Jesus And His People Are Israel

For a more elaborate treatise on Jesus Concerning Israel, the Land, the Temple, and the City, please click here to purchase a copy of my book.

Concerning Christ the Messiah, the Spirit of God proclaims through Isaiah the prophet (and even afterward through Paul):

“You are My Servant, Israel, 

in Whom I will display My splendor….

to be His Servant to bring back Jacob to Him

and gather Israel unto Himself….

to restore the tribes of Jacob 

and bring back those of Israel 

I have kept [reserved for Myself]. 

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, 

that You may bring My salvation to the ends of the earth…

I will keep You and make You to be a covenant for the people...

Neither circumcision or uncircumcision means anything; 

what counts is a new creation. 

Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, 

even to the Israel of God” 

(Isaiah 49:3, 5, 6, 8; Gal. 6:15-16). 

Selah!

The million dollar question is: Who, truly, is Israel? Should it even be a question at all? For many, it isn’t; and the issue is settled once-and-for-all for them that naturally born Jews are the only ones that are to be called by the name “Israel.” 

With regards to this idea of who is Israel, the answer for them is quite naturally clear and plain; almost self-evident to the natural thinking and reasoning mind. And so anybody with such natural reasoning can figure this out, right? But is it all really just as simple as that? Even those who are naturally born into so-called “Jewish” families aren’t even really full-blooded Jews themselves. No one is absolutely sure with regards to any of this anymore, yet nevertheless everyone looks upon them as “Israel.” We will discuss this explosive subject in a little more detail later.

Israel in history has always been like a big question waiting for a proper answer. Whenever those who claimed to be Israel assumed that Israel was a fixed, ethnic group—a people naturally self-evident to all—the prophets issued strong warnings often to the contrary. They pointed to a time when a remnant of Gentiles, who were once foreigners and strangers to the covenants of promise, would one day become even as natural-born Jewish citizens to be joined with a remnant chosen by God within Israel and partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree, as Paul elaborates for us in Romans 11, and for whom he also says are called Abraham’s children of promise, or seed (cp. Isa 24:14-16; 43:3-9; 49:11-12 with Mat. 8:11; Lke. 13:29 and Gal. 3:29). Indeed, Gentiles have been grafted into this olive tree, where, on the surface, like those who can claim to be naturally-born Jews, no one can really tell the difference between who it is that is really a natural born Jew as opposed to one who isn’t, being adopted as sons through the work of Christ on the cross. For in God’s sight it never was about natural descent. He is not a respecter of persons.

Isaiah also speaks of such a time as this that we are now living in when God would, “pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring, and My blessing on your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams. One will say, ‘I belong to the Lord;’ another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and will take on the name of Israel” (44:3-5).

Notice how the phrase, “will take on the name of Israel” is commonly understood in the Hebrew to be translated as: “will surname himself by the name of Israel” (see KJV, NKJV, ASV, DRB, DBT, ERV, WBT, and YLT translations). This Hebrew word for “surname” is found only one more time in the OT, in the very next chapter in Isaiah 45:4, where God names (or “surnames”) a future Persian king that was to arrive on the scene much later in Israel’s history and be called Cyrus: “For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me” (KJV; see also AKJV, ASV, DBT, ERV, WBT, WEB, YLT). This idea of “surnaming” someone with a name is also discovered in the Greek NT, in Acts 15:37, where it talks about Barnabas wanting to take John, who is also called, or, literally “surnamed” Mark (see also Vine’s Expos. Dict. with regards to this keen insight).i

To surname someone, by definition means, “a name that a person has in common with others, as distinguished from a Christian (or christened) name or a given family name.”ii In other words, it is a name that is added to a person’s name, “indicating a circumstance of birth or some characteristic or achievement; an epithet” (Ibid). For example, Richard the Lion-hearted is an epithet or surname for Richard I. Similarly, when a person follows Christ he assumes the name or epithet of, “Christian.”

With regards to Cyrus, his name means, “the sun,” like the sun that rules over the day; while the moon in the Scriptures is said to rule over the night. Often the sun (and the moon) is an epithet in the Scriptures for one who rules over others, and of which the Bible often says many times over would also be darkened,iii meaning that the glory, splendor, and power of these natural worldly leaders (or luminaries) would be abated. Some even say that the name Cyrus means, “throne.” So, of course, we can very well see why Cyrus was given this name by God. His very name, whether meaning “throne” or “sun,” denoted one who would rule. God often did this with people before they were born, and even sometimes renamed them years later after they were born.

Now unlike Cyrus who was surnamed by God prior to even being born, in our case the name Israel is a name that we ascribe to ourselves after the fact that we have spiritually become Abraham’s children; kind of like Abram being surnamed Abraham, Sarai becoming Sarah, Jacob becoming Israel, Simon becoming Peter, Saul becoming Paul, and a British person being called an American once becoming a citizen of the United States.

All of this is to only show us that someone takes on a name given to them by someone other than themselves, and that is different from what they would naturally receive when being born, such as the natural descendents of Israel who are automatically recognized as “Israel” at birth. Natural born Israelites are not “surnamed” with this name later in life; it is theirs by birthright; and neither is God talking about Gentile proselytes converting to Judaism. That is the furthest thing from His mind here in these passages in Isaiah 44:1-5.

It is pretty much the common consensus, among all of the older commentators, that these verses in Isaiah 44:3–5 predict the future outpouring of God’s Spirit presently now upon a remnant out of natural Israel, along with an ingathering of a remnant out of the Gentiles as well, who publicly profess their allegiance to God and to His true people, Israel not according to the flesh. As Keil and Delitzsch in their commentary on Isaiah note here: “the heathen…will count it the greatest honor to belong to Jehovah and His people….The threefold zeh [of one saying he will belong to Jehovah, of a second one who takes on the name of Jacob, and of a third one who inscribes himself with Jehovah’s name and even taking upon himself the name of Israel] refers to the heathen, as in Psm. 87:4–5.”iv And as Albert Barnes remarks here with regards to these verses: “to call one’s self by the same name as another, is indicative of friendship and affection; and is expressive of a purpose to be united with him, and to identify our interests with his. The idea is that which one would express by saying, that he cast in his interest with the people of God, or he became identified with them; as we now say, a man calls himself by the name of Christ, i.e., a Christian.”v

