NOTE: All comments in brackets [ ] or in parentheses ( ) as well as highlighted text (bolded and/or in blue) are from the author of this study. Bible quotations are in maroon.
The Bible is a book about only one nation, the nation of Israel; other countries are mentioned only as they come into contact with it. Israel is the focal point of the Bible and as a physical, flesh-and-blood nation in Old Testament times it represents the unconverted nations of the world and their inability to obey God. It allow us to know how God deals with the unconverted when He sets His hand to intervening directly in the world as depicted by how He punished ancient Israel when its misbehavior reached a level that He could no longer tolerate. God does not often act directly in the affairs of this world but when He does it is usually on a significant scale resulting in much death and destruction: the Deluge, Sodom and Gomorrah, the events of the Day of the Lord, the third resurrection.
The descendants of Jacob (he had 12 sons but he also adopted the 2 sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh which gave him 13 sons; together they became the 13 tribes of Israel) were chosen by God. They became the nation Israel which occupied the Promised Land and whose capital city was Jerusalem.
Originally, Israel was a single kingdom but after the death of Solomon Israel was divided into two kingdoms: the southern kingdom which kept the name Israel was the first to go into captivity under the Chaldeans, then the northern kingdom which became known as the Jews which was made up of the tribes of Benjamin, Levi and Judah some 100 years later also followed Israel into captivity under the Persians. Judah had not heeded God’s warning provided by Israel’s captivity and sinned worst than Israel, so some 100 years after Israel (the northern kingdom) Judah also went into captivity.
Israel (the northern kingdom) became known in history as the lost ten tribes and their presence in the world continues to be unknown to the vast majority of historians. The Jews (some of them) came back from their Babylonian captivity to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. Their (the southern kingdom) final rejection came after the passage of Christ and the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem by the Roman armies.
Ancient Israel was chosen by God for a special mission which it never accomplished as it was never given access to God’s Spirit. Israel under the Old Covenant remained a carnal-minded nation unable to obey God in the same way the Gentile nations of the world cannot obey God. Israel rejected God’s rule over them and became a nation like the Gentile nations of the world with human kings ruling over them. For its disobedience, mostly idolatry and Sabbath breaking (Ez 20) Israel went into captivity.
In Old Testament times Israel was a physical nation of which one became a part of by being born into it; in New Testament times Israel is a spiritual nation made up of flesh-and-blood individuals from all nations of the world who have been called, chosen and are remaining faithful. These individuals are sometimes organized congregations but for most of the Church’s history true Christians have been scattered all over the world and have largely remained unknown to each other and invisible to the world, a truth much disputed by the large, visible mainstream religions of this world who consider themselves to be true churches.
Spiritual Israel or God’s Church started off on the day of Pentecost with congregations of true followers raised up by the apostles but when heresy, apostasy and persecution befell the congregations of the true Church, truly converted Christians had to flee into the wilderness to save their physical lives. Notable exception are the congregations that existed for a relatively brief time during the Ephesian and the Philadelphia Eras of God’s Church.
In the end-time the gospel of the coming kingdom of God was to be preached as a witness to the world and organized congregations were needed to assist God’s end-time apostle in doing so. After his death, these congregations were destroyed by false teachers arising from within the ministry in much the same way that occurred in the congregations of the First Century Church after Paul’s death. The true Christians that were part of these congregations simply refused to go along with their new, false teachings and were either expelled or left on their own. They would rather stay alone if necessary and maintain their faith than to remain with a group which once had the truth but had departed from it.
However, as Christ said, God’s Church was never to die out and it has continued to exist without interruption despite the destruction of the visible, organized corporate body of the Church during the Ephesian Era and during the Philadelphian Era of God’s Church. The Church is first and foremost a spiritual organism made up of only those individuals in which dwells God’s Holy Spirit because of their continued and sincere desire to obey God in all things. It is sometimes a visible, organized corporate body but for most of its existence it has not been organized and has been invisible to the world.
