All From One

Scripture informs us that Christians are not only sons of God through our faith in Jesus, but also sons of Abraham. That truth is clearly expressed in Paul’s letter to the Galatians when he says, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. [...] And if you belong to Christ, you are Abraham’s descendant (seed, offspring), heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:26,29).

Now most Christians have no problem accepting that information as valid, even if they don’t fully understand how being called a descendant of Abraham benefits them. Or how, unless they are Jewish, they even qualify to be called a “descendant.” Most just accept that their faith in Jesus somehow brings them into God’s family of faith, of which Abraham is the acknowledged “father.”

If pressed to define the nature of this new relationship to Abraham through Christ, the usual explanation is that we are simply his “spiritual descendants” through some form of heavenly adoption. However, the term “spiritual descendant” does not appear anywhere in Scripture. And the word “adoption” is never used to explain our inclusion into Abraham’s family. The word “adoption,” which appears only five times in the New Testament, is used only to describe our inclusion into God's family to become "son's of God." (See Rom. 8:15,16; 23, 9:4; Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:5.) So if Scripture doesn’t say we have been spiritually adopted into Abraham’s flesh-and-blood family, how did we non-Jewish believers get in? How can it be said that believers from other families are children of Abraham? 

 If you push the envelope a bit further and suggest that Paul is revealing that all believers, both Jews and Gentiles, were already physical descendants by birth and that their faith in Jesus just brought us into the chosen remnant, a wall of skepticism immediately arises. The reason for the skepticism varies sharply, depending on whether the Christian is Jewish or not.

 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Jewish believers, called Messianic Jews, are generally just flat-out uncomfortable with the idea that Gentile believers could be on a par with them regarding physical lineage. We are allowed to be their brothers spiritually, but not physically. This attitude, I believe, arises mainly from historic prejudices derived from the Law, and fortified no doubt by centuries of persecution they have suffered at the hands of Gentiles – and especially from the Gentile Christian church.

On the other hand, Gentile believers feel that being called Abraham’s actual physical descendants is simply going too far. It just seems bizarre and unnecessary. Being “in Christ,” is what is important. Many will quote Galatians 3:28: “That in Messiah there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” They will say if we are all one in Messiah, what does it matter about physical bloodline anymore?  Only the spiritual reality matters now. Well, if physical bloodline doesn’t matter, why do Jewish believers still stress the importance of being Jewish, especially regarding the land?  If it doesn’t matter, why do so many Jewish believers still see other believers as Gentiles and not accept us as true family members? Or as part of Israel? If it doesn’t matter, why don’t more Gentile believers see they are co-inheritors of the land promised to Abraham and his descendants along with the Jews? Because bloodline does matter! The promise to Abraham is clear: “Through Isaac, your descendants shall be named” (Gen 21:12; Rom. 9:7). If we are called Abraham’s descendants by God, we must be from Isaac. Otherwise we are like Eliezer, the non-blood member in Abraham’s household whom Abraham tried to pawn off on God as his heir. But God quickly rejected him because he did not come forth from his body. (See Gen. 15:2-4).

The best response to Galatians 3:28 is to see that when a Jew comes to Christ, he (or she) doesn’t stop being a Jew. Right? Anymore then a female stops being a female, or a male being a male. Coming into Messiah doesn’t change our human DNA, or physical relationship to one another. Only our spiritual relationship is changed. In Messiah we are now all equal regarding our spiritual standing before God, making us one as spiritual brothers. But in the physical world we remain unequal. The slave is still a slave, the freeman a free man (although that could change down the road). So both spiritual and physical realities must be taken into account. If the physical reality no longer counts, and only the spiritual matters, how can Gentile believers have a rightful claim to God’s promise of a physical home in the land of Canaan? Because only a physical bloodline to Abraham has the rightful claim to that worldly home. Greek blood can make no such claim. If the physical is not included with the spiritual, Jews alone have the only “right” to this God-given inheritance, and non-Jewish believers must look elsewhere. (Although the secular world rejects even the Jews sole claim, giving worth to the claim of the other “sons of Abraham,” the Arabs.)