What is the most obvious thing that happens when a woman marries a man? For one, she changes her name! She no longer bears her old name, but that of her husband’s; and she not only shares in his name, but also in his possessions. Everything that belonged to him, belongs to her. When we married Christ and were joined to Him in holy matrimony, all that was His became ours—including His name! Surely if natural men and women can outwardly become Jewish proselytes and be identified as "Israel" and as "Jews," how much more so those who are joined to Christ and become actually one in Him inwardly? Isn’t this what Paul meant when he said that one isn’t a Jew who is one outwardly, but who is one inwardly? And that they are not all Israel who are of Israel? We have two different types of Jews and two different types of Israelites here: one that is a Jew and an Israelite outwardly, and one who is Jew and an Israelite indeed inwardly. We have a type and an antitype. And all made up of both natural Jews and Gentiles, which is not so dissimilar to those who become proselytes with natural Israel and who take on their name for themselves as well.

Now as I was saying, no natural born Jew would have to “surname” themselves with the name of Israel, since they are already born with that name. This was nothing unusual or out of the ordinary for them to call themselves. It just came naturally by birth. It was not a “surname,” by this definition of the term, that came after they were initially christened with that name. If I am christened with the name Stephen at birth, that is one thing. But for me to later call myself “Israel,” then this is indeed a surname that goes well beyond something that I was just christened with or received when naturally born. So, what God can only be referring to here in Isaiah is to a people who would one day become citizens of spiritual Israel, and who would thereby take on a new epithet (or name) given to them by God through Christ; even as Paul writes concerning Gentile believers in Christ: “remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For He himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility….Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (Eph. 2:12-14, 19). Can Paul’s words be any more clearer to us here than this? Christ has “made the two, ONE.” They are no longer two ethnic groups, but ONE! They are one olive tree (cf. Rom. 11:13ff). As such, they are combined as one to make up the one, true, spiritual, Israel of God with no difference whatsoever between them! Israelites don’t become Gentiles, but Gentiles now become true Israelites indeed, as do Israelis who convert to Christ! This holy and blessed “citizenship,” of both Jews and Gentiles, has been born or created by God from above...even “in heaven” as Paul declares for us in Philippians (Php. 3:20). These heavenly citizens, as also noted in Gal. 4:21-31, belong not to the earthly Jerusalem and Israel born only of natural descent, and who are in slavery with her children (and notice how Paul says they are not “our” children), but we belong to the heavenly city, or the New Jerusalem from above. It is the “new thing” that Isaiah the prophet had prophesied about in chapter 43:19-21. It is the new creation created in Christ Jesus that is born not of natural descent, nor by the will of man, but of God, like Isaac and Jacob and all such children of promise.

Indeed, in Psalm 87, the sons of Korah speak of a time when, “this one and that one are born in her” (v. 5, i.e., in Zion or Israel), with “this one and that one” referring to Gentiles such as: Rahab, Babylon, and those of Philistia, Tyre, and Cush. Thus, this city being referred to can only be the heavenly city made up of all kinds of people and even called “the mother of us all,” the “bride of Christ,” and the “assembly of the firstborn-ones” that Paul (Gal. 4), John (Rev. 21:1-2, 9-10), and even the author of Hebrews (Heb. 12:22) speaks about, and of whom these sons of Korah proclaim, “the Lord will write in the register of the peoples” (Psm. 87:6; i.e., in God’s book of life).

How could such a thing be, wherein Gentiles are “born in her” (or in Israel) and included in the citizenry or “the register of the peoples”? Such a thing can only be realized and accomplished by the person and work of Jesus Christ and all those who are born as "the children of promise" like Isaac, in and through the creative act of God. And since Christ is called “Israel,” as denoted above in Isaiah 49 (and even in Hosea 11:1), everyone born in and through Him “surnames” themselves with His name: “Israel”; thus becoming His true children and the true children of Abraham. This is what Paul tells us in Galatians when he talks about all of this, and then sandwiches the words of Isaiah the prophet in the middle of his comments to buttress these ideas,

But the Jerusalem that is above is free, 

and she is our mother. For it is written:

“Be glad, O barren woman, who bears no children;

break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labor pains;

because more are the children of the desolate woman

than of her who has a husband.”

Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 

At that time the son born in the ordinary way 

persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. 

It is the same now (Gal. 4:26-29).

Contrary to the popular opinions and notions in Christ’s day, and even today, natural born Jews are in no way, shape, manner, or form, “the children of promise” that are given to Abraham by God. For even John the Baptist said to them, “Do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for God is able to make of these stones children of Abraham” (Mat. 3:9). And again Christ says, “If you were Abraham’s children, then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me…Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does….You belong to your father the devil” (Jhn. 8:39-41, 44). Christ says they are not the true sons of Abraham! And if that were not enough, Christ once more says, “I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your [our] feet and acknowledge that I have loved you [us]” (Rev. 3:9). That He has loved who? That He has loved us, not them! Again, who? All who are the children of promise who are “born by the power of the Spirit”—like Isaac.

Ezekiel, likewise, spoke of this time when Gentiles would become as if they were naturally-born Israelites and citizens, and even be allotted portions in the land, something that was just unheard of before this time:

You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who have settled among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe the alien settles, there you are to give him his inheritance,” declares the Sovereign Lord (Ezk. 47:21-23).

Ezekiel was prophesying about the time that we are living in right now. None of this is to be taken literally! Oh, it is really and literally happening alright, but not in the way that most people are expecting it all to be played out. This was a vision portraying what was going to happen in and through Christ when the Gentiles who were once not the people of God, would become the people of God with full citizenship rights, including taking on the name of “Israel.” This is not in a future age with literal rebuilt temples and animal sacrifices being offered once again, along with the reinstatement of the Levitical priesthood, literal circumcision, the festivals, the new moons, and Sabbath days. If one believes that then they don’t believe in, or accept, the finished work of Christ on the cross in which all of these copies, types, and shadowy figures portrayed. They are preaching and teaching another gospel and are erecting the dividing-wall all over again between both Jews and Gentiles. If anything could be coined as “anti-Semitic,” this is it brethren! It is pitting the Jews against the Gentiles as the true people of God, when they are not, and depicts any Gentile who is in Christ as a second-class citizen and inferior to any naturally born Jew. But nothing could be further from the truth. As Paul declared, they are not all “Israel,” which are descendants of Israel, but only "the children of promise" born by the power of the Spirit are counted for the seed. In all honesty, naturally born Jews are not in any sense of the words, “the children of God,” but are in fact of their father the Devil, as I recall Christ saying!

