The New Testament Israel — Who They Are And Who They Are Not

Most Christians today are erroneously taught that they are “gentiles” — and yet despite thinking they are “gentiles,” they nevertheless believe they are duty-bound to fulfill the Great Commission spelled out in Mark 16:15 — to bring the Gospel to other “gentiles.” But unequivocally, Jesus Christ gave the Great Commission to Israelites, not to “gentiles.”

In our previous essay, “The Great Commission — Did Jesus Christ Intend The Gospel To Reach Everyone On Earth?” — we showed that the Great Commission was not a universalist command to bring the Gospel to each and every nation — or country — that now exists in our modern times. Rather, at the time of Christ, the “nations” had a very specific meaning defined in the Scriptures which does not agree with our modern understanding of “nations” today.

In this essay, The New Testament Israel (Part 1) Sheldon Emry clearly establishes that Christians for the last 2,000 years — who have been overwhelmingly white Europeans — have fulfilled the promises to Abraham’s seed — while the so-called “Jews” have not.

Unwittingly these Christians have fulfilled the Great Commission not knowing that they are, in fact, Abraham’s literal seed — his literal descendants from the ten “lost” tribes of northern Israel. They have fulfilled the Commission as Israelites, not as “gentiles” — otherwise, Jesus Christ was a failure — and his Great Commission was not fulfilled by Israel but by “gentiles” to other “gentiles.”

We would dispute Sheldon Emry’s contention that European Israelites have fulfilled the Great Commission by bringing the Gospel to every nation “on the face of” the planet — as we do not believe that Israelites were ever commanded to bring the Gospel to any non-Adamic peoples outside the original Genesis 10 nations and their legitimate descendants.

We have also shown in our previous essay — “A Closer Look At The Meaning Of ‘Gentiles’ In The Old And New Testaments” — that the meaning of “gentiles” — especially in Romans which Christians often mistakenly cite to justify “gentiles” fulfilling the Great Commission — refers only to ten-tribe Israel — the northern kingdom — whom Jesus Christ came to regather, as He attested in Matthew 15:24,

“I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Certainly, no Christian could argue that European Christians have not indeed been a “light unto the nations” while the so-called “Jews” have been anything but that. Today’s “Jews” — the Synagogue of Satan — have worked to subvert and destroy Christendom — and have even gone so far as demand that many parts of the Gospels be literally censored for their “antisemitic” content — hardly behavior we’d expect from any people claiming to be Abraham’s seed and a “light unto the nations.”

Sheldon Emry writes,

The New Testament Israel (Part 1)

According to the Bible, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were to take the light of God’s Word to the ends of the earth; and to be a blessing to all the other races of the world. World Christian missions bave been carried out primarily by the so-called Gentile races of Europe and North America. Is it possible that these people of Europe and of America are fulfilling other prophecies about Israel also?

I am going to demonstrate that the New Testament, which Christians accept as a divinely-inspired part of the Bible, is addressed to these same descendants of Abraham we’ve been reading about in the Old Testament (in the booklet The Old Testament Christians). It is rather common today in theological circles to divide the Bible into two parts, and take the first part, that portion written before Christ, and say, Oh, that was all written to the Jews; and then take the second part, that portion written after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and say, that is addressed to “Gentile” Christians.

However, many ministers and most Bible students, do recognize that the writers of the New Testament continually refer to the Old Testament as the basis for their New Testament doctrines, and in fact quoted Old Testament prophecies scores of times, in their explanations of Jesus Christ, and their own prophecies of events to come.

The New Testament foundation is the Old Testament. The confusion lies, not so much in dividing the Bible into two books, but in totally separating them, and not making it plain to the people that the latter part is really a continuation of the first part — and that the New Testament is written to — and written about — the same people: the people called Israel.

One gets little argument when one points out that the Old Testament was written by Israelites — that it is a record of the history of Israel, that God made the covenants with Israel, that the law was given to Israel; and that when it speaks of future events, those events are things which were to come to pass in and to the Israel people. One still gets agreement when one points out that the New Testament was also written by Israelites — that it is a record of the history of Jesus Christ, as He came to Israel — and that the New Testament refers to a New Covenant to be made with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. And that there is much in the New Testament writings about the prophetic future of the Israel people:

However, these same clergymen who will agree with you so far on that will then proceed to enter their pulpits, or speak on the radio, and will speak over and over about the New Testament being for the Christians, and the Old Testament being for the Jews.

So I propose to point you to a number of passages in the New Testament which should make it plain that the New Testament is as much of an Israelitish book or message from God to Israel,
as is the Old. And further, that you Christians may see that God is actually identifying you as
Israelites — children of Abraham, the inheritors of the Covenants and the promises written in the Old Testament [see Jeremiah 31:31-33].

