“Spiritual Israel”
from Doug Batchelor and Steve Wohlberg’s 32-page booklet of the
same title (2007)
Adapted for clarity and brevity by Gary L. Clendenon, 2024
A FOUNDATION OF SAND
Today around the globe, millions interested in Bible prophecy have
their eyes fixed on Jerusalem. Many Christians buy into the
connection of end-time Bible prophecies concerning the nation of
Israel.
This “Middle East” approach to prophecy became popular among
mainline churches in the 1980s with a series of books from Hal
Lindsey: The Late Great Planet Earth and Countdown to
Armageddon. In these best-selling books, Lindsey employed a very
literal dispensational (1) approach to prophecy, making several very
specific and very wrong predictions.
Lindsey wrote that a secret rapture of the church would occur in
1981, which would be followed by the building of a new Jewish temple,
the advent of the Antichrist, the great tribulation, the invasion of
Israel, the battle of Armageddon, and the millennium—all by 1988.
Despite every single one of those predictions obviously failing, his
books continue to sell, making for most Christians a standard that
all end-time prophecy is viewable only when filtered through “Nation
of Israel” glasses.
Here is the big question: Are all of these end-time prophecies in
Scripture regarding Israel and the temple speaking of the literal
nation of Jews and a physical building, or is there a deeper
spiritual application?
IT’S HAPPENED BEFORE!
Remember when Jesus came the first time? His people misunderstood
and misapplied the prophecies regarding His kingdom. They eagerly
waited and watched for Him to establish a literal, earthly kingdom,
while Jesus constantly explained that His first coming was to
establish a spiritual kingdom. He said, “for indeed, the
kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).
Because the persistent and popular teachings of the day focused on a
muscular messiah who would overthrow the Romans and seat himself on
David’s throne, the disciples brushed aside or simply ignored
Jesus’ comments regarding His spiritual kingdom. They tried to
make these spiritual prophecies literal, and the crucifixion crushed
their expectations of an Israel with dominion over all the Earth.
They lamented, “we had hoped that he [Jesus]
would be the one who was going to set Israel free” (Luke 24:21,
GNT).
Is it possible that today’s church at large is making the same
mistake by misapplying prophecies regarding spiritual Israel and the
temple—interpreting them in a literal sense?
THE “NAME ISRAEL”
A prophecy in the Bible can have a more than one application with
both a literal and spiritual fulfillment. For example, in the Torah,
the name “Israel” first applied to one man: Jacob. Hundreds of
years later, all the numerous descendants of Jacob are called
“Israel” by God when speaking to Pharaoh: “Israel is my son,
even my firstborn. … Let my son go” (Exodus 4:22-23). This
historical event is referred to in Hosea 11:1: “The LORD says,
‘When Israel was a child I loved him and called him out of Egypt as
my son.’” Then, in Matthew 2:15, Hosea’s text is quoted as
a prophecy referring to Jesus coming out of Egypt: “And so was
fulfilled what the Lord said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I
called my son’.” One prophecy. More than one meaning.
MATTHEW’S AMAZING REVELATION
In the Gospels, Jesus Christ is the Israel who came “out of
Egypt”. A careful study of Matthew reveals even further that
Jesus—as modern Israel—actually repeats the history of ancient
Israel, point by point—but He overcame where they had failed.
In both Genesis and Matthew a man named Joseph has a dream and goes
into Egypt to preserve his family! (Genesis 45:5/Matthew 2:13)
[Genesis Joseph didn’t know it at the time, but he was later able
to save his family from a 7-year famine.]
As previously stated, when the young nation of Israel comes out of
Egypt, God calls it “my son”. When Jesus comes out of
Egypt, God says, “Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Matthew
2:15).
When Israel leaves Egypt, her people
go through the Red Sea. The apostle Paul says they were “baptized
unto Moses...in the sea” (I
Corinthians 10:2). Jesus is also baptized “to fulfill
all righteousness” and
immediately afterward God proclaims Him “my beloved Son”
(Matthew 3:15-17).
After the Red Sea crossing, the
Israelites spend 40 years in the wilderness—led by the pillar of
fire, God’s Spirit. Immediately after His baptism, Jesus is “led
up of the Spirit into the wilderness”
for 40 days (Matthew 4:1,2). [The biblical prophetic tool of
a-day-for-a-year being witnessed here. See: Numbers 14:34]
At the end of the 40 years, Moses writes Deuteronomy. At the end of
Jesus’ 40 days, He resists Satan’s temptations by quoting three
scriptures—all from Deuteronomy.
In Psalms 80:8, God calls Israel a
“vine” that He
brought “out of Egypt.”
Jesus later declares, “I am the true vine.”