As Paul (and I might add God) clearly elaborates for us, the prophets announced that though natural Israel would be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant chosen by grace as “the children of promise” would be saved (Isaiah 10:20-23; Amos 9; Micah 7:18: Rom. 9:27, 29). Therefore, in light of all this, Paul could confidently say, “they are not all Israel who are descendants of Israel”vi (Rom. 9:6, Webster’s Trans.). In the context of Romans chapter 9, Paul is not referring to people such as Ishmael and Esau, who are not called Israel like the natural descendants of Israel; and neither is he referring to those who are strictly just natural descendants of Isaac, as some have also erroneously supposed, but Paul is referring to everyone who is personally hand-picked by God, like Isaac and Jacob, and who are called the children of promise “born by the power of the Spirit,” according to Galatians 4:29. And Paul immediately after Romans 9:6 qualifies all this by saying in verse 8: “In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children.” Did you just get that? Did you just hear what Paul has said to us? No “naturally” born child is God’s child—NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM! And this is also why Paul could say to the believing Gentiles of Galatia: “And you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise” (Gal. 4:28). Natural descent has nothing to do with being a "child of promise" (see also Rom. 9:16 and Jhn. 1:13). Preserving natural genealogies is pointless and futile, as Paul further elaborates for us in 1Timothy 1:4, Titus 1:14 and Titus 3:9. They use to be of some benefit under the Old Covenant, particularly as it related to the coming of Christ. But today genealogies no longer preserve, let alone guarantee, anything whatsoever! And they surely never preserved whether or not one was a child of God. Paul says they only “promote controversies rather than God’s work—which is by faith” (1Tim. 1:4b). And so anyone today in Palestine, in the Church, or wherever, who would make this a physical requirement for one being a future Levitical priest in future rebuilt temples, or for any Jew for that matter, is not basing his teachings upon the doctrines of Christ and His Apostles, but upon that of another spirit that is not from above.

It is also important for us to notice that when Paul is trying to differentiate between who is truly “Israel” in Romans 9:6—and by using Isaac and Jacob as illustrations of all such Israelites indeed who are hand-picked by God and born by the power of the Spirit—that he says of all such people similarly hand-picked by God as Isaac that they shall be called (or named) the seed of Israel (v. 7), a point that is overlooked by many. This is extremely vital and important for us to take note of in understanding who it is that Paul is determining is to be called “Israel” amongst naturally born Israelites. And as was said earlier, Paul qualifies this idea in the very next verse: “…it is not the natural children who are God’s children” (in other words, who are to be called spiritual Israel), but “it is the children of promise who are regarded as Abraham’s seed” (v. 8), or, “Israel.” Isn’t this in a round-about-way saying the same thing that was noted of Christ as saying earlier? That any child who is not a child of promise born from above by God is of their father the Devil?

Interestingly, this word “called” in Rom. 9:7 does not mean to call out to someone in order for them to come to us, but means as the context clearly implies, to be called or named “the seed” or, “Israel.” The concern of Paul in establishing who it is that is really to be called the “Israel” of God in verse 6 is established in everyone who is determined by God to be “the children of promise” born not of men, but born of God, just like Isaac and Jacob. They are all those chosen specifically by God who are born by the power of the Spirit and not by natural descent or of the flesh. Paul couldn’t be anymore clearer here. There is no ambiguity or margin for error in understanding what it is that Paul is really trying to tell us here. The true seed or the “children of God” (v. 8), also referred to here as “the children of promise,” are “Israel”―bar none! They are all of God’s (and I might add, Abraham’s) elect sons and daughters in the world, whoever they may be! And note also how that in verses 24–26, Paul includes the Gentiles in this nation and citizenry who are likewise “called” (or named) by God, “My people,” “My loved one” (think also of Jacob earlier in verse 13), and the “sons of the living God.” Again, this word “called” here in this context does not refer to the idea of someone calling out to another to come unto them, but refers to calling them by a certain name.vii All who are in Christ are called "Israel."

From birth I was called or named, Stephen. This was the name given to me whereby I could be identified to myself and to others more specifically as to who I am. Similarly, all children of promise are called by God “Israel,” “My people,” “My loved one,” and “sons” so that we too can know who we are and who we belong to; we are sons and children who are born not of natural descent, but by the power of the Spirit through Christ. Again, all such descendants of Abraham are called “Israel.” And recall that it is also Paul who said, “If you [all of us] belong to Christ, then you [again, all of us] are Abraham’s seed [his children called Israel], and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:29). Are you getting a hold of this? If you are, then blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear, “ye chosen seed of Israel’s race, ye ransomed from the fall. Hail Him who saved you by His grace, and crown Him Lord of all!”viii

Once again, this is exactly what Jesus was saying to the Jews who were attempting to kill him as described earlier above: “Do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’” Even Jesus acknowledged that they were not all the true children of promise who are the only ones that are the “true” children of Abraham. Only all those, similar to Nathaniel, are a true “Israelite indeed.”

Additionally, according to Paul in Galatians chapter four, all such “natural” Jews were more akin to Hagar and Ishmael, rather than to Sarah and Isaac; and even to Esau rather than to Jacob. And it was Christ who also affirmed: “I say to you [naturally born Jews] that many [Gentiles] will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom [you naturally born Jews] will be thrown outside, into the darkness…” (Mat. 8:11).ix  Luke adds to Matthew’s words here that they will also come from the north and south, and additionally refers to this kingdom of Christ’s as “the kingdom of God” (Lke. 13:29). And so contrary to dispensational teaching, the “kingdom of God” and the “kingdom of heaven” are one and the same kingdom that we are now ruling and reigning in. The dispensationalists, who beg to differ, say that the kingdom “of heaven” was a natural earthly kingdom promised to the Jews, whereas the kingdom “of God” is a place in heaven reserved for the Church. But this is a false notion based entirely upon their own human logic and reasoning. Matthew and Luke are describing the selfsame kingdom in which God would bring in the Gentiles to be heirs and joint-heirs and fellow-citizens in God’s kingdom with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all who are God's "children of promise."

