This scripture passage is the promise of God to His people Israel, which assures His favor and blessings to the Israelites. In order to receive God’s favor and blessings in their lives, they need to be holy because God is holy. God commanded Moses to tell the Children of Israel a long, long time ago (and in these days to us also who are called out to be His people) to be holy as I am holy (Leviticus 19:2; 20:7, 26; 21:8). According to Numbers 12:7, God said concerning Moses that My servant Moses is faithful in all My household. God communicated to His people Israel through Moses His faithful servant (Exodus 20:18-21). God’s chosen people Israel needed to observe Holiness individually and collectively because the Lord their God is holy: I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy … I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy (Leviticus 11:44-45). God is holy, so His people need to be holy in order to have any relationship with Him. Holiness must be observed for anyone to enter into His presence or to approach God’s throne of Grace. The book of Leviticus discusses much on holiness, and these teachings serve as an instruction manual for God’s people and shows how to live a godly life during our earthly life/existence. God, being the holy and righteous Creator instructed His chosen people Israel with His righteous laws prior to their settlements in the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey that was promised to their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 3:15-17).  He gave them these laws so that they can live a life that is worthy of the fact that they were chosen as a special nation by God. God’s special instructions, the righteous rules and regulations, explain how the Israelites must live as a holy and righteous people (nation) and worship Him in a godly manner in the land God promised to their forefathers that He will give it to their descendants as their inheritance. The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob became God’s inheritance – a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for God (Exodus 19:6). Moses very often stated that the people of Israel are special in the sight of God:

Deuteronomy 4:20 The Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are.

Deuteronomy 9:29 They are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.

Deuteronomy 32:8-9 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.

If we are God’s inheritance, then we do not belongs to ourselves, rather, we belong to God as the Psalmist said: Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture (Psalm 100:3). Praise God, He is our God, and we are His people.

Apostle Peter put it in a right way to express the God-given identity of the Israelites (OT) and the believers in the Lord (NT) and their responsibility in the world:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Since God has chosen and set apart the nation of Israel [during the Old Testament times] and the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ [during the New Testament time] exclusively for Himself, we must also separate ourselves from sins of any kind or form. Apostle Paul mentioned a few of such sins (the acts of the flesh) that hinder our righteous living:

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like … that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21).

While Apostle Paul warned against all kinds of the acts of the flesh that hinder our righteous living, he encouraged the believers, as God’s chosen people, to bear the fruit of the Spirit and practice it for His purpose and for His glory, as mentioned below:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25).

God loved the Israelites with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3-4a) and God loves us also with an everlasting love (John 3:16). Due to God’s love for us, His promises will never fail. God’s promises for us for this week are taken from Leviticus 26:9-13, which notes a number of God’s promises that will empower us for our spiritual journey. Let us examine some of the promises that God assured us as His Chosen people. God said …

• • I will look on you with favor (v.9a)
  • I will make you fruitful and increase your numbers (v.9b)
  • I will keep my covenant with you (v.9c)
  • I will bless you that you will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new (v.10)
  • I will put my dwelling place among you (v.11a)
  • I will not abhor you (v.11b)
  • I will walk among you (v.12a)
  • I will be your God and you will be my people (v.12b).
  • I am the Lord your God (v.13a),
  • I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt (v.13b)
  • I am the Lord that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians (v.13c)
  • I am the Lord who broke the bars of your yoke (v.13d)
  • I am the Lord who enabled you to walk with heads held high (v.13e)

From all that we discussed today, we can understand that the Old Testament saints are God’s chosen people. In the similar way, we, the New Testament believers, also belong to God as His chosen people. We are His because we are redeemed through the death of His Son Jesus Christ. As a result, He has adopted us to Himself as sons and daughters and immensely lavished His grace upon us. In the light of this, the promises God has given to the Israelites are also given to us, as His chosen people. These promises are not only given to the Israelites or to us but to everyone [the entirety of humanity] who accepts His Son Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of their life. God, being the righteous ruler, will never change His word that He uttered. The Psalmist stated that [God said], I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered (Psalm 89:34). To close, let us read what Apostle Paul has to tell us about God’s promises:

But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (2 Corinthians 1:18-22).