“They [Are] Not All Israel, Which Are of Israel”
INTRODUCTION
There is significant controversy over God’s covenantal relationship with national Israel, the Old Testament nation, and whether that relationship continues today. Does the promise to Abraham still apply to the modern nation that inhabits the ancestral land, and what does that mean for the future? Three common answers describe the relationship between the Christian church and national Israel:
- Dispensationalism: the church is completely distinct from national Israel.
- Replacement Theology: the church has entirely replaced national Israel.
- Covenant Theology: the church is a separate expansion of national Israel.
These are sketched, with rebuttals, in the Appendix.
Scripture distinguishes the eternal Israel of God from the corporate body represented by national Israel. Eternal Israel is neither a people separate from that history, nor a later replacement for it, nor an expansion of it. It was always God’s plan, though largely veiled until Christ.
National Israel was the visible, temporal, corporate presence of the people of God until the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament church now occupies that visible place. In both, God has given promises of blessing for obedience and warnings of curse for disobedience, because in both is found the eternal Israel of God, on account of the promised Seed fulfilled in the person and work of Christ.
That eternal church consists of an elect remnant from national Israel, together with an elect portion from the Gentile world, all saved by grace alone, in fulfillment of the promise to Abraham.
This teacher is neither antisemitic nor anti–national Israel, and is not a Christian Zionist. The modern nation of Israel has every right to exist, and it has faced constant attacks since 1948. Without reconciliation to God in the Lord Jesus Christ, however, it no longer has a privileged standing as a nation. The prayer of this study is that individuals of the Jewish faith would turn to Jesus before time runs out. That is Paul’s own lament:
Romans 9:1-5 — “¶ I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service [of God], and the promises; Whose [are] the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ [came], who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.”
God’s Promise to Abraham, Through the Promised Seed
God told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations (Genesis 17:4–5), and that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 22:18). The same chapter calls the covenant “everlasting” and includes the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession: “I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:7–8).
The Holy Spirit provides us this commentary:
The Apostle Paul identifies that seed as singular, and as Christ. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” (Galatians 3:16). Please see this study on the basis for correct understanding on how the “‘Seed’ is Singular” and points us only to the Lord Jesus Christ!
The Apostle Peter was guided to say the same:Acts 3:25&26, “Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed (σπέρματί, singular) shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” (Note that the Gospel went first to the Jews as we read in Acts 1:8 where Jesus told His disciples, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.“)
The inheritance was not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith, so that the promise would be sure to all the seed: not only those of the law, but also those of the faith of Abraham, “who is the father of us all” (Romans 4:13–18).
Galatians 3:28&29 make clear, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye [be] Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Galatians 3:7–9 also tells us plainly, “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, [saying], In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.“
Hosea 1:10 points the same way: “...in the place where it was said unto them, Ye [are] not my people, [there] it shall be said unto them, Ye [are] the sons of the living God.” Paul applies that promise to those called by faith, Jew and Gentile. Eternal Israel is that company, not national Israel as such.
Galatians 4:21–31 provides that Hagar and Sarah were an “allegory” of the two covenants. The son of the bondwoman Hagar was born after the flesh; while the son of the freewoman, Sarah, was by promise. Sinai, which answers to “Jerusalem which now is,” corresponds to Hagar and bondage. The free woman, Sarah (and her offspring) correspond with the “Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” That heavenly city, the New Jerusalem of Revelation 3:12 and 21:2, is not the earthly city in the land we know as Israel today.
The law given to national Israel was fulfilled by Christ, the Jewish Messiah. The eternal promise to Abraham belongs to the elect in him—the remnant of Jews and Gentiles—not to genealogy, national heritage, or the works of the Law.
Romans 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.” Jesus said the same to those who trusted in descent in Matthew 3:9: “And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to [our] father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” (also Luke 3:8).
What “Israel” means
The Hebrew word יִשְׂרָאֵל (yiśrā’ēl) H3478 means “Prince of God” (2,489x in KJV).
It is used in the Bible in five distinct ways:
- Jacob personally (Genesis 32:28).
- The nation descended from Jacob.
- The ten northern tribes after the split from Judah and Benjamin.
- The Lord Jesus Christ, typologically.
- The body of believers in Christ, Jew and Gentile—the eternal or spiritual Israel.