This is the state of God’s Church or of spiritual Israel today since the death of Mr. Armstrong.
God chose ancient Israel for a special purpose (Ex 19:6) but they were never able to fulfill their mission. Israel sinned repeatedly and God ultimately rejected Israel and they went into captivity under the Gentile nations.
But God’s rejection of Israel is not final, there is a time coming when God will again choose Israel and it will then be able to accomplish the mission for which it had been called.
In the end-time, Israel are the physical descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph’s two sons which Jacob adopted as his own and to whom were given the promises of national wealth and greatness. These are principally the modern-day nations of Great Britain and the United States of America. (See the book « The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy » which you can download here: http://herbert-w-armstrong.com/books/books_pdf_web/United%20States%20and%20Britain%20in%20Prophecy%20(1980)_b.pdf . It contains very detailed explanations of who is end-time Israel and was the most widely distributed book in the days of the Worldwide Church of God.
There is a time yet in our future where the end-time nations constituting Israel will go off into captivity and be brought back to the originally Promised Land in the same way God had freed ancient Israel from its Egyptian slavery, brought it to the Promised Land and made a covenant with them. The Old Covenant did not contain the promise of God’s Holy Spirit and a new and better covenant is to be made with end-time Israel (the previously mentioned modern-day nations) at a time yet in our future which will also be reunited with the Jewish nation living in modern-day Israel. They are the tribes of Benjamin, Levi and Judah who collectively came to be know as the Jews.
The story of Israel gives us understanding of the minds of men, the mind of God, of God’s master plan of salvation for mankind and of its ultimate realization.
In our days, the Jews following the holocaust and the end of the Second World War have gone back to the land originally promised by God to Israel and constitute the modern-day Jewish nation but these Jews’ return to Palestine is not the fulfillment of the Biblical prophecy that Israel would be restored to the Promised Land. Remember the Jews are only 3 of the 13 tribes constituting Israel. The reunification of the southern and northern kingdoms will occur following the 2nd Coming of Christ and, after the end of the Great Tribulation and of the events of the Day of the Lord.
When God restores the nations making up end-time Israel (Ephraim (Great Britain); Manasseh (United States), New Zealand, Australia and the northwestern democracies of Europe), and the New Covenant is made with the remnant of end-time Israel (10% come back from captivity; the others will have perished as a result of war, famine, pestilence and the deprivations and harsh treatment they will have suffered while in captivity) and are brought back to the Promised Land, is the time when God will again choose Israel. When that occurs for the first time since the kingdom of Israel divided into two different kingdoms will the Jews (the tribes of Benjamin, Levi and Judah) and the northern Kingdom (the 10 lost tribes of Israel) will be back together to form a single kingdom
The overview to keep in mind is that God chose Israel, then rejected Israel because of its disobedience and will again, some time in our future, choose Israel.
Why This Study Topic?
This study should be considered as a lead-in to another study posted on this site (And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth) and which has to do with an explanation of Revelation 5:6-10 which had always been a mystery to me.
If you want to understand and know that you understand Rev. 5:6-10 you need to understand who and what is Israel, the different stages and manner of its existence and God’s ultimate use of Israel in the accomplishment of His great master plan of salvation for mankind. Without this knowledge, it is not possible to correctly understand Rev. 5:10.
Rev 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Understanding Rev 5:10 is a great and wonderful truth only available to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are knocking and who are seeking and who like the Bereans in Paul’s days are keeping an open mind and doing the work of verifying new information coming their ways with their Bible rather than immediately rejecting it. If you have never had a great interest in understanding the Bible and have been in the habit of believing what was taught you because you had confidence in the man who taught it to you then you will be unable to benefit from this study because the Bible remains a mystery to you which you have yet to understand. Unless some man tells you what the words of the Bible mean, on your own, you really don’t know what they mean. You have not grown in spiritual maturity through constant and attentive study of the Bible; you have not learnt how to prove things out for yourself; you are still a babe-in-Christ only capable of absorbing the milk of the Word; you are still not drawn from the breasts and God clearly tells you that He cannot teach you knowledge. Please note, it is God that teaches true Christians not men by revealing spiritual truth to true Christians as they study the Bible.
