Why did God prepare and choose the nation of Israel?
God set Israel apart above all peoples as His peculiar treasure, chosen and covenant nation, sovereignly designating this small nation for a unique role in His overall program for the whole human race. He prepared them expressly so that through them all the other nations of the world could come to a knowledge of Israel's God.
Les teaches that in Exodus 19 Israel has just come out of Egypt under Moses and is gathered around Mount Sinai, where they are about to receive the Law and the Ten Commandments. God tells Moses what to tell the children of Israel. In Exodus 19:5, God says that if they will obey His voice indeed and keep His covenant, then they shall be a peculiar treasure unto Him above all people. Les explains that God always leaves it up to the will; He will not force them, but it is conditional. Here God is setting Israel aside and above all the other nations of the world. That is why they are called the chosen people, the favored nation, the covenant people. It is God sovereignly designating this little nation for a unique role in His overall program for the whole human race. Just because He will deal with the Jew only for so long does not mean He has blanked out the Gentile. The whole scope is that He can prepare this favored, covenant nation for the express purpose of bringing all the other nations of the world to a knowledge of Israel's God.