LONG BEFORE God called His earthly people out, He had prepared a place for them.
“When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sops of Adam, He set the bounds of the people [peoples] according to the number of the children of Israel.” He knew their number, how many they would become, and according to that number He set the bounds of the nations.
In the purpose of God that little strip of land along the eastern edge of the Mediterranean was to be the center of the earth, and will be soon. It was to be the center of earthly government and blessing. There will be Messiah’s capital, the city of the great King, and the nations of the earth will bring their glory and honor there. Some of His earthly people, once scattered to the four corners of the earth, are already gathering back, though it be in unbelief, yet it is a remarkable sign that “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” Jas. 5:88Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. (James 5:8). How soon then it must be that we the Church will be called home to heaven!
When speaking of the nations God used His title as “the Most High"; but when He speaks of Israel He uses the name “Jehovah,” for that is His covenant name with them.
So He says, “For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.” And what a wonderful thought we have here! He assigns a portion of the earth to each nation, and He reserves a special portion for His people; but what does He leave for Himself? “The Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.” Speaking reverently, God needed a portion for Himself, someone to take care of, an object on which to display His grace. If His grace to Israel is wonderful, how much more so is His grace to us, poor sinners of the Gentiles, without God and without hope in this world, but now part of the Church, the Bride of Christ, soon to be brought home to glory; “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Eph. 2:77That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:7). God’s first thought in saving us was not just to put our sins away, but that we should be “to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Eph. 1:66To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:6)).
The Lord needed an object for His love and grace, and He finds it in His saints. For this reason we ought also to delight in His people, in one another, though our portion is in the Lord Himself.
Jesus, Thou needest me,
E’en me, Thou Light divine;
O Son of God, Thou needest me,
Thou needest souls like mine.
Thy fullness needs my want,
Thy wealth my poverty;
Thy healing skill my sickness needs,
Thy joy my misery.
Thy strength my weakness needs,
Thy grace my worthlessness;
Thy greatness needs a worm like me
To cherish and to bless.
ML-04/18/1976