Message 1 — Introduction: Who Are the True Israel of God?
It has been upon my heart for some time now to bring a series of messages on the subject, The True Israel of God, based upon the clear teaching of God’s holy, inerrant, unbroken, verbally inspired Word. In these messages we will seek to show, as the Holy Spirit gives us utterance, that the Scriptures teach in clear, bold, unmistakable truth that all believers — God’s children by the new birth — are the true Israel of God, and that they and they alone are God’s chosen people upon the earth today and the present heirs of the promises made to Abraham and to his seed in Christ.
We will also seek to show that the physical nation of Israel in the land of Palestine in the Near East today is not God’s chosen people or nation after the flesh, and neither will they ever again be dealt with as a nation in a so-called thousand years of earthly prosperity with Christ sitting upon an earthly throne in Jerusalem. The Scriptures plainly teach that the nation of Israel was set aside at Calvary, and that God’s dealings with them now is the same as His dealings with the Gentiles, for there is no respect of persons with God. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, according to Romans 2:11 and 3:22–23.
This precious truth of the believers being the true Israel of God has been lost among the rubble and trash of the false teachings of the past 150 years, which say that God will yet deal with Israel as a nation — that the physical Israel in Palestine is His chosen nation — and that most of all the promises of the Old Testament given to Israel are physical promises yet to be fulfilled in a so-called one thousand years reign of Christ upon the earth.
My one desire in delivering these messages is to magnify my risen, exalted Lord Jesus Christ, who sits upon His throne in Heaven now, ruling over His people and over all the inhabitants of this earth. He said Himself in Matthew 28:18 that all authority is given unto Him in heaven and earth. And it is written of Him in 1 Peter 3:22 that He has gone to heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him.
“God hath set Christ at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under His feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” (Ephesians 1:20–23)
The Scriptural Principle: First the Natural, Then the Spiritual
There is one scriptural truth that must be kept in mind throughout these messages. The Scriptures teach us that in all of God’s dealings with mankind, from the time of Adam, we may discern the same principle at work: first the natural and then the spiritual, according to 1 Corinthians 15:45–46. God has progressively revealed His purpose through, first, His dealings with natural Israel and, second and finally, His dealings with spiritual Israel.
There is no scriptural basis for the regressive idea that God’s dealings will again be centred exclusively on national Israel at some future date. This would be going from natural to spiritual and back to natural again — and this is not the way God works. The writers of the New Testament did not violate this principle. In relating over 100 scriptures from the Old Testament, they always gave them a spiritual meaning and applied them to spiritual Israel, the Church, the true Israel, the born-again believers of all ages.
The Mystery Revealed: One Body in Christ — Ephesians
In his letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul said that the revelation God gave him about the Church unlocked a mystery which had been hidden in God since the beginning of the world: namely, that all God’s people, whether Jews or Gentiles by natural descent, were to be members of the same body — the true Israel, the Church, the Body of Christ, according to Ephesians 3:3,5,6,9.
To Paul it was revealed that it was God’s eternal plan to have not a small nation of His own, but a worldwide body of people drawn from all nations and kindreds and tongues and people, according to Revelation 7:9. In chapter 2 of Ephesians, Paul had said that in time past Gentiles were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12). But God was freely offering His unsearchable riches to people of all nations without requiring a change in their natural citizenship. The Gentiles who had been aliens from the commonwealth of Israel were now, in Christ, no longer foreigners but fellow citizens in the new and spiritual Israel — no more strangers but members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19).
Thus Paul said: They are not all Israel which are of Israel — and these he termed Israel after the flesh (1 Corinthians 10:18).
Message 2 — Galatians: Abraham’s True Seed
In the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul again deals with the great subject of Abraham, his seed, and who is the true Israel of God. There had come among the believers at Galatia the Judaizers, who were teaching that a man could not be saved except he become a Jew outwardly by circumcision in the flesh. So Brother Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote this letter to refute this false doctrine.
In chapter 3 of Galatians, Paul said that Abraham’s standing with God came by grace through faith — that Abraham was saved by the same gospel that is preached today. He states in Galatians 3:6 and Romans 4:3 that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. And in Galatians 3:7: They which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Therefore, believers alone are the true descendants and offspring of Abraham in Christ. Natural descent is meaningless.
“There is no other way, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26)
The promises were made to Abraham and his seed (verse 16) — and who is the seed? Paul said that God did not say seeds, as of many, but as of one: and to thy seed, which is Christ. So if Christ is the seed, then all who are in Him are included. As verse 29 tells us: If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
“They are not all Israel which are of Israel; neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children... that is, they which are the children of the flesh, they are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” (Romans 9:6–8)
These verses teach us that the natural descendants of Abraham after the flesh are not the children of God. Therefore, 20th century Israel is not the chosen nation of God. The only chosen nation today are both Jews and Gentiles who have been born again by the Spirit of God and have availed themselves of the blessings of the gospel of the grace of God.
