ISRAEL, THE JEWISH RACE, AND THE SEED OF ABRAHAM
ISRAEL
Israel is a nation in the ancient Near East Levant whose population is comprised of the genetic [bloodline] descendants of Jacob [יַעֲקוֹב | Ya’akov], son of Isaac, son of Abraham. Israel is also the God-given name of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel [יִשְׂרָאֵל | Yisrael] by God.
Blessed by God with an unconditional covenant promise made to Abraham, then to Isaac, then to Jacob [Israel] and His twelve sons [also known as the Twelve Patriarchs who make up the Twelve Tribes of Israel], God established Jacob and the direct bloodline descendants of his twelve sons as a special people set apart from the rest of the people on the earth. They would be guided and nurtured by God into the promised land [the land set apart for them]. At the Exodus God founded Israel [the nation] as a theocracy ruled personally by Him. The whole thrust of the Israeli way of life was spiritual, centered around the worship of Yahuwah [also known as Yahweh, the one true God]. Because God ruled Israel, every aspect of life in the nation had spiritual significance from the circumcision requirement to the temple worship, the Mosaic law, the Sabbath prohibition, the dietary laws. Israel’s blessing or cursing was contingent upon her obedience or disobedience to God’s expressed will and plan for her. Israel’s identity and destiny are intimately tied to the land promised to her. Israel’s time in the land, Israel’s double expulsion from the land, and Israel’s final regathering had all been prophesied and documented in the Old Testament [the Tanakh]. As a people and a nation, Israel’s existence is the explicit act of divine providence, provision, and grace. Israel has a unique history, a unique heritage, a unique economy, and a unique destiny in God’s plan.
THE JEWISH RACE
In the ethnic sense, the Jewish race refers to all persons who possess the genes of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and one of the twelve patriarchs. In the biblical perspective of the true Jew, the Jewish race refers to ethnic Jews who are born again through faith in the Savior, i.e., the special people founded by God for the purpose of receiving His Word and communicating it to the world.
DESIGNATIONS
1. Hebrew. After Abram left Ur of the Chaldees and until he became a citizen of Salem, he was a man without a country, called “Abram, the Hebrew [Ibri]” (Genesis 14:13). Ibri is derived from the verb abar, meaning “to cross over.” Therefore “Abram, the Hebrew” means “Abram, the one who crossed the river.” This translation is confirmed by Joshua 24:2–3, which states that Abraham and his ancestors once “lived beyond the [Euphrates] River.” Throughout the generations, descendants of Abraham were called “Hebrews” (Genesis 39:14; Exodus 2:6–7; 7:16; 1 Samuel 29:3; Jeremiah 34:9; Philippians 3:5).
2. Israel. The title “Israel [prince of God]” (Genesis 35:10), Jacob’s God-given name, was passed down to his progeny, who were called “children of Israel” (Deuteronomy 1:3). Later records designate them as “Israelites” or “Israel.” Biblically, the designation applies to all the tribes and their descendants, including the half tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.
3. Jew is a designation derived from the Hebrew yehudah (praised, celebrated), the name of Jacob’s fourth son, called in the English “Judah.” The Hebrew yehudi, “Jehudite,” was used for descendants of the tribe of Judah and subjects of the Kingdom of Judah (i.e., the Southern Kingdom). The shortened term “Jew” came into use after the destruction of the Northern Kingdom and more prominently after the Babylonian captivity of the Southern Kingdom (Nehemiah 1:2–3; Esther 3:13; Jeremiah 40:11–12; 52:28). Since by that time members of the tribe of Judah largely composed the remnant of God’s chosen people, Jew became a synonym for all Israelites (Matthew 2:2; John 2:13; 4:9; Acts 18:2, 24).
