Jim,

The Israel of God

Does the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob love the Jews? Yes. Does he have a plan for the Jews? Yes, it is the same plan he promised to Adam, the seed of the Woman, the same plan he promised to Abraham, "the Seed." That seed is one: Christ. He is the Holy One of Israel, he is the Israel of God. He did what Adam would not do. He did what stubborn Israel would and could not do. He served the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind and strength.

Most of the Jews, however, were not looking for a Savior. They were looking for a king. Jesus is King, but he earned his throne by his obedience and death, and that is not what they wanted. They wanted glory, power and an earthly, political, theocratic, this-worldly kingdom. Jesus has established his kingdom, through the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments. This kingdom may not be as exciting as ruling from Jerusalem during an earthly golden age, it may not sell many books or fill seats in movie theaters, but the world never has found the Jesus of Scripture very interesting, that's why he's stumbling block to Zionist Jews and a foolishness to Greeks. To Christians, however, he is the Christ, "the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1.24).

Gal 6.16

Given this background, it should not surprise us at all when the Apostles call both Jews and Gentiles "the Israel of God." This is Paul's language to the mixed Galatian congregation.

1 Peter 2.9-10

The Apostle Peter uses the same sort of language to describe the mostly Gentile congregations of Asia Minor to whom he wrote, saying, "Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

Hebrews 8.8-10

According to the writer to the Hebrews, those who call on the name of Christ are the "House of Israel." Everyone who has trusted Christ is an heir of the promises of the New Covenant.

The True Israel of God

"Racial Israelites" who disobey God are, by the teachings of the Old and New Testaments, deposed from whatever blessings they may formerly have been entitled to by racial descent. In other words, those who are Jews by race only are not Jews at all in the eyes of God.

The Christian Church (and we do not mean any particular denomination of Christians by this term) is now the Israel of God, according to the teachings of the New Testament. The Church is seen to be Israel by the following facts:

  • the Old Testament titles of Israel are the New Testament titles of the Christian Church, and;
  • Old Testament passages which clearly and indisputably refer to Israel are quoted by the Apostles of Christ as referring to the Christian Church.


Romans 2:28,29

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

Read Hebrews 11 and you will see a list of those Old Testament patriarchs of the faith who were looking forward to Christ's coming. They having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. (v.39,40)

These verses assert both the redemptive-historical difference between Old Testament and New Testament periods, and the unity of the people of God in both eras. Though the Old Testament belivers lived by faith they were not privileged to witness on earth the fulfillment of the great promise of God. Nevertheless, they too participate in the benefits of Christ's high-priestly work, and, along with the new covenant saints, they are made perfect. Those of the old and new eras together await the perfection that will appear only at the Second Coming.


Wes

When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride. - Isaac Watts