Jesus is True Israel

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.

the Israel of God

http://5ptsalt.com/2010/07/08/the-israel-of-god/

Christ is the True Israel

Jesus- The True Israel

http://exiledpreacher.blogspot.com/2009/11/jesus-as-true-israel-in-gospel.html

Support for Israel

I have heard so many times the statement being made that we as a nation must support the nation of Israel because they are God's chosen people and that our own survival as a nation depends directly on how we support the nation Israel. But is that statement or idea true? Is it supported by scripture?

The proponents of the idea derive their evidence from the promise of God made to Abraham, the father of Israel. "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you."

But aren't we blessed through Christ? (Ephesians 1:3-14) Are nations not blessed as they follow Christ and not just because they support national Israel? Would Christ bless that unbelieving nation if he were to walk there now? Did he not curse them?

(Compare Isaiah 5:7 to Matthew 21:33-43 context [Lk 20:9-19; John 15:1-10]; Acts 3:17-23)

So who should our nation support/bless? Who are Abraham's true descendants according to the scriptures? (Rom 4; Gal 3-4)

I don't want anyone to think I'm against ethnic Israel. I think we should be loving them to Christ just like we should for every ethnic group but let's not deceive ourselves to think they are God's chosen people today just because they were His chosen before calvary. All of true Israel was redeemed on that day through that blood. Sure more have been added all through history since then. Our purpose today is be loving peacemakers for Christ. We are his ambassadors to them and the world to convince them that they can be at peace with God and with their neighbors as they learn the forgiveness that comes through Christ. We are never told to support huge zionist political movements but we should be supporting vast missionary/ambassador movements that can help change lives and thereby change nations. Don't be deceived. The US government will never have the solution to the middle east problems. Only Jesus can make people willing to forgive one another and live together in peace. When we pray for the peace of Jerusalem we must have a missionary movement in mind. True peace can only come through Jesus-the prince of peace.

Dispensation NOT

I have found it difficult to discus "Replacement Theology" with dispensationalists due to their own strict separation of the church from Israel thinking. In their minds they are two completely separate entities. In the scriptures however they have been combined. I will attempt to demonstrate how this took place.

First of all, the promises to Israel in the covenants were never meant for the unbelievers of that nation. Only curses pertain to unbelievers. Blessings are for believers only. However, these lines are blurred somewhat in ancient Israel because God is merciful and gracious. "All" the promises made to the Old Testament saints will be fulfilled to those saints, however, those promises can not be fulfilled under the conditions of the Old Covenant. Those saints must come into the New Covenant under the blood of Christ to receive their everlasting promises. That happened when Christ redeemed Israel on the cross. He fulfilled their hopes of redemption. It was a redeemed Israel that the Holy Spirit came to at Pentecost fulfilling the New Covenant promise of God to send His Spirit. Obviously not all ethnic Israel was saved nor did they all receive the Holy Spirit. Only the remnant was saved. Many more were added after Pentecost but the majority remained unbelieving. The believers were still Israel even after 70AD. Only the unbelievers were cut off (Acts 3:23) from Israel. Most of their religious and political leaders had rejected Jesus and they were therefore cut off from Israel. (John 11:49-53)

Then come the gentile believers who we learn from Romans 11:17 were grafted in "among" the believers of Israel. Notice in this passage that only the unbelievers are broken off and believing gentiles "replaced" the unbelievers of Israel. The tree is still Israel even though now it has masses of believing gentiles (perhaps even as many as the sands on the seashore). But it's still Israel! Israel was never rejected or set aside as some say. It still exist in exile (we are aliens and strangers in this world) in a spiritual form for now until Christ returns but when he returns all the promises to all the saints including the "former" Old Testament saints will be fulfilled in Christ's Kingdom on the renewed earth.

Unbelieving Jews are NOT the People of God

Acts 3:17-23 is very clear. Any Jew or Israelite who has rejected Jesus Christ the Messiah has been "completely cut off from among his people". They are not God's Chosen People if they reject Christ.

Israel was never rejected or set aside as some say. Israel was redeemed by Christ on the cross (John 11:49-53). The living believers of redeemed Israel are where the church began. It was still Israel. Even after the destruction of the physical nation of Israel the believers of Israel were still Israel (in exile). It was no longer based on physical birth for citizenship. Citizenship was based in Christ- the true Israel. We believing gentiles came in through Him as Romans 11:17 talks about how we have been grafted in "among" them.

This is not meant to say that the Jews in present day Israel can not become the People of God again. As soon as any of them repent and humbly ask God to forgive them through Jesus' blood, He will instantly assign them a place again among the people of God. He wants to save anyone who will recognize Him and choose to love Him.