Isa 28:9 Whom shall he [God] teach knowledge? and whom shall he [God] make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
If you are still a babe-in-Christ not drawn from the breasts then you are unskillful in the word of righteousness. You are unable to read through and study the Bible and get understanding from it on your own nor are you able to verify with your Bible any new information coming your way or to verify those things you have accepted as truth simply by taking another man’s word for it; God cannot teach you knowledge.
Heb 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
The role of the ministry when there is on in existence is to teach newcomers to the faith the fundamental truths given by Christ to His disciples who became apostles on the day of Pentecost. These truths which Christians have to prove for themselves using their Bible will allow them to then study on their own and find knowledge and truth not forming part of the original and fundamental truth given the Church by Christ.
God in many, many verses commands Christians to grow; having growth means you are a live spiritual embryo feeding on the Word of God and maturing to be able to be born again at Christ’s Second Coming. Having no growth is the sign of an embryo that is dying or dead and which cannot be born again.
It is never too late to change but the choice is entirely up to you and no one can force you to do the right thing. As the old saying goes, you can take a horse to water but the horse has to want to drink; otherwise, there is nothing that you can do to make him drink. You can give out a warning but if the person is unwilling to heed it, there is nothing anyone can do to force him to do so.
Your salvation is as it has been from the beginning; it is entirely up to you and what you decide to do. The only man Mr. Armstrong could ever save was himself. Salvation is not a spectator sport or a matter of belonging to the right group headed up by someone you trust. Salvation is an individual and personal process. God expects you to have growth and if you have no growth because you decided to hide in a corner with your talent from fear of losing it, then in Matthew 25: 24 – 30 you can read how pleased God will be with you.
The responsibility for your salvation is fully yours and yours alone; it does not and has never depended on men but God works through men. Christ nor angels will appear to you to teach you. You must be able to check out with your Bible what men say and hold on to what is good. Paul, a man, was rejected by the Jews; Mr. Armstrong was rejected by Sardis; they all lost out on receiving the truth God was making available to them because they thought they already had it all and that nothing could be added to it. This will be the main problem with 50% of the members of God’s Laodicean Era Church which will arise after the events of the sixth seal of the book of Revelation. For more detailed information about God’s Laodicean Era Church I refer you to the following study: Who are the Laodiceans and When Does the Laodicean Era Start?
God Chose Israel
After the Great Flood where the whole of humanity then in existence perished but Noah and his family, the world was replenished with the descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth. It was a second beginning for the human family. The descendants of Adam and Eve but Noah and his family had all died in the Deluge.
God chose Noah because he was a just man, perfect in his generations and walked with God.
Gen 6:9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
Noah and his wife and children were racially pure; they and their past generations had not interbred with the other races created by God. It was God’s desire that the races remain as He had created them as they were created perfect and the different races as created by God are beautiful. But in the days before the great flood, all flesh had corrupted itself through intermarrying with each other.
Gen 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
They were to marry within their own race but they freely married into other races and the result was as described in the verse below.
Gen 6:12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
The corruption here is not spiritual but physical i.e., God’s perfect creation of the individual races was changed through the races intermarrying.
The descendants of Noah filled the earth and the Bible traces the genealogy of the sons of Shem down to Abram (Gen 11:10 – 26).
In Genesis 17 we read of the covenant God made with Abraham. It is a covenant that would be passed on from one generation to another; it would be an everlasting covenant.
Gen 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
Gen 17:2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
Gen 17:3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
Gen 17:4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
Gen 17:5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
Gen 17:6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
Gen 17:7 And 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.
Gen 17:8 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.
As we read on through the genealogies we find the promises made to Abraham being inherited by Isaac and then Jacob.
