The True Israel of God
One deception that continues to confound and bring confusion among God’s people is the identity of Israel. The nation or country we call Israel is not the Israel spoken of in the Scriptures as the chosen of God’s people. Man has confused the natural with the spiritual. Because of this confusion entire doctrines have been created that manipulate the truth of God’s Word. Our enemy the devil is behind this deception, one that I myself have come out of and it is my hope that my understanding that was a long time coming to me may help you get clear on this important topic. Here are some very pointed passages that tell us who God’s people are, the ones circumcised by God Himself.
Romans 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.
Galatians 3:26-28 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Being Jewish means absolutely NOTHING anymore to one’s standing with God.
Philippians 3:3 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; 3for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Acting Jewish and following the Law of Moses died on the cross my friends. Jesus is the ONLY sacrifice.
Colossians 2:11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
These words written by Paul speak not to people who define themselves by human ancestry but to those who turn from sin and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah said it: A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” declares the LORD. Jacob was the son of ISAAC and as we will see below, Abraham’s children are from ISAAC’s seed and they are not children of the flesh. We are IN JACOB if we truly follow Jesus.
If Jesus Christ is really your Lord evidenced by your striving to obey Him out of true love – then you are a real Jew and are part of God’s chosen people called Israel. If you are not obeying Jesus, then He is not really your Lord even though you may say He is Lord with your lips. That is vain worship my friends and you are not in the True Spiritual Israel if you are practicing sin. It does not matter where you were born or whether your parents or forefathers were of Jewish descent or how long you went to a synagogue or a church.
For brevity I will not go into this point here except to just state it. The LAND promised to Abraham was a heavenly land, it was not a physical promise.
Hebrews 11:10 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;10for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. This is the spiritual Israel, the spiritual Jerusalem, that was the promise, it was never really about a piece of land over in the middle east. The land is in our hearts and in the heavens. The amazing thing about God’s WORD is that He used the natural stories and experiences recorded in the Scriptures to teach us the spiritual wisdom we need to make it through the wilderness and enter the land of milk and honey that He promised to Abraham and his seed.
The Jews of Israel wanted to argue with Jesus about who they were. I won’t put the whole story in here, but to suffice it to say Jesus said they were children of the devil and their ancestral connection to Abraham meant nothing as it pertains to salvation.
John 8:39-41 Abraham is our father,” they answered.“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do the things Abraham did. 40As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41You are doing the things your own father (the devil) does.”
Paul made this very clear in Romans as well in Galatians although these verses are rarely spoken of by the apostate church of these end times.
Romans 11:8 God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day. Isaiah called this the spirit of deep sleep in Isaiah 29 but make no mistake, the original Jewish people are in a stupor today and have been blinded to the truth by this spirit (the powers of darkness) that is upon them.
Galatians 4:24-26 These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.
Most Christians, in fact the vast majority are in the wrong covenant — their mother is Hagar and not Sarah. They may be blessed here in this life as God did indeed bless Ishmael but these are slaves and not sons of the living God and will not inherit the Kingdom. I am not judging my friends, I am just trying to convey the truth so people will wake up and turn to the Lord in true repentance so they can be adopted into the family. We are not born into the family, we are adopted in when we are Born Again. The true Jews, the ones circumcised of the heart by the finger of God, is the Only Israel of God. This is a spiritual body of Christ and it is determined by our hearts and not what we say with our lips. This is the true church built by God Himself.
All Israel Shall Be Saved
The lie about who is Israel is a foundation upon which other lies have been built over the centuries by the tradition of men. Before you know it, one little lie has led to false doctrine which then becomes the very stumbling blocks that deceived Christians drunkenly fall down over in seeking the real Jesus Christ. The truth is that there is ONE SPIRITUAL ISRAEL. The country and nation called Israel that was created by men in 1948 – is not Israel in God’s eyes. The ancient city of Jerusalem is not the Spiritual JERUSALEM spoken of in the Scriptures. New Jerusalem has nothing to do with the country we call Israel, it has everything to do with those chosen by God who have been Born Again and have been circumcised of their heart
The powers of darkness are behind all of this false doctrines, false peace, false security, spiritual blindness and blatant deception which has befallen virtually the entire world.
Almost all prophecy of today is looking to the natural world for its signs and interpretations. This is truly foolishness as these signs refer to the spiritual things of life, not the natural. The Pharisees and wise men of Jesus’ days also were looking to the natural for their Savior and were totally blind to the spiritual reality. The exact same thing goes on today. Since I have been shown this truth by God, I have upped the ante and boldness in my speaking out. The prophecies of Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Revelation and even the words of the Lord in Matthew 24, Luke 21 and Mark 13 have already happened or are happening right now as we speak. Yet almost everyone sleeps. Jesus will come as a thief, loud and suddenly without warning. Are you ready is the question we need to be asking every morning when we wake up. This could be the last day.
