With there being so much talk about Israel in terms of world events and Bible prophecy, I believe it is important for us to have an understanding of what the Bible says about Israel and to ask the question of whether the Israel we know as a nation today actually represents the Israel that receives the promises noted in the Bible. This article, like other articles on this site, will challenge some of you but I hope it encourages all of you who read this and are followers of Jesus Christ.

This may shock many of you that are reading this but If you are a follower of Jesus, then you are an Israelite. And if you are a follower of Jesus, then you are a Jew. While these truths sound like something far-fetched, it is written truth in the Bible. Having an understanding of the implications of who we are in Christ will help us to better see the bigger picture of what the Bible is endorsing, particularly when it comes to prophecy and God’s promises.

So where is the truth that we as believers in Christ are true Israelites and true Jews? Check out Romans 9:

I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” 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. For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”
(Romans 9:1-9 - NKJV)

Paul had a big heart for his fellow Israelites. When he mentions “according to the flesh,” what he means are Israelites who were actual physical descendants of Abraham. The time of Paul was also the time of the early church. At this time, there was a big division between Jews who were believers in Jesus Christ and Jews who rejected Jesus Christ. This was a big division as the Jews who rejected Christ were persecuting the Jews who did believe. Paul himself was one who did persecute believers until he himself became one.

Now within these passages in Romans, Paul also states that “they are not all Israel who are Israel.” Why does he say this? It is because those who are true Israelites/true Jews are those who believe in Christ. Remember, it is only those who are believers in Christ, aka the spiritual children of Abraham, who inherit the promises and blessings that God is taking about through Christ. Consider these verses in Galatians 3:

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
(Galatians 3:23-29 - ESV)

Believers in Christ are not just Israelites and Jews but are also considered Abraham’s true (spiritual) offspring. What we should learn from the scriptures if we read both the Old and New Testaments together was that it wasn’t enough just to be physically descended from Abraham but we need to be spiritually descended from the man who was justified by faith.

Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU." So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
(Galatians 3:6-8 - NASB)

Without recognizing the difference between the Old Covenant that led to Jesus Christ and the New Covenant that is in Christ, we lose our identity of who we really are in the scriptures. One thing that we need to understand under the New Covenant in Jesus is that whether you are physically a Jew or not does not matter. We read proof of this in Galatians 3:28 and Colossians 3:11.

Many people are looking at the modern day country of Israel as being the bearer of the promises through Christ but the only way those citizens will be inheritors of the promises is if they are believers. The building of a third temple would be blasphemy against the one and only true sacrifice of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, physical Jews and non-Jews are not separated in different categories when it comes to Christ according to the scriptures above, and there is no such thing verified by the Bible as a rapture to take out believers so that Jews can be saved in a different way.

So what about verses in Romans 11 that are used as a proof text for God’s special outreach to Israel? Let’s read it:

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that 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: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
(Romans 11:25-27 - KJV)

These verses take place within the context of Paul talking about how unbelief by physical Israelites (natural branches) has led to the salvation of non physical Israelites (Gentiles, wild olive shoots). Now what does Paul mean by the “fulness of the Gentiles” and that “all Israel shall be saved?” Let’s first tackle the fullness of the Gentiles:

And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
(Luke 21:24 - KJV)

The fullness of the Gentiles and the times of the Gentiles being fulfilled are actually 2 statements that actually mean the same thing. And if you check in your Bible, Luke 21:24 is most likely cross referenced from Romans 11:25. In Luke 11:24, the “times of the Gentiles” refers to the Romans destroying Jerusalem. How is Rome is fulfillment of the time of the Gentiles? Let’s recall a vision from the Book of Daniel that Nebuchadnezzar had and Daniel’s interpretation from the Amplified Bible:

This was the dream, and we will tell the interpretation of it to the king. You, O king, are king of the [earthly] kings to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the might, and the glory. And wherever the children of men dwell, and the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens--He has given them into your hand and has made you to rule over them all. You [king of Babylon] are the head of gold. And after you shall arise another kingdom [the Medo-Persian], inferior to you, and still a third kingdom of bronze [Greece under Alexander the Great] which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom [Rome] shall be strong as iron, since iron breaks to pieces and subdues all things; and like iron which crushes, it shall break and crush all these. And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of [baked] clay [of the potter] and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but there shall be in it some of the firmness and strength of iron, just as you saw the iron mixed with miry [earthen] clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of [baked] clay [of the potter], so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle and broken. And as you saw the iron mixed with miry and earthen clay, so they shall mingle themselves in the seed of men [in marriage bonds]; but they will not hold together [for two such elements or ideologies can never harmonize], even as iron does not mingle itself with clay. And in the days of these [final ten] kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people; but it shall break and crush and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever.
(Daniel 2:36-44 - AMP)

If we notice from Daniel 2, the time of the Gentiles is broken down to the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. Notice that after the Romans comes the kingdom that God sets up that shall never be destroyed. This is talking about Christ’s kingdom. And being that Daniel 2 tells us that Christ’s kingdom comes about during the days of the final 10 kings (meaning Rome), shows us that Rome completes the time of the Gentiles spoken about in Luke 21 and Romans 11.

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