Appendix: The Church as the New Israel

 In the original Five Minute Bible Study series How to Identify the Church, there was a lesson entitled “The Church as the New Israel.” While this special study about the relationship between the nation of Israel and the New Testament church provides a very interesting subject, the nature of this study serves better as an appendix in this series.

Settling a Common Misunderstanding

This may blow the minds of some readers, but physical Israel is no longer God’s special people. Did I really just say that? Yes. The majority of U.S. politicians and evangelicals still espouse that Israel is God’s special people, but this agenda is not in harmony with the Bible. If Israel is still God’s special chosen people then the following three points must be true: a) God did not fulfill His covenant promises to Israel under the Old Testament, b) Israel was chosen primarily for salvation, and c) the church is not the new or spiritual Israel in the divine scheme of redemption. The rest of this lesson will be dedicated to proving from scripture that these three doctrines are false, even in the face of widespread agreement otherwise.

 

A. God did indeed fulfill His covenant promises to Israel under the Old Testament.

Consider two proof passages. The first passage is Joshua 21:43-45. Understand beforehand, when God entered into covenant with Israel in Exodus 23, He promised to give the nation land (v. 30-31) and protection from enemies (v. 31). So in Joshua 21:43-45 He says, “So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. The Lord gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.” The second passage is really a combination of two passages, Exodus 23:31 and 1 Kings 4:21. In Exodus 23, again God is verbalizing the land promise of His covenant with Israel saying, “And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the Euphrates River,” (v. 31). Many years later, at the height of Solomon’s reign and after he had conquered all the land of Canaan, the Bible says, “So Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt,” (1 Kings 4:21). God proved good on His promise of land giving. Together, these two passages form a solid one-two punch to show that God did fulfill His covenant promises to Israel under the Old Testament. The promise of physical land was not one of eternal perpetuity. Rather, the promise was conditional (Exodus 23:31-33). The fact that there is currently a Muslim mosque sitting on the site of the Davidic temple is proof of this. The eventual subjugation of Israel to heathen empires and the current desecration of Israel’s holy place proves God good on His word for punishing Israel should they break the covenant on their part, which they did (Jeremiah 11:1-17 & Matthew 23:31-39).

B. Israel was not chosen for salvation. 

This point cannot be stressed enough. God did not arbitrarily select Israel from among all the nations of the world so that they could have complete immunity. The entirety of Romans 9-11 deals with this issue. One verse that sums this truth up well is Romans 10:1, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.” Paul makes this prayer because as he assesses the current state of national Israel in His day, he realizes that for a large part, Israel has rejected God’s plan for saving them. In Galatians, Paul makes it equally clear that Israelites have no advantage over Gentiles in regards to salvation. “There is neither Jew nor Greek…for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” (Gal. 3:28). “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love,” (Gal. 5:6). The only reason God chose Israel as a special people, was because of the promise He made to the forefathers of Israel in order to bring the Messiah into the world (see Genesis 22:18, Jeremiah 11:2-5 & Romans 9:3-5). 

C. The church is the new Israel in the divine scheme of redemption.

Many clues in the New Testament scriptures prove the church to be what shall be dubbed the New (or spiritual) Israel of God. 

Pause. I want to be very clear at this point. “New” can mean “new in origin” or “new in quality.” When the church is called the “new Israel” in this lesson, this latter definition of “new in quality” is intended. There is continuity between the church that Jesus built and the nation of Israel, but there is also discontinuity. As Paul said, “For they are not all [spiritual] Israel who are of [physical] Israel” (Romans 9:6). In the Old Covenant, those faithful Israelites that submitted themselves to the rule of God in their lives were spiritual Israel, otherwise known as the remnant (2 Kings 19:30-31; Isaiah 10:20; Romans 9:27; 11:5). Being a spiritual Israelite is not a matter of the flesh but a matter of the heart (Romans 2:28-29). Thus, whether under the Old Covenant or New Covenant, whether a physical Jew or a Gentile, the small remnant of people that submit themselves to the rule of God were and are the spiritual Israel of God. In the New Testament scriptures, the church is described as the (spiritual) Israel of God, composed of these spiritual Israelites, commissioned to fulfill what the physical nation of old failed to do: carry God’s glory and salvation throughout the earth (Deuteronomy 4:6-8; 1 Kings 8:59-61; Isaiah 49:6).

Now, back to proving that the church actually is the new (spiritual) Israel of God. The most explicit passage describing the church in terms of “Israel” is Galatians 6:16. After opening the letter addressed, “to the churches of Galatia,” Paul ends with, “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God,” (6:16). While 1 Peter 2:4-10 is less explicit, it goes further in proving the church is God’s New Israel. There Peter calls the church a) a chosen generation b) a royal priesthood, c) a holy nation, d) His own special people (2:9). Compare this description of the church with God’s description of Israel when He entered into covenant with them at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:5-6) and the parallel between the two groups is very clear. Several more clues prove the point but would take too long to explain in five minutes. In place of a detailed explanation, answer these questions- Why does James call his church audience “the twelve tribes scattered abroad?” Why do the apostles find it necessary to replace Judas and restore the number of apostles to 12? Why does Samaria (the capital of Israel) receive special mention in the gospel program of Acts 1:8?

Conclusion

This lesson should accomplish several goals. Hopefully, it has cast doubt on a false and detrimental hope that Jews are still God’s people today and do not need the gospel of Jesus Christ. But more than that, this lesson was intended to give people an appreciation for the Kingdom of God: the Church, and it has ideally magnified the church’s position within God’s fluid scheme of redemption. His church is important, very important. Consider becoming part of it.

 

To read the whole series “How to Identify the Church,” click HERE.