The Concept that Israel was Called to a Special Destiny
Meaning
God set Israel, the descendants of Abraham, apart from other people groups in order to carry out a unique destiny upon the earth. Israel as a nation was set apart as “a nation of priests” to tell the world about the true and living God of Heaven, the true and living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Israel and her people were to focus on and contemplate the promises, disciplines and circumstances which belonged to her future as foretold by God in His word and through the prophets. These included many things unique to Israel. The people were to maintain ethnic separation as God’s own possession. God would also bring about separation within the families of the patriarchs to ensure the fulfillment of the destiny.
Therefore, God created a covenant with Abraham and his descendants, one that He renewed with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God’s covenant was given through Isaac, who was the child of promise, foretold by the Lord. A covenant that entailed that a seed of Abraham would multiply and Israel would become a great kingdom as well as the promise of a land for their very own. God through divine circumstances led Israel into geographic separation during critical periods of their formation as a people separated unto God. All of this was intended by God to fulfill the destiny. In other words, the land, the kingdom and the separation concepts were all understood as a means to an end, that would permit Israel to be the blessing she was called to be and to fulfill her destiny of bringing forth the Messiah of God.
“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 7:6)
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2)
“And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are-northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.” (Genesis 13:14-16)
“I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:6-8)