CAN YOU SEE ISRAEL SPIRITUALLY?

May 15, 2011
MF Blume

Genesis 12:1-4 KJV  Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:  (2)  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:  (3)  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.  (4)  So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.


We know Isaac was born and then Jacob and Jacob became ISRAEL.

God used that picture and those names to speak of JESUS as ISRAEL.

Hosea 11:1 KJV  When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

Matthew 2:13-15 KJV  And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.  (14)  When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:  (15)  And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

Exodus 4:22-23 KJV  And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:  (23)  And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.

Jesus is called FIRSTBORN in Colossians 1:15, 18.
 
How many know that God called ABRAHAM from Babylon or Chaldean region into Canaan?

Israel was actually a SMALL ILLUSTRATION of the overall pattern and plan of God to deal with the whole human race through JESUS.

Galatians 3:24-29 MSG  The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for.  (25)  But now you have arrived at your destination:  (26)  By faith in Christ (INVOLVES THE CROSS) you are in direct relationship with God.  (27)  Your baptism in Christ (DEATH INVOLVED – CROSS) was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe--Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise.  (28)  In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ.  (29)  Also, since you are Christ's family, then you are Abraham's famous "descendant," heirs according to the covenant promises.

Baptism puts us into HIS DEATH.

Romans 6:3 Complete Apostles' Bible  (3)  Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?


The CROSS and death of Jesus is our point of first contact with Him, and point of JOINING Him – our baptism related to HEIRS OF ABE.

ISRAEL is the name that God gave to JACOB when Jacob prevailed with God and obtained what he desired of God – A BLESSING.

Genesis 32:24-28 KJV  And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.  (25)  And when he [THE MAN WHOM JACOB FOUGHT] saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.  (26)  And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.  (27)  And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.  (28)  And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

AS A PRINCE he had power with God.

THE NATURAL PART OF JACOB WAS BROKEN AND HE ENTERED A SPIRITUAL PLAIN.

THE CROSS was that breaking point!

Remember that JESUS LEFT EGYPT just as Hosea spoke of Israel in the Exodus.

ISRAEL FAILED, and JESUS SUCCEEDED WHERE SHE FAILED.

HE is the firstborn son of God.

It’s a little repeat of how ADAM FAILED SO JESUS SUCCEEDED.

TRUE ISRAEL AND TRUE ADAM!

Through the cross we connect with JESUS’ death in order to become part of Him.

The church is referred to as SARAH whose CHILD was ISAAC showing our relationship in another way.

In Galatians Paul is trying to get some Christians out of law-keeping and explains these points to have them see FAR MORE – he says we are INVOLVED with Jesus and are therefore ISRAEL – we are like ISAAC:

Galatians 4:21-31 MSG  Tell me now, you who have become so enamored with the law: Have you paid close attention to that law?  (22)  Abraham, remember, had two sons: one by the slave woman and one by the free woman.  (23)  The son of the slave woman was born by human connivance; the son of the free woman was born by God's promise.  (24)  This illustrates the very thing we are dealing with now. The two births represent two ways of being in relationship with God. One is from Mount Sinai in Arabia.  (25)  It corresponds with what is now going on in Jerusalem--a slave life, producing slaves as offspring. This is the way of Hagar.  (26)  In contrast to that, there is an invisible Jerusalem, a free Jerusalem, and she is our mother--this is the way of Sarah.  (27)  Remember what Isaiah wrote: Rejoice, barren woman who bears no children, shout and cry out, woman who has no birth pangs, Because the children of the barren woman now surpass the children of the chosen woman.  (28)  Isn't it clear, friends, that you, like Isaac, are children of promise?  (29)  In the days of Hagar and Sarah, the child who came from faithless connivance (Ishmael) harassed the child who came--empowered by the Spirit--from the faithful promise (Isaac). Isn't it clear that the harassment you are now experiencing from the Jerusalem heretics follows that old pattern?  (30)  There is a Scripture that tells us what to do: "Expel the slave mother with her son, for the slave son will not inherit with the free son."  (31)  Isn't that conclusive? We are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

While they saw Jews and Gentiles, and liked the laws of Jews, Paul said something is involved in far greater measures.

This means a natural ISRAELITE who keeps law IS NOT TRULY AS MUCH OF AN ISRAELITE AS A CHRISTIAN!
    
And with that in mind, having read chapter 4, we notice chapter 6:

Galatians 6:12-16 MSG  These people who are attempting to force the ways of circumcision [NOTICE HE IS SPEAKING ABOUT LAW KEEPERS]  on you have only one motive: They want an easy way to look good before others, lacking the courage to live by a faith that shares Christ's suffering and death. All their talk about the law is gas.  (13)  They themselves don't keep the law! And they are highly selective in the laws they do observe. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast of their success in recruiting you to their side. That is contemptible!  (14)  For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate.  (15)  Can't you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do--submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life!  (16)  All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God--his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them!

Do not miss what God is doing in THIS TOTALLY NEW FREE LIFE – THIS TRUE ISRAEL.

Natural Israel has a minority today who are actually keeping the law.

Paul also mentioned something significant in Romans 9 about natural Israel and how we can miss something.