 It was to prevent that potential stumbling block that would hinder our coming reunion in the land that I believe it is has pleased God to reveal through His word at this time a Biblical truth long hidden from our sight.  Namely, that all those “Gentile” believers who have come to believe in Jesus are actually scattered physical descendants of Abraham also. In other words we were always his physical offspring from birth, but it just didn’t do us any good. As long as we were “separated from Christ” we were “excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world” (Eph. 2:12). When we were drawn to Christ through the grace of the Holy Spirit we became sons of God - and as physical descendants of Abraham already, simply counted among the chosen remnant by our faith. It is these believers in Messiah Jesus who had been “chosen” before the world began to be the favored descendants of Abraham and heirs of the promises.

 That doesn’t mean Gentile believers are “Jewish.” Jews are only the offspring of the descendants of the House of Judah. There were ten more tribes connected to the other half of the nation, the House of Israel, who are also sons of Abraham. These were driven from the land and scattered among the nations by Assyria in 722 B.C. It is mostly from these scattered millions that the “Gentiles” have been drawn. Although, many “Gentiles” no doubt have come from Jewish lineage also.

The whole “mystery” is similar to the Jews puzzlement surrounding the birthplace of Jesus. Confronted by the mounting evidence He might be the Messiah, many wondered about the legitimacy of His claim because they knew He came from Galilee. “Surely the Messiah is not going to come from Galilee, is He? Has not the Scripture said that the Messiah comes from the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” (John 7:41,42). Like the misunderstanding surrounding the birth of Jesus, God has hidden the true identity of the “Gentiles” from casual eyes for centuries, but is now revealing the true circumstances of our birth to prepare us for our reunion.

Many Jewish believers will also argue that the ten lost tribes aren’t really lost. They say the tribes sufficiently intermingled before they were scattered by Assyria, so that all twelve tribes are now reasonably represented in the Jewish people. Although some intermingling did take place, nevertheless the prophets continually spoke of the nation as being separated until the last days when a giant reunion will occur. A vast number were certainly deported and are unaccounted for. This was verified by the Jewish historian Josephus in the first century and is affirmed by the Encyclopaedia Judaica: “The ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude not to be estimated in numbers” (Ten Lost Tribes, p. 1004, 1972 Ed.). Even the Messianic Jewish scholar, Alfred Edersheim, in his work, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, says: “The great mass of the ten tribes was in the days of Christ, as in our own, lost to the Hebrew nation” (p. 16).

Although pockets of peoples have been found recently who claim to be the descendants from some of the lost tribes, they still do not approach the magnitude of the return as seen by the prophets. (Check out Jeremiah 23:7,8, Isaiah 11:11,12, Ezekiel 37:21, 22, to name just a few.) Furthermore, unless these recently found tribal members are in Christ, they are not part of Israel. They must still be considered Gentiles because God called them, “Lo-ammi – i.e., “Not My people” (Hos. 1:9). Only a born-again experience in Jesus can bring the lost descendants back into the fold.

Another stumbling block, especially for Gentile believers, is the so-called Rapture Teaching. That teaching has assured believers they will be whisked safely off to heaven before the coming tribulation while Israel and the Jews remain behind to face the wrath of anti-christ. So any attempt to further unite us with Israel threatens to put them in the wrong place at the wrong time. And they want no part of it. Even though these same Gentile believers have probably repented numerous times to the Jewish people for abandoning them in WWII and sworn “we will never leave you again.”

And most significantly, many believers are uncomfortable with any attempt to link us physically to Abraham because it sounds too close to the racist theology of British Israelism. That teaching traces the migration of the 10 tribes primarily to the lands of white Anglo-Saxon peoples - rather than to all the nations.

By and large, most believers reject the physical link because the whole thing just sounds too flaky. And how can it be proven anyway? For these and other reasons they just don’t believe it’s worth pursuing.

However, I believe the days ahead will reveal that knowing we are actually flesh and blood members of Abraham’s family, and not just adopted-in Gentiles, will enable us to more fully cooperate with God’s final plan of salvation. And to not be deceived by end-time scenarios concocted by men. For the knowledge of our true identity will give us the scriptural understanding, courage and emotional willingness to join together with the Jews in the great restoration of Israel, our promised homeland.

