1] Who are the Israelites?

After Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, mankind filled the face of the earth and developed its own customs and civilization without God's guidance. Over the next 1600 years, not only had mankind multiplied rapidly on the face of the earth but so had man's evils.

“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.' But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:5-8).

God then brought the Flood on the whole world but spared Noah and his family who survived by building a giant ark which housed them and a great many of the land animals (Genesis 6 - 8). Their descendants once again began to be fruitful and multiplied over the face of the earth. After the Flood [2305 BC] the earth's inhabitants once again began to turn their back on God. By Abraham's time all peoples had again grown corrupt.

”God then set in motion a major aspect of His plan to offer salvation to mankind. Selecting Abraham was a crucial step in God's long-term plan to turn all nations back to Him. The remainder of the Bible is woven around His plan to reconcile all humanity to Himself…[God chose Abraham and promised to] develop his descendants into a group of influential nations chosen for the purpose of teaching and illustrating His values and way of life to the rest of the world” (The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy, p.5).

“Now the Lord had said to Abram [God later changed his name to Abraham]: 'Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed'” (Genesis 12:1-3).

Around 1877 BC God called Abraham out of Ur in Northern Mesopotamia to go to the land of Canaan or Palestine. He promised to make of him a great nation, a promise that was later expanded to many nations because of the faithfulness that Abraham showed to God (Genesis 17:5-6).

Abraham and his wife Sarah were getting quite old. He was 75 when he left for the land of Canaan. God had promised them a son but God did not appear again for many years and so they took matters into their own hands.

As per an ancient custom when wives were barren, Sarah asked Abraham to beget a son for them with Sarah's servant girl, Hagar. She became pregnant and bore him a son named Ishmael. Ishmael became the father of the people who we call the Arabs (Genesis 17:20).

God told Abraham that the birthright promises would not go to Ishmael but instead would be passed on through a son that would come from Abraham's wife, Sarah (Genesis 17:15-21). Given that Sarah was already an old woman well beyond her childbearing years the birth of Isaac was truly a miracle from God. Isaac later had two sons, Esau and Jacob. As the oldest, Esau was entitled to the birthright but he did not value it and sold it to his brother Jacob. Esau's descendants in time became the Turks and the Palestinians.

Jacob had a tenacious spirit that was tested when God appeared to him and they wrestled all night. After this incident God said to him: “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” (Genesis 32:28).

This is where we get the word Israel from. Israel was the name that God gave to Abraham's grandson, Jacob, which means “Overcomer with God”. Jacob had 12 sons and from those sons descended the 12 tribes of Israel. Only one of those 12 tribes are the Jewish people or the Jews as they are called.

Jacob, or Israel as His name was changed to, had twelve sons (Genesis 49). His favourite was Joseph. His older brothers were envious of the special treatment that Jacob paid to Joseph. Their envy became so great that they sold him to slave traders and told Jacob that he was killed by a wild animal (Genesis 37).

Through an amazing set of circumstances Joseph eventually became vizier of Egypt. Through a famine which forced Jacob's family to have to go to Egypt to buy grain, Jacob was eventually re-united with Joseph and moved his whole family to the rich Nile delta area called Goshen in Egypt around 1662 BC (Genesis 46).

Exodus 12:40 appears to say that the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt for a total of 430 years yet Galatians 3:16-17 says that from Abraham leaving for the land of Canaan until the Exodus was also 430 years. The Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) corrects this misunderstanding. It properly translates Exodus 12:40 this way: “The sojourning of the children and of their fathers, which they sojourned in the land of Canaan AND in the land of Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.”

There were 215 years between Abraham leaving for Canaan around 1877 BC to Jacob's family (the Israelites) moving down to Egypt and then exactly 215 years between Jacob (Israel) going to Egypt around 1662 BC and the Exodus around 1447 BC. Joseph lived another 71 years and then after his death a pharaoh who did not know Joseph dealt harshly with these “foreigners” living in Egypt. He made slaves of them. This period of slavery probably began about 100 years before God raised up Moses and delivered them from their slavery in Egypt.

ighty hand God brought ten devastating plagues on Egypt which eventually made Pharaoh let the Israelites leave Egypt. He then changed his mind after they had left and took his whole army with him to bring them back. The Israelites found themselves trapped between Pharaoh's army and the Red Sea. God then supernaturally parted the waters of the Red Sea and they were then able to flee Pharaoh's army (Exodus 14). The waters collapsed back on Pharaoh and his army after the Israelites finished crossing to the other side.

After this great miracle they journeyed to Mt Sinai where God gave them the Ten Commandments and offered to be their God and bless them physically if they would obey Him. This proposal by God and the acceptance by the nation of Israel became known as the Old Covenant.

