Deuteronomy 14:2
For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
Question: Who are the “chosen people” of Deuteronomy 14:2?
A) Jews
B) Only believing Jews
C) Only believing Jews and believing Gentiles
D) Jews and Gentiles who are secretely elect.
Answer: While many 5-Point Calvinists insist that the answer is D, meaning spiritual Israel, many others believe that the answer is A, meaning the Jewish people.
God chose the Jewish people to be His Chosen People. Review the following verses:
Exodus 3:7: “The LORD said, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.’”
Exodus 3:10: “‘Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.’”
2nd Chronicles 7:13-14: “‘If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.’”
Hosea 4:6: “‘My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.’”
Amos 3:2: “‘You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.’”
Isaiah 65:2: “I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts.”
Jeremiah 18:11: “‘So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.’”’”
John 1:11: “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.” (John 1:11)
Matthew 23:37-38: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!”
God chose the Jewish people to be His chosen race, to preach salvation to the world. (Ezekiel 33:7-11) His people were the sons of Israel in Egypt. They are a people that God will rescue if they will humble themselves and repent. They are a people whom God warned of a coming judgment, and implored to repent. They are a people who were often destroyed for a lack of knowledge of God, which is in spite of the fact that God had often reached out to them, only for them to reject Him. Jesus had long desired to gather them together Israel, as a hen gathers its chicks, but they would not have it. Jesus had come into His own, but His own chosen people did not receive Him. However, God is not done with His people. He has partially hardened them for a time (Isaiah 6:9-10; Romans 11:25), in order to include the Gentiles, which would serve to provoke His people to jealousy, that He may show mercy to all (Romans 11:32), and that in the end, namely the conclusion of the Great Tribulation, Jesus would reveal Himself to His people, the Jews, just like how Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and similarly, in that day, the Jews will bitterly mourn over Jesus, whom they had crucified, according to Zechariah 12:7-14. On that day, all Israel will be saved. (Romans 11:26)
As for Spiritual Israel, the blessing and the promise are received by those who believe, and therefore the Gentiles can share in that promised blessing to Abraham, if they do like Abraham did, and believe in the Lord. Together, the fold of believing Israel will be gathered together with the fold of believing Gentiles into one multi-racial flock that is “in Christ,” which is a term that Paul frequently used. Spiritual Israel are the branches attached to the tree/vine of Christ. (John 15:1-2)
1st Peter 2:9: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
Just as in the Old Testament, one was born into election, as a Jew, in the New Testament, one is born again into election, as a Christian, and as such, God desires that all men, Jew and Gentile alike, become born into the elect, redeemed race in Christ, if they will meet His sovereign decree of salvation, according to John 3:16.
Adrian Rogers: “I believe that God wants everybody saved. I believe that ‘whosoever’ is in the Bible, and the same Lord over all, whether you’re a Jew, or whether you’re Greek, whether you’re the chosen race or not the chosen race, whoever you are, wherever you are, if you will call upon the name of the Lord, He will save you....” (Salvation: Romans 10:1-13)