ORIGIN OF THE RACE
The Jewish race is unique among all races in that it originated through a supernatural act of God; therefore, the biblical concept of a true Jew combines both racial and spiritual factors. At age seventy-five, the born-again Gentile named Abram (renamed Abraham) was separated by God from his Mesopotamian homeland and promised tremendous divine blessings for himself and his future descendants (Genesis 12:1–5; 15:6; Acts 7:2–3). At ninety-nine years, Abraham was circumcised as a sign of the new race that God would multiply through him and his elderly wife Sarah (Genesis 17:10–19). God then confirmed the line through which the new race would descend—Isaac was the chosen son of Abraham; Jacob was the chosen grandson. Both followed Abraham’s pattern of salvation, faith in the Savior as He was then revealed, and for that reason, both were qualified to inherit the unique covenant blessings (Genesis 21:12; 25:23; 26:3–4; 35:10–12; Malachi 1:2–3; Romans 9:9–13). From that point on, anyone descended from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and any of Jacob’s twelve sons belongs, at least ethnically, to the new race. But since the race was founded on regeneration, the challenge to all racial Jews is to become true Israel through personal faith in the Second Person of the Trinity, who calls Himself “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (Exodus 3:16).
PURPOSE OF THE NEW RACE
God formed this special people for the purpose of furthering His plan for mankind. The Jews were to be God’s distinguished representatives on earth. They were the chosen recipients, custodians, and communicators of the doctrines of salvation, sin, and God’s plan for human history. As such, they were responsible for evangelizing the world. That distinguished position and duty was to be passed down to every generation. By divine appointment, Israel was promised to be a blessing to the entire human race (Genesis 12:2–3; Amos 9:12; cf. Acts 15:16–17).
ASSETS FOR THE NEW RACE
As the means of fulfilling their distinguished mission, the Jews were blessed above all other nations in the Age of Israel (Exodus 33:16; Deuteronomy 7:6; Romans 9:4–5). The following provisions, privileges, and protective measures are a testimony to God’s grace toward His people.
1. A chosen national identity. God’s covenant with Abraham defines the Jewish race as citizens of a nation set apart and protected for God’s purpose. One distinction between Israel and all other nations of the world is that Israel began as a regenerate theocracy: Jesus Christ, the “Lord God of Israel” (Luke 1:68), ruled personally over the nation for the first four hundred years of her existence. This chosen national entity would be blessed through obedience to God’s Word and have the opportunity to manifest God’s character as never before in history (Deuteronomy 4:6–8, 32–40).
2. Land of residence. So that His chosen people could function as a chosen nation, the Lord guaranteed Abraham and his descendants a section of the earth’s real estate (Genesis 13:14–15; 15:18–21). The specified Middle East territory is much larger than what the Jews have yet to occupy, but God’s promise secures a restoration of Israel throughout this land when Christ returns to rule His kingdom (Isaiah 11:11–12).
3. Policy for function as a nation. Israel’s heritage, both spiritual and national, was delineated in the Mosaic Law. This collection of statutes revealed by God to Moses established policy for the civil life and morality of all citizens, believers and unbelievers, and defined the spiritual life for believers. The Law’s advanced standards of health, diet, and agriculture elevated Israel above her comparatively primitive Gentile neighbors, and the superior moral code and equitable system of justice formed a charter of human freedom that would influence the world’s great nations throughout history. For Israel, to whom the Law was exclusively given, obedience to these statutes ensured spiritual and financial prosperity, along with military success for the protection of the nation.
4. A royal dynasty through the line of David was ordained for the client nation Israel. Through this dynasty would come the promised Messiah, who would accomplish salvation and then rule, in person, the Jewish kingdom on earth (Psalms 89:20–37; Luke 1:32; Acts 2:29–30).
5. A restored Jewish nation. Despite the Lord’s crushing discipline to what remained of Israel in A.D. 70, scriptural prophecy confirms the Jews’ future as a restored millennial kingdom. Following the Second Advent, Jesus Christ will rule earth from the throne in Jerusalem. Peace and prosperity will flow freely to all redeemed Jewry, for all of her enemies will have been defeated, and those who once despised her will bow at her feet (Isaiah 27:6; 40:10–11; 60:14; Jeremiah 31:31–34; Zechariah 14:16).
6. Eternal inheritance. The privileges and inheritance enjoyed by born-again Jews during the Millennium will be extended and amplified forever in the eternal state. There, Abraham and his spiritual progeny will occupy the eternal promised land of the new universe. Abraham, who chose to live on earth as a transient, “dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob,” will receive his very own city built by God (Hebrews 11:9–10), the eternal capital called the “new Jerusalem” (Revelation 21:2–3, 10–27).