2] Why Did God Choose Israel?

In his book “Mystery of the Ages” Herbert W. Armstrong asks these important questions:

“Did it ever strike you as most unusual that the Great God should have raised up the ancient nation Israel to be His chosen people? Consider these seemingly paradoxical facts:

“God says He is not a respecter of persons. Is He, then, a respecter of nations? Does He have a favourite? Did you ever realize that God denied His chosen people salvation--save only their prophets? That the chosen nation was given only material and national promises--that God's Holy Spirit was inaccessible to them? Did it ever occur to you that the Holy Bible is the book of and concerning only that one people Israel? And that other nations are mentioned only if and as they came into contact with Israel?” (p.132).

Those are very interesting questions. Let's now look at three reasons why God chose the nation of Israel and how this relationship between God and this chosen nation plays such an important part in God's plan to save mankind. So why did God choose Israel?

[1] To be a model nation that would encourage other nations to want to come under God's rule.

In Exodus 19:3-8 we read: “And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel…if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. Then all the people answered together and said, 'All that the Lord has spoken we will do.'”

God wasn't playing favourites. He said that He didn't call them because they were more numerous or any greater in influence than other nations (Deuteronomy 7:6-8). He said that they were the least of nations when He called them out of Egypt and that He was going to remain faithful to His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to make of them a group of influential nations. God called them not because they deserved it but for a service which would ultimately benefit all mankind.

In Deuteronomy 4:6-8 God told them: “Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?”

God wanted a free, obedient and happy people free of the many burdens governments put on people. Other peoples would look at them thinking, “How can we be free from the burdens our governments put on us” and from that could spread the idea, “Hey, let's worship Israel's God. Let Israel's God be our king.” It was God's intent that the whole world be blessed through the descendants of Jacob.

[2] To prove that even with the knowledge of God's laws and every other advantage that man still needs the Holy Spirit to live by God's way of life.

Herbert W. Armstrong in the quote above said that the Israelites were denied the Holy Spirit [and spiritual salvation as a result] and that they were only offered physical, material blessings. Only a select few were given the Holy Spirit since the extra help of the Holy Spirit was needed for the jobs that God had in mind for them. What proof is there that Israel was denied access to the Holy Spirit with the exception of their prophets?

In Numbers 11 we read: “So the Lord said to Moses: 'Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone'…Then Moses said to him [Joshua], 'Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!'” (Numbers 11:16-17, 29).

Moses wished that God would give His Holy Spirit to all of the people but he realized God had decreed that only a select few would be given the Holy Spirit to help them fulfill special jobs that God had in mind for them. The apostle Peter when he spoke of the Old Testament prophets said that “the Spirit of Christ…was in them.” (1 Peter 1:10-11) David also mentioned that he had the Holy Spirit (Psalm 51:11).

Aside from this select few there was also a faithful minority throughout Old Testament Israel's history who kept the letter (and much of the spirit) of God's law (Romans 11:2-5). Did these people have the Holy Spirit in them also? God's spirit gives us spiritual understanding and helps us keep His law (1 Corinthians 2:11, 2 Peter 1:4). Prior to a person receiving God's spirit and it being within them the Holy Spirit can work with a person and help them to obey God.

During Christ's ministry the apostles had the Holy Spirit working with them but it wasn't in them until after Christ was resurrected (John 14:17). Such was the case with the minority of Israel who did strive to faithfully obey God as best as they could in Old Testament Israel (This is probably the case for many zealous people in mainstream christian churches also).

Even though the Holy Spirit can work externally with people to better obey God as they respond, only the indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes us eligible for the first resurrection and a part of His true church (Romans 8:9-11).

If all the faithful minority of Old Testament Israel had the indwelling of the Holy Spirit there would be no need of a new covenant to replace the old covenant. The old covenant did not include the promise of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and thus spiritual salvation. We are plainly told in Hebrews 8:6 that the new covenant is established on better promises.

Christ said in "I WILL (future tense) build my church" (Matthew 16:18). If the faithful minority of Old Testament Israel had the indwelling of the Holy Spirit then Christ would have already built His church through the faithful minority of Old Testament Israel.

Why did God choose Israel and then deny them His Holy Spirit and spiritual salvation? Herbert W. Armstrong answers this question the following way:

“Educated men and scientists today [say]…'Give us sufficient knowledge, and we will solve all problems and eradicate all evils -- we will create utopia!' Up to that time [the Exodus], mankind had been denied spiritual knowledge and fulfilment from God. God now decided to give them knowledge of his law -- his kind of government -- his way of life! He was going to prove to the world that without his Holy Spirit their minds were incapable of receiving and utilizing such knowledge of the TRUE WAY OF LIFE.

