“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; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6 ESV).
God told Moses that the Israelites would be a “treasured possession” to Him among other nations. In the Hebrew it includes the idea that the “possession” was special because it was purchased or redeemed at great cost to the owner. Israel was the Lord’s “treasured possession,” not because of their own intrinsic value, but because God had chosen and redeemed them out of Egypt as on “eagle’s wings” (Ex. 19:4). It was the Lord’s own redemption that made Israel special.
That the Lord had chosen them as His own peculiar people did not mean that He didn’t care for the other nations of the earth. Not at all. For all the earth belongs to the Lord and all its people. He chose Israel for a special purpose, that they would be a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Israel was set apart to testify of the Lord to all the other nations.
Yet ultimately, Israel was chosen to be the people to whom the Lord Jesus would be born. Jesus is the One who fulfilled Israel’s purpose, obeying the Lord’s voice, keeping His covenant, and becoming the Great High Priest who offers salvation to all the world through His sacrifice.
Now those who believe in Jesus have become God’s “treasured possession.” For as the apostle Peter wrote, we are God’s “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” (1 Peter 2:9).
PRAYER: Dear Father, when we consider the great price You paid in sending Your Son Jesus to redeem us, we are amazed that You have treasured us so. Now we treasure and worship You, O Lord. Fill us afresh with Your Spirit that we might proclaim Your glory and gospel to the world. In Jesus’ name, amen.