We speak of the Old Covenant Israel being God's special people,and they were,so why did He choose them? In Deuteronomy 7 V 7-8 we read,'The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples,but it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors'It ws not their choice it ws God's choice,Raymond Brown writes,'It was not that God lacked compassion for other nations or cared nothing for them......He deliberately chose Israel...to be a special instrument of his purposes in the world'His purposes was and is redemptive.Once that redemptive purpose was fulfilled in Jesus the call for the new covenant went beyond that of a nation but to evangelise the world (John 3 v16/Acts1 v 8)We Gentiles who are now part of the new covenant Israel but there was nothing good in us,Christ died for the ungodly He loved us while we were still sinners,not because we loved Him, but that He loved us.(1John 4 v 10)
'I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene.
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner,condemmed, unclean.'
Words C H.Gabriel.
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