A Special People

A Special People

God created man in His own image because He desired to have intimate fellowship with him; but the Fall destroyed that image and that intimate fellowship. That is when God gave the promise that Christ would crush the serpent’s head. After this, everything revolved around the promise, and in the dispensation of the old covenant the prophets prophesied and searched diligently concerning Jesus and the great work of salvation that would be accomplished through Him. He was born into mankind in the fullness of time; the promise was fulfilled with Him, and a new dispensation began.

God took Abraham from among his generation to be the father of God’s own people. He gave the law to the people by Moses, and this law was to preserve the people for God and at the same time create a longing for something better.

“Also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He has promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.” Deut. 26:18-19.

God wanted to have a special people with whom He had the closest relationship. His plan was to create a people like Himself and let them partake of His nature.

“And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.” Heb. 11:39-40.

The law was weak through the flesh, therefore something more than the law was required. God responded “sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Rom. 8:3-4.

It has always been difficult to find someone who wants to go on God’s way. In the old covenant it was such that who wanted to go on God’s way could not, for they were weak because of the flesh. After Jesus had finished His work, He sent the Holy Spirit to the disciples, and three thousand souls were saved in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Now people were no longer without power, for in the power of the Holy Spirit and through faith in Christ, all things were now possible. Mark 9:23.

Now God could create a special people for Himself; the way was open, and Satan and sin aided God indirectly in this work. Therefore we have to go through temptation and victory in order to partake of God’s nature.

“Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” Tit. 2:14.

People could decide for themselves; they had a free will, and most of them lived their lives according to their own will. However, sin was embedded in their self-will; therefore their self-will had to die so they could do God’s will.

When you give a gift, it is no longer rightfully yours. It has changed owners. In this way Jesus has “given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Eph. 5:2.

This is how we become God’s special people. By giving ourselves to God, He gains right of ownership; and just as Jesus said that He could not do anything of Himself, so it is also with us: we become His possession. In that state, God can prepare us for heaven. What if in this life only we had hope in Christ? 1 Cor. 15:19. Well, we shall leave this earth when God’s work with us is complete, and it is not easy to explain what that means.

However, we can gather, from all the creation on this earth, that the glory in the Millennium and afterwards in all eternity, is something exceedingly great. Let us therefore be thankful and serve Christ in holy fear.