Old people – new people - 22 January 2025

Old and new – Israel, the chosen people of old and we, the new people of God. The Bible tells us about the chosen people of God and his interaction with them. In the Old Testament, this interaction is different from the New Testament, but in both, we hear the story of how God is busy in the lives of people. In these verses from Exodus and the first letter of Peter, we hear an almost identical description of the chosen people. In these verses, we see the chosen people (the King’s priests, holy nation) from the outside, but we also see their inner workings.

In the old dispensation, God gathered his people from all the nations of the world. This process started when God called Abraham from Ur to become the patriarch of this new nation. The fact that they were chosen has nothing to do with how great they were as a nation. The nation called Israel were, after all, only to become a nation many years later. This is the same in the new dispensation. God, through Jesus Christ, did not call us because of how good we are, but because of how merciful he is. He wants everyone who believes in him to be saved. Neither the old chosen people nor the new ones can brag about how special they were to be chosen by God, we are chosen by the grace of God alone.

What are we, as his new chosen people, supposed to be doing this year? In the Old Testament, the priests were directly involved with all religious matters and so should we. Let us not wait for the religious leaders to keep up the faith this year. All of us are priests now, therefore we are all responsible to keep up the faith.

God’s new nation should also be like kings and queens, not to sit on our own little thrones, but to be visible in the world; not as rulers ourselves, but to show the world that God is King.

In the last instance, we are a holy nation, different from the world, but not outside of what is happening in the world. To the contrary, we are part of the world and everything that it entails, to show all people that it is not necessary to be hiding in the dark, but to live in his marvelous light.

Prayer: Lord, there are many times when I am afraid of the responsibility of being your priest, prophet and king. Please help me to overcome this fear. Amen