“He was going to demonstrate to them that the mind of MAN, with its one spirit, and without the addition of God's Holy Spirit, could not have spiritual discernment -- could not solve human problems, could not cure the evils that were besetting humanity. The nation Israel would be his guinea pig to demonstrate that fact. Also they had the quality heredity of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel). God had chosen a nation of almost perfect original strain in its generations -- its ancestry. So God entered into a covenant with them, making them HIS NATION. It also represented a MARRIAGE covenant, with Israel the wife, promising obedience to her husband -- GOD. It was the physical type of the yet-to-come spiritual NEW COVENANT…

“Here was a people of almost clear racial strain, and the God believing heredity of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Two requisites make a human whatever he becomes in life: heredity and environment. Heredity involves what has been inherited by birth in such areas as health, intelligence and character tendencies. Environment includes all external influences and self-determined motivations -- whether good or evil. Heredity -- if of good and high quality -- may start one off at an advantage. An inspiring environment, uplifting influences and right self-motivation may further improvement…God started his chosen nation off -- even though brought out of slavery -- with all the natural advantages of a [quality] heredity. God pulled them out of slavery and gave them a new and fresh start. One might say they had everything God-given going for them” (Mystery of the Ages, p.140-141).

The apostle Paul in Romans 8:7-9 wrote that “the carnal mind [the natural mind without God's spirit] is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.”

Human nature tends to follow the path of least resistance. Often it takes more effort to do what is right than do what is wrong. Because of this extra effort needed to do what is right, we need the extra power that God provides through His Holy Spirit.

It is the Holy Spirit that helps us to even comprehend God's truth and His way of life. Paul wrote: ”For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11). God said that they lacked an ability to fully comprehend what He was doing with them and the way of life He instructed them in (Deuteronomy 29:2-4).

Did God know that they would fail to live by His way of life and break their covenant without the help of His Holy Spirit?

In Deuteronomy 5:29 God said that he wished that “they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!” God however realized that they didn't have the heart to keep His laws and keep the covenant which they made with God because they lacked His Holy Spirit.

In Deuteronomy 31:20-21 God said: “When I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant. Then it shall be, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify against them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their descendants, for I know the inclination of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land of which I swore to give them.”

[3] To write through the painful lessons of experience that only living God's way leads to happiness and breaking God's laws only brings misery.

Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. That's why God has had the history of Israel recorded for us. Their lessons of experience showed time and time again that only living God's way leads to happiness and breaking God's laws will only bring misery.

The apostle Paul wrote the following in 1 Corinthians 10:1-11 to show how their examples have been recorded for our benefit so we don't repeat their mistakes:

”Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, 'The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.'

“Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” [A great resource for learning about the strengths and weaknesses of the great men and women in the Bible are the short biographies that are found in the Life Application Bible].

On this point Raymond McNair writes: “They were divinely chosen to serve as an example for the rest of humanity of what happens to those who obey or disobey the Creator God. As one Jewish man painfully remarked in the aftermath of World War II, 'Why doesn't He choose someone else for a while?'” (America and Britain in Prophecy, p.4).



3] What do you mean by the Old Covenant and the New Covenant?

When God gave Israel the Ten Commandments at Mt Sinai after He brought them out of Egypt He offered to be their God and bless them physically if they would obey Him. We read of all the blessings that God offered the people in Leviticus 26:1-13 and Deuteronomy 28:1-14. God promised to give them all those blessings if they would obey Him and keep His laws and statutes.

In Exodus 19:3-8 we read: “And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, 'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel…if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. Then all the people answered together and said, 'All that the Lord has spoken we will do.'”

This proposal by God, which was accepted by the nation of Israel, became known as the Old Covenant. “God entered into a covenant with them, making them HIS NATION. It also represented a MARRIAGE covenant, with Israel the wife, promising obedience to her husband – GOD” (Mystery of the Ages, p.141). A covenant is a contract or agreement where one party promises certain rewards or payment in return for certain performance by the other party.

Symbolically, the relationship between God and Israel was like a marriage. In Jeremiah 31:32 God said: “I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; My covenant…they broke, though I was a husband to them.” Israel broke their covenant with God when they went into idolatry and worshipped false gods and turned away from His laws.

In describing how bad things got in ancient Israel we read in Jeremiah 3:7-8: “And [God] said, after she had done all these things, 'Return to Me.' But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.”