7. Promise of protection and perpetuation. The Jews are the one race that God has promised to preserve. God blesses those who bless the Jews and curses those who curse them, ensuring that Satan’s anti-Semitic schemes will never completely eradicate the Jewish race (Genesis 12:3a). God has not rejected His people (Romans 11:1–2). Until the end of human history He will perpetuate the race, always providing opportunity for racial Jews to be saved and thus inherit the spiritual blessings of the unconditional promises.
ALL ISRAEL IS NOT ISRAEL
From the gene pool of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have come extraordinary talent, intellect, and many other characteristics that indicate a superior genetic factor. But God’s specific calling out of Isaac and Jacob declares to the entire race that their superiority means nothing without regeneration (Genesis 17:19; 21:12b; Malachi 1:2–3; Romans 9:6–7, 10–13). The genes of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are of no benefit without the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—who is Jesus Christ (Exodus 3:6).
Old Testament Israel often struggled to distinguish between her physical and spiritual heritage. Over time, many Jews departed from grace and instead placed their confidence in ancestry and religious tradition. The abandonment of spiritual heritage was evident during the Incarnation, when many failed to recognize Christ as the long-promised Messiah. Paul, the “Hebrew of Hebrews” himself (Philippians 3:4–7), deeply solicitous for the salvation of his countrymen, urged them to see the true issue, declaring “they are not all [spiritual] Israel who are descended from Israel” (Romans 9:6). Divine blessings to Israel, including salvation, are not the birthright of the racial Jew. That is, not the “children of the flesh [racial Jew]” but the “children of the promise [regenerate Jew]” are heirs to the unconditional covenants (Romans 9:8). To inherit the eternal spiritual blessings, a physical Jew must possess the imputed righteousness and eternal life of God (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3, 13; Galatians 3:6). The real Jew, then, is the racial Jew who is born again, and real Israel—true Israel—is regenerate Israel, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as He is revealed.
Persistent rejection of Christ and His work on the cross is why the client nation was taken out in A.D. 70 and Israel’s future put on hold. Generations of Jews since have practiced the legalistic tenets of Judaism, futilely clinging to the Mosaic Law and rituals of the past with no reality of relationship with God. Israel’s present discipline and the failure of the individual Jew does not, however, neutralize the promises of God for regenerate Israel.
JEWISH RACE DURING THE CHURCH AGE
The Jew who accepts Christ as Savior in the Church Age is unique, because in this dispensation race is not an issue. The Jew, just like the Gentile, is entered into union with Christ and becomes a member of the royal family of God (Galatians 3:28–29; Colossians 3:11; 1 Peter 2:9). All share the eternal blessings related to ultimate sanctification rather than the unconditional covenants to Israel.
THE SEED OF ABRAHAM
Hebrew zera; Greek sperma, seed, fruit, posterity, offspring. KJV “seed,” NASB “seed” or “descendant.” The theological term for descendants of Abraham, defined in three categories according to the context of the passage.
1. Physical Seed. (a) In Genesis 15:5, Romans 9:7a and 11:1, and 2 Corinthians 11:22, refers to those who have the physical genes of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all who belong to the new race—Israel—established by God in these three generations. This context indicates all members of the Jewish race, whether or not they accept Christ as Savior. (b) In Genesis 21:13, refers to Abraham’s progeny outside of the Jewish race—specifically, to Ishmael (born of the Egyptian maid Hagar), the eight sons of Keturah (Abraham’s wife after the death of Sarah), and Esau (Abraham’s unbelieving grandson born to Isaac and Rebekah). These offspring are Gentiles, not Jews.
2. Spiritual Seed. Those born from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who are also born again (Genesis 21:12; Exodus 32:13; Psalms 105:6; Isaiah 41:8; Romans 4:13; 9:7b–8). In other words, these are the racial Jews who attain salvation through faith in Christ. This is true Israel, the inheritors of the eternal covenant promises.
3. Jesus Christ. Genesis 22:18a, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,” is a messianic prophecy and promise that the Savior would come from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not from Ishmael or Esau. Additional passages that reveal Jesus Christ in terms of Abraham’s seed are Genesis 12:3b and 18:18, Acts 3:25–26, and Galatians 3:8, 16, and 19.
SEED OF ABRAHAM IN THE CHURCH
Throughout the Church Age, when a Jew (anyone descended from the genes of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) believes in Christ, he instantly loses his racial identity and becomes part of the Church, the new spiritual species. Both Jew and Gentile become one in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 3:28–29; 1 Peter 2:9).