Jeremiah promises, “In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land I gave your forefathers as an inheritance” (Jer. 3:18).

That being said, how can we absolutely know whether this amazing revelation is true or not?

The Case For Being Abraham’s Seed

        For a long time I believed the only way to really prove we were Abraham’s physical seed was through a DNA test. Although blood tests may indeed get us in the geographical ballpark, I don’t believe science presently has the ability to conclusively trace our bloodline back to Abraham himself. Plus, what are we going to do, test every single non-Jewish believer to see if he or she qualifies? And even if DNA was 100% accurate, I don’t believe that alone should be the final word. Scripture should be the final word. Because without Scriptural verification that this belief is true, all discussion on the topic remains scientific and speculative. So the best way to knock down the wall of disbelief surrounding this revelation is with the word of God.

In this article I want to present eight New Testament Scriptures as evidence that all Gentile followers of Christ are most certainly Abe’s direct kin. That’s right, all - not just some, as some teachers prefer to safely argue. It must be all, because if it is only some then we can never know for sure if we ourselves are a true descendant or not.  It’s like saying some of the words of Jesus recorded in Scripture are historically accurate and some are not. How can we know which words to trust unless we know all the words recorded are truly His?  That’s why it is so important to find in Scripture affirmation that every true disciple of Jesus, whether Gentile or Jew, is a chosen, physical descendant of Abraham. Or we’re back where we started acknowledging some are and some aren’t, but not really knowing who is and who isn’t.

Scripture Evidence #1

“If you are of Christ, you are Abraham’s sperma [seed/offspring/ descendant],

heirs according to promise.”  -  Galatians 3:29
 

 Notice first of all that the verse says as a follower of Christ we “are” a descendant of Abraham. It does not say we “have become” or “will become” a descendant. No it says we already are a descendant. Present tense. That is, our being in Christ reveals that we are not only one of Abe’s kids, we are in the chosen line of Isaac. We are true Israel.

Notice also that the verse makes no exceptions. It is speaking to all true believers in Christ. Not just some.

And finally, the Greek word “sperma,” that can be translated “seed,” “offspring” or “descendant” depending on the choice of the translator, is obviously the word from which we get the English word “sperm.” And just as it means in English, it always implies “something sown” that brings forth a continuation and replication of the father’s life. As Abraham’s “seed” we are the chosen descendants of the one who miraculously came forth from his good-as-dead body, namely Isaac. Paul tells us as much when he says, “You brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise” (Gal 4:28).

Scripture Evidence #2

“What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?”

Romans 4:1
 

 Speaking to all the Jewish and Gentile believers in Rome, Paul comes right out and calls Abraham “our forefather according to the flesh.” There is no way that can be misunderstood as him saying he is our forefather “according to the spirit,” which is how most Christians have been taught to consider the fatherhood of Abraham. Throughout the fourth chapter of Romans Paul strives to explain how God insured the redemption of all Abraham’s chosen seed by linking our salvation to the means of faith, and not to Law. He sums up his argument in verse 16 by saying, “For this reason it is by faith, that it might be in accordance with grace, in order that the promise may be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law (the Jews), but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham (the Gentiles), who is the father of us all.”

Paul is saying that God looked down the corridor of time and saw that some of Abraham’s seed would be living under Law, while others would be living as Gentiles. To make it possible for the Gentiles, who didn’t have the Law, to appropriate their inheritance, He made faith the way to receive it. He had established faith as the requirement when He declared father Abraham righteous by faith before there was a Law. And now He was requiring it for all the descendants of Abraham through the Gospel of Jesus, so that none of the chosen seed of Abraham, Jew or Gentile, would be denied. As Paul exclaimed when He finally saw the ingenuity of God’s plan to restore Abraham’s family, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and unfathomable are His ways!” (Rom. 11:33).