Romans 9:1-8 MSG  At the same time, you need to know that I carry with me at all times a huge sorrow.  (2)  It's an enormous pain deep within me, and I'm never free of it. I'm not exaggerating--Christ and the Holy Spirit are my witnesses. It's the Israelites . . .  (3)  If there were any way I could be cursed by the Messiah so they could be blessed by him, I'd do it in a minute. They're my family.  (4)  I grew up with them. They had everything going for them--family, glory, covenants, revelation, worship, promises,  (5)  to say nothing of being the race that produced the Messiah, the Christ, who is God over everything, always. Oh, yes!  (6)  Don't suppose for a moment, though, that God's Word has malfunctioned in some way or other. The problem goes back a long way. From the outset, not all Israelites of the flesh were Israelites of the spirit.  (7)  It wasn't Abraham's sperm that gave identity here, but God's promise. Remember how it was put: "Your family will be defined by Isaac"?  (8)  That means that Israelite identity was never racially determined by sexual transmission, but it was God-determined by promise.

Romans 11 says we have been grafted onto the Olive Tree while natural branches of natural Israel were cut off.

Romans 11:25-32 MSG  I want to lay all this out on the table as clearly as I can, friends. This is complicated. It would be easy to misinterpret what's going on and arrogantly assume that you're royalty and they're just rabble, out on their ears for good. But that's not it at all. This hardness on the part of insider Israel toward God is temporary. Its effect is to open things up to all the outsiders so that we end up with a full house.  (26)  Before it's all over, there will be a complete Israel. As it is written, A champion will stride down from the mountain of Zion; he'll clean house in Jacob.  (27)  And this is my commitment to my people: removal of their sins.  (28)  From your point of view as you hear and embrace the good news of the Message, it looks like the Jews are God's enemies. But looked at from the long-range perspective of God's overall purpose, they remain God's oldest friends.  (29)  God's gifts and God's call are under full warranty--never canceled, never rescinded.  (30)  There was a time not so long ago when you were on the outs with God. But then the Jews slammed the door on him and things opened up for you.  (31)  Now they are on the outs. But with the door held wide open for you, they have a way back in.  (32)  In one way or another, God makes sure that we all experience what it means to be outside so that he can personally open the door and welcome us back in.

When we got saved, we became ABRAHAM’S CHILDREN.

NEW KING JAMES:
Gal 3:5-11 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”[c] 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. (Notice how ONLY THOSE OF FAITH are sons of Abraham)8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”[d] 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. (Notice how we read the JEWS LOST THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM)
 
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; (THINK OF NATURAL ISRAEL – born from physical families of Israel & missing FAITH, still keeping Law) for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”[e]

This means the JEWS who never got faith in Christ LOST THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM according Gal.3:9 and became cursed instead according to 3:10?

Genesis 12:1-3 MSG  GOD told Abram: "Leave your country, your family, and your father's home for a land that I will show you.  (2)  I'll make you a great nation and bless you. I'll make you famous; you'll be a blessing.  (3)  I'll bless those who bless you; those who curse you I'll curse. All the families of the Earth will be blessed through you."

Can we think where there may have been some blessings given to Abraham that we may have mistakenly felt were on NATURAL ISRAEL when in fact they are on SPIRITUAL ISRAEL, while Paul distinctly said…

Speaking of UNBELIEVING NATURAL ISRAEL…

Romans 11:23 KJV  And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.

ROOT is Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the promises/blessings they had.

We may have been attributing the source of blessing to natural Israel that is actually really found in SPIRITUAL ISRAEL.

LOOK AT WHAT JOHN HEARD AS OPPOSED TO WHAT HE SAW.

Revelation 5:5-7 KJV  And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.  

(Genesis 49:8-10 KJV  Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.  (9)  Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?  (10)  The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Rise up amongst Israel’s tribes as KING – LEADER.)

Rev 5:(6)  And I beheld (NOT HEARD THIS TIME), and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.  (7)  And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

HE HEARD OF A LION LEADER FROM JUDA.

Notice that there is a MYSTERY in the identity of the LION that John HEARD about.

And it all surrounds THE CROSS.

Revelation 5:9-10 KJV  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;  (10)  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

With that in mind…

Revelation 7:4-10 KJV  And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand (SPECIFIC NUMBER) of all the tribes of the children of Israel (SPECIFIC NATION).  (5)  Of the tribe of Juda (JUDA FIRST?) were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.  (6)  Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses (EPHRAIM IS MISSING) were sealed twelve thousand.  (7)  Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi  were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.  (8)  Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph (JOSEPH WAS NEVER A TRIBE!) were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.  

For the first time in the Bible Joseph is listed as a tribe along with his son Manasseh.

WHEN THINKING OF NATURAL ISRAEL NO ONE SEEMS TO HAVE AN ANSWER.

(9)  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number (TOTALLY OPPOSITE OF A SPECIFIC NUMBER), of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues (TOTALLY OPPOSITE OF A DISTINCT SINGLE NATION), stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;  (10)  And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

In Matthew 21, ISRAEL waved palm leaves and branches and cried HOSANNA, (“SAVE US, OH KING”).

Revelation 7:15 KJV  Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
Revelation 7:16-17 KJV  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.  (17)  For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

John 6:35 KJV  And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.



There is a NATURAL ISRAEL AND A SUPERNATURAL ISRAEL.

SUPERNATURAL: “above nature, transcending nature, belonging to a higher realm,"

NATURAL: “of, existing in, or produced by nature”

Natural Israel still under Law is under a curse.

SPIRITUAL ISRAEL is BLESSED.