Israel as the people of God

God’s election of Israel

The nation was founded upon God’s promises to the patriarchs

Genesis 12:1–3 NKJV

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

See also Ge 17:1–8; Ge 35:9–13

Israel as God’s chosen possession

1 Kings 8:53 NKJV

For You separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be Your inheritance, as You spoke by Your servant Moses, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”

See also Ex 19:3–6; Dt 7:6; Dt 32:7–12; Ps 135:3–4

God redeemed Israel from Egypt

Exodus 6:6–7 NKJV

Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

See also Ex 3:7–10; 2 Sa 7:22–24

God enters into a special covenant relationship with Israel

Exodus 24:3–8 NKJV

So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”

Israel’s privileged status within the covenant

Romans 9:4–5 NKJV

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.

See also Ro 3:1–2; Php 3:4–6

Israel’s disobedience to the covenant

Israel provoked God in the wilderness

Psalm 78:40–41 NKJV

How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, And grieved Him in the desert! Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel.

See also Ex 32:1–10; Nu 11:1–6; Nu 14:1–4

Israel’s unfaithfulness in the promised land

Isaiah 1:4 NKJV

Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward.

See also Jdg 2:10–13; Je 11:9–10; Eze 20:27–28

Israel exiled for her sins

2 Kings 18:11–12 NKJV

Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.

See also 2 Ki 25:8–12

God’s promise to restore Israel

God’s promise not to abandon Israel completely

Deuteronomy 4:31 NKJV

(for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

See also Le 26:44–45; Is 6:11–13 Though Israel will be destroyed, a holy remnant will be left; Je 31:35–37

God’s promise to bring Israel back to the land

Jeremiah 30:3 NKJV

For behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’ ”

See also Is 43:5–7; Eze 37:11–14

God’s promise to reunite Israel

Jeremiah 3:18 NKJV

“In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.

See also Eze 37:15–23; Ho 1:10–11

The promise of a restored relationship between Israel and God

Jeremiah 31:31–34 NKJV

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

See also Is 40:1–2; Eze 36:24–28

Israel returns from exile

Ezra 1:1–5 NKJV

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem. Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.

Jesus Christ, the Saviour of Israel

Jesus Christ’s ministry was specifically to the nation of Israel

Matthew 10:5–6 NKJV

These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

See also Mt 15:21–28

Jesus accepts the title “Christ” (Messiah), God’s anointed deliverer for Israel

Mt 16:16–17 Although Jesus accepted the title “Messiah” (Christ), he did not fulfil contemporary Israelite hopes of a political deliverer.

Jesus Christ declares to Israel the good news of God’s reign

Mk 1:14–15 Jesus Christ takes up Isaiah’s message of good news, that God is coming in sovereign power to restore Israel (see Isa 40:9-10, 52:7).

See also Mt 4:23; Mt 9:35; Lk 8:1

Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ

Israel warned that rejection of Christ means exclusion from the kingdom

Matthew 8:11–12 NKJV

And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

See also Mt 21:33–46; Mt 22:1–10; Lk 13:28–30

Israel’s rejection of the gospel

Romans 9:30–10:4 NKJV

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

See also Ac 28:24–28; Is 6:9–10; 1 Th 2:14–16

God’s faithfulness to Israel maintained

Membership of the true Israel is based on God’s election, not merely on physical descent from Abraham

Romans 9:6–18 NKJV

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.” And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

A remnant of Israel has been elected by grace

Romans 11:1–12 NKJV

I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day.” And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, A stumbling block and a recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, And bow down their back always.” I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

Paul declares that “all Israel” will be saved

Is 59:20–21; Ro 11:25–32 The phrase “all Israel” is interpreted as either: (1) the total number of the elect (either Jews, or Jews and Gentiles) of every generation, or (2) the great majority of Jews of the final generation who will be saved when Christ returns.

The new Israel

The church as the new Israel

Ga 6:15–16; Php 3:3

See also 1 Pe 2:9–10

The church described as the 12 tribes of Israel

James 1:1 NKJV

James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.

See also Re 7:4–8 Some see this as a reference to members of actual Jewish tribes, but others see it as symbolic of all the faithful believers who live through the time of tribulation; Re 21:12 The number 12 emphasises the continuity of the NT church and the OT people of God.

The apostles as the 12 leaders of the new Israel

Matthew 19:28 NKJV

So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

See also Lk 22:29–30; Re 21:14