9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; -1 Peter 2:9 King James Version (KJV)
Like the Jews there will be many Christians today who believe they are the Chosen ones because they are Christians or because they belong to a particular Christian Church which they believe is the only true Church making them God's only Chosen people. This of course also applies to the different Religions which are not Christian. An example of Jews who have died with this attitude coupled with a greedy covetous nature is revealed by Emanuel Swedenborg:
Arcana Coelestia, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1749-56], tr. by John F. Potts [1905-10], at sacred-texts.com
What sordid phantasies the ideas of thought of those who have been sordidly avaricious [greedy; covetous] are turned into, is evident from their hell, which is deep under foot. A vapor exhales from it like that from hogs whose bristles are being scraped off in a scalding trough. There are the homes of the avaricious...
In this hell are for the most part Jews who have been sordidly avaricious [greedy; covetous,] whose presence too when they come to other spirits is perceived as the stench of mice. In regard to the Jews something may be said about their cities and the robbers in the desert, to show how miserable is their state after death, especially that of those who have been sordidly avaricious and have despised others in comparison with themselves in consequence of their inborn arrogance in thinking themselves to be the only chosen people. In consequence of having conceived and confirmed in themselves, during their life in the body, the phantasy that they shall go to Jerusalem, and the Holy Land, to possess it (not being disposed to understand that by the New Jerusalem is meant the Lord's kingdom in the heavens and on earth), there appears to them, when they come into the other world, a city on the left of [the hell called] Gehenna, a little in front, to which they flock in crowds. This city, however, being miry [muddy] and fetid [having an offensive odor,] is called the filthy Jerusalem; and here they run about the streets, over the ankles in dirt and mud, pouring out complaints and lamentations. They see these cities-indeed I have sometimes seen them myself-and the streets therein, with all their defilements, represented as in open day. There once appeared to me a certain spirit of a dusky hue coming from this filthy Jerusalem, the gate seeming as it were to be opened. He was encompassed about with wandering stars, especially on his left side; wandering stars around a spirit signifying in the spiritual world falsities, but it is different when the stars are not wandering. He approached, and applied himself to the upper part of my left ear, which he seemed to touch with his mouth, in order to speak with me; but he did not speak in a sonorous tone of voice like others, but within himself, nevertheless in such a manner that I could hear and understand. He said that he was a Jewish Rabbi, adding that he had been in that miry city for a long time, and that the streets thereof were nothing but mud and dirt. He said also there was nothing to eat in it but dirt, and on my asking why he who was a spirit desired to eat, he replied that he did eat, and that when he desired to eat, nothing was offered him but mud, which grieved him exceedingly. He inquired what he must do, having in vain tried to meet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I related to him some particulars respecting them, informing him it was in vain to seek for them, and that even if they were found, they could not possibly afford him any assistance. After adverting to matters of deeper import, I said that no one ought to be sought after but the Lord alone, who is the Messiah whom they had despised on earth; and that He rules the universal heaven and the universal earth, and that help comes from Him alone. He then asked anxiously and repeatedly where the Lord was. I replied that He is to be found everywhere, and that He hears and knows all men. But at that instant other Jewish spirits drew him away.
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