There are very limited grounds for which a husband and wife can obtain a divorce. Jesus said that one of those grounds is continued, unrepented adultery (Matthew 19:9). This is what happened between God and Israel. Spiritually they were committing adultery with other gods and refused to repent. As a result, God symbolically divorced ancient Israel. We saw in lesson three that the member of the God family who personally dealt with ancient Israel was Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). He was the one who was symbolically married to ancient Israel.

God has not completely forsaken the nation of Israel. When Jesus Christ returns He will make a new covenant with them and give them His Holy Spirit which will give them the ability to keep that covenant and never break it again.

We read of the new covenant that He will offer the nation of Israel in Jeremiah 31:31-34 at His return. “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

The apostle Paul spoke of this covenant in Hebrews 8 when he said: “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: 'Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord” (Hebrews 8:7-9).

The problem was not with the laws that God gave to Israel. As Paul said in Hebrews 8:8 the fault was with the people who didn't keep God's laws. When God makes the new covenant with Israel after Christ's second coming He says to them: “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 36:27).

God's laws and statutes will be a part of the New Covenant. This time, though, God will offer them the Holy Spirit upon their repentance and baptism and they will then have the power to keep His laws. The Holy Spirit will help write God's laws in their heart. The end of the 6000 years where God has cut Himself off from mankind will have come to an end and Christ will rule all nations and offer salvation to the nation of Israel as well as all mankind.

Some have argued that we no longer have to keep God's laws because they were part of the Old Covenant and the Old Covenant is now obsolete. This argument doesn't hold water. If I made a deal with you to give you something if you kept the traffic laws for a year and didn't get a speeding ticket and then we do away with that deal, does that do away with the traffic laws? Doing away with our contract does not in any way do away with keeping the laws which might be a condition of our deal.

We read in Jeremiah 31:31-34 that God will make the New Covenant with the physical nation of Israel at Christ's second coming. Does God make the New Covenant with anyone else other than the physical nation of Israel?

At the last supper when Jesus took a cup of wine he said to His disciples: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). All who are baptized and partake of the Passover have made a covenant with God to come under God's rule and live by God's way of life.

The New Covenant is based on better promises (Hebrews 8:6) including the giving of the Holy Spirit to help us live by the spirit of the law and offering us eternal life in the very family of God!

With the Old Covenant Jesus Christ was married to physical Israel. With the New Covenant He will not marry physical Israel but He will marry the church – spiritual Israel. When physical Israel repents at Christ's return they will be baptized into the church and become a part of spiritual Israel.

The New Testament speaks of Christ marrying the church in a spiritual sense at His return. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:2: “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” He also wrote in Ephesians 5:25-32: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish…This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

We read of this wonderful spiritual marriage between Christ and the Church at His return in Revelation 19:7-9: “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, 'Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'”

4] What were the birthright blessings that God promised to Abraham?

When God called Abraham He promised to multiply his descendants and make a great and powerful nation from them. We read of this in Genesis 12:1-3:

“Now the Lord had said to Abram [Abraham]: 'Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

This promise was expanded in Genesis 17:5-6. Not only would a great nation come from Abraham but many nations. In Genesis 28:14 God said to Abraham: “Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

There are two aspects to these blessings which have become known as the birthright blessing or blessings of Abraham. There are the national physical blessings of great prosperity and then there is the great spiritual blessing that God promised to him.

Let's look at the great spiritual blessing that God had promised to Abraham and his descendants. In Galatians 3:16 Paul tells us: “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, 'And to seeds', as of many, but as of one, 'And to your Seed', who is Christ.” When God told Abraham “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 28:14), this promise was dual. God also had in mind the promise that Jesus Christ would be born from His descendants and that His death would make it possible to save mankind from the penalty of their sins.

The national, physical blessings were the other part of the birthright promise to Abraham. Now why did God make these promises to Abraham's descendants? God wanted Israel was to be a model nation so that other nations would see the benefits of living by God's way so they might want to come under His rule and live by His way. With that in mind, what was the purpose for offering such prosperity to Abraham's descendants?

“God's grand purpose - anciently, today and tomorrow - for Abraham's descendants has never varied. He selected them to be a blessing to 'all the families of the earth' (Genesis 12:3). To make this possible He promised them every material advantage they would ever need” (The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy, p.34). These material blessings would make it possible for them to help and benefit many other nations all around the world.

These birthright promises were passed down through Isaac and Jacob. All of Jacob's 12 sons would share in the blessings promised to Abraham but the double portion of this birthright was passed onto Joseph sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.

