Have you ever spent much time with Stephen’s sermon to the Council in Jerusalem in Acts 7? The theme of the lesson is the unfaithfulness of Israel. Once the story gets past Jacob, there is very little that is commendable about the nation. And as Stephen recites one unfaithful period of time after another, he eventually brings the hammer down on the first century Jews who had committed the ultimate rebellion in murdering God’s messiah. His message is clear – generation after generation rebelled against the Lord.
So why did God choose Israel? It certainly wasn’t because of their goodness. God made that clear from the beginning (Deut. 9:6). So why Israel? If it was only about bringing Christ, God could have easily raised up Jesus another way. Growing up, I remember people talking about a “pure bloodline” leading to Christ. But there was no pure bloodline either physically or spiritually. The genealogy of Matthew 1 shows that. Let’s give some thought then to what God was seeking in Israel. We can first see this in the promises to Abraham.
Genesis 12:2, 3, 7 give three promises to Abraham: a great nation, the land of Canaan, and “through your offspring (seed) all nations will be blessed.” We often minimize the first two promises, but all three were critical for God’s purposes with Israel. To see this more clearly, note Gen. 22:16-18 (HCSB). You see here that “offspring” is referring to the whole nation, not to one person. I realize you are thinking, “Wait a minute, Paul said the seed was ‘one’ and that seed was Christ.” We will come to that in a moment, but for now you can see plainly that the “seed/offspring” is referring to the whole nation not just to Christ. (“Seed” or “offspring” is the same Hebrew word in all these texts.)
Therefore, here is the point. The nation was to be a blessing to the world. That was God’s promise! Our task is to find out how God worked out that promise. Notice some of the ways that Israel was to be a blessing to the world:
Exodus 19:5 “A treasured possession among all nations” (the idea is that they were chosen for a special purpose, a special mission) Exodus 19:6 “A kingdom of priests” (as priests, they would stand between God and the nations. Through their light the nations could come to the Lord and learn of Him. Exodus 19:6 “A holy nation” (Lev. 11:44 “you shall be holy for I am holy”). As a holy nation they were to “leaven” the world with righteousness and godliness.
Isaiah refers to Israel as God’s servant whose mission was to bring the knowledge of God to the nations and fulfill an evangelistic role (Isa. 41:8-10; Psa. 96:1-3). In fact, as Peter says (1 Pet. 2:9), being God’s “special possession” was for the purpose of “proclaiming the praises of Him…” (Cf. Titus 2:14). And to a degree Israel was somewhat successful in that monotheism had been spread throughout the Greek culture by the time of Christ. Exodus 4:22 refers to Israel as “God’s son,” in fact, God’s firstborn son, and commands Pharaoh to let them go in order to serve Him. And in Isaiah 5, Israel is pictured as God’s vineyard, planted in order to produce fruit for Him.
Physical Israel Failed Their Purpose
Ezek. 36:20-26 tells us that instead of being a light to the nations, Israel profaned His name among the nations. In NT times, Israel boasted of their lineage but had forgotten their purpose. Thus John warned, “God can raised up children to Abraham from these stones” (Matt. 3). They had failed in holiness by turning the temple into a house of merchandise instead of a house of prayer for all nations (Mark 11:15-17). In Matthew 21:33-43 the parable of the Tenants pictures the nation trying to take ownership away from God. In response, God would take the vineyard away from them and give it to a nation who would produce the fruit (mission) for which God had called it.
Romans 9:6 makes this point clear when Paul says, “They are not all Israel who are of Israel.”
Where Israel Failed, Jesus Succeeded
Since Israel failed as God’s servant, Isaiah speaks of raising up the Messiah who is the faithful Servant (Isa. 42:1, 6-7; 49:6. But even more wonderful is the fact that Isaiah also pictures the future “Israel” as His faithful servant (Isa. 44:1-5). Further, this future “servant Israel” would come from east and west, north and south (Isa. 43:5-7).
To contrast further, we learn from Isaiah 48:18-19 that the physical nation failed to receive the promise of an offspring as numerous as the sand of the sea. Instead, that would only be fulfilled in the spiritual nation. As the physical nation was said to be God’s firstborn, so now Jesus is proclaimed to be God’s firstborn (Col. 1:15) and the spiritual nation as well are referred to as firstborn (Rom. 8:29; Heb. 12:23).
In Isaiah, Israel was called God’s vine, but Jesus says, “I am the true vine,” (Jn. 15:1) and the spiritual nation who follows Jesus are branches within that vine. And of course, though Israel was called God’s son, Jesus was proclaimed the true Son of God and those who follow Him are called “sons of God.”
Galatians 3:16
As we saw from the OT quote, “seed” did not refer to one person, but to “offspring.” In the context of Galatians, the Judaizers wanted to make God’s one true family to be only those who were circumcised from the physical lineage of Abraham. Therefore, they would not only redefine God’s family but would also divide the family into two families, Jew and Gentile. Paul’s argument in the text is that God’s prophecy was for one family not two, and that family would be defined and summed up in Christ. To further demonstrate this, look down in the text to 3:25-29. Who now are Abraham’s offspring? It is those who are in Christ, who are sons of God through faith, having been baptized into Christ. Therefore we, as God’s true Israel, are given the mission that God gave the old nation. Remember what Jesus said in the parable of the tenants? “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons” (Matt. 21:41).
Therefore…
We are now God’s sons representing Him in righteousness and holiness.
We are now His special treasure “proclaiming the praises of Him who called us.”
We are now a light to the nations fulfilling the evangelistic purpose in which Israel failed.
We are a kingdom of priests standing between God and the world as those who can point the way to salvation.
We have become a well of living water springing up to eternal life, offering this water to all who thirst.
We are the true offspring of Abraham through whom, with Christ as our leader, the world is blessed!
As we see in Galatians 6:16, we talk about physical Israel and spiritual Israel, but we must understand the true Israel. We are not just one people replacing another or replacing one institution with another institution. We must fulfill what Israel did not! Jesus showed the way of being that true fulfillment.
Berry Kercheville
Works Consulted:
Jason Longstreth, 2011 Florida College Lectures, The Role of “Israel” in God’s Plan
Justification, N.T. Wright, IPV Academic