ISRAEL IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
IT IS impossible to truly understand the Bible, or any part of it. without understanding the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic and Scandinavian people of today are the Israel of the Bible. The Bible speaks always and only to Israel. To claim its benefits for yourself you must start by putting yourself in the ranks of Israel. Even the major churches show some dim awareness of this fact although they won’t admit it.
For example, the Episcopal Church won’t admit that we are Israel but read their Book of Common Prayer. Throughout this book it always speaks from the standpoint of Israel. To get out of the embarrassment of this inconsistency, most churches teach substantially this: “Although God’s promises to Israel were absolute and unconditional, God welshed on those promises and has given them to the church instead.” However, they don’t express this quite so franky; if their doctrine were true, they wouldn’t have much of a religion. If Israel couldn’t trust Yahweh’s word, who else could? But, it is not true; Yahweh never welshed on a promise. Every promise He ever made to Israel, He has fulfilled and is today fulfilling the promises to Israel and to no one else.
Then the churches say; we are only Gentiles, but we have become spiritual Israel. Now this is a most remarkable statement. The people of Israel were never at any time, a group of people who all held the same religious belief. At the best, there were always many apostates and idolaters among them. During much of their history nearly the entire nation became apostates. The great prophet Elijah found that in the whole nation of Israel there remained only 7,000 men still loyal to Yahweh. But, the Bible never says they ceased to be Israel, when it was denouncing them for their apostasy. Israel always was purely a racial group, all of the same race, despite the apostasy of some of them from the true religion. Therefore, the only way anyone could become a spiritual Israelite would have to be the same process by which he could become a spiritual Negro or a spiritual Mongolian, something no one could ever do. You can be an Israelite only by birth, by inheritance.
In many previous lessons, I have presented the evidence that the Israelites exist today under the name of the Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavan and Germanic people and that Yahweh’s promises to Israel have been actually fulfilled to them. Many churches teach the New Testament has done away with all of this. It threw all of Yahweh’s promises and prophecies about Israel into the rubbish can and started a new religion with Israel left out of it. This is positively not true – the whole Bible is consistent from beginning to end. I have often told you that there is as much Christianity in the Old Testament as in the New, though it is harder to understand because it is presented in the forms of prophecy; rituals and symbols. Now I want to show you the New Testament like the Old is an Israel book.
The four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John deal with the life and ministry of Yahshua the Christ. Yahshua always taught the truths pertaining to Israel. In Mark 12:28-29,. a scribe asked Yahshua which was the greatest commandment of all. We read:
“Yahshua answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear 0 Israel, Yahweh our God is one God.”
Yahshua regarded His whole ministry as being primarily to Israel. In Matthew 15:24 Yahshua said:
“I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
When Yahshua sent out His 12 disciples to teach the people, we read in Matthew 10:5-6:
“These 12 Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying. Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
In Matthew 19:27-28, Peter asked Yahshua what reward would be given to those who had given up all to follow Him. Yahshua replied to Peter:
“Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.”
Note this carefully! He didn’t say that they would become heads of the Methodist, Episcopal or Baptist churches, but that they would become rulers arid judges over the 12 tribes of Israel. This is not something of the past, which Yahweh had to discard as a failure. This is Yahshua the Christ’s prophecy of what was so eternally true, that it would still be in effect in the millennium when He comes back to rule the earth in person. Also, many of the parables used by Yahshua concerned Israel, as Yahshua testified in the gospels.
Surely, no other authority as great as that of Yahshua can be found, to testify what is truly Christian. Yet, there are still many people who mistakenly believe that the apostle Paul changed all of this. They believe that he threw out not only all of the Old Testament but also the teachings of Yahshua and set up a new religion. Paul would be the last person in the world to try such a thing! Paul makes it clear, in nearly every epistle he wrote, that he is writing to and about Israel, although some of this has been hidden by mistranslation in the King James Bible. Let’s review some of them.
First. let’s take the so called Epistle to the Romans. To whom does Paul address it? Romans 1:7 shows that it is addressed to those persons in Rome who are called saints. Yes I know that your King James Bible says called to be saints. But, you will notice that the words to be are in italic type which shows that these two words were NOT IN THE ORIGINAL WRITING. The translators added them in order to make it correspond with what the translators thought Paul should have said. But let’s take Paul at his own word, what he actually did write instead of what somebody else substituted for it.
