant was permanently revoked. And for centuries, countless theologians have provided commentaries demonstrating that we’re now “the Israel of God” (see Galatians 6:16 and Isaiah 44:5) and we’ve become that new “nation” that’s now “bearing the fruits of” our Savior and Creator’s Kingdom. The original nation had been mostly unregenerate, but now regarding our new nation, the ONLY ones who are in our Kingdom are regenerate, we’ve been “born again” by being changed through the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit, because as Jesus taught Nicodemus:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God… unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” (John 3:3-6).

We know that our Christian nation/kingdom is no longer a physical nation at only one location on earth, it’s now a worldwide spiritual nation (John 4:21-23), and this spiritual kingdom isn’t something that can be seen with your eyes, because, as Jesus declared:

“The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst,” (Luke 17:20-21).

Expecting the Kingdom to be something physical that could actually be seen is completely missing the point and is unscriptural, because our present-day Kingdom is entirely spiritual just as taught in that passage, “the kingdom of God does not come with observation.” It’s literally here but you can’t literally see it with your eyes. We should also be aware that each New Testament reference to the Kingdom is of a spiritual nature, and in support of that, John Calvin taught, “We must make the invisible Kingdom visible in our midst.”

Furthermore, we’ve seen this about the physical fleshly descendants of Abraham:

“those who are the children of the FLESH, these are not the children of God,” (Romans 9:8).

But we see regarding Christians in Romans 8:

“But you are NOT IN THE FLESH but in the Spirit,” (Romans 8:9).

And regarding “flesh” and “spirit” :

“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit,” (John 3:6).

Therefore, we should know that it isn’t someone’s physical fleshly descent that matters to God, but rather, it’s being “spiritually born again” by God with His Holy Spirit into His spiritual nation/Kingdom under King Jesus that matters. The New Testament explicitly explains to us that we’re “in Christ,” such as in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

This shows that we’re a new creation when we’ve been given new birth through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and we’ve previously learned that Jesus is the True Israel, therefore, if we are “in Christ,” then obviously we’re “in Israel,” which makes us “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16 and Isaiah 44:5).

Up until the Middle Ages, the titles of “King” and “Lord” were often used interchangeably, and there was virtually no clear distinction between those ranks. Since we know that Jesus is our “Lord,” then that’s the same as saying that He’s our “King.” Can there be a “King” without a “Kingdom” or a “Kingdom” without a “King?” No. The very definition of a kingdom is “an organized community having a monarchical form of government headed by a king.” That’s what we have right now, whether someone likes it or not, or whether they want to admit it or not: Jesus is King and He is currently ruling and reigning over His people (and again, we are His Kingdom). He has already been given “ALL” authority “in Heaven and on earth,” per Matthew 28:18 and Ephesians 1:20-23. And yet we must also appreciate this from Hebrews 2:8:

“But NOW we do NOT YET see all things put under Him”

Jesus already has all authority “now,” even though we’re not yet able to see it for ourselves. His people are in submission to His reign as their King, and His Kingdom grows when each new believer is spiritually born again into our present-day Kingdom, and that’s what we mean when we pray:

“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven,” (Matthew 6:10).

We’re asking for the Kingdom to grow, not for it to only appear sometime in the future. Next, notice the timing of this verse:

“For he HAS rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the KINGDOM of his dear Son,” (Colossians 1:13)

That verse is past tense. He “has” transferred us into the Kingdom, not that He will someday transfer us into the Kingdom. We who have been born anew with the indwelling Holy Spirit have already been brought into the Kingdom of King Jesus.

In other words, the Kingdom has been inaugurated and grows when each new believer comes into the Kingdom, but someday the Kingdom will arrive in its fullness in the New Heaven and Earth (this is referred to as the “consummation” of the Kingdom). Jesus currently already has everything now, yet only the faithful remnant recognize His reign, and someday all who don’t recognize and submit to His Kingship will be removed.

Unfortunately, there are many Christians that aren’t aware that the Kingdom has been inaugurated, and they assume it’s something that’ll only appear in the future. Furthermore, there’s many that know it started, but rather than recognizing that it started out small like a mustard seed that’s steadily growing and spreading the true Kingdom all over the world, they instead think it’s actually foretold that it’s evil that will be steadily growing inside the Kingdom. That’s so incredibly sad and hurtful. They think the description of the Kingdom being like “yeast” spreading throughout, as taught in “the parable of leaven” in Matthew 13:33, is referring to the growth of evil inside the Kingdom because they try to apply the use of the word “leaven” in Galatians 5:9 which said, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” But that’s absolutely not what Jesus had predicted, and fortunately even a dispensational site realizes that “the parable of leaven” is telling us that the Kingdom was going to have “small beginnings, but it will increase… exerts its influence from within, not from without… will be comprehensive… [and] its effect is evident to all.”

Those same people who’ve been taught to focus on the growth of evil also unfortunately think the “birds” that find shelter from the large mustard tree is a symbol for satan and his demons (Mathew 13:4,19), and it’s the demons that would supposedly find shelter within the Kingdom because satan would be able to implant his agents in it to teach false doctrines. That’s really what many Churches teach, and it’s so incredibly sad to know that so many people have been taught to pessimistically see the growth of evil rather than the positive growth of God’s Kingdom. That false, hurtful message might even be satanic itself since it focuses so much on evil and takes our focus off what God has been accomplishing. Sure, in some parts of the world many Christians have been spoiled and made dull by their liberty and freedom, however, the growth of the true Kingdom is still multiplying because, fortunately, the light shines the brightest in darkest places. It’s people in those difficult situations that truly and desperately adore the life changing “Good News” that some might take for granted. Even if we can’t see everything getting better where we live, God is still powerfully moving and spreading His Kingdom.

We should seek to appreciate the good things that God is doing and as Calvin taught, we should help others comprehend how our “invisible Kingdom” is growing all over the earth. As is taught in Mark chapter 4, we should help people understand the mysteries of our Kingdom so that this may not be said of us:

“they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding…,” (Mark 4:12).

That’s what had been predicted in Isaiah 6:9-10, and unfortunately it somewhat applies to some dispensationalists who refuse to believe that the Kingdom is here. So many of them simply aren’t able to realize the “Good News” of our Kingdom, yet again, this is what Jesus declared to the physical, fleshly nation of Israel:

“I say to you, the KINGDOM of God will be taken from you and given to a NATION bearing the fruits of it,” (Matthew 21:43).

We must help them see that the “Kingdom” was permanently transferred away from one specific people group, and now any and all types of people have access to the Kingdom. Colossians 1:13 tells us that we’ve already been transferred in the Kingdom, and we’re able to know we’re in the Kingdom when we bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit living inside us.

Rather than focusing on only one geographic location, we instead see in Psalms 33:12 the simple message that:

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance.”

This “nation” that’s blessed by God is our global spiritual nation of people who’ve been born again with the life changing Holy Spirit. We’ve learned in Galatians 3:16 that the original promise of blessings was directly focused on Jesus, therefore, the blessing for all the nations is Jesus. Anyone from any nation can now become part of God’s “chosen people,” the worldwide spiritual nation of the Israel of God who are all filled with His Holy Spirit. The Kingdom has already been inaugurated and is steadily growing and expanding the rule of King Jesus!