Why the Jews? Why did God make an example of the Jewish people? The answer is because God wants to show the nations how to walk in obedience to Him. God set before Israel a blessing and a curse, and they were blessed when they followed Him and cursed when they disobeyed. Now God says to the nations, “Look at what happened to the Jewish people and recognize that I am setting before you a blessing and a curse. What will you choose?”

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Show Notes:

Today we are seeing the fulfillment of prophecy as God restores Israel. The children of Israel are becoming the source of blessing to all the nations and families of the earth, just as God spoke to Abraham. But for them to become that they had to go through a process that included their experience of disobedience to God and the consequences of that.

The history of Israel illustrates what happens when you live in obedience to God and what happens when you do not. Israel experienced the blessing of living in the land and the abundance of the land, as well as the curse of being removed from the land and the land being devastated. God has literally used the land of Israel as a lesson to the nations. He said, “Here is what happens when you do not serve Me. You are removed from your land. Your land is cursed. It becomes a desolate wilderness.”

The Jewish people were spread among the nations because of that curse. Now they are being drawn back to their land because of the blessing. And the blessing is also the illustration. They will become the fulfillment of the covenant and promise to Abraham that he would be a blessing to all the nations. Why? Because in watching Abraham and his children, we as the nations can learn the lessons of how to walk with God, how to serve Him in obedience, and how to give ourselves to the Word of God to please Him in the way in which He can bestow upon us the blessings of Abraham.

Key Verses:

• Exodus 4:22. “Thus says the LORD, ‘Israel is My son, My firstborn.’”
• Genesis 12:1–4. “I will make you a great nation. … And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
• Genesis 17:1–8. “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants.”
• Genesis 18:16–19. “I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD.”
• Exodus 19:8. “All that the LORD has spoken we will do!”
• Deuteronomy 11:1–25. “You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you.”
• Deuteronomy 30:1–8. “Return to the LORD your God and … then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity.”
• Ezekiel 37:21. “I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land.”
• Ezekiel 37:28. “The nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel.”
• Isaiah 2:2–4. “Come, let us go up to … the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways.”
• Zechariah 8:11–15. “I will save you that you may become a blessing.”
• Zechariah 8:22–23. “Many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem.”
• Joel 3:1–8. “I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel.”

Quotes:

• “God said that Israel is His firstborn. And it’s this idea of His firstborn that God is using to display to the nations.”
• “When God says, ‘I’m going to bless you,’ what does that mean? It has no meaning unless there’s an illustration of it. And so God was making Israel to be an illustration.”
• “Why the Jews? Because God is illustrating, He’s teaching the nations how to relate to Him, how to walk with Him, how that if they are obedient before Him, they, like Israel, can be blessed.”

Takeaways:

1. God distinguished the Jewish people to fulfill His promise through the seed of Abraham. They were distinguished from other people because they were given a covenant that made Him their God and made them His people. In addition they were distinguished by virtue of the land He gave them that they were to possess and live in.
2. God made them an example of what is required to live under the blessing of the Lord, and He had to bring that blessing by virtue of their choices in their relationship with Him. So if Israel was to be a blessing to the nations as the children of Abraham under the covenant, then Israel had to choose the blessing rather than the curse. That means the consequences of choosing the curse was shown to the world by their example.
3. Now that the Jews are being restored to their land and the land is being blessed, God has finalized the picture He has been painting of the blessing and the curse. Now He is setting before all the nations the same choice He gave Israel. And it is time for the nations to choose between being blessed or cursed in their relationship with God.