I see the events in Iran, Iraq and Israel as total diversions from what is really happening in the hearts of the people. I see spiritual earthquakes, spiritual famines and almost everyone weighed down by the dissipation’s of the world. Most cling to a false peace, the Prince of Peace is not in their heart and as the judgment ratchets up, the false peace is turning to despair and gloom as the gods they know (false Jesus, demons) cannot and will not help them. If anyone thinks they can read the morning newspaper and know the things of God and the imminence of judgment, they are sadly deceived.
Pay heed to the Apostle Paul lamenting over the truth about the Holy Israel. Paul knew it was not the natural Jews that were saved and because of this he lamented.
Romans 9:1-2, 6 I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, 2that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. 6But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; 7nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.”
I have written about the foolishness of deceived men in building more and bigger churches and counting as many as they can as Christians. Jesus builds His church, the TRUE ISRAEL. All this man-made stuff is just religion and while there are people with pure hearts in these institutions that will be counted in ISRAEL, these “churches” and their buildings and doctrines do not represent the true church, which is the body of Christ. God made clear early on, even in the Book of Genesis, that only a few shall be saved and only a relative small remnant would be called His People. Moses spoke about this also to the Israelis in the wilderness.
Deuteronomy 7:7-8 The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Paul goes further in Romans citing things that were first said by the Prophets Hosea and Isaiah.
Romans 9:25-27
“I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, ‘MY PEOPLE,’
THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED
Babylon the great harlot church of TODAY is fallen away. These end time churches tolerate sin, mix with the world, are based on fleshly works to do things for God are simply handing down the traditions of men and not the words of our Lord Jesus. I flew to Kansas today and read Isaiah 28-30 on the airplane and felt sick thinking about the horror that awaits many that are falsely secure following another gospel and another Jesus. Awaken O Sleeper as our Judge approaches.
Paul described this whole topic of who is Israel and why salvation was brought to the Gentiles as a Mystery.
Romans 11:25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this MYSTERY–so that you will not be wise in your own estimation–that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in
We are indeed saved by Grace and not by works. We Gentiles despite the truth about who the true Israel is, cannot be boasting or judgmental upon the natural Jews. We owe our salvation solely to God but need to also understand it was because of the rebellion and hardening of hearts of the natural Jews that we even had the opportunity to be grafted into the vine of Jesus Christ.
There is so much Scripture that speaks to the TRUE ISRAEL as I have only scratched the surface. I will end this post with a parable from our Lord Jesus. This parable says it all. The original people of Israel were the farmers, who killed the prophets and the Lord . The Lord brought an end to the wickedness and rented out the vineyard to others tenants (us Gentiles).
Matthew 21 Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 38“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
The Jews rejected Jesus and He rejected them. He left their house desolate.
42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ” ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’. 43“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
God will save His people, His Holy Remnant called Israel. But who God saves is the spiritual Israel – ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED. Every single promise God made to Israel will be fullfilled. But the Israel of God is those who have been circumcised by God and who serve the LORD Jesus Christ.
God only has one people and one bride. There is only one vine of Israel. It has never changed despite the teachings of wise religious men. I encourage you to read Ezekiel 37 carefully understanding God’s plan of redemption for HIS ONE PEOPLE. They have been brought together through the finished works of Jesus.
Ezekiel 37:19 Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them ONE STICK, and they will be one in My hand.
In closing I want to make sure arrogant and blind people do not twist my words. I have nothing against the ancestral Jewish people, but they are not Israel according to my Bible. These people are my neighbors and I will love them and do no harm to them. But if I don’t tell them the truth about who the Israel of God really is, I am doing violence to the Word and may be shedding their blood. The truth sets us free, not some carnal logic that leads us to tell people what they want to hear. People are never saved by having their ears tickled.
With clarity on who the true Israel is, we can go back into our Bibles and see a lot more truth. Anybody that is of natural Jewish roots will be judged the same as someone born in Africa or Antarctica. If Jesus Christ is found to be your LORD as proven by your heart and your deeds, then you are a son of God and the true Israel. Sadly, most Jewish people believe they are saved simply because they are descendants in the flesh of Jewish people from the days of old. As the Scriptures in this post attest, nothing could be further from the truth.
All we can do for the lost Jews of today is to preach the true gospel and pray that God will intercede and bring them near to the light. There comes a point where hearts get so hardened with false doctrine that there is little hope for repentance. But with God all things are possible so we need to keep praying and preaching nonetheless but remember not to cast our pearls to the swine.
