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Articles
Will the Real Israel Please Stand Up?
by Gordon Enger
The predominate teaching in the institutional
church today is that God has set Israel aside for a time in
order to use the church. After the church is raptured, God
will deal with Israel who will respond as a nation to the gospel
during the tribulation and will all come to repentance and
believe in the Messiah. The church, as Christ’s bride,
is too good to go through the tribulation since God would not
abuse his bride.
The ideas of this teaching are a result of the antinomian
teachings of the church fathers coupled with a total ignorance
of the true identity of Israel. To unravel this puzzle, we
need to go back to the Old Testament and discover Israel’s
identity for ourselves.
The story begins in Genesis chapter 12 with the account of
Abraham’s calling. God said to Abraham, “Leave
your country, your people, and your father’s household
and go to the land I will show you.” Continuing with
the second verse of chapter 12, “I will make you into
a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name
great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless
you, and whoever curses you, I will curse; and all peoples
on earth will be blessed through you.”
It is important to know that Abraham was not a “Jew.” He
lived in Haran with his family when God placed the call on
his life. In obedience, Abraham left his home, his family,
and his friends to set out for a land which God would show
him. He believed God and because of his belief, followed God.
God promised to give Abraham a son even though Sarah was well
beyond childbearing years. In fact, when she heard the announcement,
she laughed. In an effort to fulfill the promise of a son,
Sarah offered her handmaid Hagar to Abraham, and Ishmael was
born out of that union. Ishmael however, was not the promised
son. He became the father of the Arab people who throughout
history have had enmity with the seed of Isaac.
At the appointed time, Sarah did give birth to Isaac. “Sarah
became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at
the very time God had promised him.” (Genesis 21:2) Since
both Abraham and Sarah laughed when they heard that they were
to have a son, they named him “he laughs” (Isaac).
When it came time for Isaac to marry, Abraham’s servant
was instructed to go back to Abraham’s homeland and get
a wife for him from among his kinfolk who were Gentiles. Rebecca
agreed to follow the servant and to marry Isaac, thus, she
in faith “crossed over” and became an Israelite.
Rebecca and Isaac had two sons. The older was named Esau while
the younger was called Jacob. Both the birthright and the blessing
went to the younger son. Have you notice that God’s promises
have gone to the younger of the brothers in each instance?
This is a trend that will continue. It follows that the blessing
comes to us through the second Adam (Christ). The first Adam
passed his sin nature down to us but the second Adam restores
us back to God, thus blessing us.
Jacob, like his father, went back to his home country to get
a wife. In the process, he ended up with two wives. Both Leah
and Rachel followed Jacob back to the land of promise and thus “crossed
over” to become Israelites. Jacob, through his two wives
and their handmaids, had twelve sons who would become the nation
of Israel.
On the way back to the land of promise, Jacob had an encounter
with God at the ford of Jabbok, which is the delineation of
the northern border of the land of Israel. Jacob sent the others
ahead of him across the stream, but he stayed back to spend
the night alone. During the night, he wrestled with God, continuing
until daybreak. Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless
you bless me.” (Genesis 32:26) It was at that point that
God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. In the morning, he “crossed
over” the brook into the land. He became the son of promise
through whom Messiah, the ultimate son of promise, would come.
Only one of Israel’s twelve sons was named Judah through
whom the name “Jew” comes. Judah, as one of the
twelve sons was part of Israel, but the other tribes were not
a part of Judah. God spoke distinctly to both Judah and Israel
and treated them as separate entities. (When Israel split after
the reign of Solomon, they formed two nations. One became known
as Judah and the other as Israel.)
You all know the story of Joseph and his special coat. The
real significance of this coat was that this type of coat was
given to the son through whom the blessing would pass. Joseph
was sold into slavery but soon came into a position of power
in Potifer’s house. Potifer’s wife fabricated a
story about Joseph which resulted in his imprisonment, during
which he interpreted dreams for the baker and the steward of
Pharaoh.
In time, Pharaoh himself had a dream which none of his satraps
could interpret. Word came to the king that Joseph could interpret
dreams. Pharaoh called for Joseph, who in fact, did tell the
meaning of the dream to Pharaoh. After the interpretation,
Pharaoh promoted Joseph to the second in command of the whole
land and gave him a new name. Zaphenath-Paneah means “provider
of bread” or “bread man.” As a type of Messiah,
Joseph’s name tells us about the bread of life (Christ).
Joseph married an Egyptian woman who bore two sons to Joseph
named Mannassah and Ephraiam. When Jacob had grown old, he
wanted to bless Joseph’s two sons and give them an equal
share in the inheritance as one of his own sons. Jacob ( Israel)
crossed his hands and placed his right hand on the younger
son Ephraiam. (Did you notice the continuing trend?)
After 400 years of Egyptian captivity, Israel, which had grown
into more than a million people, was lead out by Moses. For
40 years, they wandered in the wilderness because of unbelief.
The children of unbelieving Israel were led into the promised
land by Joshua who had given a good report of the land, trusting
that God would protect them and make them victorious over the
inhabitants of the land they were to possess.
The nation of Israel, after the reigns of Saul, David, and
Solomon, split into two distinct nations called Judah and Israel.
Judah was made up of the tribes of Judah and the half tribe
of Benjamin. Israel was comprised of the other ten tribes.
