Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-10-09

a Va pTltSbSS dlIu d IlOly
ton" EX. 1876.
We learned last week that God s
latest effort to win the world that
had been lost to Him by the rebel
lion of Satan was in choosing man,
separating him from his home and
kindred, giving him a new home, and
? promising him that in him and in
his seed should Ed tae families of
the earth he blessed. That effort did
not succeed for the same reason that
The others had taiied-the material
with which God had to work. Abra-
han. failed God in two important par
ticularS, and as a result his seed
had ~ so into bondage in Egypt for
mora than 400 years.
Then God began another plan-or
rather it was another part OF the
same plan He had always had. Abra-
hams seed had greatly multiplied llr
Egypt; from IS souls they mad in
creased to more than 100000. In
deed the Egyptian bondage was
necessary to tbs growth, Tor IN
Canaan the hostile nationiS would
have made this multiplication very
difficult, if not impossible; but i'll
Goshen, unmolested by the Egypt
ians who hated shepherds, they multi
piled rapidly and without let or him
b drance.
Unique Nation
At the end of the time specified
by God, He raised up a deliverer in
the person of Moses, who, by spe-
cial training, was thoroughly quail
fed to be the leader of the people,
and to develop them from a motley
-lo sv,f0 nj zca6
nation. Having overcome the mach.
nations of Pharaoh and the dangers
of the Red sea and the desert, God
brought them under Moses leader
ship to the Mountain of God-Mt.
Sinai. While the Israelites were en-
camped at its base, Moses went up
into the mountain, and Jehovah
called him and told him to say to
the children of Israel that He had
brought them out of Egypt and had
borne them on eagles wings and
brought them to Himself. Now,
therefore, if we will obey my voice
indeed and keep my covenant, then
ye shall be mine own possession
from among all peoples: for all the
earth is mine, and We shall be unto
q me kingdom of priests, and holy
nation
God, whose is the whole earth and
who, therefore, has the right to do
with it as He pleases, of His own
free will and regardless of what
. this people had been or what other
peoples were, chose this people to
be His own possession. This was
all of grace, so far as they were
concerned, it was to them unde-
served favor; and on Gods part it
was the exercise of His sovereignty,
His right to do as He wills because
He is before all and all is of Him.
Unique Purpose
Notice His purpose in choosing
this nation as His own possession.
1t was not that Israel should be
blessed beyond all the other nations
for their own selfish ends. Israel
thought so; Israel became exclusive,
. and proud, and disdainful, and
looked upon all other nations as
dogs. But that was where this step
in Gods plan failed-we shall notice
that directly. Let us see what Gods
purpose was in choosing the nation
Israel as His own possession above
all peoples.
1t was to make them q kingdom
of priests, and a holy Tor separately
nation. God needed some nation
that would stand for Him before the
peoples and bring the peoples to
Him-that is the Office of a priest,
and that is what God chose the
nation to be and to do. In order
to do this they must be holy ma
tion-the word holy means sep
arated": they must not intermarry
with other nations, they must keep
a pure strain that the truth may
not be mixed with error; and thus
as separated nation they could
be witnesses to the whole world.
So God had chosen this nation to
be a unique nation with a unique
purpose. Israel was to be a mission
airy nation. Not "a nation of mission
aries, but a missionary nation; for
In dealing with Israel, Gods plan
was not to deal with individuals in
the nation, but with the nation it.
self as a whole. AS a nation, they
should stand before God for all the
other peoples of the world, and be-
fore all the peoples of the world for
God.
Unique Privilege
This was a unique privilege. To
a certain extent, Israel lived up to
: this privilege and to a large extent
the nation failed God. Let US see
to what extent they did live up to
their privileges, or in other words,
for what the world is indebted to
the Jew as a nation.
The world owes to the Jew the
restatement and preservation of the
truth of the oneness of God. God
revealed himself to the first man
as the true God. In the dawn of
history, God said, Let us make
man in Our image" Notice the
plural and yet the singular; and in
that, dawn of the world we find God
the Father, God the Son, and God
the Spirit-the Three-One God.
In the days that followed, men
lost that idea of God, and gods null
. tiplied, until Abram began to bring
: back to mems attention the fact
that God is one. This truth crys-
tallized in the nation of Israel at
Sinai when God spoke through