The Church is the New Israel

Who is the Church?

Many in the visible Church today teach that the church and Israel are separate escathalogical entities. However, it is a clear teaching of Scripture that the true Israel and the Church are one escathalogical entity.

As is often the case when disputing parties have different presuppositions, we generate much heat and little light. I write this in order to generate some more light on the subject of "Who is Israel" in particular, and "What about the End Times" in general. These are my views, which are also in harmony with the Book of Concord. I have learned these ideas through the Word, and in controversies with some of my friends who believe otherwise. Nothing I say here should be construed to mean that those who believe that the Church is not the New Israel are not Christians, however I do hold that their belief is in error, and I intend to confront this error in as loving a manner as possible, with the Word of God.

Israel in the Old and New Testaments

In the Old Testament, we learn God created Israel. Israel is God's special people [Deu. 14:2], they are a kingdom of priests and a holy nation [Ex 19:6], they are called to be His witnesses [Isa. 42:10, 12 44:8]. In the Old Testament, these terms apply to the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and any who would join the nation [Ruth 1:16, Dan 4, Jonah 3]. In prophesy however, Israel represents these physical descendants as well as believing gentiles, who God will call [Gen. 12:3, 22:18, Ps 2:8, Isa. 2:2-5, 56:3, Hos 2:23, Zech 2:10-11] It is clear that Israel was never limited to the physical descendants of Abraham, and that besides Israel's obvious function as a nation of individuals, it had a further purpose of spreading the news of God and His righteousness.

In the New Testament, we see much the same picture [1 Pet 2:5, 9, Tit 2:14]. The New Israel, starting with a new Israelite, Jesus Christ [Isa 49:3], who embodies all that is Israel, so that He might fulfill Israel's purpose [Mat. 5:17]. When He calls people into His new kingdom, not only descendants of Abraham are called, but gentiles as well [Mat. 12:18-21]. When we are made Christians, we become part of Christ's mystical body [1 Cor 12:12-27]. Since Jesus is the very embodiment of the true Israel, all those who are incorporated in Him are, by definition, now "in" Israel. If one is not in Christ, one is not in Israel at all, but is a son of the Devil [John 8:44] and not of the Kingdom [Mat. 12:30]. And this Israel created by Christ has the function of spreading the news of God's righteousness, which is in Christ Jesus [Mark 16:16, 1 Pet 3:15]

In both the Old and New Testaments we see that God has chosen His people. Israel exists because of election through faith, not because of the flesh [Mat. 3:9]. The same words are used in both testaments to refer to God's people, and in the NT passages the terms are obviously referring to the Church, and not merely the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The entire church, including gentiles and believing Jews, is God's special people [Rom 11:17-19]. And if there is still doubt, we can read Col 3:11, and see that the Apostle Paul says that there are no divisions between Jews and Greeks in God's new people, we are all one people, thus the imagery of one olive tree. Gentiles are children of Abraham by faith, believing Jews are also sons of Abraham through the flesh.

Even in the Old Testament it is clear that being a child of Abraham meant little when it came to salvation. Consider the following:

Gen. 21:12 12 But God said to Abraham, "Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. (NKJ)

Note that Ishmael is a descendant of Abraham (indeed his first born!) but the promise doesn't apply to him, but to Isaac. The mere presence of Abraham's genes mean nothing at all when it comes to God's promise of salvation, it is by grace, not genes, that one is a child of the promise, a true Israelite.

Mal. 1:2-3 "I have loved you," says the LORD. "Yet you say, 'In what way have You loved us?' Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" Says the LORD. "Yet Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated." (NKJ)

Jacob and Esau were brothers, twins as a matter of fact, yet God loved Jacob above Esau. Why? It is simple, Esau had no faith and counted his birthright as worthless [Gen. 25:29-34], he is thus outside the true Israel, even though he was a gene carrying descendent of Abraham.

In Romans St. Paul writes:

Rom 9:6-8 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." 8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. (NKJ)

In verse six we notice that "Israel" refers to more than the biological descendants of Abraham. God's Israel is greater than, but includes some of, the physical descendants of Abraham. We can also see that only the children of the promise are counted as the seed.Believers are the seed referred to in Genesis, not merely his physical descendants. Only believers are heirs to the promise; these heirs are the Israel of God.

