The people of God

Thursday January 12, 2023

The people of God

I formed this people for myself ; they will tell my praise. Isaiah 43:21

The entire history of the people of Israel, as recorded in the Old Testament, confirms the three important points of this verse :

I formed this people... The people of Israel was not an accident of history, nor the product of one man's ambition. It is the consequence of the will of God, announced to Abraham hundreds of years before this people existed. God alone chose this man, watched over him to instruct and surround him. He will do the same with the patriarchs Isaac and Jacob. God alone, by his power, drew from Egypt a mass of men and women, enslaved and powerless, to make them a people led by Moses, the man whom he had prepared and trained for this. To this people, God alone gave territory conquered under the leadership of Joshua or kings like David.

for myself... The will of God, in forming this people, is to be able to live in his midst, in the midst of men and women who know him and appreciate his goodness. The construction of the tabernacle for the crossing of the desert, then that of the temple on Mount Zion show the concrete aspect of this habitation of God in the midst of his people.

they will tell my praise. God wanted to make himself known to a world that has rejected its Creator, refusing him the obedience he owes him. For this he wanted to make the people of Israel "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:6), a people who offer him their adoration and who, by their very existence, publish to the other inhabitants of the earth the faithfulness of the God who took charge of him.

A day will come when, under the leadership of him whom they have pierced and in all his territory, this people will respond to what God has long expected of them.

Today, it is Christians who constitute the people of God on earth : "a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices" and a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired, so that you announce the virtues of the one who called you... (1 Peter 2:5,9). Let us fulfill our double mission with love.

Source (Pleasing the Lord)