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It is important to realize that the kingdom of God is wider than rule over the earth.
Too often it is restricted in this way. But the Word of God reveals that this great
kingdom includes the heavens (see the author's The Kingdom of God in Heaven and on
Earth). In considering the kingdom theme we shall discover that election is connected
with each phase of the kingdom. In the earthly part of the kingdom of God, the people of
Israel dominate, but God's purposes cannot be restricted to them, for God wills that
Gentile nations will be blessed with them so that finally God will be King of all the earth
(Zech. 14: 9), "...For the earth shall be full of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters
cover the sea" (Isa. 11: 9, A.V.).
To attain this, God plans to use Israel as a channel to reach the nations, so first of all
He chooses or elects them:
"The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose (elect) you, because ye were
more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people" (Deut. 7: 7,
A.V.).
"The Lord has declared this day that you are His people, His treasured possession as
He promised ... He has declared that He will set you in praise, fame, and honour high
above all the nations He has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your
God as He promised" (Deut. 26: 18, 19, N.I.V.).
"If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all His commands that I
give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth"
(Deut. 28: 1, N.I.V. and see verse 13).
"He (God) has revealed His word to Jacob, His laws and decrees to Israel. He has
done this for no other nation; they do not know His laws" (Psa. 147: 19, 20, N.I.V.).
See also Deut. 4: 37; 14: 2; Psa. 135: 4; Isa. 41: 8; 45: 4; 65: 9, 22.
God's plan in all this was expressed by Paul when he warned the opposing Jews at
Pisidian Antioch that he would turn from them to the Gentiles because of their
opposition. Yet concerning their Messiah and them he quoted:
"I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of
the earth" (Acts 13: 47, N.I.V.).
But it may be objected that these promises to Israel were conditional. So they were,
and if this summed up God's dealings with Israel, there would be no future for them. But
through Jeremiah, God revealed His purposes of grace to this undeserving people, by
making a New Covenant with them. This was to take the place of the Old Covenant of
Law given through Moses (Jer. 31: 31-37). This is a long passage and the reader
should carefully ponder over these verses. God says He will make a New Covenant with
the house of Israel and Judah. It would not be conditional like the Old Covenant of Law,
because God would impress His law (His truth) on their minds and they would get to
know Him from the least to the greatest. He would forgive their wickedness and
remember their sins no more. He makes the challenge and says that if the creation of day
and night, earth and heaven, could be made to vanish; then the descendants of Israel
would cease for ever to be a nation before Him. Or if the foundations of the earth could
be searched out and the heavens above be measured, then, says God, "I will reject all the
descendants of Israel because of all they have done".