There is no saving efficacy in being Jewish. As Galatians 3:28–29 already showed, Eternal Israel is comprised of those in Christ, saved by grace alone, not by lineage. (see also Colossians 3:11).
Promises Made, Promises Kept
The earthly land promises spoken to national Israel were performed in the days of Joshua and Solomon. “There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.” (Joshua 21:43–45). Nehemiah says in Nehemiah 9:7–8 that God performed his words in giving the land to Abraham’s seed: “Thou [art] the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees,and gavest him the name of Abraham; And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give [it, I say], to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou [art] righteous:” Solomon said in 1 Kings 8:56, “…there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.”
Hebrews 6:13-20 then sets the oath to Abraham on Christ, the forerunner and High Priest forever, as strong consolation for the heirs of the promise. God keeps His promises. The lasting inheritance the patriarchs sought was not a perpetual earthly administration, but he looked for a city “whose builder and maker [is] God” (Hebrews 11:9–10).
Eternal Israel Was Always in View
Paul’s olive tree in Romans 11:13–24 makes the same distinction. Natural branches, those of national Israel, were broken off for unbelief. Wild branches, Gentiles, were grafted in by faith. The warning is not to boast: God can cut off wild branches too. Natural branches can be grafted in again if they do not continue in unbelief.
“Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Romans 11:25–26). On this reading, “all Israel” is all of eternal Israel: the elect remnant from national Israel together with the elect from the Gentiles. It is not a promise that the nation as a nation will be saved. As a nation, Israel remains in the blindness described below. The gifts and calling Paul has in view are the calling of that elect people, not a second track of salvation beside Christ.
The same root-and-branch picture appears in John 15:1–8. Christ is the true vine; branches that do not abide in him are taken away, and those that abide bear fruit. Fruitfulness is the mark of faith, not of descent (2 Peter 1:5–8).
Ruth and Esther, as Further Portraits
These books are read here as spiritual portraits, not as a second proof of the argument above.In Ruth, Elimelech leaves the house of bread and dies, a picture of apostate national Israel in need of a redeemer. Naomi, the Jewish remnant, and Ruth, the Gentile, are saved by grace through Boaz, Elimelech’s kinsman redeemer. Together the two women picture the church saved by Grace through the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, as its Kinsman Redeemer.
In Esther, Vashti refuses the king and her royal estate is given to “another that is better than she” (Esther 1:19). Vashti pictures national Israel removed for rebellion and disobedience; Esther pictures the church installed as the bride. Please see: Esther: Divine Providence, Hidden Christ“.
| Book | Represents | Key Insight |
|---|---|---|
| Ruth | Elimelech (left the House of Bread, like national Israel & died) Naomi (Jewish remnant) + Ruth, the Moabitess (Gentiles) | National Israel turned from God, but the eternal church (both Jew and Gentile) is saved by grace via a kinsman redeemer, picturing Jesus. |
| Esther | Queen Vashti → Queen Esther | National Israel rebelled and removed; Eternal Israel installed as the better Bride of God |
(See also these posts: “Queen Vashti, A Spiritual Portrait of National Israel” and “Queen Esther, A Spiritual Portrait of the Bride of Christ“.)
A Remnant According to the Election of Grace
Even after the miracles in Egypt and the wilderness, Moses said, “Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day” (Deuteronomy 29:4). Those Israelites remained spiritually blind in their unbelief.
Paul applies that text to his own time in Romans 11:5–10. “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then [is it] no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace… Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written [Deuteronomy 29:4, see also and Isaiah 6:10], God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear; ) unto this day. ¶And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.”
And Psalm 69:23 tells us that for those who opposed Jesus and His Gospel, “Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.”
God has not cast away the people he foreknew (Romans 10:21 → 11:1-5). He has already made the same point to Elijah: As in the days of the 7,000 who had not bowed to Baal, a remnant is saved by grace, not by works (1 Kings 19:18).
(Please see: “The Doctrine of Election Is Salvation by God’s Sovereign Grace Alone”.)
The Temple
A future earthly temple with renewed animal sacrifices cannot be reconciled with Christ’s finished work. The veil was rent from top to bottom, and the Holy of Holies was exposed (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). The temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Abraham looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:9&10). Isaiah 62:11&12 calls the redeemed of the LORD a city not forsaken. The dwelling of God with His people is that Heavenly Jerusalem, made up of the body of believers, a spiritual city and not an earthly city.
