Israel of God - part 3
I am going to paint a brief picture which adds to what you already know. We all know that Jesus' bloodline ancestry goes through Judah. Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Bible records this lineage through its record of so-and-so begat so-and-so right down to Jesus.
What we need to add to this understanding to more fully see the Israel of God is that there is another path (or stream) through the history of the Bible that flows by election. When I say election, I mean the "choice of God". It is not a matter of blood line, but of God's choice (i.e. election). This additional path (or stream) has some additional complexity, but after seeing it in many places in scripture over the years I believe it is fully represented in scripture.
We have already seen in part 1 that Abraham and Jacob/Israel received something important by God's choice.
- Abraham promised to be the father of MANY NATIONS. This was a matter of the choice of God and not because of Abraham's lineage.
- Jacob as Israel promised to be the father of A NATION and MANY NATIONS. This was a matter of the choice of God as seen by God's direct interactions with Jacob/Israel.
Let's look at the next choice by God.
1. As mentioned in part 1, Jacob/Israel blesses Ephraim and Manasseh as his own 1st and 2nd born sons in place of Reuben and Simeon. The specific blessings are seen in Genesis 48:19
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Genesis 48:19 But his father (Jacob/Israel) refused and said, “I know, my son (Joseph); I know. He (Manasseh) also shall become a people, and he (Manasseh) also shall be great, but his younger brother (Ephraim) shall be greater than him (Manasseh), and his (Ephraim) offspring shall become a multitude of nations.”
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Based solely on Genesis 48, we cannot see that this is God's choice. It looks like Jacob's/Israel's choice. It is not. It is a choice made by Jacob/Israel and confirmed by God in Jeremiah 31:9b as God's choice. We will look at Jeremiah 31 later because the timing of God's choice is very significant. It is mentioned here to confirm that the ADOPTION and BLESSING placed on Ephraim was God's will and choice, not just an action by Jacob/Israel apart from the will of God.
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31:9b for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
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At this point, consider this...
Ephraim has been changed from the LAST (2nd born to Joseph) to the FIRST (1st born of Israel by means of adoption). I believe this is a picture in the Old Testament that depicts what happens to christians as we are adopted into the Israel of God. Our adoption is spiritual in nature (Romans 8:15) and we wait for the adoption of our bodies (Romans 8:23). The spiritual nature of the adoption does not make our adoption lesser, but greater.
So I am opening up a new path/stream which is looking at things which are the Old Testament representation of things which are spiritual realities for us, as christians, after Christ has died, resurrected, ascended and the Holy Spirit is given.
So, I am putting forward two paths/streams. One stream that follows a blood lineage and a second path/stream that follows spiritual realities which are true for us by God's choosing and they represent a birthright/inheritance shared with us by our eldest brother (Jesus) in the Israel of God. Again, this is not my interpretation. This is God's presentation through the scripture. See 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 and note that these verses were written by Ezra after the return from Babylon. Ezra was looking back on the history of Israel and providing some interpretation of historical events. Ezra states there are two paths/streams in plain text.
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The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn, but when he defiled the couch of his father, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel, so that he was not enrolled in the genealogy as the firstborn, 2 though Judah became strong among his brothers and a chief came from him, but the birthright belonged to Joseph).
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Judah - becomes strong and a chief came from him (i.e. the chief, David, also pointing to Jesus as Lion of the Tribe of Judah)
Joseph & the sons of Judah - the birthright! <-- wow, THE BIRTHRIGHT is set on a second path/stream through the history of Israel which is separate from Judah.
Next, we will look at the blessings of Jacob/Israel and Moses on our key characters with these two paths/streams in mind. These blessings are prophecies bestowed on the children of Jacob/Israel.
We have already seen the blessing on Ephraim and Manasseh, so we will look at a few other key characters to help draw a picture.
- Manasseh - he shall become a people
- Ephraim - he shall become a (malo goyim) which can be accurately translated two ways. 1) multitude of nations OR 2) fullness of gentiles
In a very long-winded fashion, I am writing down more about the Israel of God. I cannot really apologize for the long-windedness. It is very important to establish my definition of the Israel of God based on what God has presented in scripture. If I succeed in expanding your definition of the Israel of God then I may also succeed in helping you to realize that the common belief—that the Great Tribulation does not apply to "the Church"—may be false. We may fall under an "Audience of God" that is represented underneath the title of Israel. This would mean that in order to see our part in the Great Tribulation, we would have to more fully understand what PART of Israel we belong to and what portions of End Times prophetic scripture applies to us.
More later...