[This post is an elaboration on a point in my sermon “The Consolations of God in the Gospel” from Acts 13:13–52. You can also see the distillation of that sermon in this post].
Acts 13:17
and [God] made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt,
God has made you his treasured possession. If the reason God chose you was that he loved you (See “God Chose You”), then the purpose in his choosing you was to make you his treasured possession. But what all does that entail? Acts 13:17 offers a clue: “God made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt.” The natural implication is that before their stay in Egypt, the people were not great. We observe this much in Deuteronomy 7:7, “for you were the fewest of all peoples.” Before Egypt, Israel was not a nation. Israel was not a kingdom. Israel was not even a people. Israel was one family. But as exiles in that foreign land of Egypt, the family of Israel grew into a great people—a people whom God would make into the nation and a kingdom. And God says this to them in Exodus 19:5–6,
“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’…” (Exodus 19:5–6; cf. Deuteronomy 7:6).
God promised to make Israel his treasured possession among all peoples. As his treasured possession they would be a kingdom. And they would not be just any ole kingdom. They would be a kingdom of priests who pointed the watching world back to God. As his treasured possession they wouldn’t be just a random assortment of individuals. They would be a nation. They would be one people, one nation. And they would not be just any ole nation. They would be a holy nation delighting in God and his ways, not in wickedness and sin. But these even these markers themselves would prove to not be the greatest distinction of God’s people as his treasured possession. The greatest distinction of God’s people as his treasured possession would be God’s presence in their midst:
I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God (Exodus 29:45–46; cf. Exodus 33:15–16).
God’s people would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation with whom he dwells. This is what it means to be God’s treasured possession. And while Israel ultimately failed to live up to this calling, Jesus did not.
Jesus proved to be the King, Priest, and Holy One that Israel never was (Luke 1:32–33; Hebrews 4:14–16; 7:20–25; Mark 1:24; John 6:69; Acts 3:14). In Jesus, God dwelt in the midst of men (John 1:14). Israel was supposed to be God’s treasured possession, but Jesus the Son of God was, is, always has been, and always will be God’s treasured possession,
And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11).
And now God makes you his treasured possession by conforming you into the image of his Son (Romans 8:29). Peter makes this clear. Importantly, Peter addresses us saints as exiles in a foreign land (1 Peter 1:1), when he says this,
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1 Peter 2:9–10).
You, saint, are among God’s chosen people from among all peoples. You, saint, are a priest in a priesthood of saints, a royal priesthood, a kingdom of priests. You, saint, are a holy member of a holy nation. Once, you were not any of these. You were not even part of a people let alone a holy nation and a kingdom of priests. You were a lost individual groping around in darkness. You were among a kingdom of pagan priests. You were among an unholy nation. You were among a sinful people who is not really a people at all but a world of sin-indulging gluttons where one has allegiance to no one but self and Satan. You sought after and desired anything but being God’s treasured possession. But now you are among God’s people. And how did that happen?
According to Peter, you were not among God’s people because you had not received mercy (1 Peter 2:10). Now, though, you are among God’s people because you have received mercy (1 Peter 2:10). You have received mercy on the basis of one who walked this earth as God’s treasured possession when you refused. You received mercy through the blood of Jesus, God’s beloved and treasured Son, who called you out of your darkness into his marvelous light, and now all his merits God counts as yours.
Saint, even though right now you may be an exile on this earth, a foreign land of wickedness and sin, a desert of trial and testing—like Israel in Egypt and in the wilderness—, in Christ, God has truly made you into a kingdom of priests to point the world to him, a holy nation who delights in God and his ways, a people for his own possession with whom he dwells. And to be God’s kingdom of priests, God’s holy nation, God’s people, is to be his treasured possession in whom he delights.
God has made you his treasured possession. This is a gospel consolation for you.
