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Jesus is True Israel
June 7, 2010 by Timothy Matters
Yesterday in my sermon, I stressed that we need to understand who Christ is to fullest extent possible since He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). If we want to know about God, we must know Jesus for He and the Father are One. To see Jesus is to see the Father (John 14:1-11). One of the subtle identities of Christ is that He is true Israel. This became evident to me several years ago studying while reading David Holwerda’s book, Jesus and Israel: One Covenant or Two? He made the point that in Matthew 2:15, that God called true Israel out of Egypt. Matthew quotes Hosea 11:1 “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
The shocker is that when you look back to Hosea 11, you find that God called the people out of Egypt and they immediately turn to worshiping idols. They essentially rebel against the loving Father. Where the people failed, the head did not. Jesus is also called out of Egypt to be the obedient Son that the people failed to be. In every realm of testing that the people went through, Jesus did as well, only in His case He was obedient to the Father.
This is why He is the true Israel. When I read the Old Testament, I want so badly for the people to do what is right and stay true to the LORD. But they only do so for a while, and then they drift off. Even the most devout OT saints drift as well. This is because the OT saints, at best, merely point to Christ, the true Israel. Where they failed, He succeeds. Where they rebel, He remains obedient. Where they drift off into idolatry, He is the only one that loves the LORD with His heart, mind, soul and spirit. He is everything that they were not, and that we are not.
I think this truth is vital when it comes to understanding the Old Testament. All that is found there, is pointing towards Christ. It puts the real meat on verses like Isaiah 49:3
“And He said to me,
‘You are my servant, O Israel,
In whom I will be glorfied.’”
Isaiah is not talking about the people, but the Messiah. He is pointing to the suffering servant who will be the Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One (v. 7), who will also be a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth’” (v. 6).
Who is true Israel? True Israel is Christ and all those who are in Him. This is why I believe that the promises made to national Israel, are also made to us. Where there is a covenant with God’s people in the OT, the promises there are made to the believer in the New Testament. The specifics have changed under the New Covenant, but the promises are still to us as well.
For instance, I know that God made the promises to the people about the land. A lot of people put a lot of stock in the land promises. But Jesus told us the truth about the land in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The land seen as Israel was merely a down payment to the real inheritance for the people of God. The entire earth is given to all those who believe because it all belongs to true Israel, that is Jesus, and we are partakers of His inheritance (Ephesians 1:11, 5:5).
The specifics of the promises have changed, but the essence of them is still there, Paul confirms this in 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 1:19-21 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. 20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. 21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God.
This is why I believe a passage like 2 Chronicles 7:14 still applies to us today. It is a call for His people to humble themselves, repent and seek forgiveness. The promise is to heal the land. In the context, it does have a specific application to those who were returning from the Babylonian captivity. But it also has a spiritual promise to all of His people, therefore it a applies to all His believers. Does it apply to the United States? Probably not. God may or may not heal our country. But He will bring spiritual healing to His people, which is far more important than the economic, political or moral healing that many are hoping for. Let the people of God humble themselves and pray that His Spirit brings true and meaningful healing to the land.
Monday, September 6, 2010
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