Gen 17:19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
Jacob inherits the promises from Isaac.
Gen 27:26 And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.
Gen 27:27 And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed:
Gen 27:28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:
Gen 27:29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.
God changes Jacob’s name to Israel
Gen 35:10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
Jacob adopts Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh and they inherit God’s blessings to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
Gen 48:8 And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who are these?
Gen 48:9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.
Gen 48:10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
Gen 48:11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.
Gen 48:12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
Gen 48:13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him.
Gen 48:14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.
Gen 48:15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,
Gen 48:16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
Gen 48:17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.
Gen 48:18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
Gen 48:19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he [Manasseh] also shall become a people, [the United States] and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. [Great Britain and empire on which the sun never set; it was worldwide.]
Gen 48:20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Gen 48:21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.
Gen 49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
Gen 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Gen 49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
Gen 49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
The sons of Jacob would become the 13-tribe nation of ancient Israel.
God Rejects Israel
God, initially ruled over Israel through Moses and after Moses’ death, through Joshua. After the death of Joshua, God’s rule was exercised through judges but even that was unsatisfactory to the people and they requested to be ruled by a human king like other nations. God granted them their request and kings ruled over them until they were taken away captive because of their continued disobedience.
In Ezekiel, we see God describing how Israel acted after having been liberated from their Egyptian slavery and brought into the Promised Land.
Eze 20:28 For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings. [Israel kept on worshiping their idols.]
Eze 20:29 Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.
Eze 20:30 Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom [idol worship] after their abominations?
Eze 20:31 For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be enquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.
God tells Israel that He will not respond to their inquiries because of their idol worshiping. And, in Hosea God clearly says that He will reject Israel for not having wanted to learn His ways.
Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
But God will not remain forever angry with Israel. There is a time coming yet in our future where Israel will again be chosen by God.
God Chooses Again Israel
God will again choose Israel which to a large extent will be made up of the physical descendants of the original tribes of Israel. In Old Testament times we had ancient Israel who were the physical descendants of Jacob (the 12 sons who became the 12 tribes with Joseph’s tribe being doubled by Jacob adopting Joseph’s 2 sons) So, all told, there were 13 tribes who grew to become the nation of Israel.
Ancient Israel as a flesh-and-blood nation went off into captivity and was scattered among the nations because, as previously mentioned, of its continuing disobedience to God.
Eze 20:18 But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:
Eze 20:19 I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;
Eze 20:20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
Eze 20:21 Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.
Eze 20:22 Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.
Eze 20:23 I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;
Eze 20:24 Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols.
Eze 20:25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;
Eze 20:26 And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.
Eze 20:27 Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.
Eze 20:28 For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.
Eze 20:29 Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.
Eze 20:30 Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?
Eze 20:31 For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be enquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.
Christ at His First Coming came among those captives of Judah who had returned with Zerubbabel to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and to build the second temple. The original temple had been destroyed when Judah was taken into captivity under the Medo-Persian Empire. When Christ came the first time it was to prepare a few select individuals to become the foundation of God’s New Testament Church which would be composed of individuals from all nations that had been spiritually-begotten by God the Father. At first its membership was mostly Jewish but as the Church grew, the Gentiles God called, also became part of it. In New Testament times, physical circumcision which had been commanded by God for Israel became circumcision of the heart as explained by Paul in the verses below.
Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 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 other words, one regardless of nationality becomes part of Israel through becoming a follower of the truth of God. This is spiritual Israel where the condition of admission is believing and following the truth; not being born into a specific nation i.e., the nation of Israel. The Gentiles and the Jews can all now upon repentance and belief become part of God’s spiritual Israel or Zion.
So we have ancient Israel in Old Testament times that was a physical nation in which one had to be born to become an Israelite and with the First Coming of Christ we have the creation of God’s Church or spiritual Israel which extends salvation to all nations upon belief and repentance.
