In some places in Scripture there is an obvious distinction between the two. But in other places there appears to be a profound continuity between Israel and the Church.
In what way is OT/NT Israel distinct from the NT church?
In what way is OT/NT Israel to be identified with the church?
I had the priveledge of writing this last year for a certain group of people. I am sharing it only because of the history that is captured here that we don't often weigh into our studies. Every claim worth noting is end-noted with verses references. Blessings.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The Holy Scriptures declare that God made a covenant with Abraham, and within that covenant was a promise. Abraham would become the father of many nations, with descendants so numerous that no man could count them.
[1] Scripture is not silent on how God’s promise would manifest; however, a great deal of time would pass before the fullness of His promise was realized. That journey began when the promise given to Abraham was passed on to his son Isaac as an oath, and then from Isaac to his son Jacob as a statute. It would continue into subsequent generations in the form of an everlasting covenant to a set-apart nation called Israel—the descendants of Jacob.
[2]
Israel, like all nations before and after, would have times of peace and prosperity as well as times of war and disorder. It was during the reigns of King David and King Solomon that Israel enjoyed its greatest period of national blessing. But immediately after Solomon’s reign, conditions changed dramatically. The nation of Israel split into two separate kingdoms: Judah to the south and Israel to the north.
[3] Judah predominantly continued to walk in God’s statutes and commandments, while the Northern Kingdom of Israel, prophetically known as Ephraim or Joseph, fell into a downward spiral of idolatry. God repeatedly warned the Northern Kingdom that continued disobedience would bring expulsion from the Land, but those warnings went unheeded as Israel refused to repent.
[4]
Ultimately Assyria conquered Israel and took its inhabitants into exile, where they assimilated into Assyrian culture and accepted their many gods.
[5] And so the God of Israel fulfilled His ominous promise, found first in Deuteronomy 28–30
[6] and declared again many times in the Prophets.
[7] God drove Israel even farther into the nations,
[8] giving them up to their idols while simultaneously declaring them to be “not My people.”
[9]They became known as the “lost sheep of the House of Israel” and were scattered as a mixed multitude to the four corners of the earth.
[10]
Yet the grace of God knows no bounds, and despite His anger with the Northern Kingdom, His ominous promise also contained a pathway to restoration. When as individuals and as a nation Israel would repent and turn their hearts back toward Him, hearing and obeying His voice, He promised to gather them back from the nations into which they were scattered. Then He would circumcise their hearts and the hearts of their descendants so they might live again as a people committed to God.
[11] Those who were called “not My people” would one day again hear the words, “You are sons of the Living God.”
[12]
This call to repentance, which went out into all the nations, came from His anointed servant. Through Him, the rebuilding of the House of Israel began. Two thousand years ago, Yeshua of Nazareth came, in His own words, to call “the lost sheep of the House of Israel.”
[13] Though He lived among and addressed the descendants of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, the weight of His mission was clearly aimed at turning the hearts of Ephraim, the Northern Kingdom, back to the God of Israel. He trained twelve students to continue His work after He was gone and told them to “go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.”
[14] Since that time, by the Holy Spirit, many millions around the world have turned to the God of Israel and have been marked as His sheep. These “prodigal sons”
[15] were given enough understanding to remain separate from the world, but not enough to regain full understanding of their identity. One day, however, that started to change as the great awakening promised by God began to dawn.
[16]
I believe this promised awakening began over the last few decades and that we are not only witnesses to this awakening but participants as well.
[17] Being drawn to the Torah, to the Land, and to the people of the Land while retaining the testimony of Yeshua, many now believe themselves to be the “B’ney Yosef”—the “Children of Joseph”—prophetically called “Ephraim,”
[18] a people who are being called out of the nations,
[19] now and once again part of the Commonwealth of Israel.
[20] And as part of this “called-out assembly,” we stand on the promise that God will one day join us to the House of Judah (the Jewish People) to become one united Israel, never again to be divided.
[21]
[1] Gen. 13:6, 15:5, 17:3-8
[2] Ps. 105:8-10. See also Gen. 17:1-9, 26:1-5, 35:9-12.
[3] 1 Kings 12; 2 Chron. 10
[4] 1 Kings 11:29-35; 2 Kings 17:6-22; Hos. 11:5
[5] 2 Kings 15:29, 18:9-12
[6] Though these three chapters reveal the full picture, God’s intent is summed up well in Deut. 30:1-6.
[7] Lev. 26:33; Deut. 4:23-27; Hos. 1. See also Deut. 28:25, 37, 64 and Jer. 50:17.
[8] Isa. 11:12; Ezek. 28:25-26, 34:13
[9] Hos. 1:9
[10] 1 Kings 22:17; Jer. 50:6
[11] Deut. 30:1-6
[12] Hos. 1:10, 2:23
[13] Matt. 15:24
[14] Matt. 10:5-6
[15] Luke 15:11-32. Many believe this parable is speaking of Judah (the older brother) and Ephraim (the younger brother).
[16] Ezek. 37:4-11; Matt. 24:32-34
[17] It was not until the mid-1990s that assumed “Gentiles” began to be drawn to the Torah, the Land, and the people of the Land.
[18] Gen. 48:19; Isa. 11:13; Ezek. 37:19
[19] The Greek word translated as “church” is
ekklesia. It simply means “to be called out.”
[20] Eph. 2:12-19 (Key verses are 12 and 19.)
[21] Jer. 31:31-34/Heb. 8:8-11; Ezek. 37:15-19