By Michael Lawrence

What if one could lay aside, by faith, the negative "end times" mishmash that presently grips American cultural Christianity and begin to simply look at the Bible for what it is—the record of God continually making covenant with His people? Through the lens of covenant, one would soon detect that the true Israel of God has always been spiritual in nature. The individuals highlighted in Scripture and their remnant followers were always the covenant-keeping "nation within a nation" made up of numerous natural descendants. This truth leads to the realization that the new and "better covenant based on better promises" (Heb. 8:6) has become the means by which our God is fulfilling all the previous covenants He made. Understanding this, we see that the Church is not just some parenthetical "Plan B," as dispensationalists would have us believe. No, the Church is those uniquely endeared ones who have been in the heart and mind of God all along. Through the covenant lens, the Church is revealed as the "Israel of God," identified by Paul in his Galatian letter--not the tiny nation in the Middle East that many in Christendom are mistakenly fixed upon.

A number of years ago a kind woman’s letter appeared in our local paper. Her prayers that a Jewish family be released from the Soviet Union to Israel had been answered. She wrote, "I am a Christian—a lover of Israel..." I was surprised that she did not invoke those Scriptures that are normally used to admonish our political leaders to favor national Israel at every turn, such as found in Genesis 12: "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you."

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul urges that prayers be made on behalf of all men. Therefore, the editorial writer’s prayerful concern is to be commended. But who is the true Israel of God’s covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12? Is it the nation that was formed in 1948 and those families of Jewish ancestry who continue to migrate there?

The Apostle Paul had revelation of God’s Israel. To the church at Rome, he declares that "they are not all Israel who descend from Israel" nor all children because of descending from Abraham, but the "children of promise" are regarded as descendants. Then he quotes Hosea saying, "I will call those who were not My people, My people. " Only a remnant of the "sons of Israel" were considered God’s people—those who didn’t stumble over the stumbling stone (Christ), or in other words, those not "broken off for their unbelief" (See Romans 9:6-8, 27, 32; 11:5, 20.) To the churches of Galatia, he writes, "Therefore be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham," and ". . . if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise (covenant)" (Gal. 3:7, 29 NAS).

To the editorial writer and, for that matter, to fellow Christians everywhere, I declare that the Church is God’s Israel—or in our case, dear friends, Israel is us!

Michael Lawrence owns
and operates Lawrence Electric
Company and is a freelance writer.

Spiritual Israel: Then & Now is an excellent booklet for further study in this area.  Click on this image to find out more!

See also God's Divorce & Remarriage.