This blog is based on my Galatians 3 and related blogs. It has to do with a huge, long-standing CONFUSION about WHO “Spiritual Israel” is. The first thing that’s important to know is that the term Spiritual Israel does NOT occur in the Bible. It’s a man-made theological term. That right there sets it up for misunderstanding because religious sophists change Biblical terms in order to change the meaning of the Biblical writers. You can read all kinds of summaries of the meaning of Spiritual Israel by searching the term on the Internet. Anyway, I am going to use that term because it sounds good! The theme of this blog is represented in the title.
Based on my discoveries in Galatians 3, it appears to me that the whole world has been deceived into believing that PHYSICAL Israel = SPIRITUAL Israel or “the Israel of God”. This is especially true for the Evangelicals, Messianics and most especially Radical New Perspective on Paul (RNPP) believers. Let me show you how consistent reasoning changed my mind on this subject.
At the outset I want to make a statement about PHYSICAL Israel. By ‘physical’ Israel, I mean today’s Zionist Israel that lives on the eastern most side of the Mediterranean in the land that is also known as Palestine (the Philistines used to live there back in ancient times). Let us assume that physical Israel is a synonym for national Israel, which is the word I’m going to use because it is easier to picture in my mind. The point I want to make is this: Today’s national Israel has every right to live in this world, as does any other nation. They have that right based on their MILITARY MIGHT. Since ancient times, that is the basis for how all nations have survived and expanded in this world. It’s also how all nations have died. So, today’s national Israel has just as much right to USE THEIR MIGHT to survive as a nation in their own land, which they conquered back in 1948, as any other nation of this world.
Here is a verse out of the Bible expressing a similar thought:
Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. (2 Samuel 11:1) [They conquered two foreign nations.]
By way of contrast, America was founded on the ideology of CHRISTIAN PEACE. The federal Constitution makes that abundantly clear in its tight restriction on maintaining a standing army and its mandate of maintaining a militia:
The Congress shall have the Power…To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years (federal Constitution, 1.10.4)
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed. (federal Constitution, 2nd Amendment – Bill of Rights)
Thomas Jefferson echoed this in his first inaugural address on March 4, 1801:
Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations — entangling alliances with none.
The point is, America’s founding fathers wanted America to be a nation of PEACE, NOT WAR. They knew well the politics of war and the national slavery that it entails, not to mention the waste and suffering that attend to it, especially for the victor. They wanted us to be different from all nations that have ever existed since the days of Nimrod who was, according to Genesis 10:9, “a mighty hunter before YHWH.” But they didn’t want us to be WEAK. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “If we make ourselves sheep, we shall be devoured by wolves.” Just like every animal has a right to defend itself, so does every person and every nation. But DEFENSE is not equivalent to AGGRESSION! And aggression is a common tactic of nations since the beginning of time. Chock it up to ego and greed, as always.
So, please understand the significance of using the military for defense instead of offense. Unfortunately for us living in the USA, things didn’t work out that way due to corruption in government caused by the usual greed and ego at the highest levels. So, even though every nation operates on the basis of survival using aggressive military might (both defensive and offensive), that should not be the way of a Christian nation. Therefore, while MILITARY MIGHT is an internationally accepted ‘right’, it is NOT the Christian way, except in DEFENSE. Anyway, let’s get on with the subject…
When I was in the Evangelical church they taught me that physical/national Israel was ‘the Israel of God’, and that anyone who talks badly about or works against physical Israel will be cursed by God based on the Promises that God made to Abraham. That’s basically the ideology that they teach their people. As a side note, later on I read a paper that revealed that the pro-Israel Evangelical Christian ideology came primarily from C.I. Scofield, who was trained in pro-Israel propaganda by Progressivist Jewish political insurgents who infiltrated the churches here in America through the upper levels of the establishment. Scofield did his subterfuge by seeding his pro-national (Zionist) Israel ideology into the conservative churches using his Scofield Study Bible (a required ‘textbook’ in our Bible College). Talk about politics in religion in a nation that prides itself on ‘separation of church and state’!
I haven’t checked up on the guy’s resources, but that scenario fits into other Progressive Jewish history that I’ve researched. In any case, the fact remains that I was taught TODAY’S NATIONAL ISRAEL = THE ISRAEL OF GOD and that Christians have an obligation to PROTECT DIASPORA JEWS AND ISRAEL AT ALL COSTS. Consequently, everything I learned about the Bible, and all my subsequent studies in the Bible, were TAINTED because of that pro-Israel viewpoint. Today I see things differently after purging my mind of all that Evangelical PROPAGANDA, which to my own detriment and shame, I willingly paid to learn. That’s what I get for ‘trusting in’ human authority!
After many years of de-programming, I eventually discovered new meaning in Paul’s words. One such change in ideology is found in Paul’s argument in Galatians where he presents national Israel at odds with the Israel of God. The fact that Paul distinguishes between the two is proof that Paul saw TWO SEPARATE GROUPS that he identified AS ISRAEL. To summarize his view, here’s what he says:
15 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision [literally “the foreskin”], but a new creation. 16 And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. (Galatians 6)
Note the terms in bold. ‘Circumcision’ refers to national Israel, ‘the foreskin’ refers to the Gentile nations, and ‘the new creation’ collectively refers to those who walk by this rule and the Israel of God. I haven’t spent much time thinking about ‘the new creation’, but in that last ‘and’ phrase it seems like he’s referring to only Gentiles and Israelis who believe in Jesus. If that’s true, then in that statement Paul negates ALL human citizenship in favor of citizenship in God’s Kingdom, which he says consists of ‘believing’ Gentiles and ‘believing’ Israelis. Hence:
THE NEW CREATION = BELIEVING GENTILES + BELIEVING ISRAELIS
There’s quite a difference between that ‘Israel of God’ and national (physical) Israel, as well as between ‘the new creation’ (all of God’s people in Jesus) and national (physical) Israel! Taking it one step further, here is confirmation that national Israel was never “the Israel of God”:
25 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised—26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the sons of Ammon, and Moab, and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.” (Jeremiah 9)
As a side note, reading verse 25 confused me because I was taught by Zionist Evangelical propaganda that only Jews were circumcised back during Bible times. But after reading this scholastic paper on Circumcision, I see there is historical evidence that many of the Gentile nations circumcised their men…and their women!
In a previous blog on Galatians 3, I showed Paul’s reasoning behind this, albeit in regard to justification theology. Paul bases his truths on God’s covenants, unlike modern theology which is based on Martin Luther’s sola fide ideology. This is very important to understand because it is also the key to understanding what Paul says about Israel. In that blog I showed how Paul makes a distinction between the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants by identifying the Abrahamic covenant as the basis of God’s salvation for mankind instead of the Mosaic covenant (national Israel). In Galatians 3, Paul makes the point that Jesus and Israel came into existence in fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham (a Royal Grant covenant), and that the Mosaic covenant’s sole purpose was to constrain the nation Israel under God’s moral law so that Jesus could appear at the proper time in human history (Galatians 3:19). Paul emphatically declares that Israel does NOT serve as ANY basis for God’s salvation of mankind (justification theology). Rather, JESUS does. Israel existed only because of Jesus.
When we add the truth in my Galatians 3 blog to the truth in this blog, we can see Paul’s underlying opposition to ‘the circumcision’. That is, to the 2nd Temple political ‘Judaizers’ (national Israel) that were troubling him and his covenant communities (churches). In this light, we can also make more sense out of his statement about Israel in Romans 9:
6 …For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; 7 neither are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.” 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants…30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works.