In Genesis 35:11 God said to Jacob: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.” This part of the birthright promise was passed onto Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh in Genesis 48:19, “He (Manasseh) also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother (Ephraim) shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”

In Genesis 49 Jacob gave prophecies about what the descendants of each of his 12 sons would be like in the end-time before Christ's return. About Joseph he said: "Joseph is like a grapevine that produces much fruit, a healthy vine watered by a spring, whose branches grow over the wall. Archers attack him violently and shoot at him angrily, but he aims his bow well. His arms are made strong. He gets his power from the Mighty God of Jacob and his strength from the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel. Your father's God helps you. God Almighty blesses you. He blesses you with rain from above, with water from springs below, with many babies born to your wives, and many young ones born to your animals. The blessings of your father are greater than the blessings of the oldest mountains, greater than the good things of the long-lasting hills. May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph..." (Genesis 49:22-26, New Century Version).

“This prophetic passage tells us that Joseph's descendants 'in the last days' will live in a productive, well-watered and fruitful land. They will be a people who have greatly expanded their territory and influence - politically, militarily, economically and culturally - a people 'whose branches grow over the wall,' or beyond their natural borders. They will be a people that, on occasion, will be attacked by other nations but will generally be victorious. Their triumphs will sometimes seem 'miraculous' or 'providential' because the Almighty God is their helper and source of blessings. They will be a people who live in an unusually favourable climate that easily supports their steadily expanding population. They will enjoy the blessing of good crops, vast herds of livestock and extensive natural resources such as fine stands of timber and valuable minerals mined from their soil” (The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy, p.10-11).

In the days soon after King Solomon, the nation of Israel split into two nations, the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah (from whom the Jews descend). The northern Kingdom of Israel were eventually conquered by Assyria around 722 BC and carried away to Mesopotamia, and have never returned to Palestine, as a nation. They included the birthright tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh and eventually became known as the “Lost Tribes of Israel”. The southern Kingdom of Judah was conquered and taken into exile by the Babylonians around 585 BC. A remnant of the Jews returned to Palestine 70 years later. Jesus was born amongst the Jews 500 years later. In 70 AD the Jewish people revolted against the Romans and were defeated and consequently scattered amongst the nations for nearly 2000 years until the Jewish state of Israel was created in 1948.

“Not all dimensions of the promises, however, would go to Joseph and his descendants. Judah would receive a promise with an important spiritual dimension. Through Jacob God gave the prophecy that 'the sceptre [ruler's staff] shall not depart from Judah' (Genesis 49:10). That prophecy pointed both to the dynasty of Israel's future king, David, and to the role of Jesus, also of the tribe of Judah and a descendant of David, as the Messiah (Luke 1:32; Hebrews 7:14; Revelation 5:5). Christ is destined to rule the earth as King of Kings (Revelation 11:15; 17:14; 19:16)” (The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy, p.10).

God promised David that his throne would last forever (2 Samuel 7:12-16, Psalm 89:3-4). When Babylon conquered the Jews, Nebuchadnezzar killed King Zedekiah and all of his sons (Jeremiah 37:1-9) seemingly destroying all of the royal line. God, however, used the prophet Jeremiah to keep the royal line going by taking one of the king's daughters to the British Isles (Jeremiah 1:10, 43:5-7, Isaiah 37:31-32, Ezekiel 17:22-23). This same dynasty has remained unbroken through the kings of Ireland, then Scotland and today in the royal family of Great Britain (The United States and Britain in Prophecy, p.99-102).

The UCG booklet, “The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy” goes into much detail showing how the “lost” ten tribes eventually migrated to North-West Europe and how the birthright tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim can be identified as the great nation of America and the company of nations known as the British Commonwealth, just as God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob thousands of years earlier.

In this end-time age before the return of Jesus Christ, they suddenly became the greatest and most influential nations the world has ever seen, just when Jacob said they would in Genesis 49. The incredible birthright blessings that Joseph's descendants would receive (Genesis 49:22-26) were to happen in the latter days (Genesis 49:1).

The Jewish Encyclopaedia says the following: "The identification of the Sacae, or the Scythians [recognised by most historians as the ancestors of the British peoples] with the Ten Tribes because they appear in history at the SAME TIME and very nearly in the SAME PLACE, as the Israelites removed by Shalmaneser, is one of the chiefs supports of the theory which identifies the English people, and indeed the whole Teutonic race, with the Ten Tribes. Dan is identified sometimes with Denmark and sometimes with the Tuatha da Danaan of Irish Tradition" (p.250)

Speaking before students at the Glasgow University in 1900, British Prime Minister, Lord Roseberry made the following comments about the British Empire: "Human, and not wholly human, for the most heedless and the most cynical must see the finger of the divine...reaching with a ripple of a restless tide over tracts, and islands and continents, until our little Britain woke up to find herself the foster-mother of nations and the source of united empires. Do we not hail in this, less the energy and fortune of a race than the supreme direction of the Almighty?"