I have no doubt this is what the parable of the prodigal son is really  all about. The older, law-abiding son who stayed home, but did not know the love of his father, represents the Jews. The prodigal who finally repented and came home (accepted Christ), represents all the descendants of the northern kingdom living among the Gentiles. The revelation hidden in the story, of course, is both are blood brothers.

For a more in depth study of Romans 4:1, read my article entitled, “According to the Flesh.”

Scripture Evidence #3

“Behold days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant
with the House of Israel and the House of Judah.”

Hebrews 8:8
 

 Most Christians will recognize that Scripture from the Book of Hebrews as a quote from Jeremiah prophesying of the new covenant Jesus would inaugurate with Israel some 600 years later. I include it to point out a truth that is routinely overlooked in 99% of all teaching on the subject of the New Covenant. Namely, that it was promised only to the descendants of the House of Israel and the House of Judah and to no one else. Nowhere does it invite Gentiles from other families to be included in the covenant’s promises.

There are only three possible explanations for this, and only one that is acceptable.

1. God misspoke.

2. God was speaking in types and shadows. That is, when He mentioned the House of Israel He was using it to symbolically represent the Gentiles who would come in later through their faith in Jesus. But that doesn’t hold up, because what about the Jews, the descendants of the House of Judah? How can the descendants of one house be literal and the other figurative? If you say the Jews are figurative also, then we are back into the now discredited Replacement Theology that resulted in so much anti-Semitism over the centuries. Which is why I said that any attempt to substitute other Gentiles for the descendants of the House of Israel is also a form of  Replacement Theology.

3. God meant what He said and the Gentile believers are indeed the lost physical descendants of the House of Israel.

And here again the understanding is that all who have come to faith through the grace of the New Covenant are family members. Not just some.

Scripture Evidence #4

“James, a bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad, greetings.”
James 1:1
 

 Did you ever wonder why James, who was a brother of Jesus, begins his letter to the church with a salutation to the scattered twelve tribes of Israel? What’s that all about? Should we assume he is not writing to the whole church, but only to his Jewish brethren, speaking to them perhaps as representatives of all Israel?  But how can that be? The apostles might speak specifically to Jews or Gentiles within a letter, but no entire book in the New Testament was written exclusively to one group over the rest. Just as there are no promises made in the Bible that are exclusive to either Jews or Gentiles.  “For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are [all] yes” (2 Cor. 1:20). 

Therefore we can safely say that the book of Hebrews, in spite of its title, is not being written to Jews only. So again, how do we explain James’s remarkable salutation?

Again I suggest to you that there can be only one satisfactory explanation. In addressing his letter to all the followers of Christ, both Jew and Gentile, he understood that the Gentiles were actually the descendants of the scattered family of Abraham. Combined with the Jews we constitute all twelve tribes.

And notice he assumed all Gentile believers – not just some -  were physical descendants. Otherwise he would have said, “to the twelve tribes, and those Gentiles who have joined with us.”

Scripture Evidence #5

“For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one.”
Hebrews 2:11
 

 This one is actually my favorite piece of evidence, because it plainly states we are all from the same father, namely Abraham. But once again, because we have been blinded so long from seeing our physical connection to Abraham, we can’t believe he is the one who is being referred to. In fact, if you read that verse in the New American Standard, the New Living Bible, or the Amplified Bible, all three would lead you to believe the “one” from whom we all come forth is our Father in heaven. They do that by inserting the word “Father” into the text and capitalizing it, even though the word does not appear in the Greek.

So how do we know the author means Abraham, the father of just one family on earth? And not our heavenly Father – or Adam, the two fathers of the whole human race? The text itself reveals it a few verses later. Here is how it appears in the New American Standard Bible, which, as I said, inserts the word “Father” but at least italicizes it to show it is not present in the Greek. I will uncapitalize it to reduce confusion:

 v.11  “For both He who sanctifies [Jesus] and those who are sanctified [us] are all from one father, for which reason He [Jesus] is not ashamed to call them brethren...

v.16   For assuredly He [Jesus] does not give help to angels, BUT HE GIVES HELP TO THE SEED OF ABRAHAM.”
 