(John 15:1) [Connecting Himself also to the vine “out of Egypt”.]
In Matthew 12:16-19, Jesus quotes Isaiah 42:1-3, a passage which
originally applied to “Israel, my servant” and applies it
to himself as Matthew says, “in fulfillment of what the prophet
Isaiah said.” Jesus is now
the “servant” of
Isaiah 42.
MORE STRIKING EVIDENCE!
In his letters, the apostle Paul
also follows the principle of applying statements originally made
about the nation of Israel to Jesus Christ. The clearest example is
when God calls Israel “the seed of Abraham”
(Isaiah 41:8). However, Paul later writes that Abraham’s seed does
not refer to “many,”
but to “one...which is Christ”
(Galatians 3:16).
Repeatedly in the New Testament, statements that once applied to the
nation Israel are now applied to Jesus Christ. The Messiah is now
“the seed.” Therefore, Jesus is the very essence of of Israel!
This is an explosive truth, and it can not be ignored if we are to
truly understand the role and identity of modern Israel.
A NEW NATION
Yet there is more. Remember that the name “Israel” not only
referred to Jacob, but also to his descendants—who became Israel.
The same principle is seen in the Bible.
The Lord told the ancient Israelites, “And you shall be unto me
a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). Peter
re-applies these words to the Jewish and non-Jewish people who were
believers in Jesus: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9).
Likewise, immediately after Paul’s statement in Galatians 3 about
Jesus being “the seed,” he then tells his Gentile
(non-Jew) converts, “And if you be Christ’s, then you are
Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise”
(Galatians 3:29).
Thus the Bible, when it speaks of Israel in a prophetic way, applies
the name of Israel not only to Jesus Christ, but also to those who
are born again in Christ. In other words, all true followers of
Christ are God’s Spiritual Israel.
All true believers in God are called the body of Christ (1
Corinthians 12:27). From the very beginning, God has considered His
true Israel as those who love Him with all their hearts, soul, body,
and strength.
DOUBLE VISION
According to the Bible, besides Jesus’ personal embodiment of
Israel, there are two Israels. One group is composed of literal
Israelites “according to the flesh” (Romans 9:3-4). The
other is a “spiritual Israel,” composed of Jews and Gentiles
(non-Jews) who believe in Jesus Christ.
Paul writes, “For not all who are descended from Israel, are
Israel” (Romans 9:6, BSB). (2) That is, not all are part of
God’s spiritual Israel who are of the literal nation of Israel.
Any person—Jew or Gentile—can become part of this spiritual
nation of Israel through faith in Jesus Christ.
GOD LOOKS ON THE HEART
Just as there are two Israels, there are also two kinds of Jews.
First, there are the Jews who are only natural, physical descendants
of Abraham. Second, there are the Jews in Spirit who believe in
Jesus Christ. Paul writes: “Behold, thou art called a Jew...if
thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy
circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the [Gentile]
keeps the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for
circumcision? … But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and
circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the
letter….” (Romans 2:17, 25-29).
Did you catch that? The implications are staggering! Someone who is
“called a Jew” because he is a physical descendant of Abraham,
and yet who lives as a lawbreaker, “is not a Jew”—at least not
in God’s eyes. His “circumcision is made uncircumcision.”
It is revoked. Thus to God, he
is a Gentile. And for a believing Gentile, his uncircumcision is
counted for circumcision. Thus to God, he is a Jew.
Notice how Jesus put this to the
Jews whom He was in discussion with when they said, “Abraham
is our father”: “If
you were Abraham’s children, then you would do what Abraham did. …
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your
father’s desires” (John
8:39,44).
Paul wrote: “Understand, then, that those who have faith are
children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the
Gentiles by faith….” (Galatians 3:7-8). Thus, according to
Paul, a real Jew in the sight of God is anyone—Jew or Gentile—who
has personal faith in Jesus Christ!
Eventually this truth hit Peter between the eyes, and he told a room
full of Gentile converts: “I now realize how true it is that God
does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who
fears him and does what is right” (Acts 10:34-35).
THE ROAD TO BUILDING A NEW TEMPLE
Let’s now follow a brief but directly-related tangent. Many who
have focused their attention on a literal “Nation of Israel”
fulfillment are also expecting the ancient Jewish temple to be
rebuilt. A significant proportion of evangelical, Charismatic,
Pentecostal, and fundamentalist Christians worldwide endorse this
view.
In the same way the devil has misdirected focus from spiritual Israel
to the literal headlines concerning the Middle East today, he has
also confused people on the subject of the Jewish temple. Oddly,
most of the speculation and hopes for a rebuilt temple spring from
one vague ethereal reference in the Bible dealing with the antichrist
power.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, we read: “Don’t let anyone deceive
you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs
and the man of sin is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He
will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God
or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple,
proclaiming himself to be God.”