According to Paul in Galatians 4, natural Israel, which corresponds to the earthly Jerusalem, is a bond-woman that is to be cast out with her children away from the free-woman and her children of promise, just as Christ was denoted as saying above. She is not to inherit the promises that are restricted only for all those who are the children of promise like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Claiming Abraham as one’s natural father was never to be the basis for claiming the covenantal promises. Faith in God and in Christ was the key to such blessings that were to ever last “forever.” Natural lineage had nothing to with this in the past, and will have nothing to do with this in the future. And anyone who would think otherwise is in for a rude awakening, just like the Jews in Christ’s day, who thought they could claim natural ancestry to being a child of Abraham and who were only in the end judged by Christ in 70 AD, and not saved at all. The same is no less true for all Jews today who do not receive Christ now. There is no future for them outside of Today. “Today, if you will hear His voice harden not your hearts....Today is the day of salvation,” not later! Christ’s kingdom will never come by observation. The only thing that anyone will ever “observe” again will be when He comes a second time to bring salvation to His true people, and wrath to the uttermost upon them who do not know Christ.

The historical Israel is a question waiting for an answer that corresponds to Israel’s calling through Abraham and Sarah as that which was promised to all who are “the children of promise”—nothing more and nothing less! But this answer has been the subject of much debate in contemporary Judaism and even with certain brethren in the Church, even as it also was in the days of the Apostles. And even the answers today in contemporary Judaism of, “Who is a Jew?” vary greatly to the point of contradicting one another. Some claim that a Jew is one who is born a Jew, while others assert today that no one can be born a Jew because being a Jew is a matter of decision, of religion, or of fulfilling a messianic purpose as the messianic Jews contend. Therefore, for many, defining who is “Israel” or who is a “Jew” has become an extremely difficult and ardent task. And because the modern secular state of Israel as a democracy (not as a theocracy) embraces religious and non-religious Jews, Israel has thus found it difficult to say with any certainty who it is that is definitely a Jew.

In fact, the 1973 Encyclopedia Britannica states with regards to the Jews as being a pure race any longer: “The findings of physical anthropology show that, contrary to popular view, there is no Jewish race” (vol. 12, p. 1,054). Over 90% of them are said to be either Ashkenazim or Sephardim Jews. The former being from the bloodline of the Khazars in the southwest regions of the Soviet Union next to the Caspian Sea, and that converted to the Jewish religion around the 10th century and formed the beginnings of the Zionist movement that began to reoccupy Palestine; with the latter Sephardim Jews being a mixture from the regions of Spain.

The common consensus amongst natural Jews today of who is a Jew has its roots in the traditional Jewish answer which has always emphasized an allegiance to the Torah, devotion to studying the Law, and observing all 613 legal precepts. That this is the norm is seen in what Judaism requires of all of its proselytes. The converts are required to accept the Torah, including the Oral Law (which is the rabbinic interpretation of the Law), to be circumcised if a male, and to be immersed in water. Thus, one who becomes a Jew is expected to live according to the Jewish legal system and way of life. And yet such a Jewishness about one’s self that is closely related to the beliefs and practices of Judaism must be distinguished actually from Judaism itself. And since the homogeneity of modern Judaism has been divided, due to it being a democracy, this distinction becomes even more difficult as religious and even non-religious atheistic Jews (yes, “atheistic” Jews) argue for a definition broad enough to include all of them as essentially one and the same―and this includes even homosexual Jews.

Even first-century Judaism contained within its ranks many different understandings of what it meant to be a Jew, as was evidenced in the differing sects of the Essenes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. In fact, some would argue that even Christianity is in some form or way thought to be an extension of Judaism—not in the traditional orthodox rabbinic form—but as a continuation of the messianic or prophetic form of Judaism, such as in the claim of today’s Messianic Jews or Jewish Christians who have not assimilated to Gentile forms of Christianity, and yet refer to themselves nonetheless as “completed Jews” who reject rabbinic Judaism.

So, then, again, “Who is a Jew?” Since there really is no unanimous answer, even from amongst so-called “natural” Jews and from those converted to Judaism, messianic Jews actually say that in asking, “Who is Jesus?” then one is truly asking, “Who is a Jew?” But I would like to take it even a step further that when we are asking, “Who is Jesus?” that we are really asking, “Who is Israel,” aren’t we? According to Isaiah chapter forty-nine, “the Servant,” who is Jesus himself, is also referred to as “Israel,” for Isaiah writes: “He said to me, ‘You are My servant, Israel, in whom I will display My splendor” (v. 3). That we know that Isaiah is not speaking about himself, we have only to read a little further on in verses 6 and 8 to see that this prophecy is talking about the Messiah who was to be “a light to the Gentiles” and “a covenant for the people” (cp. 42:6f), and something that is said of Jesus later in Luke 2:32 and Mat. 26:28 in fulfillment of this promise. Isaiah was never a light to the Gentiles. This passage from Isaiah is also referred to later by Paul of all those who would eventually be Christ’s light-bearers (Acts 13:47), but never are we said to be “a covenant to the people.” Most theologians, by the way, believe that Isaiah 49 is talking about Christ. And Isaiah 42:6 again repeats these very same words concerning this Servant of the Lord: “I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness; I will take Your hand. I will keep You and will make You to be a covenant of the people and a light of the Gentiles.” And notice also how in verses 2-3 of Isaiah here, the Father of all lights says, “He will not shout or cry out, or raise His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out.” These words, Matthew tells us, were once again fulfilled in the person and work of Christ (cf. Mat. 12:19-20). And finally, Isaiah cries out of Christ, “In His law the islands will put their hope” (v. 4)

So this altered form of “who is Israel,” of the original question above posed by the Messianic Jews of “who is a Jew,” does not deny the legitimacy of the Messianic Jew’s claims who assert that the true definition of what it means to be a Jew can only be found in Jesus, because from a Christian’s perspective it is also easy for us to agree with such a notion. But there are other reasons for us asking the question of “who is Israel” other than in the one reason of just laying claim to being a natural Jew who has converted to Christianity.