But, there is still another Israel which is to exist in the end-time and which is composed of those modern-day nations who are the descendants of Ephraim (Great Britain) and Manasseh (United States of America). This is the Israel in which are fulfilled the promises of national greatness and wealth made to Abraham and inherited by Isaac and Jacob. This end-time Israel is prophetic Israel. Its creation is the result of the promises or prophecy given Jacob of what was to happen to the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh. These prophecies were never fulfilled until the coming into being of Great Britain and later on of the United States which started off with 13 colonies and which is the greatest single nation to ever have existed in the history of mankind.
They are the ones who at a time yet ahead of us are to go off into captivity and which are to come back to the Promised Land in a 2nd Exodus. The end-time nations constituting prophetic Israel will be made up of people from the many nations of the world who have immigrated to the US and Great Britain and become citizens. You will recall that at the time before Christ’s 2nd Coming it will be as in the days of Noah i.e., there will be intermixing of the races and the different races will have left the lands originally allotted them; the nations of the west will have received and are receiving a great influx of immigrants from all over the world because of the ease of travel in the jet age and the great attraction of living in countries of individual freedom and great prosperity.
In Ez 11 (quoted below) we read that God will gather Israel from the countries where they had been scattered and will be resettled in the Promised Land. The Israelites come back from captivity in a 2nd Exodus will undergo a conversion process (Dan 9:27) and, with those that commit themselves to obeying God, God will make the New Covenant.
This will then be a group of formerly captive Israelites who upon conversion become spiritual Israel or God’s Church and which will be the human level instrument God will use in teaching those individuals from the nations of the world that follow their calling when God pours out of His Holy Spirit upon all flesh during the Millennium and the Last Great Day.
Eze 11:16 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
Eze 11:17 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
Eze 11:18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
Eze 11:19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
Eze 11:20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
In Ez 36 we see a similar message being given with God explaining why He will bring end-time Israel back from its end-time captivity among the Gentiles. It is not because Israel has had a massive change of heart and now desperately wants to obey God.
Eze 36:22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.
Eze 36:23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
Eze 36:24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
Eze 36:25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
Eze 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Eze 36:28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
In Zechariah we are given more information as to why God will bring Israel back from its captivity in the end time with some explanation of how life will be in Israel when that has occurred.
Zec 8:2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury.
Zec 8:3 Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain.
Zec 8:4 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.
Zec 8:5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.
Zec 8:6 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the LORD of hosts.
Zec 8:7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;
Zec 8:8 And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.
Summary
As we have seen, Israel is both a physical and a spiritual nation. It starts off as a physical nation which God rejects because of its unrelenting sinfulness then at Christ’s First Coming, He trains men that will be the foundation of God’s Church whose founding occurs on the day of Pentecost and we learn from Paul that God’s Church is spiritual Israel and that it is the Israel of which one must become a member to inherit salvation.
We also understand that there is an end-time Israel which is the accomplishment of the promises or prophecies made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and inherited by Ephraim and Manasseh. The fulfillment of these prophecies is the coming into being of the British empire on which the sun never set as it went around the globe and later on, the arising of the United States from 13 colonies immigrating from Britain and which became the single, greatest most powerful and richest nation known in the history of mankind.
This prophetic Israel is to go off into captivity under the Gentiles and be returned in a Second Exodus to the Promised Land and the New Covenant will be made with those of them that repent and believe following the finalization of Christ’s 3 1/2 year ministry to them. Remember that Christ has a 3 1/2 year ministry to complete with Israel. His first ministry at His First Coming was cut off after 3 1/2 years but it was to last 7 years; (Dan 9:27) upon His 2nd Coming He will complete His ministry with Israel.
At His First Coming He came to train those that would constitute the founding members of God’s Church; at His 2nd Coming, He comes to personally train, as He did the First Century disciples, those that will constitute God’s Church during the Millennium and the Last Great Day that God will use to minister to new converts when He pours out of His Spirit upon all flesh.
