WHO IS ISRAEL?

When we read the Old testament and God speaks to the “children of Israel” who came out of Egypt, who do we picture that these people were?

Are they God's chosen people?  Are they still God's chosen people?  Are they the Jews?  Are they Gentiles?  Are they Jacobs children?  Are they a people that God chose but whom we replaced because of our belief by faith?  Are they a different group of people that we need to learn from?

These are all good questions. Depending on which church you grew up in, will determine your response . When we look at Scripture, we get a different understanding altogether. First let us define the word “Israel”.

Israel in Hebrew is H3478 meaning “he will have power of God”. It comes from two words H8280 which means “power/prevail” and H410 which is “El” meaning mighty/God. Depending on the usage of the word “Israel”, one could be talking about:

1. The man- Jacob who was renamed Israel (Gen 32:28). Jacob was Isaac's child and his children would be the physical descendants of Jacob/Israel (Jacob was renamed Israel by God).

2. The land that is named Israel which was the land of Canaan.. The country of Israel today.

3. The name of God's people- the spiritual family of God that belong by faith.

(Deu 7:6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

(Exo 4:22) And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:

The people that make up God's people called “Israel” are those that believe God and follow Him. The ones that believe Him by faith and are grafted in by the blood of Messiah- Jesus.

But aren't we Gentiles? Let us look at who the Gentiles are in the Bible. Gentiles and Israel were the only two religious groups listed in the Bible. Gentiles referred to those who worshiped more than one god and Israel was monotheistic-Worshiped only one God. Everywhere it mentions Gentiles it refers to non believers or those who have Pagan gods.

When you believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you become Israel!!

(Eph 2:12) That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

(1Co 12:2) Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.

Here are some examples:

We know the story. The children of Israel were slaves in Egypt and there arose a Pharaoh that “new not Joseph” and made the labor harder for the Israelite's. God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him “let my people go” so they can worship me. Many plagues came on Egypt. The first four affected all the people but the last six did not affect the children of Israel who were in Goshen.

(Exo 11:7) But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.

By the last plague, Egypt was virtually destroyed. Many of the Egyptians saw the power of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob so they chose to join Israel. God told Israel to eat the Passover and to put blood on their doorpost for which He would deliver them the next day. Many Egyptians followed the instructions and were also saved and came out of Egypt.

(Exo 12:38) And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.

One such person was a Kennezite named Caleb. Moses asked for a leader out of each tribe of Israel and Caleb was named as the leader of the tribe of Judah yet He was NOT from Judah. He was a kenezite who left Egypt and followed the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When God addressed Caleb, He addressed him as “Israel”. Caleb was grafted into Israel by faith. He became part of one of the twelve tribes- It just so happened that Caleb joined the tribe of Judah.

(Num 13:6 Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

(Num 32:12) Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the LORD.

God did not take the Jew out of Egypt. He took the children of Israel. There were 12 tribes and everyone who joined with them. Judah is only one of 12 tribes. The name Israel and Jew are NOT synonymous. Israel does not mean Jew and Jew does NOT mean Israel. This is one of the biggest errors made in theology. It is not genetics- DNA that makes you Israel, God's people. It is the belief in God and the blood of Messiah that grafts you into Israel.

This is reflected in the picture of Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite who became Israel and was treated as such by Boaz.

(Rth 1:16 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

Naomi told Ruth that Boaz was a relative of both of theirs. Not just Naomi's but also Ruth since she is grafted into the family.

(Rth 3:2) And now is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he winnoweth barley to night in the threshingfloor.

Whomever believes God and follows Him, God calls Israel. We are grafted into them-Israel......They are NOT grafted into us! That does not mean we become Jewish. God has a plan for all 12 tribes AND those who join themselves . This plan is spoken all through Scripture even in Revelation. The nation called “Israel” is God's church or “-eclesia” Called out ones per say. His people, His possession.

(Deu 7:6) For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

(Exo 19:5) Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

(Exo 19:6) And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

(Rom 11:29) For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance (this word definition means irrevocable).

However, Israel was disobedient and messed up God's picture. God wanted a people so blessed that all nations, Gentiles, would see the blessings and want to join Israel. God already knew that the people would mess up the picture so God sent prophecies way earlier advising them that they would fall into disobedience and that He would scatter them. God told the 12 tribes that he was going to separate and disburse them. He was going to scatter them like you scatter seeds. They will not recognize themselves because they will mix with the other nations. But God then tells them He is going to bring them back and all the people who come with them.

(Deu 28:64) And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.

(Deu 30:3) That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.

When did this scattering happen?

Back in Kings, Rehaboam was king in Jerusalem after his father Solomon. People came to Rehaboam and asked for a lighter burden than what his father had placed on them but the king did not listen to advice and made the burden heavier. Sounds like what the Pharaoh of Egypt did to Israel (patterns repeat). A man named Jeraboam took 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel and left Jerusalem and went north above the top of the Galalee to an area called Dan. Jeraboam was made king over the 10 tribes north of Jerusalem. Rayaboam was king over the 2 tribes (Judah and Benjamin with some Levi) in Jerusalem.

What happened mirrored what happened on Mt Sinai when Moses came down with the 10 commandments and saw hat the people had made a golden calf.

