God’s Covenant and His New People

MEMORY SELECTION: “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.” —I Peter 2:9

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: I Peter 2:4-10

THE nation of Israel has been especially marked out in the Word of God. They are the generations of people from Abraham through Isaac, and Jacob—whose name was changed to “Israel.” God had further made a special Covenant with them through Moses, which constituted them the children of God. “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.”—Deut. 14:2

The Jews thus became heirs of certain promises that were dependent upon their obedience. As a nation they were required to be separate from the world. They were a chosen people, and because of God’s special care and instructions concerning them, they became a typical holy nation.

In our memory text the Apostle Peter draws our attention to a new feature in the plan of God—that during the Gospel Age the footstep followers of our Lord Jesus also will become a separated and distinct people in the world. We note that the promises given to the nation of Israel were earthly in nature whereas the promises offered to the “spiritual Israelites” are spiritual. It is in this sense that the Jews were typical of the church who respond to the Gospel Age call.

The Gospel Age is that period of time between the first advent of our Lord and the establishment of his millennial kingdom. It is a time in which the Lord has been making ready a chosen people for his name who will constitute the royal priesthood of the new kingdom age. They are a holy nation in that they have taken the name of the Lord, and if faithful, they will share with their head, Jesus, the privilege of blessing all the families of the earth, during that future kingdom age. They are peculiar because they are separate from the world, yet in the world.

God’s purpose in selecting a remnant of mankind during the Gospel Age is to prepare them to be the bride of our Lord Jesus Christ. Together with her Lord, the bride of Christ will partake of glory, honor and immortality. They will share in joint-heirship with the Lord for a thousand years. During that time the opportunity for life will be offered to the entire fallen race including the dead who will be raised to share in the blessings of that future kingdom.

The “spiritual Israelites” will thus be a new and chosen generation in Christ. They are chosen, or called out, by God, and believing the message of truth, and responding favorably to that message, they are thereby chosen by the Heavenly Father to be his peculiar people.

They are a new generation in the sense that they are separated from the rest of the human family. They are new creatures in Christ Jesus, begotten by the Holy Spirit to newness of life. And, although only in the development stage during the present life, they will, nevertheless, experience their change of nature at the resurrection when they actually become divine beings on the highest plane of spiritual existence.

As a holy nation they are bound by mutual obligations and interests to the Lord, and are thus prepared to become part of the governing body in the new age.

The prospective church rejoices with the apostle who says, “But you are the elect race, the royal priesthood, the consecrated nation, the people who belong to Him, that you may proclaim the wondrous deeds of Him who has called you from darkness to his wonderful light —you who once were no people and now are God’s people, you who once were unpitied and now are pitied.” (I Pet. 2:9,10, Moffatt) And again, “As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.”—Rom. 9:25,26

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