For as has been noted above, the term even amongst natural Jews (though I do not necessarily mean all those who are naturally born Jews, whatever that means) is very ambiguous. How can a Messianic Jew, who believes in Jesus and becomes a completed Jew, be thus a true Israelite indeed as they claim, if they don’t even know that they are of 100% Jewish blood? Can this truly be what Paul had in mind when he said they are not all Israel which are of Israel, as being those who are of 100% Jewish blood and who have converted to Christianity? Though being an Israelite is often described as being synonymous with the biblical concept of being a naturally born Jew, being a “Jew” or “Jewish” in the land of Palestine today embraces half-breeds, proselytes, both religious and non-religious Jews, atheistic Jews, and is also used in Judaism as a religious, social, and political-economical status of the state itself. So, can this really be who Paul had in mind as those who are “Israel”? Is it just any of these who convert to Christ, just so long as they are not pagan Gentiles? Not at all! Jews who are Messianic Jews, and who claim to be the “Israel” that Paul was talking about, is an absolute fallacy and misnomer. They may be entitled inclusion into this Israel of God, but they do not solely lay claim to this title to the exclusion of non-Jewish converts to Christ such as Gentiles. As Paul has stated, “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, what counts is a new creation in Christ” (Gal. 6:15).

So, if God has made covenants with natural Israel and has promised that people all of the covenantal blessings, how then must “Israel” truly be defined? Jesus, the Apostles, and the entire Old and New Testaments are a record of God’s activity in actually defining for us who it is that “Israel” really is, and thereby answering for us all of the above questions. And the correct biblical answer to these questions is basic to interpreting Abraham, Moses, and all of the prophets. Clearly, the people to whom God initially makes all of the promises to (such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all such children of promise) must also be the same people who receive the fulfillment of all of these promises, and none other, wouldn’t you think? Need I repeat it? The “Israel” of promise (remember again “the children of promise”) must, by all sound biblical reasoning and exegesis, be the true “Israel” of fulfillment. It is just that plain and simple! Therefore it should come as no surprise that all of the New Testament, beginning with the gospel of John the Baptist, Christ, and then also with the apostles, is the unfolding of this mystery kept hidden for the most part since the foundation of the world, even as John’s gospel starts out by saying:

He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him [given to Him by the father no less in Jhn. 6:37, 44], to those [and those alone] who believed in His name [even allotted the faith to believe in 2Pet. 1:1, Wey. trans.], He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God (Jhn. 1:11-13).

Now, since Jesus is called “Israel,” then it stands to reason that all those who are born in and through Him are also called “Israel,” right? For all practical intents and purposes, there is markedly on the outside no difference between any of them, wouldn’t you agree? And so it is exactly for this reason that Isaiah could speak about a people one day who would “surname” and call themselves “Israel.” And this is also why Paul could say that not all natural descendants of Israel are Israel. Because it is only those from out of both Jews and Gentiles that are circumcised in the heart that are to be understood as a true Jew indeed (Rom. 2:29), and even as the true “Israel of God” (Gal. 6:15-16). They are anyone who is born “not of natural descent,” but only by the will and power of God, just as in the examples expressed earlier of Isaac and Jacob that were given by Paul in Romans 9.

And while we are on this subject of Gal. 6:15-16, by now it should  have become fully apparent to all who have been reading this chapter that there has always been a spiritual seed (or an Israel amongst Israel) who are to be regarded as the children of promise, just like Isaac. With regards to the Galatians, Paul had just got through talking about how those of the circumcision, the Judaizers, were not the true people of God (Gal. 4:21-21). Circumcision (Jews) or uncircumcision (Gentiles) doesn’t matter one way of the other. What matters is that of the two ethnic groups there is made one new man or “new creation” in Christ, and thereby, one people or nation (cf. 1Pet. 2:9). Paul then qualifies what he means by this, by saying in verse 17, “All who follow this rule (as just laid out in verse 15 of being one new creation), peace and mercy be upon them”—the true spiritual seed, children, and people of God—and not just upon those who are naturally born Jews. In Galatians, Paul is not concerned about who a true natural born-again Jew is. He is concerned about who is the “new creation” or “the Israel of God” as laid out for us also in Romans 9:6, regardless of our ethnicity of whether we are circumcised or uncircumcised; and regardless of natural descent. As the earlier context has revealed to us in Galatians chapter four, he is concerned about who is born of the new and spiritual City called Jerusalem from above, as opposed to those who are born of the natural and earthly city Jerusalem from below. As said earlier, the Bible is a tale of two cites called Jerusalem, two Israel’s, two temples, two lands, two mountains, two priesthoods, and so on and so forth. Natural Israel (apart from Christ) and all those in league with her are now considered as foreigners and as Gentile dogs who are all “cast out” from God’s holy and spiritual temple and city (Mat. 8:12; Gal. 4:30; Rev. 21:27; 22:14-15).

When God told Abraham that He would bless those who blessed him, little did He mean this to be understood that those who bless natural Israel will be blessed also themselves. Abraham was the friend of God, as well as all of those who have the same faith as him. Natural born Jews without such faith are not God’s friends! As Jesus so poignantly stated on this note, “If you were Abraham’s children then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does” (Jhn. 8:39-41). I too am a man who, in all honesty, is telling you the truth. May peace and mercy be upon all of us (and not upon them), who are the true Israel of God!

Again, in Galatians Paul is concerned about the true, chosen, people of God born of the freewoman, as opposed to those who are not and who are still in bondage and slavery to their sins. The “Israel of God” that Paul is talking about is not just about natural Jews becoming spiritual Jews, but about anyone who becomes this new creation, similar to all those who are now said to belong to the "New Jerusalem" from above in this same chapter. Whether the Greek word kai in Gal. 6:16 means “and” or “even” is really a moot point, and just an argument and mincing over words that is of no profit to the hearers. “All” who follow Paul’s rule or standard, that he just got through laying out for us of what constitutes the true people and Israel of God—are Abraham’s children of promise! And being a child of Abraham equals being called Israel! Surely if a natural born Jew can lay claim to being called Israel, how much more so those who are truly Abraham’s spiritual children according to the same faith as his? We the more so! They, on the other hand, will never again see God nor Abraham that they so often say is their father, but we sure will! So who’s their daddy now?

