At this juncture we need to consider the rights, privileges, and standing of the people of Israel.
Israel was God’s elect, His chosen people. As His elect, they should have been separated from the nations and different from them. The principle is the same with Israel in the Old Testament and with the church in the New Testament.
Israel was not only God’s elect but also God’s vine. God’s vine is for the accomplishing of God’s economy. John 15 reveals that Christ is the true vine and that we are the branches. As a whole, Christ and we are a vine for God’s economy. To the vine God grants His rich visitation with the supply of sunshine, air, rain, soil, and many other things that are necessary for the vine to grow and produce something.
This vine consists not only of human beings but of human beings joined to the divine person. This means that the vine is a combination of the Divine Being with many human beings. Such a vine is for God’s economy, and it should produce something that can make God happy and cause people to rejoice. As God’s chosen and elect people, Israel was God’s vine for His economy. Christ with the church is God’s vine today.
In the Bible the vine tree signifies God’s people as they are under His care and in union with Him. The vine tree in John 15 is formed by the union of the glorious Christ, God’s Son, and all who believe into Him and belong to Him. This union issues in the flowing forth of the divine life, and this life becomes the wine that brings joy to both God and man. Therefore, with the vine we have four crucial points: God’s care in His grace, the union of God and man, the flowing forth of the divine life, and the producing of wine for the joy of God and man.
In His grace and in His care for us, the believers, God has put us into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30), and now He is cultivating us that we may live in union with Christ. He is the vine, and we are the branches (John 15:5a). We are in Him, and He is in us. As we abide in Him, the divine life flows forth in fruit-bearing, and grapes are produced. Eventually, these grapes become wine to cheer both God and man (Judg. 9:13).
Israel was also God’s bride, His counterpart, for His satisfaction. Whereas the vine is a matter of the flow of life and the manifestation of grace, the wife is a matter of love and satisfaction. God does not want to be alone but wants to have a bride. Genesis 2:18 says that it is not good for man to be alone. In typology, this signifies that it is not good for Christ, for God, to be alone. Christ desires to have a bride. According to Ezekiel 16 and 23 Israel was God’s bride in the Old Testament time. Today the church is Christ’s bride for His satisfaction (John 3:29; Rev. 19:7). What will satisfy God the most and bring Him the greatest pleasure will be the church as His bride, His counterpart.
The house of Israel was also God’s flock. In the Old Testament God had a flock on earth that was under His care, and this flock was Israel. Today the church is God’s flock, under His care (1 Pet. 5:2).
In addition, the people of Israel were chosen by Him to be a precious and peculiar treasure (Exo. 19:5). How marvelous was Israel’s standing before God! They were His elect, His vine, His bride, His flock, and His treasure. These were the rights, privileges, and standing of the people of Israel.