The present Middle East conflict has again, in millions of Christian minds around the world, focused attention on the nation of Israel and its role in God’s plan of salvation generally and the final events of history especially. It is thus imperative for Seventh-day Adventists to refresh their own Biblical knowledge relative to literal and spiritual Israel and their respective places in the present and eternal purposes of God.
Inclusive from the Beginning
From the time God called Abraham from his home in Mesopotamia, it was clear that the divine plan for the faith community thus assembled was one of ethnic inclusion, with obedience to God the sole mark of distinction. God declared to His servant, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). This promise was repeated by God to Abraham and his descendants on Mount Moriah (Gen. 22:18), and again to Jacob as he saw the vision of the ladder from earth to heaven (Gen. 28:14).
During the divided monarchy of Israel God declared to Judah’s King Asa: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him” (II Chron. 16:9). And again, through the prophet Isaiah, speaking of the temple at Jerusalem, God stated: “Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people” (Isa. 56:7). The Hebrew word for people in this verse is literally translated “nations,” a reference to all nations of the world. God’s covenant community was to embrace them all—all who by His grace would fulfill the covenant condition of obedience.
The apostle Paul referred to these Old Testament passages when he wrote to the Christians in Galatia:
And the scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed (Gal. 3:8).
So, while God declared through Moses to Israel that they were to be “a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth” (Deut. 7:6), this designation was not intended to include literal Israelites only. All from every nation who accepted the terms of God’s covenant were to be part of the faith community God sought to gather in preparation for the coming of the Messiah to this earth.
An Inward Sign, First and Foremost
Most of us are familiar with Paul’s statement in Romans 2:29 that “he is a Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter.” But many fail to realize the Old Testament origin of this admonition. As early as the book of Deuteronomy, in which the divine requirements were stated to Israel just prior to the conquest of Canaan, God declared, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked” (Deut. 10:16). Again, from the same book:
And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live (Deut. 30:6).
In later years God lamented through the prophet Jeremiah that Israel had failed to submit to the divine conversion process, which the circumcision of the heart was intended to describe. In the prophet’s words:
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;
Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart (Jer. 9:25-26).
Thus the apostle Paul declared, regarding the now-obsolete command for the covenant people to be circumcised, that it was now heart-circumcision that God alone required:
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love (Gal. 5:6).
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature (Gal. 6:15).
Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God (I Cor. 7:19).
From what we’ve read in the Old Testament, it is clear that faith working by love, becoming a new creature, and keeping God’s commandments were the ultimate divine concern from the beginning of Israel’s history. When the New Testament church was founded, this principle was underscored even more decisively with the abolition of the circumcision requirement and its replacement with the ordinance of baptism (Matt. 28:19).
“An Holy Nation”
God’s original purpose for Old Testament Israel was that they become a “holy nation.” Just before the law was given on Mount Sinai, God spelled out His promise to Israel as to what they would become if in fact they claimed His power to obey His commandments:
Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine:
And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation (Ex. 19:5-6).
In other words, God was clear in His instruction to Israel that their status as God’s chosen people was conditional on obedience. Returning to Deuteronomy, we find this statement, very similar to the one in Exodus:
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth (Deut. 28:1).
The following thirteen verses (verses 2-14) depict the blessings Israel would experience if in fact they kept the covenant into which they had entered with the Lord. The subsequent verses (verses 15-68) depict the curses that would befall Israel should they depart from the path of obedience. Tragically, this greater portion of the chapter is the script in which the history of literal Israel has been traced for the past two thousand years.
But God will not be denied His holy nation on earth. In His parable of the wicked husbandmen, Jesus both articulated the consequences of disobedience and promised the emergence of the holy nation which would at last render to God the fruits of holiness. Thus He declared to the Jewish leaders of His day:
Therefore I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof (Matt. 21:43).
The apostle Peter describes this nation in his first epistle to the early Christian church, referencing the words spoken to Old Testament Israel so many centuries before:
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (I Peter 2:9).
Since the original call to Abraham, all men and women from every nation were to be invited to receive God’s covenant and form the faith community He has sought to assemble on earth (Gen. 12:3; 22:18; 28:14; II Chron. 16:9). The apostle Paul makes it clear that all who accept Christ’s forgiving and transforming grace become the spiritual seed of Abraham:
And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Gal. 3:29).
Conclusion: The Israel of God in Prophecy
The hearts of decent men and women everywhere grieve for the violence suffered by both Israelis and Palestinians in the present struggle. No Christian who honors the heritage of faith found in Scripture cannot cherish a special love for the physical descendants of Abraham and the travails they have endured for so long. But with all due respect, admiration, and love to the physical children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Biblical evidence is clear that the Israel of God in prophecy is not the modern state of Israel in the Middle East. Rather, the Israel of God in prophecy—in accord with God’s design from the days of Abraham himself (Gen. 12:3; 22:18; 28:14; II Chron. 16:9; Isa. 56:7)—embraces all who accept the divine covenant culminating in Israel’s Messiah, thus experiencing His pardon for sin and power for holiness (Gal. 3:29). The holy nation God intended Old Testament Israel to become (Ex. 19:6) will at last be realized through the justifying and sanctifying grace of Jesus (I Peter 2:9).
The ultimate triumph of spiritual Israel is first envisioned in the prophecy of Isaiah, in which God declares through His ancient prophet:
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain (Isa. 66:22).
The seed of Israel, which includes all who embrace the promised Savior (Gal. 3:29), will have their name immortalized on the gates of the New Jerusalem, on which will be inscribed “the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel” (Rev. 21:12). This splendid, eternal metropolis will forever bear the name of the ancient holy city, which will descend from God out of heaven and become the capital of the New Earth (verses 2,10). The Israel of God will thus inhabit this restored planet, standing for all eternity as the trophy of their Lord’s self-sacrificing love.
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan