Who Is Israel?
There is a large belief that the chosen people are still the Jewish nation. The topic of who the name Israel belongs to is an important issue as all the end time prophecies that relate to Israel, do not relate to the physical nation of Israel, but the spiritual nation of Israel. What is the spiritual nation of Israel? Before we dive into this subject let’s first discover where the name Israel came from in the first place.
The name Israel means “Triumphant with God” or “God prevails”. It was given to Jacob after perfectly confessing his sin. By this act of complete humility, Jacob showed how one could prevail with God. It is written “…A contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” Psalm 51:17. God cannot turn away the sinner once the sinner truly repents from the heart. He sees the helpless soul and wishes to save him from the fate of Satan. For this act Jacob received the name Israel “…Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed” Genesis 32:28.
God did not intend that the people that bear the name of Israel, would always be of the bloodline of Abraham. The Messiah was prophesied to come and take away the “sceptre from Judah.” Genesis 49:10 “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh [Jesus] come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be”. Furthermore, in Hosea 2:23 we read “And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy [the gentiles]; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.” Jesus then confirms this prophecy in Matthew 21:43 “Therefore say I [Jesus] unto you [the Jews], The kingdom of God shall be taken from you [the Jews], and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” What fruits did Jesus long to see from the Jewish nation? Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” The hardened hearts of the Jewish nation shut their eyes to messiah and as prophesied their status as Israel was to be taken from them.
The prophet Daniel prophesied exactly when the Jewish nation would lose the title Israel, he says “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” Daniel 9:24. In the verse it’s clear the Jewish people had seventy weeks to finish transgression, and to make an end to sin. However, what do the seventy weeks mean? And when was it supposed to begin? In the bible each day represents a year in prophecy in Numbers 14:33-34 we read “And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. 34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.” The children of Israel were told they will be in the wilderness forty days, but each day counts for a year, therefore, forty years. Seventy weeks are four hundred and ninety years in prophecy. Daniel 9:25 “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks [69 weeks] …” The commandment to rebuild Jerusalem came in 457 B.C (Ezra 7). Therefore, the Jewish nation had till 34 A.D to remain as the people of God purely because of their bloodline. Did they make an end to sin? Not at all. In fact, they martyred Stephen. Acts 7:59 “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
In the ministry of Paul, he confirmed that the prophecy spoken by Daniel had been fulfilled, Acts 13:46 “Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you [the Jews]: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” How can God’s people be unworthy of everlasting life? The fact is the time of probation had closed for the Jewish nation, they did not repent and so lost the name of Israel. Paul expounds on this in multiple verses:
Romans 2:28 “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly [of the mind]; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit [mind], and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God”. Here Paul declares you become a Jew inwardly, in heart. These are the Christian converts.
Romans 9:6 “Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh [the Jews], these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed”. Paul explains that not everyone who is of Israel, would be an actual Israelite. Giving way for the fact that Israel is spiritual nation primarily before it’s a physical nation. Even in the old testament, non-Israelites could join the nation of Israel and later be considered Israelites. Paul continues, neither is it because they are born from Abraham are they the children of God, because Esau was a child of Abraham but he was a sinner. When Paul mentions “In Isaac shall thy seed be called” he’s explaining how it’s by promise that we become children. The same way Isaac was promised to Abraham and therefore he was the true child of the promise, is the same way the new covenant was the main covenant promised to the world through Christ. “They which are children of the flesh, these are not the children of God”. The Children of the promise are those in Christ.
What is “the promise”?
Galatians 3:14 “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”. This verse is hammered home by Galatians 3:29 “And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise”. The verses are plain. If you are in Christ, then you are Israel.
Hence when the Lord says he will remain faithful to Israel, this is to spiritual Israel not the physical nation. These blessings are for the obedient not the disobedient. Jeremiah 31:35 “Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name: 36 If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. 37 Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.”
Has God cast away his people?
Romans 11:1-5 “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying, 3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace”. Here it is misunderstood that Paul is saying Israel are still God’s chosen people according to the flesh because he says “God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew”, first let’s ask why did he say that? If understood with the context of chapter 9 and 10 we can see that Paul is speaking so vehemently against the doctrine of Israel being God’s chosen people that the idea may arise “so can we, the Jews, no longer be saved”? They would be tempted in that way because Paul just said Romans 10: 19 “But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you”. This can be disheartening to hear for an Israelite in his day. It would sound like “you’ve had your chance”. Paul comforts them in chapter 11 by saying he too is an Israelite, God hasn’t cast them off, but he’s left a remnant the same way there was a remnant in Elijah’s day. To make it clear how the whole process works Paul uses a tree to explain.
The grafting process
Romans 11:13 “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: 14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. 15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” Paul warns the gentiles should not to look down on the Jews, the casting away of them was done due to their disobedience, but the gentiles should desire the Jews to be revived from the dead.
Romans 11:16 “For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee”. Paul warns the gentiles not to boast against the Jews who were “broken off”, not all the branches were broken off, a remnant was kept in due to obedience.
In agriculture there’s a process called grafting, this is where a branch of a tree can be cut off and replaced with the branch of another tree. The new branch will heal around the point it was cut off and will be connected to the tree and begin to grow on its new tree. Paul uses this process to explain how the gentiles were taken out of a wild tree and grafted into Christ, but the Jews (not all) were cut off.
Romans 11:18 “Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. 20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee”. Paul admonishes the gentiles to not boast against the Jews, to not think that they are now special and say to themselves “well they were broken off especially for us”. Paul tells them it was due to their unbelief, if they follow in the same steps as the Jews, God will cut them out the same way he cut out the natural branches.
Romans 11:24 “For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in”. Paul explains here that all the gentiles must now join Israel. Israel is a multinational, multi-ethnic spiritual nation of believers. However, if Jews find Christ, they will feel very blessed as even when they read the scriptures that’s their history. “How much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree”. Paul concludes by saying Romans 9:26 “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob”. Here Paul means the spiritual nation of Israel not the physical nation. Not all the physical nation will be saved as we can see from scripture, but God is waiting for the fulness of the Gentiles to come into Israel. Then in his eyes all of Israel will be saved. Ephesians 2:11-12 “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world”.
From this study we have demonstrated from scripture, that the people that bear the name of Israel, are indeed Christians, the idea of it being the Jewish nation also causes many to misunderstand Revelation 7:4 “And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. 5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. 6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. 8 Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.” Using true Bible jurisprudence, we can see that the names for the tribes are prophetic symbols for the different types of Christians who will be in the 144,000 just before Jesus Christ returns. I pray this study has been a blessing to your heart so you can see you too can be Israel.