Although that statement may appear to be talking about Isaac vs. Ishmael, it really isn’t. Instead, by reading only the bold text (which can be very confusing!), we can see Paul telling us that, based on the Abrahamic covenant, physical Israel was NOT God’s people. He was referring to all Israelis who lived back during 2nd Temple times. The key terms in the above statement are PROMISE and FAITH, which identify the Abrahamic covenant as the basis of God’s redemption. Paul even tells us WHY 2nd Temple Israel was not the Israel of God back then, which is a key to understanding WHAT that nation did to falsely claim that they could procure justification for humanity merely by existing as Israel. The bold text says NOT BY FAITH…BUT BY WORKS. Works is a reference to relying on the Mosaic covenant for their redemption rather than the Abrahamic covenant. Again, I deal with this in my Galatians 3 and subsequent blogs, so I won’t get into the details here since it’s off topic. In a previous blog I also discussed WHY 2nd Temple Israel could NOT be considered a theocracy, which is part of this issue here. It was due to the national ego involved, which in turn, energizes the false idea of Israel being the source of redemption/justification for the world. Here is a rewording of the above verses with the covenant idea substituted for the key words:
6 …For they are not all Israel who are descended from national Israel; 7 neither are they all descendants of Abraham because they are Abraham’s physical descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.” 8 That is, it is not the physical descendants of Abraham who are children of God, but those who believe in God’s promises given to Abraham and fulfilled in Jesus are regarded as descendants…30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue acceptance by God, attained acceptance by God, even the acceptance by God which comes by believing in God’s promises about Jesus; 31 but national Israel, pursuing acceptance by God by believing it comes from maintaining the Mosaic form of government in a condition of blessings in order to ward off YHWH’s curses, did not arrive at their goal. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it under the authority and premise of the Abrahamic covenant, but as though it must be achieved through maintaining a blessed condition of national Israel under the Mosaic covenant. (italics and amendments are added)
Based on the facts in my Galatians 3 blog, one should be able to see why this blog claims that Paul identifies TWO DIFFERENT ISRAELS. At the heart of the issue, it is due to the precarious relationship that the Israeli public officials and majority of the masses put themselves in with regard to Jesus Christ. Essentially, they failed and refused to recognize who Jesus was (their Messiah), how he was connected to God (as the chosen ruler of God’s Theocracy), and why he showed up within their nation (to procure Redemption for the entire human race). When you read Romans 9-10 you should be able to see Paul’s expression of sorrow over this colossal tragedy. And it was all caused by HUMAN EGO and GREED, both fatal weaknesses of national politics!
We can see in the above verses that the great Apostle Paul differentiated between national Israel (physical descendants) and God’s Israel (believers in God’s Abrahamic promises fulfilled in Jesus). He also differentiated between believing Gentiles and all the Gentile nations. This is a good place to emphasize the point that JESUS CHRIST ALONE was and is the dividing line between national Israel and God’s Israel, and between all Gentile nations and believing Gentiles. So for Paul, Jesus – NOT ISRAEL – was the focus of God’s will. And Jesus – NOT ISRAEL – was and is the reason for Paul’s ideology on this critical subject. Nothing else weighs in on this subject or makes this distinction in Paul’s mind. It all has to do with God’s promises to Abraham in his Royal Grant covenant, which we know as the Abrahamic covenant and which He fulfilled in Jesus. Again, I laid the foundation for all of this in my Galatians 3 blog.
When we consider that Paul distinguished between national Israel and God’s Israel (‘God’s chosen people’) back during 2nd Temple times, we are compelled to do the same today. The reason is because God hasn’t directly intervened in human history since the days He sent Jesus to humanity. So, since nothing substantial has changed regarding God’s redemption, it follows that the same Pauline viewpoint about Israel holds true today. Therefore, even today we should NOT view national Israel as God’s people. Rather, we should consider God’s chosen people to be ONLY those ‘Jews’ who believe in Jesus in the manner the Bible requires.
This idea makes me sound like I’m peddling SUPERCESSIONIST (REPLACEMENT) theology, right? But I’m not, and this isn’t that. I am in NO WAY saying that THE CHURCH REPLACED ISRAEL. That ideology is based on the premise that GENTILES REPLACED ISRAEL. I’m definitely NOT saying that. But I AM saying that national Israel has not changed today in any substantial way from who and what they were back during Paul’s time. That is, in terms of their relationship to Jesus. And they are no more a Theocracy today than they were back during 2nd Temple times. So there’s no way we can or would consider them God’s Israel today. NOW you can go back and re-read my 2nd paragraph to understand WHY I said what I said.