Clearly the “one” the writer of Hebrews is speaking about is not our heavenly Father, or Adam, but Abraham. Which means he is the earthly father of the ecclesia who is being sanctified. And all of us then are true brothers. True brothers to each other, and also to Jesus. Doesn’t that give a lot more meaning to the term “brother” that Christians call each other?

This truth becomes even more evident when you study the three Old Testament Scriptures that the writer inserts between verse eleven and verse sixteen to support his case. Especially when you read those verses in context, which I will include in italics.

v.11   “For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one father, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

v.12   saying [in Psalm 22:22], ‘I will proclaim Thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the congregation [GK: ecclesia] I will sing Thy praise. [v.23] You who fear the Lord, praise Him; All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Jacob.’

v.13   And again [in Isaiah 8:17], ‘I will put my trust in Him.’
And again [in Isaiah 8:18], ‘Behold, I and the children whom God has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.’

v.14   Since then  the children [of Abraham] share in flesh and blood, He [Jesus] Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil;

v.15   and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

v.16   For assuredly He does not give help to angels, BUT HE GIVES HELP TO THE SEED OF ABRAHAM.”   
 

I don’t know what could be clearer. The author is saying that all those believers who are being sanctified, both Jew and Gentile, are the physical descendants of the “one” who was first declared righteous by his faith. In writing those words, I have no doubt he had in mind the passage spoken by the prophet Isaiah over 700 years earlier:

“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek the Lord.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; WHEN HE WAS ONE I called him, Then I blessed him and multiplied him.” (Isaiah 51: 1-3)
 

When it comes to understanding faith righteousness, the road always leads back to Abraham. But lest there be any misunderstanding and we think Isaiah is only touting Abraham as our spiritual father, he quickly reminds us of the painful labor Sarah endured in giving birth to us through the person of Isaac. Abraham and Sarah. Dad and mom. “When he was one I called him, then I blessed him and multiplied him.” And we represent his multiplied, far-flung family of sheep which Jesus has spent two thousand years rounding up for the final grand reunion.

Scripture Evidence #6

“And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also,
and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd.”
John 10:16
 

 When Jesus spoke those words to His Jewish disciples about expanding the flock, I’m sure they had no idea He was referring to the millions of Gentiles who would soon be responding to the Gospel. Maybe they thought He was recruiting some Jews from neighboring cities. Or other countries.  But, God forbid, not from among the Gentiles. Later, when they recovered from the shock of seeing the Gentiles come in, and had received the Holy Spirit, I wonder if they finally understood? Did they finally connect the inclusion of the Gentiles to the words of the prophets concerning the mission of God to find and unite the lost, scattered sheep of Israel?

Even if they didn’t, we should. Here are a few of the prophecies:

“Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria [when the northern kingdom was captured], and this last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon [when the southern kingdom was taken to Babylon].” (Jer. 50:17)

 “I will surely assemble all of you Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold; like a flock in the midst of its pasture, they will be noisy with men.” (Micah 2:12)

 “He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.” (Jer. 31:10)

 “For thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.
And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from all the countries and bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel....”

Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them he will feed them himself and be their shepherd.” (Ezek. 34: 11-13,23)

 “Behold I will take the stick of Joseph [the northern kingdom], which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah [the southern kingdom] and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand....And My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd....and I will make a covenant of peace with them.”
(Ezek 37:19,24,26)
 

 Just before Jesus started talking about the one flock and one shepherd, He announced that He was “the good shepherd” (John 10:14). This meant He was claiming to be the One the prophets had foretold, the son of David, who would seek and find and reunite the scattered sheep of Abraham, both the house of Judah and the house of Israel.

One doesn’t have to be Sherlock Holmes then to figure out the identity of the Gentiles who were not of the fold (or kingdom) of Judah. They are the lost descendants of the ten tribes of the northern kingdom taken away by Assyria. And in Jesus, the Good Shepherd, this chosen remnant of Judah and Ephraim are becoming one peaceful, righteous flock again.  

Or as Paul described it to the Ephesians, “That in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace” (Eph 2:14).