Each nation had its own king and territory. God spoke to each
nation as in Jeremiah 31:31 in which he said, “The time
is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah.” (Please notice that the new covenant was not
given to the ‘church’)
They often fought wars against each other and to this day
have never been united. In fact there is a yet to be fulfilled
prophesy in Ezekiel chapter 37 concerning Judah and Israel.
Beginning with verse 16, Ezekiel was told, “Son of man,
take a stick of wood and write on it, ‘belonging to Judah
and the Israelites associated with him’, then take another
stick of wood, and write on it, ‘Ephraim’s stick,
belonging to Joseph and all the house of Israel associated
with him.’”
Israel was taken into captivity first and never returned
to the land. They were dispersed into the nations and lost
their identity as prophesied in Hosea. Because of Israel mixing
pagan practices with worship of God, they were called adulterers
by God. Hosea was instructed to “take to yourself an
adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the
land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the
Lord.” (Hosea 1:2) Hosea married Gomer, a prostitute
who bore him a son. God said, “call him Jezreel (the
seed of God), because I will soon punish the house of Jehu
for the massacre of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom
of Israel.”
Gomer conceived and bore a daughter who was to be named “Lo-Ruhamah
(no mercy) for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel,
that I should at all forgive them. Yet I will show love to
the house of Judah, and I will serve them.” After she
had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. God said, “Call
him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.” Verse
10 of the first chapter of Hosea goes on to say, “Yet
the Israelites will be like the sands of the seashore, which
cannot be measured or counted. In the place (in the nations)
where it was said to them, ‘you are not my people’,
they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” Israel
was scattered into the nations losing their identity and became
known as ‘not God’s people’. The promise
was that in a future time, Israel would be hunted down and
become known as ‘sons of the living God’.
This characteristic of Israel, incorporating paganism into
the worship of God, is still their nature today. When the Messiah
came, he said that he had come for the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. Judah rejected him but many from Israel accepted
him to become true Israel. Even though many from Israel (those
scattered into the nation and losing their identity) have come
to believe in the Messiah, they still continue with paganism
inherited from their fathers. They still incorporate Christmas
and Easter (both pagan holidays-just check any encyclopedia)
into their lives and into their worship.
Isn't it strange that to this very day, those from Judah
(we call them Jews) still cling to the law and exclude the
Messiah while those from Israel claim the Messiah but discard
the law. God’s plan from the beginning was to provide
a substitute to take our death sentence, which is required
because of our failure to obey the law (sin). Sin is defined
in I John 3:4 as, “everyone who sins breaks the law;
in fact, sin is lawlessness.” The sacrifice does not
eliminate the law but rather satisfies the requirements of
the law. We can all quote Ephesians 2: 8 and 9, but most cannot
go on to finish with verse 10 which says, “For we are
God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good
works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” What
good works? The works of the Father. Obeying his instructions.
So who is the real Israel? Galatians 6:15 says, “Neither
circumcision (Jews) nor uncircumcision (Gentiles) means anything;
what counts is a new creation.” “Therefore, if
anyone (Jew or Gentile) is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the new has come.” (II Corinthians
5:17) “Remember that formerly you who were Gentiles by
birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call
themselves ‘the circumcision’ (Judah)--remember
that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from
citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the
promise, without hope and without God in the world, but now
in Christ Jesus you who once were far away (Israel scattered
into the nations) have been brought near (the birthright position)
through the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:12, 13) “Consequently,
you are no longer foreigners, but fellow citizens with God’s
people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation
of the apostles and prophets.” (Ephesians 2:19) “This
mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together
with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together
in the promise (to Abraham) in Christ Jesus. For not all who
are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are
descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary,
it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned, in
other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s
children, but it is the children of the promise (the children
of the promised Messiah given to Abraham) who are regarded
as Abraham’s offspring.” (Romans 9:6-8) “Neither
circumcision (Jews) nor un-circumcision (Gentiles/Israel) means
anything, what counts is a new creation. Peace and mercy to
all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God. (all believers)
(Galatians 6:15, 16) “Therefore as God’s chosen
people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” (Colossians
3:12) Compare the above verse with Deuteronomy 7:6. “For
you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God
has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth
to be his people, his treasured possession.”
It is only those who are redeemed by the blood of the atoning
sacrifice, those who cross over, those who are partakers in
the promise, who are the Israel of God. If you are redeemed,
YOU are Israel. With that in mind, go read your Bible again.
Look at the promises, the tribulations, the blessings, the
curses, and the covenants made to Israel by God. Put yourself
in the place of being the Israel of God and you will come away
with an entirely different concept of what you are to do. How
you are to live your life. You will discover that God has had
and still has only one plan. That plan is to redeem mankind
back to himself through the Lamb of God sacrifice.
Abraham was looking forward to the new Jerusalem just as I
am. “For he (Abraham) was looking forward to the city
with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews
11:10)
In the end, you will discover there is only one God, one Savior,
one Shepherd, one flock, one Spirit, one plan, one resurrection
for the righteous, one judgment for the unrighteous, and one
group of people called the Israel of God. It is made up of
Judah (Jews), Israelites (those scattered among the nations)
and all those others in the nations who repent and turn to
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of Israel. The
God of the Assembly of the called out ones (church). The God
of those who ‘cross over’ into Israel. |
