What were the Israelites supposed to be as soon as God brought them out of Egypt?
They were to be a separated, holy nation, set apart from the surrounding peoples. God's instructions were clear-cut: they were to have nothing to do with the nations around them, so their lifestyle and behavior would visibly differ from unbelievers.
Les explains that as soon as God brought Israel out of Egypt, they were to be a separated people—a separated, holy nation. The instructions were clear-cut: they were to have nothing to do with the people around them. Les applies this same lesson to Christianity, noting that Christianity has largely lost that distinction, so most people cannot tell a Christian from an unbeliever by behavior or lifestyle. But that is not what God intended; believers are to be different, not oddballs or gloomy, but distinct. He then connects this to Paul's writing to the Corinthians, where the unrighteous are listed as not inheriting the kingdom, and Paul reminds them that such were some of them in the past.