91. Are Jews still God's Chosen people?

Jews WERE God's chosen people. The Old Testament is a history of the Jews and Israel. Let no one deceive you of this fact. Abraham is the first Jew and his descendants are the people of Israel. Now there were many promises which God promised Abraham, but one of the most significant one was this :

Genesis 12:2-3
And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

God's redemption plan of saving people from their sin started off with Abraham's selection and the formation of Israel. This is showcased in the Old Testament. They were promised a messiah who would die for the sins of many and redeem people whilst establishing the Kingdom of God. This promised messiah was Jesus, but they didn't accept him to be the Messiah, as Jesus didn't establish a literal Jewish Kingdom nor was He a military leader.

He came first to provide and die as a ransom for many. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. Everything happened as it was prophesied in the Old Testament, but the Jews back then would not accept Him, for which they ultimately killed Him.

Jews were the chosen people of God.

Jesus is a descendant of Abraham, therefore He is a Jew.

Galatians 3:16
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.

But as far as scripture is concerned the Jews as the chosen people ended with their rejection of Jesus and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in AD 70 ( which Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24).

That doesn't mean God will wipe out the Jews and has nothing to do with the Jews. God will still bring in Jews and save them and then graft them into the church. Let me show you Jesus saying that because the Jews rejected him God will now cut the Jews off and take away the Kingdom from them.

Matthew 21:33-44

33 "Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country.

34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.

35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them.

37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.'

39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"

41 They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons."

42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?

43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him."

Read 43 again what does He say to the Jews? The Kingdom will be taken away from the Jews and given to those producing fruits aka Christians or those who believe Christ is God and the Messiah.

So are the Israelites God's chosen people?

No, unless they accept the Messiah.

Let me show you some more connections go
to Exodus 19: 5-6

5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;
6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel." (Exodus 19:5-6, ESV)

Now guys catch it, He said, you Israel if you keep my Commandments will be a priest and a holy nation, a chosen people.

Now see what Peter does with the promise of God. Peter talking to Christians.

You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5, ESV)

What did Peter, a Jew say to the church?

He says, you Christians, consisting of
Gentiles as well as Jews, you're a spiritual house, you're a holy priesthood in the house
offering sacrifices to God, now read first Peter 2 verses 9 to 10.

“but you are a chosen race a royal
priesthood”

That's Exodus 19:5-6 where God says, Israel if you obey me, you'll be a chosen people, a holy race but Peter took the language and applied it to the church. Read first Peter 2:9-10 again:

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
(1 Peter 2:9-10, ESV)

Go to Revelation 1:5-6,

5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood
6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5-6, ESV)

Hold on. Jesus made all the Gentiles, all the nations who believe in him, he made them Kings and Priests right but isn't that what God Said to Israel?

So why is the language that applied to Israel now applies to the churches of Jesus Christ?

Now read verses showing that we're the new Israel.

9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." (Revelation 5:9-10, ESV)

So, what was said about Israel is now applied to the church. All people of various languages from, various tribes who have been purchased by the blood of Jesus, He's made all of us, Jews and Gentiles, the kingdom of priests, a holy nation, God's possession to Reign on Earth.

So that answers the questions that those who believe in Christ to be Lord and Saviour are the new Israel, the spiritual Israel and the chosen people.

I didn't say Israel is completely replaced because the Jews are also engrafted into the spiritual body of Christ if they believe Christ is the messiah. If they accept Jesus now, they will be among the chosen people along with the Church.

Now go to Isaiah 60 verse 14.

The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet; they shall call you the City of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 60:14, ESV)

You're going to sit in awe of what you're about to read. God is going to make the people and nations who took the Jews captive bow at the feet of the Jews, acknowledging God love for Jerusalem and Israel.

Now read what Jesus, the Jew, the Jewish Messiah is going to do with this promise.

7 "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
8 "'I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. (Revelation 3:7-8, ESV)

This is what Jesus is saying to the church in Philadelphia i.e. the Christians.

But notice verse 9.

Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie-behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. (Revelation 3:9, ESV)

Jesus now reversed the blessing of Isaiah 60:14, flipped it on the Jews, so in Isaiah 60 verse 14 what was the Gentiles bowing before the feet of the Jews, Jesus flipped it and said I am going to make the Jews bow before the feet of the church so that the Jews will know I love the church.

You still want to tell me the Jews are the chosen people?

Jesus said two things, those Jews who reject me they are liars, they're not real Jews and secondly the synagogues where the Jews worship, belongs to the devil. God is not worshiped there because they don't know God.

John, a Jew wrote the Revelation. In fact Jesus was born of Blessed Mary, who was a Jew, Paul, one of the greatest person in the Bible after Jesus was a Jew. Yet they understood that people who worship Christ aka Christians are the new Jews or God's chosen people.

Galatians 3:29
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

So, if you belong to Christ, all the promises applicable to Abraham is now applicable to you. You are then the spiritual descendants of Abraham. God still loves Israel for the sake of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and still waiting for them to repent and come back to Him by accepting Jesus as the Lord and Savior. God will preserve them until the end of times. No one will be able to destroy them completely. Yet, their salvation solely depends on the fact whether they accept Christ or not. Jews are not the chosen people of God.