This is why God will again choose Israel. Those of Israel returned from captivity and that enter into the New Covenant (not all will; many won’t (Mat 22:14) become God’s holy nation and kingdom of priests which He will use to teach new converts to the truth. It will be God’s Church during the Millennium and the Last Great Day composed of those from Israel that make the New Covenant and of those from the Gentile nations of the world that become converted (not all will; many won’t (Mat 22:14) as God pours out of His Holy Spirit upon all flesh.
A Point of Importance
There is a very important principle that has to be kept in mind regarding all that God does with respect to mankind.
It is impossible for human beings to satisfy the requirements of God’s law which are spiritual i.e., which require to be fulfilled a level of perfection that can only be found in a spirit being but men are carnal i.e., they are flesh-and-blood beings who do not have the ability despite their greatest desire to do so, to fulfill in their own strength the requirements of God’s law. It takes a God being to satisfy a God level law and God makes it possible for human beings to do so by imputing Christ’s righteousness to truly converted Christians conditional upon remaining faithful in their desire to obey God in all things.
But the main point that I wish to highlight is that God keeps His promises because He wants to keep them; not because of anything we can do to merit receiving them individually or on a national basis. If we go back to Ez 36: 22 we see God plainly saying the following:
Eze 36:22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.
God will bring Israel back from its end-time captivity, resettle them in the Promised Land, make a New Covenant with those Israelites that will repent and believe during Christ’s 3 ½ year ministry to them and will prosper Israel as He had originally done with Old Testament Israel
Jer 33:7 And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.
You will recall that Solomon was so rich that kings and queens from other countries visited him to see for themselves if it was true that Solomon was so rich.
1Ki 10:7 Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.
Israel upon its return from its end-time captivity will again become as rich and powerful as in the days of Solomon. It will all be God’s doing because of the promises made to Abraham that Israel would become a great nation whose existence would be greatly beneficial to the other nations of the world in that a rebuilt Israel will be how peace will exist during the Millennium.
And most importantly, God will restore Israel in the end-time after it has been punished for its sinfulness by going off into captivity under the Gentile nations and there being reduced to 10% of its original numbers.
Isa 6:11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
Isa 6:12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
Isa 6:13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.
Amo 5:3 For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.
God will restore Israel despite its sinfulness because in doing so He is keeping the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Mal 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; [I keep My promises] therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Isa 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: [the prophecies and promises that I make] it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Eze 36:22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.
Israel was to become unto God a holy nation and a kingdom of priests (Ex 19:6) and despite its sinfulness God will have it become His holy nation and kingdom of priests but He will not leave them altogether unpunished.
Jer 30:11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
The modern-day nations constituting end-time Israel will go off into captivity and there be reduced to a tenth of itself but God will free them from their captivity and resettled them in the Promised Land, prosper them as at the first (Jer 33:7) and have them be His holy nation and kingdom of priests (Ex 19:6) which He will use as His human level instrument in ministering to converts during the Millennium and the Last Great Day.
Jer 33:7 And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.
Exo 19:6 And ye [Israel] shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
God Chooses Again Israel
If we go back to the original question posed in the title of this study i.e., “When and why will God choose again Israel? We are now able to provide the answer.
God through the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses bound Himself to have Israel become his holy nation and kingdom of priests (Ex 19:6) that He would use as His human level instrument i.e., His church which is to never die out (Mat 16:18) in ministering to those converting to Christianity.
Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
God keeps the promises made to the fathers and, to Moses who pleaded earnestly pleaded with God to not destroy Israel because of its steadfast refusal to obey God.
Deu 9:24 Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.
Deu 9:25 Thus I fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the LORD had said he would destroy you.
Deu 9:26 I prayed therefore unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
Deu 9:27 Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:
Deu 9:28 Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.,
Deu 9:29 Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm.
