The Transformation of Physical Israel
Isaiah 50: 1 says that God divorced Israel because of transgressions. "Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away."
And Jeremiah 3: 6-8 says "The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. 7. And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8. And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also."
Though Israel as a whole people or nation was divorced by God as his chosen people - through whom the messiah would come to bring salvation - there is the remnant
of Israel in scripture. Some of those of the Old Covenant who had faith are listed in Hebrews 11. Isaiah 10: 20-22 says "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. 22. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness."
We will see that the majority of apostate physical Israel was pared down or cut back in several New Testament parables.
Paul quotes Isaiah 10: in Romans 9: 27, "Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:"
There is a thread running through the Old Testament predicting that transformation of Israel confined to the literal-physical and to the "shadows" into Israel reborn in Christ Jesus to become the spiritual house of I Peter 2: 5.
The thread begins in II Kings 21: 13, "And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down."
God promises to wipe Jerusalem clean and turn it upside down. Guess who "Jerusalem" is here? Its "all Israel."
This thread picks up again in Isaiah 29: 16, "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?"
Isaiah 29: 16 points to Jeremiah 18: 1-6, the parable of the potter. God is represented as the potter. "The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2. Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
3. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
4. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
6. O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel."
God made a pot on the potter's wheel from a lump of clay, representing physical Israel. But the pot, or vessel, was marred, so the potter, as God, made the same lump of clay into another vessel which seemed good to God the potter.
Physical-literal Israel was not replaced by the Catholic Church as a body of Christ different from Israel. Calvinism and orthodox Lutheranism did not totally follow the Catholic claim to have replaced Israel with its "Church," the capital C Church. Calvinism and Lutheranism sort of mixed the "church,"with Israel reborn in Christ. They talked about the "church" as though it is a different body of Christ, but at the same time they often said that their "church" and the Israel of God (Galatians 6: 16) are one and the same.
The cutting back process of apostate physical Israel is described in at least three major parables, Romans 11, Luke 13: 6-9 and in John 15: 5-6.
Israel is represented as the good olive tree of Romans 11, where the Israelites who did not believe on Christ were cut off the tree, and Gentile believers were grafted in. Paul in Romans 11: 5 says "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." He began Romans 11 in saying that "I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." If we put Romans 11: 5 together with Romans 11: 1, Paul is saying that God has not cast away all of his people, but has brought a remnant out of the Old Covenant into the New Covenant.
The fig tree in Luke 13: 6-9 represents Israel, all Israel. In verse
7 the owner of the tree, God the Father, said to cut the tree down, because
it was bearing no fruit. But the dresser of the vineyard, Christ, asked the Father
to allow him to work with the fig tree, and if after that it bears no fruit, then we will cut it down.
Luke 13: 6-9 says "He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. 7. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? 8. And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: 9. And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down."
The Father said to cut down the tree, meaning to cast away, or divorce, all Israel. But the dresser, as Christ, wanted to work with the tree to cause it to bear fruit again.
Then in John 15: 5-6 Christ says he is the vine. In verses 6-7
Christ says if a person does not abide in him, he is cast forth as a branch and becomes withered. The branches that do not abide, or remain, in Christ are then burned.
These parables indicate that Christ reduced all Israel, or pared it down, so it would bear fruit. That part of all Israel which was transformed into Israel reborn in Christ (John 3: 1-6) was a remnant. Yet as Jeremiah 3: 8 says, God put away Israel and gave her a divorce. Yet he, in Christ, kept a remnant of old physical Israel which became reborn in Christ and that remnant bore fruit in the work of the Apostles and other physical Israelites after the Day of Pentecost.
In all three of the New Testament parables the
trees and the vine represent Israel, and in all three Israel is pruned back
because of unbelief.
There is an interesting parable of these two trees and the vine in the Old Testament, in Judges 9: 8-15. "The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us.
9. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?
10. And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us.
11. But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?"
But in Judges 9: 14-15 there are these interesting verses; "Then
said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us.
15. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me
king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not,
let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon."
They wanted the bramble to be their king rather than God. In other
words, they wanted to follow the ways of man rather than of God. Following the ways of man rather than the ways of God also meant, for the ancient Israelites, that they followed some doctrines and practices of man rather than those of God
But a little leaven leavens the whole loaf.
And "shadow" is used in the New Testament as a kind of metaphor - in
Colossians 2: 16-17, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in
drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the
sabbath days: 17. Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ"
And in Hebrews 10: 1, "For the law having a shadow of good things to
come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers
thereunto perfect."
A "shadow" is of darkness, and not the light. The Old Covenant is a
shadow of the substance that is the New Covenant. The Old Covenant
was physical - entry was by the physical, literal DNA of Abraham,
males were circumcised in their literal flesh, and the temple was a
literal, physical building.
The substance, which is the New Covenant transformed Israel into the
spiritual. This is what the parables of the fig tree and the vine
are about, getting rid of the unfruitful part of Israel.
And this is what Paul picks up on in re-defining "all Israel" into two Israels,
one the unfruitful apostate physical Israel, who Christ pruned back, or divorced, and
the other Israel who as a remmant of physical Israel was reborn in Christ. Paul emphasizes
this distinction between unfruitful, apostate Israel and Israel reborn in Christ in Romans
2:28-29, Romans 9: 6-8, and in Galatians 4: 25-26.
In Galatians 3: 14-29 Paul articulates the transformation of the promise of the Abrahamic covenant of Genesis 17: 7-10, as being a change from obtaining entry into the the chosen people of God by race, that is, by physical descent from Abraham (Genesis 17: 7-9), to entry into the elect of the Lord by faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3: 27). He makes it clear in Galatians 3: 28-29 that entry into the elect of God is no longer by genetic
descent from Abraham, but by faith in Christ, by being Christ's.
Jesus Christ, Paul explains in Galatians 3: 16, is the seed, the one seed of Abraham. Christ is the one seed of Abraham by whom the remnant of physical Israel is transformed in him into the spiritual house mentioned in I Peter 2: 5. I Peter 2: 9 goes on to say that Christians are then "...a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy people, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."
Christ as the seed of Abraham in a sense becomes Israel when he is born in human flesh on earth.
Hosea 11: 1: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called
my son out of Egypt."
Matthew 2: 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."
Isaiah 49: 1-7 says "Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The
LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath
he made mention of my name. 2. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver
hath he hid me; 3. And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will
be glorified. 4. Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength
for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and
my work with my God. 5. And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his
servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered,
yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be
my strength. 6. And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my
servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved
of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that
thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. 7. Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to
him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant
of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship,
because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and
he shall choose thee."
Exodus 4: 21-23 says "And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt,
see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in
thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the
people go. 22. 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."
Though Christ is God, he is called Israel in Exodus 4: 22. And Isaiah 49: 3 refers back to verse 1, "The Lord hath called me from the womb," which is Christ. Hosea 11: 1 also refers to Christ as Israel.
So, before Christ converted his disciples, he represented Israel after he had pared down apostate Israel. Israel reborn in Christ is spiritually descended from Jesus Christ, just as old physical Israel was literally the physical descendants of Abraham. Those in Christ can only be Christ's, and as Christ's they are Israel, but not the Israel Paul in Romans 9: 8 says "They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God," meaning if they are only the children of the flesh, descendants from Abraham, and not spirtitual children of Christ, they are not God's.
"But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matthew 15: 24. Gentiles have been able to join with that remnant of Israel which is reborn in Christ (Romans 11: 17, 20).
