Beloved of Heaven, July 17

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”—John 15:9JNN 211.1

For more than a thousand years the Jewish people had awaited the Saviour’s coming. Upon this event they had rested their brightest hopes. In song and prophecy, in temple rite and household prayer, they had enshrined His name. And yet at His coming they knew Him not. The Beloved of heaven was to them “as a root out of a dry ground;” He had “no form nor comeliness;” and they saw in Him no beauty that they should desire Him. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (Isaiah 53:2; John 1:11).JNN 211.2

Yet God had chosen Israel. He had called them to preserve among men and women the knowledge of His law, and of the symbols and prophecies that pointed to the Saviour. He desired them to be as wells of salvation to the world. What Abraham was in the land of his sojourn, what Joseph was in Egypt, and Daniel in the courts of Babylon, the Hebrew people were to be among the nations. They were to reveal God to humanity.JNN 211.3

In the call of Abraham the Lord had said, “I will bless thee ... and thou shalt be a blessing ... and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2, 3). The same teaching was repeated through the prophets. Even after Israel had been wasted by war and captivity, the promise was theirs, “The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men” (Micah 5:7). Concerning the temple at Jerusalem, the Lord declared through Isaiah, “Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7, R. V.).JNN 211.4

But the Israelites fixed their hopes upon worldly greatness. From the time of their entrance to the land of Canaan, they departed from the commandments of God, and followed the ways of the heathen. It was in vain that God sent them warning by His prophets. In vain they suffered the chastisement of heathen oppression. Every reformation was followed by deeper apostasy.JNN 211.5

Had Israel been true to God, He could have accomplished His purpose through their honor and exaltation.—The Desire of Ages, 27, 28.JNN 211.6

Further Reflection: If I am a citizen of “spiritual Israel,” how can I succeed where ancient Israel failed? How can I reveal God to those with whom I come in contact today?JNN 211.7