Having given what appears to be negative press about national Israel, I want to say this in favor of them. The OT Law and Prophets promised that God would REVIVE national Israel at some future time. For Christians, Ezekiel’s ‘valley of dry bones’ is the most famous OT statement (Ezekiel 37). Another critical OT statement is found in Ezekiel 38-39, which should be read in conjunction with Revelation 20. The nexus are the phrases ‘Gog’ and ‘Gog and Magog’ (possibly referring to Satan). Other Bible verses talk about it, such as Isaiah 27:13 and many NT ‘end times’ scriptures. But let’s leave that for another blog. So, although today’s Zionists (seculars) believe that happened in 1948, the Orthodox Israelis know better. Just ask them. They know the prophets better than anyone. They can show how vastly different today’s national Israel is compared to the OT prophets’ revived national Israel. In either case, the fact remains that THERE WILL BE A FUTURE FOR NATIONAL ISRAEL. Exactly when that occurs is the subject of another blog. However, the precise timing of it is way above all our pay grades!
Now take the above two facts and combine them. We see that national Israel is not God’s people today, and we also see them being revived at some future date. That is why there is so much confusion on this subject. People SEE a real live national Israel today, and up until now they have SEEN real live ‘Jewish’ communities world-wide. So naturally they have assumed that PHYSICAL ISRAEL = the ISRAEL OF GOD, since no one else was or is Israel. But, in light of what Paul says, all that seeing is deceiving. It all amounts to the mere appearance of God’s people, but certainly not the reality of God’s people.
SO WHO THEN ARE GOD’S PEOPLE TODAY?
According to the great Apostle Paul, they are ALL THE PEOPLE (not exclusively Jews or Gentiles), who believe in Jesus AND who “walk in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham” (Romans 4:12). That is certainly a LOADED statement! Notice I combined Jesus with Abraham. In so doing, I’m not stating anything that you won’t find in the pages of the NT. No doubt, ONLY JEWS consider Abraham their father…well, not exactly. So do Muslims, because the Quran says he is their great patriarch. Since Islam came after the fact, and since this blog isn’t about Muslims, let’s clarify here that Abraham is specifically applicable only to Israel and not to any other nation in the world.
So, in this combination of individuals (Jesus & Abraham), we see ideas that appear to conflict. The reason is because today, the people who appear to believe in Jesus are nearly all GENTILES, not ‘Jews’. That statistic certainly gives the appearance of Gentiles being God’s people today, at least from a Christian perspective. The common word used for those people is THE CHURCH. When we say the word ‘CHURCH’ today, we think CHRISTIAN, and when we say SYNAGOGUE today, we think JEW. We certainly don’t think JEW when we say CHURCH, right? And we don’t think CHRISTIAN when we say SYNAGOGUE. Yet, Paul says JESUS + ABRAHAM, which is like saying GENTILE CHRISTIAN + JEW. These are some of the SUBLIMINAL THREADS that render this subject confusing to most people today, making them susceptible to deception by political and religious propaganda, just like I was. But in this blog I’m attempting to sort out the facts and discern the TRUTH of the matter.
Let me draw your attention to one undeniable fact that we find many places in the NT. During the beginning days of the church and even during Paul’s time, most of the first Christians were Jews (Israeli citizens and diaspora Israelis). So in reality, most members of the early church were Jews. That means most of the early Christians were Jews who believed in Jesus AND had Israeli citizenship. That paradigm of ‘Christian’ plus ‘national Israel’ adds to the confusion because those people were both physical Israel AND believers in Jesus. After the early days of the Apostolic churches, pagan Gentiles began joining the Jews in the church. Through a lot of world politics this developed into the cultural dilution and moral corruption we have today in Christianity. THAT is a big subject for another blog. Meanwhile, here’s the verse about the origin of the term CHRISTIAN:
And for an entire year they [Barnabas & Paul] met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. (Acts 11:26)
The conclusions we can draw from everything I’ve said so far are as follows:
GOD’S PEOPLE TODAY ARE THE SAME CONSTITUENTS AS THEY WERE DURING PAUL’S TIME.
GOD’S PEOPLE DURING PAUL’S TIME WERE ANY JEWS AND GENTILES WHO BELIEVED IN GOD’S ABRAHAMIC COVENANT PROMISES WHICH WERE FULFILLED IN JESUS.