It is we who are now the true circumcision (Php. 3:3) and the true Jews as opposed to those, “who say they are Jews and are not” (Rev. 2:9; 3:9), and who are really of the synagogue (or assembly) of Satan and of their father the Devil. If this is being anti–Semitic, then you have a bone to pick with Christ, not with me. If I would have been the only one who had laid claim to saying such things, surely I would have been labeled as such. But what I’m saying here and throughout this article is what Christ has already been saying all along. Paul even went so far as to say of the Judaizers, that he wished they would all mutilate themselves beyond even circumcision (Gal. 5:12). He didn’t cuddle and coddle them and tell them that it was okay to continue as if business was as usual and as if nothing whatsoever had changed for them, contrary to what many Messianic Jews and Christians are promoting and encouraging for them to acknowledge today. “Change” is what Christ and His apostles were all about. And it was a progression from being natural to being spiritual; from being a soulish man to being a spiritual man; to being a part of the household of faith that is from above, as opposed to still being part of a natural house made of stone and of the earth and earthly in nature.

For Paul to be putting a difference here in Gal. 6:16 between who is a true natural Israelite born of God, as opposed to all other non-Jews who are saved and made new creatures in Christ, just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. Paul is not speaking out of one side of his mouth saying, “Peace and mercy be upon all new creatures in Christ who are made up of the circumcised and uncircumcised,” and then out of the other side saying, “and upon every born-again Jew who is now considered as the true Israel of God." The “true Jew” and “Israel,” who is not according the flesh, is made up of both Jews and Gentiles who are united as one new man in Christ; and, as such, are a “new creation” in Christ who are both circumcised inwardly, regardless of any outward circumcision. A spiritual Jew or Israel in NT terms is not one who is one outwardly, but only one who is one inwardly—bar none! As you recall earlier, even Jesus in Revelation has said of those who were natural Jews, and called themselves as such, that they “ARE NOT”! They are not Jews! He called those supposed natural Jews who claimed such a title for themselves—LIARS! Wow! Even as “naturally born” Jews, Christ said they are not Jews, but liars. Imagine that! As such, their father is not Abraham or God; and as such they are not the people or children of God (Jhn. 8:39-47). In an entirely natural and covenantal way, they were God’s peculiar people apart from the world as a sign and type of God’s true and spiritual children of promise that He sets apart for Himself, but apart from that they were not God’s spiritually elect sons born by the power of the Spirit as Isaac, Jacob, and as all of God’s true "children of promise" are. Again, don’t get mad at me! Get mad at Christ and at Paul! And that is exactly what the natural thinking and reasoning Jew just did―even to the point of having Christ crucified and Paul persecuted wherever he went. And, sadly, many so-called “brethren” in the Church today are reasoning in the same way as those Judaizers were in the Apostles’ days, siding with with all natural born Jews rather than with the true people of faith and children of God.

If Jesus is the one through whom the promise is being fulfilled of there being a seed and a posterity to be given to Abraham according to the Spirit of promise, then Christ (and all those in Him) can lay claim to being a true child or son of Abraham, and even of David that Matthew tells us in his genealogy in chapter one, verse one, with Jesus being just one of the true children of promise in the long line and list of those mentioned there; and as one who is what a true descendant of Abraham is suppose to be and act like. Like Abraham, and the long list of those mentioned in Matthew chapter one, Jesus is the true “Israel of God,” similar to Nathaniel whom Christ also said was, “an Israelite indeed!”

Historical, natural, Israel had failed time and time again to live up to God’s standards, but God had always preserved for Himself a remnant chosen by grace—an Israel of promise (like Isaac, Jacob, and even all of us for that matter) among a so-called "Israel" of natural descent. Sometimes in the Old Testament this even included Gentiles along the way, such as with Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba that are also listed in Luke’s genealogy. God’s covenant with Abraham lays the foundation for the entire ensuing history of the redemptive line, and all such children of promise that were to follow. And so it should come as no surprise to us that Matthew begins his short geneological list with this one particular idea in mind as his focal point as a reference to build upon of the “record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham.” The holy seed of the woman is clearly being differentiated here from the ungodly seed of the Serpent.

God had covenanted with Abraham a promise saying that, “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:3b). And later God renewed this promise and explicitly included some of Abraham’s immediate physical descendants (17:7) with God even declaring again that through his “offspring [or seed] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (22:18). By Matthew linking Jesus all the way back to Abraham as one of God’s “sons of promise” in the long line and list of all such similar sons (or daughters) of promise, he is declaring to us that God’s promise through Abraham of there being a blessing for all the nations in bringing many, many, more “sons of promise” into glory and into citizenry with this Israel of promise is actually being fulfilled in Christ in all those who have faith in Him.  The promised “seed” that was to be as countless as the stars of heaven isn’t a natural progeny born strictly through the flesh, but is Christ and all those who were promised to be given to Him by the Father (cf. Jhn. 6:37-39, 46, 65) even before the creation of the world (cf. Eph. 1:4, 11; Rev. 17:8). These are “the children of God―children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision, or of a husband’s will, but born of God” (Jhn. 1:12-13). And it is even of these that the author of Hebrews says belong to Christ: “Here am I, and the children God has given Me” (Heb. 2:13).

Also in consideration of Matthew’s genealogy in verse one, which also specifically mentions David along with Abraham, it is important to note that God also made a covenantal promise to David that his house and his kingdom would last “forever” and that the throne of his seed would also be established “forever” (2Sam. 7:8-16). Although this covenant with David is subordinate to, and to work in tangent with, God’s covenant with Abraham, the fulfillment of this promise to David becomes the means by which the promise to Abraham is ultimately fulfilled with Christ becoming the King of all kings over all the nations of the world from the kingly throne of David that is established not only over the earth, but over the heavens and earth, with the earth actually being Christ's footstool and heaven the place of His throne (Isa. 66: 1; Mat. 5:34-35). This promised kingly Son of David has become the representative embodiment of the true Israel of God that is to include men, women, and children from every kindred, nation, tribe and tongue.

