WHO IS ISRAEL?

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Romans 9:6-7  NKJV

⁶ But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,

⁷ nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.”

What constituted Israel or under what conditions were men and women of Jewish descent in covenant with God?  This question is aimed at the identification of those in the past, present, and future who are to be considered as having a religious relationship with the True God of the Scriptures.

There are those who deny there is any difference between National Israel and Spiritual Israel.  These are few in number and it does not seem as if they are taken seriously.  But even so there is a distinct set of requirements for Israel that includes both descriptions.  And for a person to be a Biblical Israelite these requirements must be met.  These are so common there will be few proof texts used.  They are the identity of the people and the nation.

First is circumcision; this was prior to any national identity.  It later became a part of their covenant requirement.  This alone is not sufficient to identify them.

Secondly they had blood sacrifices.  These began with the Passover, had others added, and continued thru their history.  It is an unworthy subterfuge for Jewish people now to call their gifts and denials  sacrifices in any Biblical sense.  The blood sacrifices were absolute requirements.  There were periods of time when they could not be performed.  But they were never denied as necessary and there was always the intent to begin them again as soon as possible. 

Thirdly Israel had the God- ordained Priesthood.  Israel has no priesthood at this time.  They have Rabbis.  They are not priests.  They do not claim Levitical succession.  They do not offer blood sacrifices.  Now they include women and others who were excluded in Scripture.

Until there can be found authorized genealogies there can be no priesthood.  Israel has no High Priest.  From Aaron’s institution until 70 AD,  Israel had a High-Priest and an active Priesthood.  It seems to me to be a fantasy to think of Israel existing without blood offerings and the priesthood.  There can be no blood offerings in Israel because there are no Levitical priests.

Fourthly from the time of Israel’s identity as God’s people, they had a central place where sacrifices were to be brought where the priest would slay them, and the Levitical worship prescribed in scripture could be practiced.  With David and Solomon this was centralized and organized into that which was practiced until 70 AD.  This is not to say that either Solomon’s Temple continued as it was built, or that the organization prescribed at the dedication of the Temple was perfectly followed.  But the Temple in Jerusalem and the Levitical worship was continued as the recognized way of worshipping God.

 

What do we find then?  There are no blood sacrifices.  There is no priesthood.  There is no central ordained place of receiving sacrifices and propitiating God.  It is an act of incredulity to call modern National Israel a revivification of the Israel of Scripture.

Who is Israel?  It is either those Jews who are converted and become a part of the church or it is the elect of God we identify as the church.  Personally I like the second.

Please read Hebrews 9:11-12.

¹¹ But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 

¹² Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.