I’ll qualify that last statement later on. If those 2 summary statements don’t yet make good sense to you, then consider this…
The OT Prophets help us confirm the fact that Paul’s Israel of God consists of Jews who believe in Jesus. According to the OT Prophets, when God reconstitutes Israel in the future He will do so by means of a NEW COVENANT. Jeremiah and Ezekiel tell us of this future promise:
31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 “And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31)
21 “But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went. 22 “Therefore, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 23 “And I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord God, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. 24 “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. 25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. (Ezekiel 36)
Notice that Jeremiah 31:33-34 is a perfect expression of what it means to be the Israel of God! Ezekiel affirms that fact as seen in the italics above. A number of NT verses identify Jeremiah’s new covenant with Jesus Christ’s redemption, such as Luke 22:20, 1 Corinthians 11:25, 2 Corinthians 3:6 and Hebrews 8:8, 13, 9:15, 12:24. The point is that Jeremiah’s and Ezekiel’s new covenant is the same covenant that Jesus fulfilled for us 2 millennia ago. And that covenant is a fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham, long before even Moses (Israel) appeared on the scene. Jeremiah’s new covenant can’t be anything else because God fulfilled all the elements of His redemption through Jesus His beloved son (as seen throughout the NT). So, since Jeremiah’s new covenant was specifically given to national Israel, and since the NT declares that the new covenant also applies to all Gentiles, that means this new covenant is effective for all humanity, not just Israel.
Thus, Jews who believe in Jesus are Paul’s Israel of God, which amounts to Jeremiah’s new covenant fulfilled as Jesus’ “new covenant in my blood” for only those ‘Jews’. Today we call that the church. But the church also includes all believing Gentiles. And let’s not mistake the institutional church throughout history for God’s people. They CANNOT be considered Paul’s church, since today’s denominational churches operate in disobedience to God’s law. They also willingly and voluntarily serve the Satan-state. So, although a Gentile presence is dominant in the institutional churches, that doesn’t mean much if they are not ‘walking in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham’. Many of my previous blogs discuss what this means. Suffice to say it is my belief that the preceding bold quote about Abraham means OBEY GOD’S LAW. Like I said, I discuss this in many of my previous blogs, so I encourage you to check them out.
Let’s summarize by way of contrast:
According to the great Apostle Paul, physical/national Israel were not exclusively God’s people back during Paul’s time, so they can’t exclusively be God’s people today. Neither can diaspora Israel for the same reasons. It all comes down to rejection of Jesus as their redeemer and God-appointed ruler (Messiah). By the same token, the world-wide church (composed mostly of Gentiles) can’t be considered exclusively God’s people today either, since they repudiate God’s law and refuse to obey it, obeying instead, the Satan-state. In fact, they have concocted a myriad of ideologies and theosophies that they call THEOLOGY in order to justify their IDOLATRY, which the Bible emphatically declares as a grave sin! And they use all that religious propaganda to keep the revenues flowing into their bank accounts by maintaining the attendance in their church buildings. They do this so they can continue living courtesy of hard working people. Most of those parishioners may be well-meaning, but they certainly are naïve, gullible and weak-willed. Jesus called them “sheep without a shepherd” in Matthew 9:36. The subject of today’s decadent church leadership is a big discussion for another blog! In any case, let’s take a quick look at some verses on Christian IDOLATRY, since that is at the heart of today’s churchianity:
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6)
7 And do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play”…14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. (1 Corinthians 10)
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5)
5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them. (Ephesians 5)
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come, (Colossians 3)
8 But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (Revelation 21)
Notice the categorical definition of IDOLATRY in Ephesians 5 & Colossians 3, which covers all the SINS that people commit. This is a somewhat involved legal discussion that needs elucidation in another blog. I feel confident in saying that IDOLATRY is FATAL to those who practice it.
When looking at today’s American ‘Christian culture’ in the churches, we can see IDOLATRY written all over both the churches and their people’s lives. All you have to do is FOLLOW THE MONEY. Take a look at how people are forced to make their living in corporate America today. Check out their investments. Look at their retirements. See what authorizes the churches’ tax exempt status. All of that falls under the umbrella of IDOLATRY, according to the great Apostle Paul. It’s obvious to anyone ‘in the know’ that the American institutional churches serve the Satan-state through their love of and service to mammon (unjust gain). Like Jesus said:
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24).