The prophet Isaiah alluded to these small beginnings and formulations of this idea when he described this restoration of this true spiritual offspring of David’s house as occurring through, “a shoot…from the stump of Jesse” (Isaiah 11:1) and how that, “in that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations [or Gentiles] will rally to Him, and His place of rest will be glorious” (v. 10).

This place of Christ’s glorious “rest” is now in heaven, and these nations that rally to Him in verse 10, Paul says, was beginning to occur even in his day through the conversion of the Gentiles when he quoted this verse from Isaiah in his epistle to the Romans, in chapter fifteen, verse twelve. This isn’t a future millennial occurrence, as some have erroneously supposed, but this is happening right now even as we speak. At His cross and coronation (and even during his earthly ministry), Christ was binding the strong man, Satan (Lke. 10:17-20; 11:21-22; Jhn. 12:31); and Christ has been plundering all of his possessions (the people all over the world that have been taken captive by him) ever since. Before the cross, the nations were left in their ignorance. But God now commands men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). As promised in the prophets, “The Lord will lay bare His holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God” (Isa. 2:10). Christ is indeed now plundering the nations and taking captives captive and giving gifts unto men everywhere, after having first spoiled the principalities, powers, mights and dominions and making a public show of them openly after having triumphed over them in the cross. In return for Christ’s suffering, the Father has given unto Him “a portion [or plunder] among the great,” even dividing “the spoils with the strong” (cf. Isa. 53:12).

God also speaks of this plundering of the nations now, and not later, when He again says through Isaiah,

For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, “Give them up!” and to the south, “Do not hold them back.” Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf. All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble…. 

Lift up your eyes and look around; all your sons gather and come to you. As surely as I live, declares the Lord, you will wear them all as ornaments; you will put them on, like a bride. Though you were ruined and made desolate and your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away. The children born during your bereavement will yet say in your hearing, “This place is too small for us; give us more space to live in.” Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who bore me these? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. Who brought these up? I was left all alone, but these—where have they come from?’ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders”….Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives rescued from the fierce? But this is what the Lord says: “Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.” (43:3-9; 49:18-22, 24-25)

In Isaiah 42:7, Christ is also said, “to open the eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” And, again, in Isaiah 49:9, this Servant of the Lord would “say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’” And once again, “He [the Father] has sent me [Christ] to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners” (61:1). 

With regards to Matthew’s genealogy, the focus of Christ’s lineage could not be more poignant and to the point as the Davidic King who would plunder the nations and set captives free in order to return all the progeny that belonged unto Abraham, and in the end present them all unto God as an offering unto Him. And the very significance of Jesus as the main focal point in all of this is rooted so deeply in the history of Old Testament Israel, that the blessings promised to them only find their actual fulfillment through faith in Christ, and as those who are chosen by Him to ultimately be His children of promise. In the volume of the book it is written concerning Christ of what He came to do in and through all such children of promise; and only for them, and them alone! Even Abraham rejoiced to see Christ’s day, and he saw it, unlike the scribes and Pharisees who only sought to kill Christ—something that Christ said Abraham and all the true children of God would never do! There is to be no doubt about it whatsoever that Jesus is truly “Israel.” And it stands to reason that all those who are born in Him as His offspring or children are also to be surnamed with His name “Israel.” They are the promised seed of Israel’s race, the ransomed from the fall. They are the true descendants, children and heirs of Abraham as Paul so poignantly states in Galatians 3:29.

Not so dissimilar to Abraham and all those who were naturally born his children and called “Israel,” it also under-girds the idea of Jesus and His children of promise as a corporate body of people who can also be tied to only One person, and who can actually represent this group as a whole and likewise be called “Israel.” And even not so dissimilar to the sin of the one man (Adam) which became the sin of all who are born in him, so too now the righteousness of the one man (Christ) becomes the righteousness of all those who are born in Him (Rom. 5). And it is from this understanding and perception of corporate identity and unity that the true Israel of God as a people of God in search of its identity and destiny only finds its answer in the One (Jesus) who is both the true Israel of God born by the power of the Spirit; and in the One true King who reigns over this corporate kingdom and community of believers made up of both Jews and Gentiles.

We must remember this, and remember it well: they are not all Israel which are of Israel, but only those who are all born of God by the power of the Spirit are the true children of promise! It is only these, and to these alone, who are counted for the true seed and children of Abraham. God’s promises are for Israel alright, but the true “Israel of God” is not an “Israelite” that is established simply by natural birth, as the examples that Paul gave us of Isaac and Jacob have clearly illustrated for us. In other words, the blessings are not automatically guaranteed  by preserving the purity of a natural Israelite of a Jewish gene pool or of an impeccable family tree. Much more is at stake and involved here. We are talking about God’s choice of a people for Himself, regardless of whether one is born physically of Abraham or not.

And since Jesus is the corporate representative and federal head of the true Israel of God according to the power of the Spirit, God now recognizes as “Israel” (or as His people, children and seed) all who respond in faith and obedience to Christ, as even our father Abraham did who was originally a Gentile and a child of wrath.

Of course, for the most part, the first to respond are indeed naturally raised and born Jews, but it must always be born in mind that it was not just being born into this natural ancestry that established who was to be a child of promise. It was always through faith in God and in Christ, that was given to those who were sovereignly chosen and called by God to be the recipients of such grace. A gift and a calling of God that is truly without repentance. And if Gentiles are included in such a citizenship with this Israel that makes up this assembly of believers of called-out ones, called the Church, then the Church is not just an interim in God’s plan, but all of the people of God who have been called of God and who stand together in continuity with the true OT Israel “of promise,” and who carry out Israel’s mission into the world as an extension of them with their very same name inscribed upon their hands and foreheads.