British histori mes Morris wrote the following about the British Empire: "It was the largest empire in the history of the world, comprising nearly a quarter of the land mass of the earth, and a quarter of the population...In fact...it continued to grow until 1933 when its area was 13.9 million square miles and its population 493 million...The Roman Empire in its prime comprised perhaps 120 million people in an area of 2.5 million square miles" (Pax Britannica, p.21, 27, 42). At its height the British Empire was over 5 times the size of the Roman Empire and ruled over 4 times as many people as the Roman Empire.

America's rise to greatness was just as incredible. Never before in history had any nation received land to remotely compare with those newly-acquired American territories - either in sheer size, richness of soil and having such a favourable climate. Abraham Lincoln said in 1863:

"We find ourselves in the peaceful possession of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards fertility of soil, extent of territory, and salubrity of climate... We...find ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them." Britain and America also possessed "the gates of their enemies" (Genesis 22:17) including sea gates such as the Suez and Panama canals and Gibraltar.

“A great achievement of British administrators was the establishment and extension of law and order in Britain's colonial and imperial territories around the globe. This alone brought untold blessings to the people of these territories…

“The British proved to be able administrators who dramatically improved the infrastructure and standard of living in the countries they governed. Although all aspects of their administration were not always carried out as justly and equitably as they should have been, God's prophesied intent was accomplished. The sons of Joseph led the world into an era of unprecedented knowledge, prosperity and technological advancement. For the first time the Bible, plus biblically oriented reference works and publications, began to be distributed globally.

”The United States, after pursuing an isolationist policy for many years, was eventually forced by events beyond her control to also take a larger role in world affairs - becoming the international model for freedom and individual rights…The United States emerged from World War II as the most powerful nation in the world…Since then both the United States and Britain have funnelled many more billions in foreign aid to other countries. These are some of the ways Britain and the United States have been a blessing to the nations of the world. Along with those blessings, however, have been some misguided efforts and injustices. Such is the legacy of greatly blessed nations that have neglected to obey the God who blessed them…

“Although American military, economic, industrial and technical power still reigns supreme, the spiralling moral decay of the United States does not bode well for the future. The biblically based values on which the founding fathers and American people built the United States of America have given way to denial of God and the same kind of self-serving materialistic orientation that led to the collapse of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah” (The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy, p.36, 41).

5] Will Israel ever become God's model nation?

The people of Israel have only ever partially fulfilled God's purpose for them to be a model nation to the rest of the world. Anciently they were at their best when Solomon ruled a mighty Israelite empire that briefly stretched from Egypt to the Euphrates River. In modern times Britain and America have morally been at their peak between 1800 and 1950. They, too, have only partially been a true model nation to the rest of the world.

Since the sexual and moral revolution of the 1960's, America and Britain, along with Australia, New Zealand and Canada, have suffered a terrible moral degeneration with crime and sexual immorality and other sins rapidly escalating as they drift further and further away from God and His way of life. During the 1960's when the sexual revolution began Britain's empire rapidly shrunk with decolonization and signs of decay in America's power and political will began to show with their defeat in the Vietnam War. The birthright blessings were beginning to be taken away and replaced with the terrible curses for disobedience mentioned in Leviticus 26:14-39 and Deuteronomy 28:14-68.

What does the future hold for Israel and will Israel ever fulfill its destiny and become a true model nation to the rest of the world?

In Deuteronomy 4:25-31 we read: “When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. And there you will serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

“When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.”

Notice the time frame for when they will turn to God in true repentance – the latter days. It will be in the end-time at the end of man's rule and the beginning of God's rule when Jesus Christ returns.

In the UCG booklet “The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy” we read: “Only when they are humbled to the point of repenting of their sins will they be able to fulfil their God-ordained destiny of serving as a blessing to the nations. This wonderful future, however, will be preceded by the severest of trials. As Moses delivered the ancient Israelites from Egyptian slavery, Jesus Christ is coming to deliver modern Britain and America and the other Israelite-descended nations from an end-of-the-age [captivity] by a modern religious and political system called 'Babylon the great' (Revelation 17), centered in Europe.

“Jeremiah wrote of a time of national trouble that is yet ahead for the modern descendants of the lost 10 tribes of Israel. Notice their condition when Christ returns: 'For behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel AND Judah ... And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it' (Jeremiah 30:3).