And like Paul said:
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)
It is glaringly obvious which master the institutional church is serving! So, in my opinion neither physical Israel nor physical ‘churchianity’ is ‘God’s chosen people’ today. Instead, it is a small subset of the human race (both ‘Jews’/Israelis and Gentiles) who BELIEVE IN GOD’S REDEMPTION IN JESUS AND OBEY GOD’S LAW, no matter where they live around the globe and no matter what “tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9) they may be. Like the Apostle John affirms in his great ‘end times’ vision from God:
Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. (Revelation 14:12)
One important implication of this notion relates to the theory I presented in my Galatians 3 blog. Let me state it by first listing the relevant factual premises and then drawing some conclusions on that basis:
- Since God’s redemption came through the Abrahamic covenant;
- Since God’s redemption did NOT come through the Mosaic covenant;
- Since the New covenant AND the Mosaic covenant are fulfillments of the Abrahamic covenant;
- Since the Mosaic covenant is the foundation of physical/national Israel;
- Since the Mosaic covenant is the government system of God’s Theocracy and not His redemptive strategy;
- Since Jesus Christ is the foundation of, and the one who established, the New covenant;
- Since the New covenant is God’s redemptive strategy;
- Since God promises to revive national Israel in the future under this New covenant from Abraham;
- Since ‘God’s chosen people’ after Jesus’ resurrection have always been those who ‘believe in Jesus’ and obey God’s law (Revelation 14:12);
Therefore:
- When people promote physical/national Israel as the means and method God uses to save humanity, they are effectively promoting a legal means (covenant) that was never designed to, never could, can’t now, and never will, bring redemption to humanity (OR to Israel!).
- When people promote physical/national Israel as ‘God’s chosen people’ today (“the Israel of God”), they are DENYING and REPUDIATING God’s redemptive work in Jesus Christ, and His redemptive strategy commenced in the ABRAHAMIC promises. They are accomplishing that by promoting the MOSAIC covenant as the basis of God’s redemption for humanity instead of the ABRAHAMIC covenant, and by extension, the New covenant in Jesus. That results in their blaspheming God’s Spirit by elevating Israel above Jesus. Let’s remember that God accepted Jesus as His favorite person of all time WHILE Jesus lived within national Israel (Matthew 3:17, 17:5). History shows us that God rejected national Israel (70AD & 136AD) shortly after Jesus ascended into heaven after his resurrection. God’s undeniable message is: JESUS NOT ISRAEL.
- When national Israel or any ‘Jew’ insists on clinging to the Mosaic covenant in denial of Jesus, they are essentially flipping God the bird saying, ‘We don’t accept Jesus as Your redemption, so we obviously don’t recognize any other people as Israel except US. They’re basically arguing against the Apostle Paul’s clear statements to the contrary. Remember that Paul was a very strict 2nd generation Pharisee (Acts 23:6), so he knew what he was talking about!
- When Evangelicals, Messianics, the RNPP crowd, or any other ‘Christian’ insists on promoting and protecting national and diaspora Israel IN THE NAME OF JESUS, they are also flipping God the bird for the same reasons. The New covenant in Jesus and the Mosaic covenant are incompatible. They are DIFFERENT LEGAL AGREEMENTS, so you can’t conflate the two OR substitute one for the other! See my Galatians 3 blog.
- However, it is understandable that today’s national Israel would do exactly that FOR SELF-PRESERVATION PURPOSES. But let’s face it. Such attempts are merely political acts whose purpose is to preserve Zionist Israel’s national existence as well as diaspora Israel’s cultural existence. But they are certainly NOT acts of preserving ‘the Israel of God’, aka ‘God’s chosen people’. It is obvious that God rejected national Israel as His people long ago (2 exiles and 1 dispersion among the nations, as it remains to this day). So the truth is, like I said in my 2nd paragraph above, national Israel has the same right to self-preservation as any other nation (all the rest of which are Gentiles). Israel is no greater or lesser in the world in terms of national rights. The main element that orders nations into a hierarchy of importance is their MILITARY POWERS (intellectual and physical).
- On the other hand, Israel has absolutely NO RIGHT to self-preservation IN THE NAME OF YHWH, because they are definitely NOT a Theocracy today. Likewise, the Messianics and the RNPP crowd most certainly do NOT have any right whatsoever to promote the preservation of Israel on the basis of THE NEW COVENANT UNDER JESUS’ AUTHORITY. I want to make sure people properly understand this issue and not rubber stamp it with the NAME OF GOD to give it the appearance of Divine Authority when such is not the case. Doing so amounts to BLASPHEMY, a grave sin.
