If we are asked whether Singapore is a country or a nation, we may find it rather difficult to answer that question.
We may also not be that clear about the difference between a country and a nation, so we may say that Singapore is both a country and a nation, or a bit of both.
A nation refers to a group of people with some common unifying factors, and since we are an island-state, then we too are a country.
But whether nation or country, the essential factor is the people.
In the 1st reading, God says that He was going to bring back His people from among the nations where they were scattered, and bring them home to their own soil.
More than just to form them into a nation with a country of their own, God wants to make an eternal covenant with His people so that He will be their God and they will be His people.
Jesus came to renew that covenant with His blood so that we will be God's People.
And just as the Lord God is the sanctifier of Israel and that His sanctuary will be with them forever, Jesus died on the Cross to save us and to make us holy so that as God's Holy People, we will be a sign of God's holiness to the world.