“And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.” (Matthew 12:21)

In prophesying the first Advent of Jesus Christ, Hosea wrote: “…and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God” (Hosea 1:10). Hosea’s prophecy speaks of Christ’s work as He instituted a New Covenant between God and man.

At the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, Jewish nationalism had so separated the Jew from the Gentile to the point that it was considered to be unlawful for a Jew to go into the house of a Gentile (see Acts 10:28). What distinguished the Jews was a unique relationship as God’s People, whom He had set apart for Himself. In the Jew’s eye, this distinction indicated their privileged position of superiority to the non-Jew.

But this distinction has been dissolved by the finished work of Jesus Christ. Through the New Birth experience by the Holy Spirit, we who were not a people are now the sons of God (Romans 8:14). We who were not loved have experienced the unrestrained Love of God.

It behooves us then, as we have become God’s Covenant People – the Children He has chosen as His Own – to echo the sentiment:

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God…” (1 John 3:1)