(3)
Since the Romans destroyed the last
Jewish temple in A.D. 70, many naturally assume that in order for
this antichrist being, a specific person in their view, to sit in the
temple, it will have to be rebuilt. But let us follow the biblical
clues.
A SPIRITUAL HOUSE
Just before King David died, he
wanted to build a permanent temple in Jerusalem. Nathan the prophet
told David that he would not be able to build this house for God, but
that his son Solomon would do it (I Chronicles 28:6). First
Chronicles 17:11,12 recounts God through Nathan saying to David,
“When your days are over and you go to be with your
ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your
own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will
build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.”
This is one of the clearest examples
in Scripture of prophecy having dual applications. Yes, history
records that Solomon was the son of David and that he built a
physical temple, but the Bible says Jesus was the true “son of
David,” who was to build a temple and kingdom that was to last
forever. (4) Jesus clearly taught that He had come to transfer the
attention from a physical building of worship to something greater:
the true biblical perspective.
John 2:19-21 says, “Jesus
answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I
will raise it up. … But he spoke of the temple of his body.”
Later, as Jesus hung on the cross, the Jews mocked Him with a
reminder of these words (Matthew 27:40). But, of course, Jesus was
not talking about rebuilding the physical temple. He meant to build
a spiritual one.
THE TRUE BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
Among the early believers in Jesus,
nearly all Jews, we find an unusual indifference regarding the Jewish
temple. Because they knew Jesus to be the true Lamb of God, and that
the Jewish temple was designed to accommodate animal sacrifices, the
New Testament writers saw the temple as irrelevant. They recognized
the establishment of a new spiritual temple and priesthood. Here’s
the biblical evidence, with our emphasis in bold:
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple…?
...for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that
temple” (1
Corinthians 3:16,17).
“...you are members of the household of God, having been built
on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself
being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted
together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you
also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the
Spirit” (Ephesians
2:19-22).
“...you also, as living stones, are being built up a
spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices….” (1 Peter 2:5).
Sadly, even with this clear biblical
evidence that God’s temple today is a spiritual one, many
Christians are waiting for the Jews to rebuild a physical temple on
the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Yet there is no prophecy, promise, or
commandment in the Bible that says the temple would be rebuilt again
after the Romans destroyed it. Though it might be rebuilt, Jesus
prophecy that “not one stone”
would sit upon another seemed to be of an extremely final tone.
(Matthew 24:2)
So what does 2 Thessalonians 2:4 mean? Simply this: This antichrist
power would seat itself over the church of God claiming the worship
that belongs only to Jesus Christ. Historically, Protestant scholars
have consistently applied Paul’s words to the papal power, and to
its influence in Christianity. But now, let’s return to the
“nation” of Israel.
ALL ISRAEL SAVED
We say: “Only Jews will be saved.
Furthermore, all Jews will be saved!” Now after you pick yourself
up off the floor, allow us to explain these bold statements.
We all know that people are saved
under the new covenant, right? Now, notice the wording of this new
covenant: “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house
of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31).
In the book of Hebrews, Paul expands
on this concept adding: “I will put my laws in their
minds, and write them on their hearts: ...they will all know me from
the least to the greatest”
(Hebrews 8:8, 10-12).
The new covenant is made “with
the house of Israel”! God
never makes a salvation covenant with Gentiles. So if you want to be
saved, you must be born again as a spiritual Jew.
God does not have one method of
salvation for the Jews and a different one for non-Jews. Everyone is
saved the same way under the same program—by grace through faith.
Paul uses the analogy of an olive tree to explain that all Gentiles
who are saved are grafted into the stock of Israel: “I am
talking to you Gentiles. … if...you, though a wild olive shoot
have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing
sap from the olive root, do not consider yourselves to be superior to
those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support
the root, but the root supports you”
(Romans 11:13, 17-18).
The Christian religion is based on a
Jewish manual called the Bible. (In this light, it is difficult to
understand how any professed Christian could be anti-Semitic.)
Christianity is not a new religion, but rather the completion of the
Jewish faith. So with all this in mind, we can better understand
what Paul meant when he later said in that same chapter of Romans 11,
“And so all Israel will be saved”
(Romans 11:26, emphasis added). Some take this verse to mean that
God will ultimately save all literal Jews. If this were true, it
would contradict every principle of God’s dealings with humans
throughout history and Scripture.
We are saved based on choices we
make regarding God’s provision, not on national status or physical
citizenship. But if, when Paul says that “all Israel
will be saved,” he is speaking
of spiritual Israel, and if we understand that we become a “true
Jew” only by a choice, then it all makes sense.