”Then Jeremiah describes why God will have to intervene and save modern Israelites. 'Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day,' says the LORD of hosts, 'that I will break his yoke from your neck, and will burst your bonds; foreigners shall no more enslave them' (verses 7-8). Notice that the 'yoke' and 'bonds' that enslave the descendants of Jacob are placed on them by 'foreigners' - enemy nations.

“It is out of this foreign domination and enslavement that Christ will deliver them at His second coming. This will be the time when King David and Christ's 12 apostles - along with all the rest of God's saints - will be resurrected to begin ruling with Christ over a restored Israel in the Kingdom of God (Ezekiel 37:24; Matthew 19:28)” (p.42, 44).

When Christ returns He will bring the remaining Israelites of all the tribes back to the land of Palestine in an exodus that will be even bigger than that of Moses' day.

“'Therefore behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord, 'that it shall no more be said, 'The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,' but, 'The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.' For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers” (Jeremiah 16:14-15).

The nation of Israel divided into two kingdoms in the days of Solomon's son, Rehoboam. Ezekiel prophesied that at Christ's return the two kingdoms will be re-united as one nation – the Jews and the other tribes led by Joseph (America and Britain) will be one united nation (Ezekiel 37:15-23).

In Ezekiel 20:34-36 God says to His people at that time: “I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, ighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you, says the Lord God. I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.”

They will be prepared in the wilderness and be offered the new covenant before they enter the Holy Land. They will be very humbled and repentant at this time after their awful slavery. They will loathe themselves for all the terrible sins they committed which led to God having to punish them (Ezekiel 20:43).

In Ezekiel 36:27-28 God says to them: “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.”

Isaiah prophesied that in the millennium that “Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit” (Isaiah 27:6). In the millennium God says to Israel: “For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations” (Isaiah 54:3). Hosea also wrote that in the millennium that Israel's “branches shall spread” (Hosea 14:6) which is the same phrase used by Jacob to describe how Joseph's descendants spread around the world in the days of the British Empire and colonized many nations (Genesis 49:22). Like in the days of the British Empire, they will go into other nations (Isaiah 14:1-3), help rebuild their cities, develop their civil infrastructure and teach them God's way of life.

Today the Jews and Americans are hated by many nations, particularly the Arab nations. This will all change in the millennium when all nations will praise them as they live by God's way of life. They will truly be an outstanding example of righteousness for the Gentiles nations to follow as they submit to Jesus Christ's rule over them. “Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed” (Isaiah 61:9). “The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory” (Isaiah 62:2).

The Gentiles nations will see how well they are blessed because they are following God and eagerly seek their guidance. “Yes, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you'” (Zechariah 8:22-23). All nations will keep the Feast of Tabernacles and the other Holy Days of God (Zechariah 14:16).

Isaiah also wrote of this future eagerness of the Gentile nations to follow Israel's example and learn God's ways. “Many people shall come and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem'” (Isaiah 2:3).

“The glory of the restored Israel will shine far greater than Israel's golden age under Solomon or that of any other nation or kingdom the world has ever seen. It will all come about because Christ will be the Head of the nation. Through its Creator Israel will gain 'fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth' (Zephaniah 3:20). Israel will finally become the example God intended her to be (The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy, p.47).

6] What do you mean by a Spiritual Jew or a Spiritual Israelite?

Jesus said the following to a Gentile woman from Samaria: “You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). When Jesus said that salvation is only for Jews He was not referring to physical Jews but spiritual Jews.

What is a spiritual Jew and how does one differ from a physical Jew? In Romans 2:28-29 Paul writes: “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”

The Jewish people are only one of the twelve tribes of Israel and they descend from Jacob's son, Judah. The name “Judah” means “Praised of God”. The example set by the Jewish people has not always been worthy of praise from God. Paul is saying that it is better to be a spiritual Jew living a life worthy of God's praise than simply to be a physical Jew who has undergone the physical ritual of circumcision. True circumcision is that of the heart – to have a heart that is gentle and soft and willing to live God's way (Deuteronomy 10:16, 30:6). Spiritual Jews are those who have received God's spirit and who's life is worthy of God's praise.

Judah's name means “Praised of God”. Israel's (Jacob's) name means “Overcomer with God”. One can be a physical Israelite having descended from Israel (Jacob) but to be a true spiritual Israelite one needs to be a part of God's church and be an “overcomer with God”.

In Romans 9:3-8 Paul draws for us a distinction between physical Israel (the physical descendants of Jacob/Israel) and spiritual Israel (the church). Paul says the following: “For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises...

“But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, 'In Isaac your seed shall be called.' That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.” Notice that he says they are not all Israel (spiritual Israelites) who are of Israel (physical Israel).