(Please see: “The Holy Temple of God, Will It Ever Be Rebuilt?”.)
God Rejected National Israel at the Cross
In Matthew 23:37–39 and Luke 13:34–35, Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate”.
In Jesus’ Parable of the Vineyard (Matthew 21:33–46; Mark 12:1–16 ; Luke 20:9–19), when the lord of a vineyard sent his servants to the husbandmen of the vineyard seeking fruit, they beat and killed those the servants, and ultimately his only son (“the heir“). The result being that the lord of the vineyard “shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others.” This parable pointed to national Israel, as led by the “chief priests and Pharisees“, who killed both the prophets of God and then His Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, God rejected national Israel and destroyed them as a nation, and established a new covenant with others (the eternal Israel of God, Christ’s Church), “which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.”
In Romans 2:28–29, the Apostle Paul was moved to teach, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither [is that] circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he [is] a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision [is that] of the heart, in the spirit, [and] not in the letter; whose praise [is] not of men, but of God.” In Galatians 6:15–16, “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.”
National Israel Today: a Sign, Not an Advent of Revival
When the disciples asked for the sign of his coming and of the end of the world (Matthew 24:3), Jesus answered, among other things, with the fig tree: “When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [is] nigh.” (Matthew 24:32-35; Mark 13:28–31; Luke 21:29–33). Joel 1:6–7 calls Israel God’s fig tree, that was attacked and stripped. Reading it that way, modern Israel has leaves, but no fruit, because it rejects Jesus as the Messiah. Israel’s reappearance as a nation is a sign that the end is near, not a portent of forthcoming national revival. National Israel’s special role ended at the cross and was sealed in 70 AD.
Please see these posts: “The Parable of the Fig Tree” and “Is Time Almost Up?“
Conclusion
Physical descent from Abraham does not guarantee salvation. Neither does physical circumcision or water baptism. Both are signs of a covenant, not the covenant itself. “Not all Israel is Israel” means that inside the larger corporate body—either those identified with Old Testament Israel, or those who identify as Christians today—there is a smaller company, the eternal Israel, the eternal church. Corporate fellowship no more saves than Jewish lineage does. Only the circumcision of the heart, and the washing of regeneration of the Holy Spirit, applied to the elect by grace alone in Christ alone, does. Jesus is the true Seed of promise.
Acts 10:34-35, “Then Peter opened [his] mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.” The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 2:11, “For there is no respect of persons with God.” Ishmael and Isaac were both circumcised. Esau and Jacob were both circumcised. Only Isaac and Jacob were chosen, by election, not by works or lineage (Romans 9:11–13). The children of the promise are counted for the seed (Romans 9:6–8, cited above).
Appendix: Three Theological Viewpoints on National Israel Today
- Dispensationalism. Two peoples, Israel and the church. Promises to Israel are fulfilled in a literal thousand-year kingdom after a pre-tribulation rapture and a seven-year tribulation. The view was shaped by John Darby and the Scofield Bible, and it rejects allegorical reading in favor of a literal-grammatical-historical hermeneutic. The objection is that a restored temple and renewed sacrifices deny Christ’s finished work. The veil and the destruction of the temple, noted above, refute that understanding. This teacher’s alternative hermeneutic is set out in the posts on the literal-grammatical-historical method and on allegorical reading.
- Covenant Theology. Scripture is read through a covenant of works followed by a covenant of grace, with the biblical covenants as outworkings of those two. The objection is that this can imply a Plan B after a failed Plan A. Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Salvation was always, and only, by grace.
- Replacement Theology, or Supersessionism. The church replaces Israel entirely, and national Israel has no spiritual future. That is partly right about the end of national privilege, but it misses the point that eternal Israel was always the focus. The church is not a later substitute plan.
Key Takeaway
Eternal Israel is the elect remnant of Jews plus the elect Gentiles in Christ: Christ’s church/His eternal bride. National Israel was the historical means of the promise, not its fulfillment. Its reappearance as a nation among nations, as featured in the Parable of the Fig Tree, is a sign of the end, not evidence of a national revival.
Explore posts in the same categories: Bible Studies
Leave a Reply