God chose Israel for the purpose of it becoming His Church (Ex 19:6)
Exo 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
The role of priests is to teach and Israel is to become a kingdom of priests and God’s holy nations i.e., those making up this nation will have God’s holiness in it i.e., the Holy Spirit will dwell in all of its members. In other words, those of end-time Israel returned from captivity that make the New Covenant (not all of them will; many won’t (Mat 22:14)) will become God’s Church whose commission will be the same as it has always been:
Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Eph 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Eph 4:14 That we [True Christians] henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
The ministry is there to teach the truth God placed in His Church through Christ at its foundation [1Co 3:10) with the purpose of having true Christians no more be children in the faith that can be easily perturbed and shaken by the many false doctrines they will hear about from crafty men seeking to deceive them and use them as a means of making a living for themselves and to protect them from false teachers that will even arise from the Church itself. The truths given by Christ to the apostles are an integral part of the foundation of God’s Church.
Eph 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
However, it is of the utmost importance to realize that the ordained ministry has no authority or power to impose on Church members what it is they are to believe . Their role is to be helpers only; they are NOT the originators nor the finishers of members’ faith.
2Co 1:24 Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand
True Christians remain under grace (they stand) by their faith i.e., by what they have chosen to believe. In the case of a true Christian, it is God’s truth offered them when they were called which all called out ones are free to follow or not and which no one one can force them to accept including the ministry of God’s true Church when there is one in existence.
Jesus is the author and finisher of Christian’s faith not men.
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
God through the Holy Spirit is the one that opens men’s mind to understand God’s spiritual truth which He gave His Church at the time of its foundation and which is also the means that will make it possible for truly converted Christians to grow in knowledge and understanding of truth contained in the Bible not provided at the time of the Church’s foundation which Paul calls the meat of the Word.
And, Israel is the focal point of the whole Bible and the mission of Israel is to become God’s holy nation and kingdom of priests which is simply another way of saying God’s Church which is also spiritual Israel which in its full expansion will include people from all nations upon their repenting and believing and becoming truly converted Christians.
The time when God will again choose Israel is when end-time Israel returned from captivity will be offered the opportunity to enter the New Covenant with God at the end of Christ’s 3 ½ year ministry to them.
Christ is coming back a second time to God’s chosen nation to restore to them the truth they had lost since going off into captivity (Act 3:21; Dan 9: 26-27) under the Chaldeans and the Medo-Persians. They had lost their religion, their language and their national identity and thought of themselves as being Gentiles (except for Judah). Those among them who follow their calling — God will then again be calling Israel to fulfill the mission they had been given (Ex 19:6) — are those with whom the New Covenant will be made. They will receive God’s Holy Spirit and become God’s holy nation; God’s holiness will be in them through the in-dwelling presence of God’s Holy Spirit. They then become God’s Church with the commission of teaching newcomers to the faith as has always been the commission of the Church (Eph 4: 11-12). God does not change (Heb 13:8) nor does His plan of salvation change; God has been saving and will continue to save the world in the same way He has been saving it since the foundation of His New Testament Spirit-begotten Church i.e., by working in a personal and individual way through His Spirit in the minds of those He is calling.
The Millennium and the Last Great Day are no exception. All will then be called but to be chosen, it will be necessary for them to repent, believe and remain faithful until the end of their lives. The Scriptures are very clear that not everybody will be save except a few hard headed individuals who will refuse to submit to God’s rule in their lives (See Mass Conversion of the Nations during the Millennium? for a full and detailed explanation.)
Individuals from the nations of the world that come to conversion during the Millennium and the Last Great Day become part of spiritual Israel.
At the time of the 3rd resurrection, spiritual Israel composed of the faithful that have died from the time of Christ’s Second Coming along with the sheep of the Last Great Day when the Great White Throne Judgment occurs will become part of God’s Kingdom. They will join God the Father and, Christ and His Bride. After the Third Resurrection, God’s Kingdom will be complete and the wicked will all have perished in the Lake of Fire which is the Second Death from which no resurrection is possible.
God's Spiritual Nation 