In Romans 11 Paul wrote: “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew…Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written: 'God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day'” (Romans 11:1-2, 7-8).

We have seen that the people of Israel broke the covenant they made with God and that they went into captivity. They did not receive salvation – the elect (those called into the church) have. The physical nation/s of Israel have been blinded to God's truth not having God's spirit.

Paul then goes on to say: “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!” (Romans 11:11-12).

Beginning with Cornelius in the early New Testament church, God's spirit and salvation has been offered to the Gentiles. Israel fell but when they turn to God and they live God's way to the full in the future it will be a great blessing to the world.

Paul continues: “For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry…And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches” (Romans 11:13, 17-18).

Just like a branch grafted onto a tree, God replaced the disobedient and unbelieving "branches" with "wild olive branches" – Gentile people not directly descended from Abraham, who have been called and become spiritual Israelites.

The tree in this analogy represents the people that God is actively working with. In the Old Testament He actively worked with the physical Israelites, even though they didn't have the Holy Spirit. They were called the congregation or church in the wilderness in Acts 7:38. The word congregation or church means “called out ones”.

They rejected Him and so God cast them off and has begun working instead with those called into the church – spiritual Israelites who include Gentiles. Those Gentile christians are the “wild olive branches” who are grafted into the tree representing those people God is actively working with who are called the “Israel of God” in Galatians 6:16.

Paul continues: “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:22-26).

Paul tells these Gentiles not to boast against the physical Israelites who are not a part of the church. God may have called them ahead of those physical Israelites but their time for salvation will eventually come. God may have cut them off as branches but they can be grafted back on again to the “Israel of God” when God calls them in the millennium and Great White Throne Judgment period.

The New Covenant will not be made with those who remain spiritual Gentiles. The covenants and the promises pertain to Israel (Romans 9:4). The Gentiles were cut off from the covenants and from God. In Ephesians 2:11-13 Paul wrote: “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh…were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Now through Jesus Christ's sacrifice and being called them into the church God has granted access to the New Covenant to physical Gentiles by grafting them into spiritual Israel - the church.

God is preparing the Kingdom of God in dual stages. He is working both through physical Israel AND spiritual Israel - the church. He has been working with our Israelite nations giving them the birthright promises and seeing what they will do with them. At the same time He is working with spiritual Israel – His church who are called “a royal priesthood, a holy nation” in 1 Peter 2:9. Like physical Israel they are to be a model people and an example of God's way of life (Matthew 5:13-16).

The church started with physical Israelites and then God began to call Gentiles (Romans 1:16). The original 12 apostles primarily preached to the Jews as well as travelling to Asia Minor and Europe where the lost tribes were (Matthew 10:6, Galatians 2:7, James 1:1). After Acts 15 little is heard of the original 12 apostles. Luke wrote the book of Acts primarily to show the transition between God working just with physical Israelites to God calling and working with Gentiles.

God's punishment will come first on Israel and then on the Gentiles (Isaiah 10:5-12). After Christ returns God will first work with physical Israel and offer them the chance to be spiritual Israelites and then, through their example when they do repent, God will open up salvation to the Gentile nations. Israel will become God's model nation and all nations will be blessed because of their example.

After Israel fulfils its destiny as God's model nation in the World Tomorrow all nations will become God's chosen people. ”In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, 'Blessed is Egypt (Arabs) My people, and Assyria (Germany) the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance'” (Isaiah 19:24-25). God truly has a wonderful plan to save all mankind and bring them into His family!


Summary

1] Who are the Israelites?

·   A few centuries after the Flood God chose Abraham and promised to develop his descendants into a group of influential nations chosen for the purpose of teaching and illustrating His values and way of life to the rest of the world (Genesis 12:1-3, 17:5-6).
·   Israel was the name that God gave to Abraham's grandson, Jacob, which means “Overcomer with God” (Genesis 32:28). Jacob had 12 sons and from those sons descended the 12 tribes of Israel. Only one of those 12 tribes are the Jewish people or the Jews as they are called.

2] Why Did God Choose Israel?

        God chose Israel for three important reasons -:

1] To be a model nation that would encourage other nations to want to come under God's rule (Exodus 19:3-8, Deuteronomy 4:6-8).
2] To prove that even with the knowledge of God's laws and every other advantage that man still needs the Holy Spirit to live by God's way of life. God knew they would break their covenant with Him ahead of time (Deuteronomy 31:20-21).
3] To write through the painful lessons of experience that only living God's way leads to happiness and breaking God's laws only brings misery (1 Corinthians 10:1-11).

3] What do you mean by the Old Covenant and the New Covenant?