ISRAEL’S PURPOSE
The primary functions for the Jewish
nation were to preserve Scripture (Romans 3:1-2) and introduce the
Messiah to the world [which had its beginnings on the day of
Pentecost when Peter preached and 3,000 were baptized into Jesus].
We read in Acts 2:5, “There were staying in Jerusalem
God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.”
These Jewish believers in Jesus took the news and truth about Jesus
back to their respective countries.
Before Jesus’ death, he
specifically stated that the early ministry of His apostles was to
focus on the literal house of Israel: “Do not go among
the Gentiles or Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel”
(Matthew 10:5-6).
But after Jesus’ death, the Jewish
Sanhedrin (supreme court) officially rejected the message of the
gospel through the Spirit-filled preaching of Stephen. They even
executed him. From that point on (A.D. 34), God opened the doors to
the Gentiles. As Paul and Barnabas said to the Jews in Acts
13:46-47: “We had to speak the word of God to you first.
Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal
life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has
commanded us saying: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth’.”
PROPHETIC APPLICATIONS
How does all of this apply to prophecy? The greatest book about
prophecy, the book of Revelation, talks about Mount Zion, Israel,
Jerusalem, the temple, the Euphrates, Babylon, and Armageddon. Thus
it is clear that Revelation uses the terminology of the Middle East
in its prophecies. But sincere Christians all over the earth are
applying these prophecies to literal places in the Middle East and to
the modern nation of Jews. Yet once we grasp the biblical principles
discussed in this study, we are able to see that there is something
wrong with that picture.
Remember that when Jesus came the first time, the devil had
bamboozled God’s people into making the spiritual prophecies about
the Messiah carnal and physical. Satan is doing the same thing today
with the subject of Israel. Yet the plain, biblical truth is that
Revelation centers on Jesus Christ and God’s Israel in the Spirit,
not genetic descendants or the nation of Israel itself.
With this understanding of spiritual Israel, suddenly other
prophecies in the Bible take on a whole new meaning! We can see that
the 144,000 of Revelation 7 and 14 are not literal Jews and that the
new temple will not be earthly, but rather the Body of Jesus—both
literally (John 2:19-21) and figuratively (I Corinthians 12:12-27).
CONCLUSION
“Fools Gold,” a brass-yellow
mineral with a metallic shine, contains no gold at all. However, the
resemblance it has to gold caused many prospectors to mistake it for
gold, which is how it became known as fool’s gold. This
“counterfeit gold” dynamic is also prevalent in the area of
spiritual truth. Sadly, many are toting around heavy bags bulging
with spiritual “fool’s gold.”
Furthermore, the tragic fact is that the popular literal focus on
Israel miserably fails to grasp the true power of God’s promise.
And this failure to recognize the understanding we have laid out here
will likely result in false Middle East interpretations and even,
in the end of days, ultimate deception.
Don’t forget that “For
not all who are descended from Israel, are Israel”
(Romans 9:6, BSB). And Remember, “we who worship by the
Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on
what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human
effort…” (Philippians 3:3,
NLT). Share with others the truth that “There is neither
Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then
you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise”
(Galatians 3:28-29, NIV).
Let us not accept popular, tangled
teachings that focus on an earthly state. Rather, let us live in the
Spirit. Like Jacob of old, let us wrestle in prayer and cling to
Jesus until we hear Him say, “Your name will no longer be
Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and humans and
have overcome” (Genesis 32:28,
NIV).
Shalom
To purchase a copy or copies of this booklet “Spiritual Israel”
visit www.amazingfacts.org
FOOTNOTES by Gary L. Clendenon:
1. Dispensationalists mostly hold to a pre-millennial view of end
times. They believe Christ will rapture His church out of the world,
after which a seven-year tribulation will ensue. Following that time,
Jesus will usher in a literal 1,000 year reign on earth with His
saints. (christianity.com)
2. Or as the Contemporary English Version says, “After
all, not all of the people of Israel are the true people of God.”
I also like how this version paraphrases it: “For not all who
are genetic descendants of Israel are part of God’s Israel.”
(The Remedy Bible)
3. Though this text does not specifically use the word “Antichrist”,
according to my research, the authors and most other Christians
understand from the context and understanding of other Bible texts,
that this “man of sin” or “lawlessness” is the Antichrist.
Wikipedia puts it this way: “He is usually equated with the
Antichrist in Christian eschatology.” (From
Wikipedia Search for: “Man of sin”)
4. Matthew starts his book with a genealogy showing that Jesus, the
“son of David” is a direct descendant of King David—as
prophesied, of course (See Psalms 110). Then, after that, Matthew
uses the title “Son of David” 9 more times to describe Jesus with
6 times being unique to Matthew’s Gospel.