Scripture Evidence #7

“Even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles,
as He says in Hosea, ‘I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’
and her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.”
Romans 9:24,25
 

 Paul, the uniquely appointed apostle to the Gentiles, was continually pulling out Scriptures from the Old Testament (which Jews call the Tanach), to justify and explain the inclusion of Gentiles into the ecclesia. And this one was a blockbuster!

About seven hundred years before Jesus, a devastating word of judgment was delivered to the northern kingdom, the House of Israel. (The southern kingdom of Judah was spared the same fate, although God said they were even more sinful.) The prophet Hosea was told by God to give his three children prophetic names that would pronounce three levels of judgment upon the nation for its flagrant idolatry.

The first child, a boy, was named Jezreel, meaning, “I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.” The next, a girl, was named Lo-ruhamah, “for I will no longer have compassion on you.” And third child, another boy, was the worst judgment of all. He was named Lo-ammi, meaning “you are not My people, and I am not your God.”

In effect, God was telling the northern ten tribes that He was not only evicting them, He was divorcing them. No more would they be considered part of Israel. They had lived like Gentiles in the land; now they could live as Gentiles outside the land. Shortly afterwards, the Assyrians came and took them away.

But no sooner had God pronounced this terrible judgment, then He placed a prophetic candle of hope at the end of their dark tunnel. He promised them that in the future they would be forgiven and reunited with Judah to become one nation again - “And it will come about that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ it will be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’”(Hos. 1:10).

It was these very words of hope spoken to the banished ten tribes that Paul quotes and applies to the Gentiles being “grafted” into the ecclesia, the Israel of God. This shows Paul clearly knew that these Gentiles were not just “Gentiles,” but descendants of the banished ten tribes being found and gathered in by the grace of God. And just as the prophecy declared, in the place where we were judged – in Israel – we were and are called today “sons of God.” Of course, these words will find even greater fulfillment when Israel and Judah are reunited back in the land.

 Scripture Evidence #8

“I do not want you brethren to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your
own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness
of the Gentiles has come in, thus all Israel will be saved.”
Rom. 11:25,26
 

 In the eleventh chapter of Romans Paul uses the wonderful analogy of an olive tree to show how God was cutting off the dead, unbelieving Jewish branches from Israel and “grafting” in Gentiles through their faith in Messiah. But with so many Jewish hearts being hardened to the Gospel, you had to wonder, “how will it all end?” That’s when Paul tells us about God’s master plan, which he calls a “mystery.”

He tells us that the hardening of the sons of Judah is only temporary -  and partial. First, a small remnant, himself included, had been given the grace to see Jesus was the Messiah so that they could preach Him to the Gentiles (as well as write the New Testament, explaining the fulfillment of all the types and shadows of the Old Covenant in Messiah Jesus). The rest of Israel (the Jews) would become enemies of the Gospel, opening the door for the Gentiles to receive it. This hardening would then last until all those chosen descendants of the House of Israel who had been missing among the Gentiles had been found and grafted into the olive tree.

It is here that we need to stop and notice that Paul deliberately calls the Gentiles being grafted into the olive tree “wild olive” branches. Which means, like the Jews, we are all olive branches! We are not pine or peach or palm branches! We are from the same genus; the same family. We are only “wild” because we had been let go, as the horticulturist allows the unfruitful parts of his garden to go to seed. Or more to the point, how God let Ephraim go into the nations after we became so idolatrous. It’s amazing how this has all been hidden from our understanding for so long. But now is the time to see.

When all the Gentiles who were supposed to come in, have come in, which Paul calls “the fullness of the Gentiles,” then God will turn back to the descendants of the house of Judah and remove the temporary hardening upon their hearts. Then they will be given the grace to see Him and join us in Messiah Jesus. And in this manner, “all Israel will be saved.”  Not “all Christianity.”