Remember that Paul was a very well educated man who knew the Scriptures well. Paul knew that a saint was not somebody who would be named such by the church in the dark ages, several centuries after Paul wrote because the so called saint had done some deed of piety. Do you know who all of the saints are? Paul knew because he knew the Psalms. In the first place, what does saint mean? It means set apart or consecrated to the service of Yahweh. It is used in the Bible almost exclusively of people as members of a class, rather than as individuals. It is used to describe the status of Yahweh’s people Israel.
Therefore Psalm 148:14 tells us who all of Yahweh’s saints are.Not just some of them but all of them. It says:
“He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all His saints, even of the children of Israel, a people near unto Him”.
Paul knew them so when he addressed any of his epistles to saints, you know Paul was writing to Israelites.
In the Epistle to the Romans, as it is WRONGLY NAMED in your Bible (for Paul didn’t call it that, but the translators did), Paul says he is writing “To all that be in Rome, beloved of Yahweh, called saints.” Since all of the saints are Israelites according to the Bible, which Paul knew very well, we know that he was not just writing to Romans in general.
Nero, for example, was Roman. In fact, Nero was emperor at the time Paul wrote this epistle and we may be sure that Paul never considered Nero a saint. These saints are also identified as called. Paul knew whom Yahweh had called. Isaiah 41:8-9 tells us:
“But thou Israel art My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called thee from the chief men thereof and said unto thee, Thou art My servant I have chosen thee and not cast thee away.”
Isaiah 51:2 instructs us:
“Look unto Abraham your Father and unto Sarah that bore you, for I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him.”
Paul well knew that Yahweh had called and predestinated His people Israel to be the people who are consecrated to his service, which is just what the word saint means. Therefore in Romans 8:30 Paul says:
“Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called:and whom He called, He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.”
Similarly, Paul writes to the saints in various other cities. I Corinthians 1:2, II Corinthians 1:1, Ephesians 1:1, Philippians 1:1, Colossians 1:2, 24-26 and Philemon verse 5 – all these clearly state that Paul was writing to those who are the saints in those various cities. Paul knew that the saints, the Israelites, were the people to whom Yahweh’s message was addressed, the people in whom the message must take root, that they should be called to His service as Yahweh had declared from the beginning. Therefoe, it was to them that Paul wrote and not to the Gentiles in general.
Let’s examine the Epistle to the Romans still more closely. Romans is generally regarded as supremely the book written to the Gentiles. It might surprise you to know that there is no such word as Gentile in the Bible in its original language. Oh yes, I know that you can find it in the King James Bible, also in the less accurate of the modern English translations. It was never in the original languages and has been put in by the translators. Neither Hebrew nor Greek has such a word as Gentile, nor any word which is equivalent to it. The word Gentile comes from the latin word gentilis which means one who is not a Roman citizen. If you were to use the word accurately, you would have to say that Yashua and all of His disciples were Gentiles for none of them were Roman citizens.Paul was the only one of the Apostles who was not a Gentile for Paul was a Roman citizen. But what does the Bible say in the original languages in which it was written?
In the Old Testament, which was written in Hebrew, whenever you see the word Gentile in your English Bible, the Hebrew used the word goy, if it was in the singular, or the plural form of it, goyim. This word means precisely nation and nothing else. Remember Yahweh told Abraham in Genesis 17:6 “I will make nations of thee”. In the Hebrew, Yahweh said “I will make goyim of thee”. It would have been utterly too silly to translate this I will make Gentiles of your descendants. The translators translated it correctly here as nations. You remember when the twins Jacob and Esau were still in the womb of Rebekah, their mother, they struggled together and she prayed to Yahweh to tell her why this was so and Yahweh answered her “Two nations are in thy womb”. In the Hebrew original this says “Two goyim are in thy womb”. Certainly Yahweh never told her that two Gentiles are in thy womb. Here the translators had to translate it correctly as nations. But this is exactly the same word which they translate Gentiles in many other places.
