As a Bible-reading, Bible-believing Christian, I believe God’s people are to love the nation of Israel. It all starts with a promise God gave Abraham in Genesis 3:3, And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

God promises Abram as the father of the nation of Israel that He would bless those that bless and curse those that curse. I prefer to be blessed. The promise of the blessings of God was so that Abram and his people could bless the world and all the families of the earth. 

Abraham would lead a chosen and elect nation. They would become great and mighty, and Abraham was to bless all the nations of the earth. Genesis 18:18. Abraham continued to gain God’s confidence as he obeyed God. When God asked him to sacrifice his long-awaited son, Abraham obeyed. 

The promise got even sweeter. You trusted me with your only son, and I will now bless you by multiplying your children as the stars in the heavens and as the sand on the seashore. You will have a victories family conquering your enemies. Abraham was never to forget that God’s blessings had a purpose. God blessed Abraham so Abraham could bless the world. God commands Abraham to bless all the nations of the earth. Genesis 22:16-18. 

God continually repeated His promise to Abraham. He would multiply Abraham’s seed until they numbered like the stars in the sky. He promised Abraham that he would rule over nations, but Abraham, do not forget that you are to be a blessing to all countries. Genesis 26:4. 

God next told Abraham that his children, offspring, seed would be as the dust of the earth. His family would spread out in every direction, but he was not to forget that God commanded him to bless all the world’s families. Genesis 28:14.

God would bless Abraham, but with great blessings would come great responsibility. As we consider Abraham, Israel, and God’s blessings, I wonder if you feel God gave responsibility when He blessed. God has incredibly blessed you, my dear reader. Do you see God’s blessings? Do you ever consider that all the great blessings mean you have great responsibility?

Why did God choose Israel to be His nation?

God chose Israel. He called them out to be His people, holy to Him. They were His special people. God quickly told them He did not choose them because they were special, but that He was special. God chose them to show He would love despite a people and not because of a people. He didn’t choose to set His love on Israel because they were more in number or had any other qualities that deserved His choosing them. God’s love is an undeserved grace and mercy. Deuteronomy 7:6-8.

What made Israel unique was not Israel’s goodness, but God’s love. So God’s choosing of Israel was simply an act of His grace and mercy. He chose them to serve Him because He is the story’s hero. He is the One that accomplishes great things. God loved Israel, and that is what will make Israel great. Remember that God has no reason to choose them as His people. There is nothing that they have done to earn or gain His favor. His character and love are why He chose them. He made the choice they did not. 

God chose them with a purpose. This was not some arbitrary choice to love one nation and hate the others. God chose Israel to be His people and to serve Him. They were to take His blessings and share them with the entire world. God would use them as a people to give us His Messiah, the anointed One, the Sent One, Jesus. God used His people, the Jews, to provide us with His Word. Believing Jews started the church of Jesus Christ. God did excellent work in all the world through the Jewish nation. There is still one work that remains to be done by Israel. God will use them to take the gospel to the entire world. 

The actual story is that God is good. God is the hero of the story. He rescues Israel from Egypt, but only because He is good. God is a God of love and grace. God has shown His character since the very beginning. 

Do you remember how He treated Adam and Eve after they sinned? They hid, but He went to them. He found them. They inadequately hid their shame behind leaves, but God killed a substitute, took the skins, and covered them. They were to die, but God allowed a lamb to die in their place. What Adam and Eve could never do and didn’t deserve, God did in love and mercy. You may have overlooked that in the very beginning, God instituted the sacrificial substitute system. God sacrificed animals to cover shame and sin. God offered a lamb to give Adam and Eve their dignity back.

Have you ever noticed that God instituted a sacrificial system where a substitute would die in the sinner’s place before He gave the ten commandments? Abel knew what to bring as an offering, and obviously, Cain knew. Cain rebelled and chose not to obey God. When Noah went on the ark, he carried seven clean animals that he would later sacrifice. 

God knew no one would keep the law as they should. He provided a way for those that would fail. No one ever obeyed the ten commandments. The commandments show our need for a substitutional sacrifice. 

One of most favorite passages in the Bible is Exodus 25:16-22. God had them build the ark of the testimony. They were to make a mercy seat of pure gold. There would be two cherubim overshadowing from each end of the mercy seat. They were then to place the covenant, the testimony, and the law in the ark. Overall was the mercy seat. God promised to meet His people on the mercy seat. Not at the law of condemnation, but at the mercy seat. He promised to commune with them or fellowship with them, but from a place of mercy. What a God we serve. He loves undeserving people, sinners. He meets with us not based on us, but based on His goodness. 

Exodus 25:22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.