The term peculiar people is first found in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 7:6. ‘For you are a holy people unto the Lord thy God. Yahweh has chosen you to be a peculiar people for His own treasured possession out of all the people who are on the face of the earth.’ Was this meant only for the nation of Israel or is it applicable to the body of authentic believers?
First Creation Failure
God created Adam to walk in the Garden of Eden to fellowship and worship Him in a covenantal relationship. The perfect Adam was to succeed where even the angels of heaven had failed. A third of the angels were led in rebellion by Lucifer, the most beautiful angel of all, Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:13-19.
Adam failed by disobeying God’s word and sin entered the entire human race, Romans 5:12. Moses was given the law of God, but man could not keep it. God chose a Gentile, Abram, and began showing Him the glory that belongs only to God. Abram was renamed Abraham and became the father of faith. He believed in the unseen and unseeable and believed the word of God. He was called the ‘friend of God’, James 2:23.
Israel was God’s chosen people to be His witness on earth. They failed their God. Yet, Israel is the only nation to be born again. Other kingdoms rose and fell, but Israel rose, fell, rose and fell again. Then the unthinkable happened when in 1948 they were reborn as a nation. They will nearly be destroyed again in the coming Great Tribulation, but they will take their God-appointed place in the reign of Christ.
Last Adam
God sent His only Son to dwell among men, fulfilling the promise given in the Garden of Eden, Genesis 3:15. Jesus Christ was incomprehensibly total God and total Man. God proved that man could walk this earth in total obedience to the Father God and remain sinless.
It was the sinless Son of God who took the rightful punishment for all the sin of the world. When Adam sinned God could not change His word, and the wages of sin must be death, Romans 6:23. That is not just physical death, but spiritual death. For all eternity the sinner will be cast out of the presence of God.
Through Jesus Christ, the last Adam, mankind had the Way back to full covenantal fellowship with God by believing in the sanctifying death of the Son. A new species was created. The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit, 1 Corinthians 15:22.
Man is born naturally by the water, but now he could be born of the Spirit of God. Natural man must die because he has a sin nature, but the new species, born of the Spirit, has eternal life, John 3:16.
Peculiar People
The Church has been called of God as a peculiar people. Ones who are set aside for the service and worship of their Creator. However, like Israel, the Church has fallen far short of the mark. Man introduced religion and called it church. Rites, rituals and laws became the rule of the day.
However, Jesus died and rose again for those who would believe in Him, be set apart from the world, and become authentic worshippers of God and followers of Christ. They are the ones who are washed by the water of the word, Ephesians 5:26, the Bride of Christ.
New Species Peculiar People
These peculiar people are living stones of precious value for they are hidden with Christ in God, Colossians 3:3, and are God’s own possession. They are to live in the world but not be conformed to the ways of the world, set aside to God’s service, transformed with renewed minds, Romans 12:2.
They are not like the perfect first Adam who did not need to die until he failed. The new species are born again in Christ Jesus having received the gift of eternal life, 1 Corinthians 15:22. They are a chosen family. A royal priesthood. A holy nation. A people for God’s own possession. So that they may proclaim the excellence of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvellous light, 1 Peter 2:9. Their minds are centered on heavenly things, not earthly things. They are authentic followers of Jesus Christ.
Peculiar People Inhabit Heaven
The peculiar people are the new species, new creation, who will inhabit heaven for all eternity. They will worship the God who redeemed them and gave them eternal life, John 3:16.
Those who do not accept so great a salvation will know only eternal death, as in being eternally separated from God. Now is the hour of salvation, 2 Corinthians 6:2. The time to accept that Jesus Christ died for you, a sinner, Romans 5:8,9. Now is the time to make a decision that will seal your fate for all eternity, for the grave is not the end, just the beginning. Reading the signs of the time we clearly see that Jesus is getting ready to come back to call His Bride away. Are you ready? Are you a peculiar people?
Check out other posts at Whispering Encouragement. We are here to inform and encourage. Subscribe for free, so you can keep up to date with topics that interest you.
________________________Whispering Encouragement_______________________
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.