But don’t miss the expression, “fullness of the Gentiles.” Do you know where else that phrase appears in the Bible? If you go back to Genesis you will find it was the blessing pronounced upon Ephraim, the son of Joseph, by the patriarch Jacob. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, Jacob switched his first-born blessing from the older grandson, Manasseh, to the younger grandson, Ephraim. In doing so he prophesied over the boy, saying, “his descendants shall become a melo goyim – a multitude of nations (Gen 48:19).”  In other words, “a fullness of Gentiles.” Later Ephraim became such a dominant tribe among the northern confederation of ten tribes that the prophets referred to the whole kingdom by his name (see Isaiah 11:13; Jer. 31:20). And it is this phrase, the blessing upon Ephraim, that Paul used to describe the complete ingathering of the Gentiles who would respond to the Gospel.

Coincidence? Or fulfillment of prophecy? You decide. 

A Closing Statement
 

Although I have chosen just eight New Testament Scriptures to make my case, I could have easily presented 25 more. But then this article, long as it is already, would become a book.

Nevertheless, I do want to share one more biblical insight that really helped me get a handle on this whole matter of Abraham’s family. It is the fact, that above all else, Israel is a chosen people. That is, a people individually chosen by God. For speaking to the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses declared, “The Lord God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples [families] who are on the face of the earth” (Deut 7:6). However, in saying that, God did not mean every physical descendant of Abraham had been chosen. No, as Paul explains in Romans Nine, God only chose some of His seed. That is, He reserved to Himself the right to choose from among the physical seed of Abraham, who would be His, and who would not. Isaac and Jacob were chosen, but Ishmael and Esau were not. “They are not all Israel who are descended from Israel” (Rom 9:6).

So we see that true Israel is a people hand-picked by God from the pool of Abraham’s seed. “He chose our heritage for us, the glory of Jacob whom He loved” (Ps. 47:4).  In other words, there is an Israel within Israel. This is the chosen remnant

So what happens when we get to the New Covenant? Did God abandon His plan to choose His people solely from among the descendants of Abraham? Did He decide to widen the pool of potential candidates and open the floodgates to those from other families? That is basically the understanding the church has had for centuries as it carried out its mission to “go into all the nations and preach the Gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). It was assumed that by “all the nations” the Lord meant the other families of the world. But did He?

In light of the revelation being spoken here, I believe He did not. That He never varied for one second from His promise to Abraham. He was still only choosing from the millions of scattered sheep of Abraham whom He had pre-chosen. But since they had melted into the Gentile milieu, they were unrecognizable - at least to us.  They looked like every nation and tribe on earth. So Jesus told us to go forth and preach His message of forgiveness everywhere in the world, knowing that those who were His would hear Him and come running. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they will follow Me” (John 10:27). And those who weren’t His, would simply not hear because they would not be given the grace to respond. Which brings up a huge misconception that has crept into the church’s mindset about who chooses who.

Many Christians think they chose Jesus when they “accepted Him” as their Lord and Savior. Because that’s how it was presented to them. “Just accept the Lord and be saved,” has been the altar call for centuries. But Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). It is not the exercise of our free will that gets us saved, but the free gift of grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). It is always God the Father providing the necessary grace. As Jesus tells us: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44).

If we chose Jesus, then the whole concept of God having a chosen people goes right out the window. We’d be in charge of the process. Paul exposes that false concept when he informs us by the Spirit that, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). Like Jacob (unlike Esau), you were chosen before you were born. Before you had done anything good or evil, while you were still in your mother’s womb, He said, “You are Mine!”

With this more biblical understanding we can now see how easily God the Father could regather the chosen descendants of Abraham, whether Jew or Gentile, from wherever we’d migrated. He would know precisely where in the world we all went and simply draw us to Jesus in whatever century, country, race or nationality we were born into - at the appropriate time in our lives. And once we’d all been found, we could all then be rounded up and the Kingdom of God could come and the promised inheritance received.

I realize many more questions will arise as you wrestle with the evidence presented in this article. I know, because it took me a couple of years of constant study and prayer before I became fully convinced we Gentile followers of Jesus have a bona fide physical connection to Abraham. Hopefully, some of my study will shorten your decision-making process. There are numerous other ministries teaching this revelation also (often called “Two-House Theology”), although sadly many have embraced the Mosaic Law in the process and fallen into works righteousness. So pick up what you can, but be careful you don’t follow them off a cliff. (For other articles I have written that provide additional insights, go to my web site: www.reunionministries.net.)

