Distinct Features

Why Israel?

by Derek Prince

God’s Heart for a People, His Plan for a Nation

Chapter 2 Distinct Features

In our last chapter, we discussed Israel’s unique positioning. This chapter will continue the discussion of some of this nation’s distinct features.

In Exodus 19:6, we see God’s promise to Israel while they were gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai—before He had given them the law and the commandments. God tells Moses to inform the Israelites:

And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

There is no other nation to whom God has ever spoken those words.

Messiah Came through the Jews

In Romans 9 verses 4 and 5, Paul lists a number of distinctive features which apply only to Israel and to the Jews. In speaking about his kinsmen whom he calls Israelites, Paul makes the following points:

To whom pertain the adoption, [God adopted them as a nation, as His people]
the glory, [that is the manifest supernatural presence of God which was with Israel as long as they walked in obedience]
the covenants, [all the covenants in the Bible are made with Israel except the ones made before Israel was a nation]
the giving of the law, [the law was given only to Israel]
the priestly service of God, [was given only to Israel]
and the promises; [the promises were also only given to Israel. And then Paul says,]
of whom are the fathers, [let’s remember that all the patriarchs are from that lineage, from no other stock but that of Israel. And finally]
of whom, according to the flesh, Messiah [Christ] came

This last point is the most distinctive of all the features. It was through the Jewish people—through Israel—that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, came to the world. His coming was not through any other people than the Jews.

Salvation Is of the Jews

Another distinctive feature about Israel is revealed in a most important statement about the Jewish people in John 4:22. Jesus is speaking to a Samaritan woman:

You [Samaritans] worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

This last statement consists of just five words: “salvation is of the Jews.” But they are five breath-taking words. Where did salvation come from? From the Jews. This is the startling reality: no Jews, no salvation.

I am a Gentile. But I freely declare that my whole spiritual inheritance, and every spiritual blessing I have ever enjoyed, I owe to one people—the Jewish people. As I have said, without them there are no patriarchs, no prophets, no apostles, no Bible, and no Savior. How much salvation would you or I have without those five components? None! Salvation is of the Jews. We had better remember that truth and conduct ourselves accordingly.