We Are the Chosen

It’s not merely one empire; we are watching a whole civilization crumble.

I make no apology for saying that civilization itself is a lie. It’s a desperate attempt to establish anything that removes from our awareness the need to trust in our Creator. Instead, it seeks to elevate humans to demigods. Civilization is an abstract form of self worship. All the alleged good things arising out of human civilization serve only to distract people from the ultimate truth that human concerns are vain.

All of this striving to build something that will make a mark, so that succeeding generations won’t forget, clearly doesn’t come from calm reflection on the futility of human striving. But instead of fighting civilization, the voice of divine wisdom says we should simply not get wrapped up in it. Know that it’s an unavoidable product of human moral emptiness and let it pass you by.

For our part, we should resolve to stop and let Creation speak in our hearts. When you get alone in a natural setting, there should be this resounding song of praise and worship in your hearts, echoes of what Creation itself has to say about our situation. We are but a vapor that rises and dissipates on the breeze, as is all mortal life.

There was a time the Hebrew people understood this. Have you read Psalm 8* lately? Israel lost track of that. By the time the Messiah was born, they were deeply wrapped up in this world. Their messianic expectations insisted that He must fulfill their hedonistic desires of wealth, excessive long life and political power. When Jesus reminded them that human existence was just a mist, they rejected Him. They rejected Eternity in favor of futility.

The real problem with Modern Israel is not the ongoing slaughter in Gaza, nor the depravity of how they treat non-Jews. Those are only symptoms. The real problem is that they rejected the great gifts of their Redeemer at Mount Sinai. They demanded the shadows of His glory, refusing to live in the full light of revelation. The Messiah brought a new covenant, in part because they rejected the old.

The problem is that Israel claims their citizens are the only real humans; everyone else is just an animal that exists only for their convenience. From at least the time of Jesus, they have sought to seize by subterfuge the things Satan offered Jesus during the Wilderness Temptation. They are cowards who use force only when their victims can’t strike back, rejecting anything that resembles accountability before man or God.

Having rejected their Messiah, Satan is now their national deity. This is the critique that the world cannot hear. Our world imagines that Israel can be scolded and instructed to behave themselves according to civilized standards. Jews call this notion “anti-Semitism”. They cannot imagine holding themselves accountable to anyone but themselves, as they are superior to the rest of humanity. It is anti-Semitism to suggest otherwise.

Our response is to hold them accountable to their own covenant law, the revelation they refused to obey from the first day they received it, preferring a golden calf. When their law came clothed in flesh, they rejected Him, but God holds them to account for this until His Son returns in glory. We who embrace the Messiah have displaced them in God’s favor. We know that our lives are only dust in the wind, that everything men seek is also dust. Yet, we are the Chosen, the Elect of Eternity.

*Note: The line in verse 5 originally said in Hebrew that we are temporarily placed below the elohim, not angels. It’s a reference to God’s staff in Heaven. At the Day of Judgment, He said we would replace some of them. Meanwhile, Jews cannot enter Eternity except by the same route as Gentiles, through Jesus.