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.” (1 Peter 2:9)
Galatians 4: The Allegory of Hagar and Sarah
In Galatians 4:21–31, Paul uses the allegory of Abraham’s two sons — the one by the bondwoman Hagar, born after the flesh, the other by the free woman Sarah, born by promise — to show the difference between unbelieving Israel after the flesh and those of all nations who know Christ and have been made free.
Paul said that the son of the bondwoman represents the children of Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children, while the son of the free woman represents the Church — Jerusalem which is above, which is free and is the mother of us all. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul is saying: as far as God’s eternal purpose is concerned, cast out and remove from consideration the physical, political nation of Israel and her unsaved citizens, for the inheritance belongs to the spiritual Israel and not to natural Israel.
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.” (Galatians 6:15–16)
Hebrews: Better Things in Christ
The book of Hebrews, perhaps more than any other book of the Bible, stands as a source of frustration and embarrassment to those who teach that God plans to return one day to the natural trappings of the old Jewish economy — the natural land and city, the natural law and ordinances, the natural kingdom and throne, the natural temple and sacrifices. The Holy Spirit through the writer of Hebrews shows us the overwhelming superiority of the new and better age that dawned at Calvary. After Calvary, the natural types and figures had served their purpose and were vanishing away, replaced forever by the eternal and spiritual realities found only in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Note the word better throughout Hebrews. Did the Israelite fathers hear the voice of the prophets? We, the true spiritual Israel, hear the better voice of God’s Son (Hebrews 1:1–2). Did Israel have a high priest after the Levitical order? We have a better one after the undying order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 6:20–7). Did they have an earthly sanctuary with candlesticks and the ark and the mercy seat (Hebrews 9:1–5)? We have Christ, a greater and more perfect tabernacle (Hebrews 9:11). Did they have the blood of bulls and goats that could not take away sins (Hebrews 10:4)? We have the incomparable, better blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God (Hebrews 9:14). Did the Israelites receive an earthly land? We have a better country, that is, a heavenly (Hebrews 11:16). Did they come to a mount that could be touched (Hebrews 12:18)? We have come to a better mount — Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God (Hebrews 12:22).
We as spiritual Israel also have a better covenant — the new covenant that has forever replaced the old and faulty covenant. It is not according to the covenant God made with natural Israel, which covenant they broke (Jeremiah 31:32), but this shall be the covenant He will make with the house of Israel:
“I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. They shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.” (Jeremiah 31:33–34)
Hebrews 8:6 tells us that this much better covenant was already established in the first century and that the old one was even then decaying and getting old and ready to vanish away (Hebrews 8:13). The Temple rituals and sacrifices — the proudest features of the old covenant — vanished completely as the city of Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans. The old covenant was called by Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:7 the ministration of death; the new covenant is the ministration of the Spirit and giveth life.
“For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.” (2 Corinthians 3:11)
Christ our Lord, who was God manifested in the flesh, is far greater and better than all creatures and things. In chapter 1 of Hebrews He is better than the angels. In chapter 2 greater than man. In chapter 3 better than Moses. In chapter 4 better than Joshua. In chapters 5–7 He is the great high priest, better than the priesthood of Aaron. In chapter 8 He is the mediator of a better covenant established upon better promises. In chapter 9 He is greater than all the sacrifices and the tabernacle itself:
“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands... neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats... sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:11–14)
This shows us that in Christ Jesus, the true Israel of God — made up of believers born again by His Spirit — need no future earthly altar or temple or sacrifice or throne, because we are forever complete in Christ for His once-for-all salvation which He finished at Calvary.
Message 3 — Christ Now Sitting Upon David’s Throne
In this message we will show, by the grace of God and as the Holy Spirit gives us utterance, that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is now sitting upon David’s throne in the heavenlies, and that we as the true Israel of God are ruling and reigning with Him as the children of the kingdom.
Consider the words of the angel Gabriel in Luke 1, sent of God to proclaim the gracious news to the Virgin Mary:
“Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” (Luke 1:31–33)
We know from the words of our Lord Himself, as He stood before Pilate, that this kingdom over which He would rule was not an earthly kingdom but a spiritual one:
“My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” (John 18:36)
Our Lord never came to set up an earthly kingdom. It never was and never has been in God’s eternal purpose for Him to do so. In the book of Acts, chapter 2, Brother Peter, preaching on the day of Pentecost under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said that the prophecy of Christ sitting upon David’s throne had been fulfilled:
“Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:33–36)
The physical throne of David was a type and shadow of the spiritual throne of the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this throne is an everlasting throne — not an earthly throne for just 1,000 years. Every Scripture in the New Testament confirms this, and every Old Testament promise where the future throne of David is mentioned looks forward to this time when our Lord would sit upon it.
