The Election of Israel



While the election is made by God and men of people and places, there is a usage that stands out uniquely in Scripture: God’s chosen people, the elect, are the Israelites.

The title “chosen/elect” is in no less than eight verses in Scripture.
The use of the title “elect” to describe Israel becomes very important when we venture into the New Testament because it clears up many theological, soteriological, and eschatological issues.

1 Chronicles 16:13, O seed of Israel His servant, You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!

Psalms 33:12, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.

Psalms 105:6, O seed of Abraham His servant, You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!

Psalms 105:43, He brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with gladness.

Psalms 135:4, For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His special treasure.

Isaiah 45:4, For Jacob My servant’s sake, And Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me.

Isaiah 65:9, I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, And from Judah an heir of My mountains; My elect shall inherit it, And My servants shall dwell there.

Isaiah 65:22, They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

The verses above demonstrate how God has specifically called Israel, Jacob, the Seed of Abraham His chosen. Thus, the term “the chosen” or “my chosen” and “the elect” is a reference to ethnic Israel. This point is proven by Paul who, in a synagogue on the Sabbath day in Antioch, read from the Law and Prophets and then spoke to his fellow Jews.

Acts 13:16-17, Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen: 17 The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it.

Thus, the election of Israel was true in the Old Testament and the New Testament as well.

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