And:

Gal 3:7 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. (NKJ)

As outlined above, it is faith that makes one a true descendant of Abraham. Without faith the promises are not applicable. Without faith one is spiritually blind, dead and unable to save one's self, without faith one is not a true Israelite!

Ignoring or denying God's Promises excludes one from Israel:

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (NKJ)

The true children of Abraham are those who believe God's promises. These are Abraham's true seed, not those who happen to be carrying his genes. If one turns away from God's promises, one loses the benefits of the Kingdom. Consider:

Mat. 21:43 43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. (NKJ)

Those who are in Christ are heirs of the promise of the Kingdom, those who are in Christ are the true Israel, those who reject Him are not His people. Since we know from Scripture that God's people is Israel [please see above], it follows that the nations bearing the fruits will be given the kingdom, or are the same as Israel.

What this all means for Revelation Seven and Millennialism in General

Rev 7:4-8 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed: 5 of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed; 6 of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed; 7 of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed; 8 of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed. (NKJ)

Those who teach that this passage refers to a literal band of 144,000 Jews rely on the fact that actual tribes are mentioned. But if we look at this passage in its overall context we see that this cannot be referring to actual gene carrying Israelites, but to the church during the Tribulation.

A couple of issues:

First, the tribe of Dan is missing from this list, while it is present in Exodus 1:4, Deu. 27:12-13 and 1 Chron 2:1-2. Since Dan is included in these other lists it is puzzling why there should be no Dan in Revelation 7. If we conclude that this is a list of actual Jews we must explain this discrepancy, and I have never read an adequate explanation of why the tribe of Dan is missing

Second, the fact that this passage refers to the Church Catholic is gleaned from the context before us. In verse one we notice that the Apostle John is merely writing down the sequence of his visions, not a chronological sequence of events. The whole vision in chapter seven is there to reassure believers that God will take care of them through the judgment seen in the previous vision [the six seals in chapter six]. John doesn't say "After these things such and such happened" but "After these things I saw...." In verse three we see that the angel says "do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." John doesn't say he saw 144,000 Jews, he does say that he heard the number of those who were sealed. This shows us that when tribulation comes God's chosen people need not fear even if they suffer persecution, as St. Paul says in Rom 8:18 "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. God's elect are set apart from the rest of humanity and no matter what happens to them in this life, God promises to see them through and vindicate them in the end.

Furthermore, if we look forward to verse nine we can see that John is seeing the what he just heard in Verse four. John says he looked and saw the great multitude, this is obviously the same thing as the 144,000 since he says he looked after he heard the angel announce the sealed of God. There is no reason in the text we should see these two groups as separate entities, only if one has prejudged the issue will one see two different groups here.

The "Rapture" of the Saints and the Millennium

Besides the issues of who is Israel in the New Testament, there are the issues of the "rapture" and the Millennium. The two issues are tied together, because most of those who teach a rapture also teach that the Church and Israel are separate.

In first Thessalonians 4:16-17 we learn that Christ will return to the earth in glory, that the dead in Christ will be raised first and that after this the living saints will be caught up in the air to meet the Lord. This is the traditional proof text for those who believe in the rapture of the saints, be they pre, post, or mid tribulation millennialists.

With regards to 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, I don't see a rapture to heaven here, but I do see the saints going out to greet our Lord to accompany Him to His judgment seat. This is because the term meet [aranthisin] in verse 17 is a technical term which is used to describe the leading citizens of a city going out to meet an important person to accompany him into the city. It was used in this sense in Mat. 25:6 as well as Act 28:15. In both of these passages the context shows that those met were being escorted to someplace. There is no reason we should not understand the passage in 1 Thes. the same was, i.e. the saints accompanying the Lord in honor to His judgment seat. This is because the Lord's return and the judgment happen at the same time [John 5:27-29, John 6:39-40, 44, 542, Daniel 12:1-2].

I have treated the doctrine of the Rapture less fully since it was not the primary topic being discussed, but was touched upon.

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