The Promise to David Fulfilled in Christ
God said to David in 2 Samuel 7:16: Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. The seed through whom these promises were to be fulfilled is Christ, who was made of the seed of David (Romans 1:3). God promised that the seed of David would build a house for His name, and that He would establish the throne of that kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:13).
The natural fulfilment of that promise came about when Solomon built the first temple, but disobedience caused Solomon’s temple, throne, and kingdom to crumble. The complete fulfilment occurred after Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension. The house or temple that Solomon built for God’s name was a material type of the greater spiritual house of God, the Church, the true Israel, which was built and is being built by one greater than Solomon (Luke 11:31). Did not our Lord tell Peter: Upon this rock I will build my church? For more than 1,900 years our Lord Jesus Christ has been doing exactly that, fulfilling God’s promise that the seed Christ would build a house for His name.
A Spiritual Kingdom, Not an Earthly One
The Kingdom of God is not a natural, earthly, political kingdom to be established at some uncertain date in a little country in the Near East. Christ’s kingdom — the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven — is a present, eternal, universal, immovable, and spiritual kingdom. The Greek word translated kingdom in the New Testament does not mean a physical kingdom with a specific and limited location. It means the rule, or reign, or authority of God.
God has always worked on the principle of first the natural, then the spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:45–46). The kingdom of David, king of Israel, was a natural kingdom. The kingdom of God manifested by Christ, the greater David, is a spiritual kingdom — the Lordship of Christ in the hearts of His people, His authority guiding and directing their lives.
The kingdom of David was a kingdom of physical things like meat and drink, but the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). The kingdom of David was a visible kingdom, but the kingdom of God cometh not with observation: the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:20–21). The kingdom of David was a kingdom of this world, but the kingdom of God is not of this world (John 18:36). You could enter the kingdom of David by crossing its borders, but except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3,5).
Message 4 — The Kingdom of God in the Gospel of Luke
We continue by showing from the Scriptures that the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of Christ, and the Kingdom of our Lord is one and the same thing — a spiritual kingdom meaning the rule, the authority, the supremacy of Christ in the hearts of men. In the Gospel of Luke, the expression the Kingdom of God is used in five different ways to show its full meaning: God’s kingship, His rule or sovereignty, recognised in the hearts and operative in the lives of His people and affecting their complete salvation.
First: Preaching the Kingdom of God
In Luke 4:43 Christ said: I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent. And in Mark 1:14–15: Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. Our Lord was not preaching that He had come to set up an earthly kingdom, but that He had come to establish a spiritual kingdom in the hearts of His people — accomplished by the gracious gospel of the grace of God toward poor, hell-deserving sinners who would repent and believe.
Second: Entering the Kingdom of God
“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God... except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3,5)
This rules out anyone entering into the Kingdom of God except by the new birth — by the direct operation of the Spirit of God upon the heart, making that individual a new creature and giving him a new heart and nature over which Christ rules as King. And in 1 Corinthians 15:50: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. This rules out an earthly, fleshly, material kingdom of any thousand years here upon earth.
Third: Seeking the Kingdom of God
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)
When are we to seek it? Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). When Christ comes the second time, that ends it all. Then it will be too late. There will be no second chance. The parable of the ten virgins teaches that when Christ comes, the door will be shut: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not (Matthew 25:10–12).
Fourth: The Kingdom of God Is Within You
“The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20–21)
The Pharisees and their followers were looking forward to the arrival of an outward, earthly, sensual kingdom in which the Jews would occupy a very prominent place. But our Lord declared that the kingdom or kingship or reign of God is essentially spiritual. It is within, inside a person. Wherever God is truly recognised and honoured as King, there one finds His kingdom. The Kingdom of God consists of inner qualities — righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit — qualities that exist wherever God is recognised as King (Romans 14:17).
God said in Matthew 21:43: The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. It was taken from the Jews as a nation and given to the nation of believers, that holy nation of 1 Peter 2:9 who would bring forth the fruits of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. This, my friend, is the Kingdom of God. God’s kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, entered into by repentance and faith, and this kingdom is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
These people — the Church, the true Israel of God — have been translated into the kingdom of His dear Son (Colossians 1:13). And according to Romans 5:17, they reign in this life with Him day by day, and they say: Hallelujah! Salvation, glory, and honour and power unto the Lord our God, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth (Revelation 19:1,6).