The New Testament, which most of you have, was translated from manuscripts written in the Greek language. Whenever, in your New Testament, you see the word Gentile, the word in the Greek was ethnos. Ethnos means nation just as the Hebrew word goy does, in many places. It would have been silly to translate it Gentile so the translators had to use the correct word nation. For example, in Luke 7:1-10 we read that a certain Roman officer, a centurion, had a servant who was dying. The centurion asked some elders of the Jews to intercede for him with Yashua and ask him to heal his servant. The Jews did urge Yahshua to do this for the centurion saving. “that he was worthy for whom He should do this, for he loveth our ethnos and he hath built us a synagogue.” Surely no Jew would have praised the centurion for loving the Gentiles, nor would he have built a synagogue for Gentiles. So, they had to translate this one correctly as nation not Gentile. Everywhere you see the word Gentile in the New Testament, it is the same word ethnos in the Greek. This word ethnos has no pagan, or non-Israel nor even non-Greek connotation. The Greeks distinguished between Greeks and Barbarians, which all educated men like Paul knew. So he said in Romans 1:14, “I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians”. So just remember that Paul never once wrote Gentile in all his writings. he only wrote ethnos, which means nation. Therefore, do not be misled by the translation where you read in Romans 1:13, “That I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles” Paul actually wrote, “even as among other nations.“ Paul had made converts who lived among other nations, both in Greece, Syria and in Asia Minor. You must carefully judge from the general context in which the term occurs, whether the particular nation of which he speaks is an Israel nation or a non-Israel nation. If it is a non Israel nation, then the common term Gentile may as well be used, even though inaccurately, because we are accustomed to it.
For further proof Paul was not writing to Gentiles in the Epistle to the Romans, note how Paul tells these saints in Rome to whom he writes in Romans chapter 4, “Abraham is our father, as pertaining to the flesh.” and “Abraham, who is the father of us all”. Certainly he could not have told any Gentile that Abraham was his father, as pertaining to the flesh!
This is consistent with what Paul wrote to the Saints in the city of Corinth. In I Corinthians 10:1-4 he writes:
“Moreover, brethren I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock which followed them and that Rock was Christ.”
Paul could not have truthfully told Gentiles that their fathers, like his, had all passed through the Red Sea with Moses and had all been protected by the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night and had all eaten the manna and had all drunk of the water which poured out of the rock in answer to Moses’ prayer. Only to Israelites could he have said this with the slightest spark of truth.
Not even the prophets of the Old Testament were more firmly convinced of the great and continuing destiny of Israel than was Paul. I know that you have been taught, in your churches, that Paul threw all this into the rubbish heap and started a new religion without Israel in it. Where they get that idea I certainly don’t know. Listen to this from the Epistle to the Romans, and see if you can find anything here to show that Paul thought that Israel was all through. In Romans 9:4-5, Paul speaks of the “Israelites: to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises, whose are the fathers and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came.”
You have been taught Gentiles are adopted as the children of Yahweh. However, did you notice Paul says it is the Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption? How could Paul make it any clearer than this, which is in Romans 11:1-2?
“I say then, hath Yahweh cast away His people? Yahweh forbid! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Yahweh hath not cast away His people which He foreknew!”
Remember what He says about those whom Yahweh foreknew!
“For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. Moreover, Whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.”
Since Yahweh’s people, Israel, are those He foreknew, then this is written about them.
We see that in the New Testament, the writings of Paul very clearly constitute Israel books, just as much so as the Old Testament. But what of the other books in the New Testament, which were not written by Paul? Are they also Israel books?
Now let’s look at the writing of the other apostles in the New Testament. What about James? James addresses his epistle to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. This could not be to the Jews for they were not of any of the tribes of Israel and also they were not scatterd abroad when James wrote. For ten years thereafter, they were still collected together in Palestine.It could not even be the people of the kingdom of Judah for they were never more than the three tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi. James is speaking to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. We know that the Assyrians first took into captivity all the people of the ten northern tribes who made up the kingdom of Israel, Then the Assyrians, under King Sennacherib invaded the southern kingdom of Judah and deported 200,150 of its people in the same captivity with the ten tribes. We know from historical sources, upon the fall of Babylon, the tribes of Israel by that time known as Scythians, swooped down on Babylon and canied off most of the people of Judah, Benjamin and Levi who were captives at Babylon. They left behind just the relatively few who returned to Palestine with Ezra and Nehemiah. So when James wrote his epistle in 60A.D., the twelve tribes were scattered abroad. By that time they were known as the Angli, Saxons, Ostrogoths, Visigoths and the Royal Scyths, already moving on their long march into their predestined homes in Europe. It was to them James was wnting.
