And who is The Remnant of Israel.
He (jgr) doesn't really know. He's just leading you on.
Those who don't really study their Bible history don't understand that The Gospel was given to the Patriarchs early on. Apostle Paul shows this clearly in Romans 4 and Galatians 3 about Abraham who believed God's Promise and it was counted as righteousness. That is by Faith on The Gospel, even as Jesus showed at the end of John 8 that Abraham saw His day, and rejoiced.
So The Promise by Faith was always... FIRST, before the giving of any law. All those of Faith have thus become the children of Abraham, according to Paul in Gal.3.
God gave certain Blessings along with The Gospel Promise by Faith. When Jacob's time came, all that was transferred from Isaac to Jacob.
The new name 'Israel' which God gave to Jacob was to represent The Gospel by Faith. This is very important to understand, because even the seed of national Israel MUST also believe The Gospel Promise by Faith to truly be part of God's Israel. Just being born of the seed is not enough. This Paul showed in Romans 9 and Romans 11.
Here's a quick summary of the Bible history many are missing in their study:
1. Because of what Solomon did with allowing his many wives to bring pagan idols into Israel, God split the old nation of Israel into two separate kingdoms, or houses.
2. God gave ten tribes for Jeroboam (of the tribe of Ephraim), as king, to reign over in the northern lands, the capital at Samaria, called the "kingdom of Israel" or "house of Israel". At this time the name Israel was mainly applied to these only.
3. The other kingdom was Solomon's son Rehoboam as king of Judah over the tribes of Judah and Benjamin at Jerusalem/Judea in the southern lands, called the "kingdom of Judah", or "house of Judah". These became known as Jews, that title coming from the tribe of Judah, and only applying to those of the southern "kingdom of Judah".
4. Because true worship at the time involved going to Jerusalem, king Jeroboam setup two golden calf idols in the northern for the ten northern tribes to worship, to keep them from going south and possibly augmenting the southern kingdom of Judah. Jeroboam also setup common priests of the people, which prevented the Levites in the north from doing their duties, so the Levites migrated south and joined with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. A small remnant of the ten tribes also refused the calf idols and migrated south to join with Judah, but the majority of the ten tribes stayed in the north under Jeroboam. The tribe of Ephraim became the head tribe over the northern kingdom.
5. Both kingdoms had war against each other.
6. Eventually God got fed up with the calf idols among the northern kingdom of Israel, and brought the kings of Assyria upon the ten tribes and removed them all to the lands of Assyria and the Medes. The kings of Assyria then moved pagan peoples from five cities in Babylon to the northern lands where the ten tribes were. These were the Gentile Samaritans of Jesus' day. Only the "house of Judah" was left in the land. To this day, the ten northern tribes of the house of Israel have never returned, and have become lost to the world, and to the Jews of the house of Judah.
7. After about 130 years that the ten northern tribes had been removed, the "house of Judah" kingdom also rebelled against God, and He brought the king of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar upon them, and removed them captive to Babylon for 70 years. This was Daniel's and Jeremiah's time.
8. After the 70 years, a small remnant of the Jews returned to Jerusalem to build the city, wall, and 2nd temple, starting up old covenant worship again. Ezra 2 gives us the list of those tribes that returned. None of the ten tribes are mentioned. And one of the problems among the house of Judah remnant were the crept in Canaanites among them, and foreigners that had become temple servants and priests (see Ezra 8 & 9).
9. The majority of the house of Judah remained in Babylon of their own choice. God had promised to take care of them there, and He did, even increased their numbers. These were eventually further scattered through the countries like the ten tribes were, God keeping His promises of Deuteronomy 4 & 28 of what He'd do if His people rebelled.
10. God through His prophet Hosea showed about the ending of the ten northern tribe kingdom of Israel, and that He would scatter them and hedge up their paths so they couldn't find their way back. At the same time, He said they would become an innumerable number of people. And eventually where it was said to them, 'Lo ammi' (not My people), it would be said to them that they are the children of the living God (Hosea 1). Apostle Paul quoted that to Roman Gentile believers in Romans 9.
11. Because Paul showed The Gospel Promise was always first through Abraham, and that the name 'Israel' is about The Gospel, even for the Gentiles (i.e., "commonwealth of Israel" per Eph.2), Bible prophecy reveals that the ten tribes would receive The Gospel of Jesus Christ among the Gentiles, and both together would believe and become Christ's Church.
12. Jesus did say that He was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, which is really per Bible history about the ten northern tribes that were scattered and lost. We can see the reality of this once The Gospel was preached and rejected at Jerusalem, and then was preached to peoples in the West, and the formation of the western Christian nations took place. This fulfilled the Genesis 35 and Genesis 48 prophecy that Jacob's seed would become "a company of nations" and that Ephraim's seed would become "a multitude of nations". And remember, Ephraim was the head reigning tribe over the ten tribes.
So there it is, Christ's Church is made up of believers from ALL 12 tribes of Israel, and believing Gentiles, together, as one body. And it was Old Testament prophecy.