(Exo 32:4) And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

(Exo 32:5) And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.

I often thought that the people just reverted back to worshiping the golden calf or the God's of Egypt but look carefully. They made an image of the god's of Egypt and called it YHVH (the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). They made up their own worship day and worshiped YHVH with the worship of Egypt's god's. Have we done the same thing today? See “Follow me” teaching which provides some insights on how we mix our worship of God today.

Jeraboam did the exact same thing. He was afraid that the people would return to Jerusalem (as required by God three times a year for the pilgrimage Feasts) and once they returned, they would end up staying under Rahaboams leadership. It was a political move to keep the people up in Dan and to have them not return to Jerusalem.

(1Ki 12:27-33) If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.

So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.

You see, God's Feast was the 15th day of the 7th month but Jeraboam changed God's Feast day to the 15th day of the 8th month. He just “made up a day” rather than follow God's instructions.

He was worshiping YHVH but was worshiping YHVH his own way, on his own date while ignoring God's instructions. Do we do the same thing (read the teaching “Follow me”)?

From that point, the children of Israel were separated into two camps. Scripture calls Jeroboams group (that had the ten tribes) that lived north of Jerusalem, the “House of Israel”. Rahaboam group in Jerusalem was called “the House of Judah”. You will see the two houses addressed throughout Scripture.

This splitting of the tribes was God's doing and you can read about it in 1Kings.

The ten tribes did things their own way and mixed their worship system even more with the nations surrounding them. Soon, the House of Israel lost their identity as Israel because they looked too much like the nation around them. Later they were captured and carried to Asyria as described in 2Kings 17. They looked so much like the nations around them that when they were released from captivity, they just blended in and lost themselves within the nations surrounding them. Some people call them the last 10 tribes of Israel.

The House of Judah remained in Jerusalem and for the most part, followed God's instructions but they too, were captured and taken to Babylon. They continued to keep God's Sabbath and Feast days and therefore, when they were released from captivity, they knew each other and returned to Jerusalem.

The House of Israel is still scattered today. This is one reason why the Jews say they do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah is because God states that He is going to unite the House of Israel with the House of Judah. It is believed that the Messiah will do this. Jesus did not do this on his first coming but we know there is a second coming.

This is the prophecy of the Two Houses of Israel being united.

(Eze 37:16-26) Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these? Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the Gentiles, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them;

(* Here is a picture of Caleb the Kenezite who received a covenant of peace)

it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.

(Eze 37:27-28) My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.And the Gentiles shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

Now you understand Jesus words :

(Mat 10:5-6) These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and intoanycity of the Samaritans enter ye not:But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

(Mat 15:24) But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

(Jas 1:1) James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

It is believed (much research has been done) that the House of Israel traveled through Europe (Dan/Don, Dun-Tel-Dan, Danmark, Dun-Edeinburgh, Donegal-Ireland) and the descendants eventually came to America as the Purists. The “scattering” was a method God used to bring the message to the entire world

What does this have to do with us? We are Gentiles right? Remember, Gentiles are those who worship Pagan multiple gods. Are we now Gentile believers?? Is this an oxymoron?

Once we accept Christ's sacrifice, we become adopted into the commonwealth of Israel.

(Eph 2:12) That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

We are adopted into God's family-Israel. When my daughter adopted her two girls, they came from a different mother and that mother had a family which would be her grandparents etc. Once she was adopted by my daughter, I immediately became their grandmother. They no longer claimed their previous grandparents but I became their grandmother. So too, once we are adopted into God's family called Israel, then Abraham, Isaac and Jacob become our Fathers. They are not just the Jews fathers but our also. We have to claim this as this is our inheritance and right.

(Rom 8:15) For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

It is not about DNA but about faith.

(Rom 9:6-8) Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.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.

It is not children of the flesh who are children of God but children of the promise who are counted as heirs. Jews are descendants of the man called Israel (Jacob) but Israel does not = Jew and Jew does not equaal Israel.

(Eph 1:5) Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

We are New Covenant believers. So what is the New Covenant?

The new covenant can be found in Jeramiah but is reiterated in Hebrews 8

(Jer 31:31-36) Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law (Torah) in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.

Notice who the New Covenant is with ? The House of Israel and the House of Judah. Also, what is the New Covenant? The New Covenant is the old Covenant, the Torah written in our hearts.

If the Torah was done away with, then how can we have it in our hearts? If the volume of the scroll was written about Jesus, and we did away with the scroll, would that mean we did away with Jesus?

When Jesus returns as the King and the New Jerusalem descends from Heaven, there are twelve gates to enter the New Jerusalem.

(Rev 21:2) And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

(Rev 21:10-12) And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

There is no Gentile gate!

In summary, We are no longer Gentiles but have been adopted and grafted into Israel by faith in the blood of Jesus. We are new covenant believers that wish to do His instructions (ie: Torah) out of love, not works. We have become the children of God so we want to honor Him by acting like a child of God. “Works” has you doing it to become a child of God. That is a free gift. But once you receive the gift, you wish to become more like Jesus in your words and actions so we go back to God's instructions which tells us how. (See teaching on Justification and Sanctification)

(Jas 2:18) Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.