What about Peter? The First Epistle of Peter leaves no doubt he was writing to the Israelites. The first verse is badly mistranslated. Iinstead of, “To the strangers scattered throughout Pontus. Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,” as your King James Bible reads, the actual wording in the Greek is, “To the exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia etc.”. Pontus, Galatia and Cappadocia are the eastern part of modern Turkey and we know that the Scythian tribes of Israel did occupy this region before they moved out on their long journey into Europe.
The Israelites were exiles from their original homeland in Palestine and were dispersed over a wide region. Finallv, to clinch the matter, Peter identified them in the second verse as “Elect, according to the foreknowledge of Yahweh. the Father.” But who were Yahweh’s elect? In Isaiah 45:4. Yähweh speaks of “Israel Mine elect.” As to the foreknowledge of Yahweh, remember that in Romans 11:2, Paul confirms that “Yahweh hath not cast away His people which He foreknew”. Elect is but another word for chosen. In Deuteronomy 7:6 the people of Israel are told, “Yahweh. your God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself above all the people that are upon the face of the earth”.
Let’s look further into what Peter has to say. In I Peter 2:9, he says to these exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia. etc.,
“But ye are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people: that ye should show forth the praise of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.”
I know that the King James Bible says a chosen generation, but this is a rnistranslation, for the word in the Greek is genos, meaning a race, not a generation. This couldn’t describe anyone but Israel, as the chosen race is Israel.
Among many other places we find it in Isaiah 44:1, “Yet now hear 0 Jacob My servant; and Israel whom I have chosen.”
Deuteronomy 7:6 continues, “Yahweh thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself above all the people that are upon the face of the earth.”
“A royal priesthood, an holy nation.” This also can only be Israel, for Exodus 19:6 tells the people of Israel, “Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation.”
A peculiar people is another identifying mark of Israel for Deuteronomy 14:2 says,
“For thou an an holy people unto Yahweh thy God and Yahweh hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Himself above all the nations that are upon the earth.”
Finally, “that ye should show forth the praise of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light” is another identifying mark of Israel. In Isaiah 43:21 Yahweh says, “This people have I formed for Myself, they shall show forth My praise.”
I have skipped over the Epistle to the Hebrews, which is not signed, but is usually credited to Paul. I can’t imagine anyone disputing that this book, as indicated by its title, is written to, as well as written about the Hebrews, the Israelites. Probably we need not say more about it here. If I were to start in on that book, it alone would take several lessons to cover. I will go into that some other time.
What of the little understood Book of Revelation? It is too clear for any possible doubt that this book is written in symbols and is not to be taken literally. You must understand the symbols used in order to know the great realities for which they stand, these symbols are in general Israel symbols. Hence it can be understood only by those who can recognize the Israel basis of the symbols. This is also a book about which whole volumes have been written. It’s too long for me to take up as just a subdivision of our present theme of Israel in the New Testament
We have covered enough to show that the New Testament and the Old Testament are just the two sides of the same coin, which has the same value, whichever side you look at. If this were not so, we could not have confidence in either one of them. Truth must always be consistent with itself. Yahshua came not to take back Yahweh’s promises and nullify the prophecies but rather, as Paul said in Romans 15:8, “Now I say that Yahshua was a minister of the circumcision, for the truth of Yahweh, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.”
All that had been promised to Abraham and Moses was to be made good. Likewise, these promises to Abraham and Moses included the basis for Christianity. In fact Moses was a Christian. Does that startle you, when you remember that Moses died more than 1,400 years before Christ was born? Yet the New Testament tells us that Moses was a Christian. Hebrews 11:24-26 says,
“By faith, Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of Yahweh than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season: esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure of Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.”
Itis certain that he could not have esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, unless he truly understood what all the rituals he taught the people reallv meant, that they talked of the coming Redeemer. So it is that Hebrews 10:1 speaks of the law having a shadow of the good things to come. The Book of Hebrews explains how the rituals were only symbols of the coming of Christ and His sacrifice for us.
Therefore, never let anyone tell you that the two halves of the Bible are inconsistent and to accept one you must reject the other. No, the Bible is all one book, it tells of Yahweh’s putting His sons and daughters on earth as His chosen people, Israel and the great destiny He set for them. It tells of His foreknowledge of their imperfections and sins and His provision from before the foundation of the world, of the Redeemer who would save His people. Both Old and NewTestaments are Christian books and both of them are Israel books.