However, all the evidence in the world won’t matter unless it also witnesses to your heart. That’s why you should pray as you study and allow the Holy Spirit to witness the truth to your spirit.  If it is truth, as I believe it is, I’m convinced it will play an important role in your ability to get ready for the Lord’s return. Just don’t reject it outright because it doesn’t fit your current view of things. Give the Lord time to make it real. It’s so exciting when you finally “see” it and realize Abraham is our Kunta Kinte.

I will close by saying that all the prophets looked forward to the day when God would regather the scattered seed of Abraham from all the nations of the world. Hundreds of verses in the Old Testament prophesied of the certainty of this final future reunion that would precipitate the coming of Messiah! And since we know the grand reunion didn’t happen at the first coming of Messiah, we can expect it will occur just prior to His return trip: “Whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time” (Acts 3:21).

Unfortunately, most Christians are totally unaware of this great prophesied ingathering of Abraham’s seed, an event that Jeremiah says will be more dramatic than the Red Sea Crossing under Moses (see Jer. 23:7,8; Isa. 11:11). That’s because for so long we arrogantly thought the church was the final manifestation of God’s plan of salvation. So we spiritualized the promises of Israel’s restoration to fit the Christian experience, especially as they concerned the land. And those few Christians who are aware of the great exodus generally do not see themselves as participants in this homecoming because we assigned all those restoration prophecies exclusively to the Jews. Why? Because we thought God had two peoples - the church and Israel. We forgot that in Jesus we were all one in Him, Israel’s Messiah. And that in Him we are included in every promise of the Bible. “For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes” (2 Cor. 1:20). None of the promises come marked, “For Jews only.” Or for that matter, “For Christians only.” There is only one Israel, one people of God, one ecclesia – the chosen family of Abraham.

All these years we thought the Jews were the ones “who stumbled over the stumbling stone” in rejecting the divinity of Jesus. But we have stumbled also in rejecting the humanity of Jesus as it relates to our Abrahamic identity. Just as Scripture prophesied, both houses were tripped up! “Then He shall become a sanctuary; But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over” (Isa. 8:14).

I have no doubt He allowed each house to have only half the truth so we would need to come together in the last days to experience the whole truth. To become “all Israel” in Him. But I believe this revelation about our Abrahamic identity is not only a way to unite us – but a way to purge us. There are many tares growing among the wheat in both camps which have to be culled out. And the catalyst He is using to reveal who is who is the modern state of Israel.

The restored Jewish nation of Israel, which I believe is God’s first step in the great restoration, has become a magnet for the world’s hatred. It is a hatred born out of unbelief in the Living God and the prophetic fulfillment of the Scriptures. And it has unleashed a tidal wave of anti-Semitism around the globe. All this is part of the plan to reveal the hearts, not only of the whole world, but of His own people, Jew and Christian alike.

As Christians, will we choose to cling to the false, man-made religious traditions and divisions that we have embraced for so many centuries? While we distance ourselves from the hopes and dreams of our Jewish brethren? Will we ignore their cry for help in their rapidly deteriorating situation? Or will we understand this is their time to awaken and allow the Spirit of God to wed our hearts together? Will we see how intimately our fortunes are tied together and rejoice in our soon coming reunion?

At the same time, will Jews around the world – especially in Israel – finally choose not to live like the nations? Will they stop turning to the nations for assistance when they have no intention of answering, and instead cry out to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who waits longingly to deliver them?  “For whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil [of unbelief] is taken away” (2 Cor. 3:16).

On the night before He went to the cross Jesus prayed that we might all be one, “even as Thou, Father, are in Me, and I in Thee” (John 17:21). That prayer, I believe, is about to be answered.

“When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of all the nations. Then they will know I am the Lord their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land. And I will leave none of them there any longer. And I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Lord.” (Ezek. 39:27-29)

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard, coming down upon the edges of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing – life forever.”    (Psalm 33)

March, 2009