Why did God set apart the nation of Israel?
God set apart the nation of Israel to fulfill the promise of Genesis 3:15—that the seed of the woman would come as the Redeemer of mankind. Through Abraham's covenant people, God would bring forth the Messiah, preparing Israel for a role as missionaries and evangelists.
Les explains that God set aside the nation of Israel to fulfill the promise of Genesis 3:15—that the seed of the woman would come to be the Redeemer of mankind. To bring that to fulfillment, He set aside Israel and promised Abraham that through that nation of covenant people would come the Redeemer, the Messiah. God then began to prepare Israel for the role of missionaries and evangelists. Les also notes that the 144,000 will not limit their ministry to Israel but will go to all nations, kindreds, people, and tongues, and he uses the illustration of athletes who 'redeem themselves' from goat to hero to picture redemption.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.