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The Glorious Destiny Israel Might Have Ha
To bring the best gifts of Heaven to all peoples, God called
Abraham from his idol-worshiping family and told him to establish
his home in Canaan. “‘I will make you a great nation; I will bless you
and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.’”
Genesis
12:2
. Abraham was called to a high honor—to be the father of the
people who would preserve the truth of God, the people through
whom all nations would be blessed by the advent of the promised
Messiah.
People had nearly lost the knowledge of the true God. Idolatry
had darkened their minds. Yet God in His mercy did not blot them
out of existence. He planned that His people should live out the
principles that would help to restore the moral image of God in
human beings.
God’s law must be exalted, and He gave the people of Israel this
great work. God separated them from the world and determined
to preserve the knowledge of Himself through them. In this way
all peoples would hear a voice appealing to them to turn from idol
worship to serve the living God.
God brought His chosen people out of Egypt so that He might
bring them to a good land that He had prepared as a haven from their
enemies. In return for His goodness they were to glorify His name
in the earth. He preserved them miraculously from the perils of the
wilderness and finally established them in the Land of Promise as a
favored nation.
With touching emotion Isaiah told the story of Israel’s call and
training: “My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He
dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest
vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it;
so He expected it to bring forth good grapes.”
Isaiah 5:1, 2
.
“The vineyard of the Lord of hosts,” the prophet declared, “is the
house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.”
Isaiah
Author’s Introduction
13