I am afraid I must disagree with you, Tom, in fact, I must unequivocally note that you are very far away from the truth, in your noting Joseph as the righteous son, saving only at one time back in the days when his brothers sold him eventuating in his being sold in Egypt, which was Yahuwah Elohim’s will.
There is only One Who is the Possessor of the birthright, and that One in called Yahushua in the Aramaic, and called Jesus from the Latin Vulgate, a rather tainted name, and due to the defilement, many in the past number of decades have come away from the name Jesus, and chosen a number of variations, The Name Yahushua, meaning Yah is our Salvation, is the Name of a Man tightly knit together in Name to His Father, Yahuwah Elohim, and the One Who came through the line of Judah. Your usage of Joseph so far as I can see, is incorrect, for is not the Messiah of the world, the totality of the reason for the entire seed of Israel? Only Ephraim and Manessah came from Joseph, and of that entire family, Joseph was the bright one! Jacob stole the birthright back in the days before he had any children, but his having possession of the birthright, simply showed him at the time, a liar and deceiver. Until Jacob was named Israel after his fight/wrestle with the Angel of the Covenant, having twelve children at that time, through two wives and their hand-maidens, he had with winning the fight, surely found grace with the Master, and thus, Judah became that family through which Yahushua Messiah, the Saviour of the entire world, came to a small town named Bethlehem, and grew up to be called Yahushua of Nazareth, as returning from Egypt after a medium stay as a child, rather than return to Bethlehem, the three made a home in Nazareth, where Yahushua learned the trade of a carpenter, as was His step-father Joseph’s trade. I am at a complete loss to ascertain what in the world you are speaking of, in your answer concerning Joseph as splendid in any way, for one of the most well-known maxims in Tanakh are the words, “Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone” (Hosea 4: 17, KJV), just a small view of the greater of the two families from the loins of Joseph.
Tom,
Concerning your take on Jesus’ interpretation of Psalm 110, you must read the context. It is not talking about Yoseph at all. Jesus asked the question, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” The Pharisees reply, “the son of David”. Jesus then posed this question, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, call him (the Messiah) Lord, saying, “‘YHWH said to my Lord (Adonai)…” “If then David calls him (the Messiah) Lord (Adonai), how is he his son?” The ‘Ben-David’ is the Messiah. The Messiah existed before David, yet descended from him. Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the I AM.
Hello Pete,
Although I tend to agree with your basic premise, there are a couple of things I think you ought to consider.
Concerning John chapter 8, and the so called “sons of the devil” you must remember that Abraham had many sons other than Isaac. Also, Isaac had 2 sons, both of which were given names that described their “spiritual” character, Yaqob was called Yishrael, which means upright of God, and Esau was called Edom, which means human, a man of the dust who despises the “birthright”. So yes indeed, the self proclaimed “Jews” who the man from Galilee called sons of the devil were not sons of Yishrael, but were sons of Edom, who were indeed physical sons of Abraham.
Secondly, you quote the parable found in Matt 21, and speak of the stone the builders rejected. You also reference Romans and Paul’s somewhat confusing writings concerning the stone the builders rejected, and children of Hagar and children of Sarah. Think. Yaqob, the man called Yishrael had 4 women, but only one was his preferred choice, only one, like Sarah and Rebekah was barren, and although both Abraham and Isaac had children with other women, the birthright went thru only one, Yitzchaq and later Yaqob. What Paul is referring to is how Yaqob had 4 wives, but only ONE thru which the promise would be fulfilled, and that ONE was Rachel, the barren one. She bore the child of promise and she bore the inheritor. Yoseph was the chip off the old block, Yoseph received the birthright, Yoseph was the stone, the chip off the old block, which the builders (his brothers, rejected. Yoseph is the son who the landowner (Father, YHWH God) sent to check on his brothers.
Mt 21:37Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 38“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’
Ge 37: 18 And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
Well, we know what became of his dreams. Commentators may twist and wrestle all they want, the simple fact is Yehudah cannot take the birthright away from Yoseph. It is his, and always will be his. I will quote these from the KJV, but you really should check the original Hebrew for clarity:
Ge 49: 24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
Yoseph is the stone the builders rejected whom his descendant Dawid mentioned in the psalm.
Ps 118: 22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
23 This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.
Or, as the man from Galilee put it:
Mt 22: 42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.
43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,
44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?
45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?
46 And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.
Well, the answer is actually quite simple:
Ps 110: 1 A Psalm of David. The LORD (YHWH, the Father, God, Creator of ALL things) said unto my Lord (Yoseph, the righteous son, possessor of the birthright), Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Even the 24 elders pictured in Revelation shows this, for there are 24 names from Adam thru Yaqob.
Sincerely,
Tom