I have been watching the TV series Chosen and have questions about 1st Century Jewish life and beliefs:
1. What does "the chosen people" actually mean? Was it a special covenant with God that excluded all other people?
Those who are chosen are those who also choose to enter the covenant path to eternal life. Eternal life is having the same life that God himself has. Those who receive the teachings of Jesus Christ and live the covenant path are chosen as candidates to enter the kingdom of heaven. Those who are not willing to follow the teachings of Jesus and refuse to keep his commandments and to seek his forgiveness for the mistakes they make in life are not candidates for the kingdom of heaven if they continue in this pattern of life. However, they too can repent and come to follow the Christ and also become members that are chosen. Baptism into the true church of Jesus Christ is the first step to entering the covenant path. Baptism is a covenant to follow the teachings of Christ and to remember him and his teachings in our walk of life. We do make mistakes and need to take advantage of repentance and the grace of forgiveness of Jesus Christ to get back on the covenant path. The sacrament of the Lord is a renewing of the baptismal covenant to keep his commandments and to always remember the Christ in all that we do. It is the true path to gaining entrance into the kingdom of heaven and becoming like the Christ and our Father in Heaven. A most important principal to understand is that Jesus is Jehovah, the Great I Am, the God of the Old Testament.
After the days of the flood, the world eventually began to become wicked again and mankind sought to gain heaven on their own and built a great tower in Babel to reach heaven. It was then that God confounded mankind's language and scattered them all over the face of the earth. God through certain righteous families began to build up his kingdom of God on the earth. Originally you had to be a member of the lineage of these families but eventually God would take his gospel to all the children of mankind. Today the opportunity to be numbered among the house of Israel and be a covenant member of The Church of Jesus Christ is unto all mankind on the face of the whole earth. If a man or woman accepts the gospel of Jesus Christ, no matter where in the world he/she lives, they can be baptized and become a covenant member of Jesus' Church. God has even allowed that we do genealogy and go back and baptize people who are dead who never accepted the gospel. Those who are dead have the gospel preached unto them and if they receive it the world of spirits who are dead, then the baptisms we perform for the dead are valid and they too become part of the covenant people to God. Eventually all mankind who have come to this earth will have had the opportunity to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and be baptized as covenant person and have the opportunity to be saved in the kingdom of heaven.
1 Peter 4:6
6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
1 Peter 3:18-20
18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1 Corinthians 15:29
29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
Jesus organized his faithful dead saints to preach the gospel among the dead and has also organized his faithful living saints to preach the gospel to the living as well as perform baptisms for the dead. His true church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If you have not yet become a covenant follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, I invite you to learn of him and his church and challenge you to enter the covenant of baptism with him and become a chosen disciple.