God’s election alone of certain individuals (again, as with Isaac and Jacob) shapes the formation of all those who make up the true Israel of God. All along, the “Israel” according to promise came into being through the mysterious and providential electing hand of God, and this entire Ecclesia (or Church) depends on that election for their continual existence in both the Old and New Testaments. Therefore, the definition of who “Israel” really is never has, and never can be, a matter of simple genealogy, even when God has in the past chosen to work through such genealogies. In His person and work, Jesus is all that the Israel according to promise was ever truly meant to be―as all sons of God begotten by God (1Jhn. 5:18, NAS). The true biblical Israel and children of God can never be defined apart from the faith of our father Abraham which is in Jesus Christ. In Jesus, God’s centuries-old promises to Abraham, and even to David, have entered upon their historical, literal and eternal fulfillment in the earth today under the present rule and reign of Christ on David’s throne from heaven, and thus his (David’s) tabernacle (or house) is being restored and rebuilt today as foretold by Amos and as interpreted for us by the Apostolic authority of James (Acts 15:16-18).

Through God’s providential guidance and grace, and for those who have the eyes and ears to see and hear it, God in Christ has truly answered for us the age-old question of, “Who is Israel?” This name is personified in His Son as “the promised” holy Child begotten by God from above, and in all those who are born in Him—thus becoming the true epitome of who “all Israel” really is. All who are born by God from above “in Christ” are adopted as His sons and daughters and surnamed with that wonderful name—Israel! Only all such children are the true Israel of God who are born according to the power of the Spirit; for, again, as Paul said, “you brethren, like Isaac, are all children of promise (Gal. 4:28). As such, we are all heirs and joint-heirs together of the covenants of promise: “For remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:12-13). Hallelujah! Praise be to God! More are the children of the desolate and barren woman than of her that can physically have children. Selah.

But you, O Israel, My servant, 

Jacob, whom I have chosen,

you descendants of Abraham My friend [or, lit., My lover], 

I took you from the ends of the earth,

from its farthest corners I called you.

I said, “You are My servant;”

I have chosen you and have not rejected you. 

So do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

(Isaiah 41:8-10)

As the old bible expositor John Gill notes on these words above from God through Isaiah the prophet, “the Lord speaks these and the following comfortable words unto them; for not [to] carnal, but [to] spiritual Israel are here meant the spiritual seed of Abraham, being believers in Christ, and friends of his, as Abraham was; and whom He uses and shows to be such, by disclosing His secrets to them, John 15:15.”x

And though not apparent on the surface to most, Jehoshaphat likewise speaks of these descendants of Abraham who was the friend of God and that would dwell in the land forever: “O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? (2Chr. 20:7). Since only the elect remnant out of both Jewish and Gentile nations chosen to be in Christ as the children of promise would be able to dwell with God’s friend Abraham “forever” in the land, most of the natural Jews of a natural lineage can be ruled out entirely here once and for all. And, indeed, recall it was Christ who had said, “I say to you [natural born Jews] that many [Gentiles] will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom [natural unbelieving Israel] will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mat. 8:11-12; cf. Lke. 13:29). Truly, they are not all “Israel” which are the natural descendants of “Israel” (Rom. 9:6), but “it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring” (Rom. 9:8). And it is only to these, and to these alone “who shall inherit the land” (or earth) in any way, shape, manner or form “forever!” (Mat. 5:5; cp. Psm. 37:11). On the other hand, the bondwoman (or the natural Jew) with her children are “cast out” forever, where there shall only be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

“My servants [all of us, His chosen ones] will eat,

but you [Israel according the flesh] will be hungry;

My servants will drink,

but you will be thirsty;

My servants will rejoice,

but you will be put to shame.

My servants will shout for joy from a glad heart,

but you will cry out from an anguished heart,

and you will lament out of a broken spirit.

You will leave your name behind

as a curse for My chosen ones,

and the Lord will kill you;

but He will give His servants another name”

(Isaiah 65:13-16, HCSB)

footnotes:

i  I would like to also note here that in Cyrus' and John Mark’s case, surnaming someone does not necessarily denote one who is elect, but just one who is honored to be given a name other than what might be normally ascribed to them.

ii Online: Dictionary.com.

iii In Isa. 13:10-11, such language was used to depict the judgment on Babylon in 539 B.C.; in Isa. 34:4, the judgment on Edom in 703 B.C.; in Ezk. 32:7, the judgment of Judah in 586 B.C.; in Amos 8:9, the judgment upon the northern kingdom in 722 B.C. None of these things being described here “literally” occurred, as history has attested to us. This is all very highly figurative, symbolic, and poetic language that God used to describe the abasement of these nations.

iv Commentary on the Old Testament, Isaiah (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), vol. 7, p. 204. Words in brackets mine and as also noted in his commentary.

v Barnes’ Notes, Isaiah (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983), p. 130.

vi Although the term “all Israel” here in Rom. 9:6 is all-inclusive of any child of God who is a “child of promise” as verse 8 and also Galatians 4:28 signifies, in Rom. 11:26, “all Israel,” though still denoting those of this same group, speaks more specifically of those who were naturally born Israelites and who have only received a hardening “in part” of them, and who therefore as God’s chosen “remnant” out of the Jews become recipients of God‘s mercy and grace, similar to Paul. In other words, in Rom. 11:26 Paul is referring to all Jews who are elected by God and chosen like Isaac as children of promise, regardless of their natural progeny, and that will be saved. What Paul is definitely not saying, as some have erroneously supposed, is that every single Jew some day in our future will en-mass be saved. The entire context of Paul’s thesis in chapters 9-11 is referring to an elect portion or “remnant” out of both Jews and Gentiles who are all “children of promise” like Isaac, and thus called spiritually, “Israel.”

vii There are numerous translations that have picked up on the true meaning and nuance of this idea. For instance, God’s Word translation reads: “Through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name.” The ESV and the NAS similarly read: “Through Isaac shall your offspring [or ‘descendants,’ NAS] be named.” And Vincent’s Word Studies says for the wording “shall be called,” that it should be understood as shall be “named.”

viii “All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" is a popular hymn sung by many Christian denominations. The hymn is often called the “National Anthem of Christendom.” The lyrics, written by Edward Perronet while he served as a missionary in India, first appeared in the November, 1779 issue of the Gospel Magazine, which was edited by the author of “Rock of Ages,” Augustus Toplady.

ix In addition to Jesus understanding that Abraham would be the father of many nations, He also has the words of Isaiah in mind in 24:14-16; 43:5-6 and 49:11-12.

x John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible. Public domain online.