13. Israel – The Nation.
A. Who Are Rightfully Called ‘Israel’ Today?
God’s original plan: Exodus 19:5-6. God’s plan after the nation had sinned: The prophetic promise: Isaiah 61:6. The fulfilled promise: Read: The Chosen People: 1 Peter 2:9-10, the Christian nation.
1. Misused term: “All Israel”. Will “all Israel” be saved? Read: Romans 11:25-26.
a. Who is “all Israel”? Romans 9:6-8: “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, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” (Galatians 4:28: “…we, [Christians] are the children of the promise”.)
b. Note who is “all Israel”. Also Read: John 1:12-13.
2. The Remnant: Romans 9:27: “Esais (Isaiah) crieth concerning Israel, ‘Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.” Refer to chart. Read: Isaiah 10:20-22.
Romans 9:29: “And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha. (Quoting Isaiah 1:9). Christ is the “Seed”, Galatians 3:16.
Romans 11:5: “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace,” i.e., Christians are “the saved remnant”, that is, all that is left of Israel.[1]
3. Misused terms: “Fullness of the Gentiles”. Read again: Romans 11: 25-26 with reference to Isaiah 60, 61, 62.
‘Fullness’ is Greek pleroma, includes meaning of ‘repletion, copiousness, what is put in to fill up, piece that filled up’. ‘Replete’ means ‘filled to capacity’, gorged, provided abundantly, copiously supplied’. ‘Copious’ means ‘plentiful, abundant’.
Read: the promise of the “fullness [riches, forces] of the Gentiles”, Isaiah 60:3-22; 61:6.
‘Forces’, KJV Isaiah 60:5, and verse 11, ‘riches’, are both from Strong’s #2428, meaning ‘includes men, means, or other resources: armies, goods, wealth, riches’.
“All Israel” is the remnant, (as above), filled up, enriched and gorged by the influx of the ‘Gentiles’. Read the prophetic promise “all Israel shall be saved”: Isaiah 60:3, 20-21.
How and when shall they be saved? Read: Jeremiah 31:31-34.
Read: Isaiah 11:1, 10, 11, 12, 16. The “Gentiles” include all the outcasts and the dispersed of Judah, verse 12. Verse 16, the remnant left from Assyria.
4. Read: Revelation 1:5-6; 5:9-10. The true Israel is not a fleshly race of people today, but rather the spiritual nation in Christ, “the Israel of God”. [There is now “no difference” between Jew and Gentile, see also Acts 15:9; Romans 2:11; 3:9, 22-23; 10:12-13; Galatians 3:27-28; Colossians 3:10-11.]
5. ‘Prophets’ who say that those calling themselves “Israel” today are Jesus’ brethren are sadly mistaken. Jesus’ identified His “brethren” as those who do the will of God: Read: Matthew 12:47-50. [Also in Mark 3:33-35 and Luke 8:21].
B. Meaning of the Word ‘Israel’:
1. ‘Prince of God’, Genesis 32:28. Strong’s #8210, ‘to prevail, have power as a prince’, from root #8280. Also a kindred word, #3474, ‘to be straight… right, pleasant, prosperous.’ Christ is the Prince of God, and is the righteousness of God, 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21. One cannot be “Israel” unless he has the righteousness of Christ.
2. Jesus Is Called ‘Israel’: Read: Matthew 2:14-15, “… out of Egypt have I called my Son.” This is quoted from Hosea 11:1: “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my Son out of Egypt.”
Christ, the True Israel: Mark 1:15: John the Baptist came saying: “… the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the Gospel.”
Revelation 11:15: “… the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” Hallelujah!
E. What of the nation called ‘Israel’ today?
1. They are anti-Christ according to 1 John 2:18-23; 4:1-23; John 15:23, (see Lesson 9). They curse Christ in their ‘scripture’, the Talmud, and call Christianity the ‘ultimate heresy’, saying that all heretics should be killed.
2. Babylon the Great: Revelation 18:3: “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.”
The Pseudo-Israel of today consists of international merchants, financiers, and corporations. They serve as ‘cutouts’ for the illegal, international cocaine traffic. Their national industry is weaponry for war.[2] To call that nation “Israel” is a misuse of the term.
Like the savages, their MO is revenge for their purported abuse in the past. They justify their atrocities under the guise of ‘retaliation’.
Like the savages, whosoever will can and must be saved by the blood of Christ.
[1] [For further research read and study the “remnant”. Only a remnant returned to Judea after the Babylonian captivity. The prophecies of future blessings are for the remnant: Ezra 3:8; 9:8, 14; Nehemiah 1:3; Isaiah 1:9; 11:11-16; 15:11; 23:3; 40:11; Joel 2:32; Micah 2:12; Zephaniah 3:13; Zechariah 8:6, 12. In Revelation we see that the remnant was slain by the Sword of Christ’s mouth, i.e., the Gospel.]
[2] See “Cocaine and Cutouts: Israel’s Unseen Diplomacy”, by Jane Hunter, and “The U.S. Role in Israel’s Arms Industry”, by Bishara Bahbah, and “Israeli Arms Customers”, by Bishara Bahbah. These articles were published in The Link, published by Americans for Middle East Understanding, (AMEU) and available on their website: www.ameu.org. At left sidebar “Search For” enter author’s name: Bahbah, then “submit”. For Hunter’s articles enter “Hunter”, then “submit”.