The people of God in the Old Testament trace their origins, either to God’s call of Abraham, or the Exodus experience. However, the function of Israel as the people of God remained the same. God chose Israel as the instrument of His universal plan to and for the nations of the world. God did not choose Israel because of her goodness or her merit, but only owing to her instrumentality for the sake of the nations. She was chosen for service so that she might be a blessing to the nations. The emphasis falls upon the God who created from the nations the children of ‘the wandering Aramean’ a people for God own purpose. When Israel failed and became like the other nations, she could no longer fulfil her mediatorial role. Likewise, when she lived in disobedience to her God, she could no longer function as a ‘kingdom of priests ‘ for the sake of the world. Thus, her instrumentality became meaningless, and her service was of little or no value. Like Israel, we, as the people of God, are not chosen by God because we are special, rather we are chosen by God for the sake of ‘those who are not yet the people of God’ and if fail to be what we were meant to be then our calling and service is of little or no value.