- At some unknown time in the future God will revive physical/national Israel. When He does, He MAY incorporate them into what will at that time be equivalent to today’s true church (composed of both ‘Jews’ and Gentiles). In other words, future revived Israel may be ABSORBED INTO the Apostle Paul’s CHURCH. So, for example, if God decided TODAY to reconstitute national Israel from Zionist and diaspora Israel, they would be ABOSRBED INTO the TRUE church (not contemporary ‘churchianity’!). This would happen even if today’s world-wide TRUE church is composed mostly of GENTILES (“until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in”, Romans 11:25, cf., Luke 21:24 & Daniel 9). However, in my opininon, God will revive national Israel AFTER the ‘millennial kingdom’. I base that on Ezekiel 38-39 read in conjunction with Revelation 20 (Gog and Magog).
When Israel finally gets revived, the ROLES of national Israel and the Gentile peoples within God’s Kingdom will be decided by Jesus, God’s chosen ruler of the world. To reiterate, this needs to be the subject of another blog. Anyway, I presume Jesus will decide based on the OT Prophecies on the subject indicating that Israel takes precedence overthe Gentiles (“the gospel…to the Jew first and also to the Greek” – Romans 1:16). Therefore, ALL decisions in the matter will be vetted by Jesus Christ, NOT national Israel OR the Gentiles. To be clear on one thing, YHWH will revive Israel based on the covenant He made with Abraham and subsequently renewed with Isaac & Jacob. It will NOT be based on anything that is inherently virtuous in Israel, NOR by means of the Mosaic covenant:
40 ‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me– 41 I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies– or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land. 43 ‘For the land shall be abandoned by them, and shall make up for its sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, shall be making amends for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statutes. 44 ‘Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. 45 ‘But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.'” (Leviticus 26)
- Finally, I want to offer an opinion on the state of affairs in ‘Judaism’ and Christianity today. From my observations of the worlds of politics and religion, I’m convinced that today’s Zionist Israel is no different from any Gentile nation on earth. They were created by the Goyim, they are funded by the Goyim, and they behave like the Goyim. I believe that most of the things that go on today in both Judaism and Christianity are a result of their adherence to VIOLENCE and LAWLESSNESS as REACTIONS to threats against their national identity and social institutions. By “violence and lawlessness” I’m referring to all the individuals’ participation in the constant WARS and HEDONISM within their respective nations and social processes. And when you look closely at the highest levels of government in any nation (including Israel), you see service to Satan in which no decent human being would ever willingly participate.
Unfortunately, no one can argue with these devils because the common man and the low level politicians don’t have the power to hold the ‘idle rich’ and higher level public officials (who control the armies and police of this world) accountable for their atrocious behavior. Nor for the evil changes they make to their own nation’s organic laws and social institutions. The Apostle Paul said it best in his letter to the Romans in chapter 1, verse 32:
…and, although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
So let’s quit elevating national Israel to a status higher than any other nation. And let’s not look down on ‘Jews’ because they aren’t Christian. BOTH Jews AND especially Christians are at fault for their arrogance and waywardness. On the one hand, Jews obey a man-made form of the Mosaic law but deny Jesus – God’s redemption. On the other hand, Christians believe in Jesus (“even the demons believe, and tremble!” James 2:19) while also denying God’s law (not ‘Jewish law’!) and their obligation to obey it. Institutional Christianity serves the Satan-state instead of God. It is high time we put away our foolish, anti-Christ ideas and begin looking at the Bible more objectively, setting aside our political and religious agendas and all our emotional biases. We need to make it our goal to look at the Bible from GOD’S VIEWPOINT. In other words, what does GOD want us to see in the scriptures? I’m talking about God’s KINGDOM, not some man-made RELIGION.
Let’s make it our ultimate goal to understand by experience what it means to believe in Jesus and ‘walk in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham’!
Thanks for stopping by.
See you in the next blog…
(A big thanks goes out to my good friend Jim for editing this blog for grammar and content!)
Reality Bible 
Interesting indeed… and very well done.
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