The Church is Born
The answers to these questions came on the Day of Pentecost when a new nation was born in a day. Several thousand souls accepted Jesus and received the Holy Spirit. The Kingdom of God was established in the hearts of men and the First Born of the New Creation, Jesus Christ, now had many brothers and sisters. Iniquity was forgiven and sin no longer remembered for those who accepted the blessed Lamb of God. The ordinances and commandments that were against us were nailed to the cross of Calvary. The believer was given a New and Living way by which he could please God and have a righteousness that came not from keeping written commandments but from having the very nature of Christ dwelling within. The Word had become flesh in the believer. God now dwelt in the human heart.
Jews and Gentiles Accept Jesus
In the forty years remaining before the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D., many thousands of Jews came to know our Lord’s salvation, both in Jerusalem and in the Diaspora. A sizable remnant of Judah made its way into the Kingdom of God. Not all are Israel who call themselves Israel, as the apostle Paul noted, but many of these first century Jews were certainly part of the our Lord’s New Creation. They were citizens of the Nation of Faith, the Israel of God, through their acceptance of Jesus.
This new Nation of Believers, this Israel of God, was not, however, restricted to geographic boundaries or genetic bloodlines. Peter wrote of this remarkable new nation (1 Pet 2:9-10):
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Peter tells us that believers are members of a very special nation. Its citizens are strangers and pilgrims in this world. Paul lets us know that the name of this new nation is Israel, not only from his statement in Galatians 6:15 about the Israel of God, but from his referral to those of us who believe as those who are grafted into Israel (Ref. Rom. 11). Put simply, Israel is the body of believers who have genuine faith and walk with God.
The Mother of Us All
Now surely, if the true Church is Israel, its capital must be Jerusalem. But which Jerusalem? The scripture speaks of two Jerusalems: an earthly place of bondage and a Jerusalem which is above that abounds in freedom. Paul makes it clear that the City of God, the Jerusalem which is above, is our capital, as followers of Christ (Gal 4:22-26). He calls this wonderful place the mother of us all.
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.
These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.
Jerusalem is the City of God and is for those who have been born free. It is for those who have the New Covenant relationship with Jesus. It is from above, spiritual. The spiritual nation, Israel, has a spiritual capital, Jerusalem. This is a consistency which should not surprise us and is an affirmation that we are to regard Israel in a spiritual sense.
In 70 A.D., the old nation of Judea was destroyed. Jerusalem was decimated by the Roman general Titus. In fulfillment of Christ’s prophecy, found in Matthew 24, not one stone of the second temple was left upon another. Believers had been warned to flee when they saw the surrounding armies. Many Jews were killed or sold into slavery throughout the Roman Empire.
Jerusalem Today
What about the city of Jerusalem in the Middle East today? And what about the nation that calls itself Israel where this Jerusalem is located? Is it a land that fulfills God’s promise of regathering his people? No, not at all! Calling a nation Israel does not make it Israel in any meaningful scriptural sense. In the context of scripture and the teachings of our Lord given while among us on earth, coupled with the inspired teachings of the apostles, we know that the Israel of God is the Household of the Faithful, those who believe in the Lord Jesus.
Peter, as we have seen, comments succinctly on this nation of God’s people while Paul refers directly to the Israel of God in such manner as to make it crystal clear that citizenship in God’s nation of believers is not dependent on genetic or cultural background. He tells us (Gal 6:15-16):
Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.
The Regathering of the Israel of God
As promised, the Lord Jesus has been taking a people unto himself out of every nation, and tribe, and clan and tongue on earth. He is the author and finisher of his new nation. Jesus is regathering the Israel of God, scattered through the world. All believers are now one people. Our Master forever broke asunder the wall of partition separating us. As Paul tells us in Galatians 3:28:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
The people of God are being regathered today. The lost sheep of the House of Israel are scattered throughout the earth. But when one of these sheep hears the voice of the Master and accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior, then that blessed sheep has been regathered out of the Land of Unbelief and placed into the Land of Milk and Honey, the Kingdom of God, the Land of Israel. Such an Israelite may remain physically in Argentina, Nigeria, Iceland, or the furthermost reaches of the globe, but citizenship is now in the true Nation of Israel, united by the blood of Jesus. The color of skin, language spoken, or religion practiced before meeting Jesus no longer matters – they who were not a people in times past are now the people of God, as the apostle Peter so eloquently told us. His sheep hear His voice and follow him. Another they will not follow. Those who follow not the Lord Jesus are not His sheep. They are not of Israel.
Ezekiel’s Prophecy
As sheep of His pasture, we have received a portion of the Land in inheritance. We are joint-heirs with Christ and, as part of the House of Israel, surely have membership in one of His twelve tribes. We have an inheritance, a portion of the Land, which the natural eye cannot see. And we have the promise that all of Israel will be saved. Surely all of the lost sheep will be found by the Good Shepherd and brought back to the mountains of Israel, a beautiful place in the Spirit of God.
Israel is a pace, not a place. It is a walk with God. Citizenship comes through personal relationship with Jesus Christ. What is happening today with our blessed Israel? Consider the passage in Ezekiel (37:1-14) where Ezekiel is told to prophecy to the whole House of Israel which was nothing more than a collection of dead, dried bones. He obeys God and, with subsequent prophecy, the bones come together step by step and flesh out until they finally become a mighty army. They come up out of their graves to do this.
Does God use metaphor and symbol? Yes. We see this great event progressing by stages with the requirement of further prophecy at each stage. The grave speaks of our spiritual condition before knowing Christ. We were dead in trespasses and sins. There are many lost sheep of the House of Israel wandering about in strange places that simply need to hear the voice of their Master. They are in the grave, Sheol (Hebrew). They are not physically dead but they only have biological life, not spiritual life. Without Jesus, they are in a place of spiritual death with lives that are empty and meaningless. Dead, dried bones! Jesus wants to see them raised from the dead. He wants to see these walking dead come out of their graves. Ultimately spiritual life is the only kind of life that counts. Without it, man is just a useless carcass. But Ezekiel prophecies and there is movement, a shaking and rattling, among these dead, dried bones.
Then, Ezekiel prophesies yet again and there is further motion as these once lost sheep start realizing they have been found and have great purpose in their lives. The Word of God imparts Life. They start fleshing out, becoming more like Jesus until, finally, the power of God greatly transforms them and they have life like they never known before. They band together and, with great unity of purpose, form a mighty and magnificent army for God. The enemies of God stand no chance when the Israel of God, energized by the Holy Spirit, rises up against them.
The Army of God
God is raising up his Army today. He is calling his people together in great unity of the Spirit. He is breathing Life into His people, imparting strength and understanding they never possessed before. He is calling multitudes to enlist in this great undertaking as all enemies are put under the feet of Jesus. He is regathering His people to that spiritual place called the Israel of God. He is placing them in their own land and giving them power from on high.
He has given His Church authority over all the power of the enemy. He wants his people, those who are called by his Name, to rise up and exercise the authority he has given them over the Enemy of our Souls. His Army is marching on to Victory. His invitation is to you to join if you but hear his voice. Many are called but few are chosen. The chosen ones are those who answer the call. They are the chosen people. And these people, the Israel of God, will prevail. The weapons of our army are not carnal, but spiritual, and effectual for the pulling down of the enemy’s strongholds.
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