When I first announced the availability of our movie “Heirs of The Promise,” I read Galatians 3:29 — an oft-quoted verse from the New Testament:

“And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

I said this then — and it bears repeating — millions of people in Europe and America attend Christian churches and claim to be Christians. In effect they say they are Christ’s –but if you were to ask them how that makes them Abraham’s seed, and what are the promises which they are to inherit, very few would be able to give you a cogent answer [beyond some vague notions of some sort of “spiritual seed” of Abraham].

In our movie Heirs Of The Promise — I read the promises in the Bible that God made to Abraham — and I point out that we — yes, we Christians — have been blessed as God kept those promises to us — that those promises have been kept only in and among the Christian peoples of Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Usually with most of our people not even realizing that God is blessing us because of what He promised He would do with Abraham’s seed.

In my own city of Phoenix, Arizona, I often hear [evangelical Zionist] ministers quote Isaiah 35: 1 about how the desert of Israel would blossom as the rose. Then they refer to the so-called Jews irrigating several hundred thousand acres of desert in [modern] Palestine. They apparently forgot — or never knew — that we have more land under irrigation in our county — yes, in Maricopa County, Arizona — than do these Jews in all of Palestine.

In addition, Christians in many lands — especially in North America — have irrigated millions of acres of desert land. Christians from Europe have been the organizers and sponsors of great irrigation works in North Africa, the Middle East, Australia and the sub-continent of Asia. The desert blossomed as the rose under Christian hands not just in a few thousand acres — but in tens of millions of acres across the earth.

Isaiah 35: 1 seems to have had a greater fulfillment in those people claiming they are Christ’s — and therefore Abraham’s seed — than in the people who claim to be Abraham’s seed but who reject Jesus Christ. But I am getting ahead of my story.

Take your Bible and follow with me — and I use the KJV — follow with me in the New Testament. Just a few of the many passages to prove the New Testament is an Israelite book.

First verse in Matthew 1:1 identifies the New Testament as “the book of the generations of Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham,” echoing Genesis 5:1, “This is the book of the generations of Adam.” So Matthew is writing a book about Jesus who was descended in His humanity from father Abraham (Hebrews 2:17) — and ultimately Adam.

Then is listed His human ancestry, every one of them an Israelite — except of course, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Those three are [technically] not Israelites — but they can be called “Hebrews” since their ancestor was Eber [the great-grandson of Noah’s son Shem] — but only those following Jacob — whose name was changed to Israel — can truly be called Israelites.

I’ve heard some call Abraham a “Jew” when in point of fact Abraham was not even an Israelite. No one in the Bible is even called by the name ‘Jew’ until 2 Kings 16:6, which was 900 years after Abraham was dead — and when the Jews were at war with Israel.

Anyway, the New Testament begins by tracing Jesus back to Abraham. In Matthew 2:6, the wise men tell Herod that Jesus was come to rule over Israel. After Jesus began to preach, He chose twelve disciples — all Israelites — and we read in Matthew 10:6 that He commanded them to go [exclusively] “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

The gospel of Mark begins in chapter 1: 1-2 by telling us that Jesus came as it is written in the prophets — those prophets, of course, were Israelites. Luke begins his narrative with some family background of John the Baptist and Jesus — and he records that the angel said of John:

“And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the Just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).

Now who were the people John would prepare for the Lord, or for Jesus Christ? Well, the verse just before this — verse 16, tells us,

“And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.”

Now taking that in the context of the rest of the New Testament, the angel certainly meant that many Israelites would believe in Jesus Christ and would become Christians. When? Sometime in the future? No — but rather back at the time when Jesus came to walk on the earth. That same chapter quotes a long prophecy by John’s father about Jesus Christ — why Jesus came and what Jesus would accomplish. Now you folks who think that the New Testament is not addressed to Israel, listen to this — Luke 1:68 says that Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost — and prophesied, saying,

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people.”

Now, who are God’s people? Well, the Israelites, of course. Luke 1:69 tells us, “And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us…” — and remember Zacharias was an Israelite — for us Israelites:

“…in the house of his servant David; as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham.”

Now notice Zacharias — who was a priest in Israel — is saying that the coming of Jesus Christ was directly related to God’s promise to keep his covenant that He had sworn to Father Abraham. Now if you believe Galatians 3:29 makes you as a “gentile” Christian an inheritor of those promises to Abraham, then listen to what that promise or covenant Zacharias was referring to was:

“That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, an the days of our life” (Luke 1:75).

How about that — this great prophecy of Jesus Christ says that he came to keep the promise of delivering Abraham’s seed [Strong’s #4690] from the hand of their enemies so that they might serve God. Oh, I thought Jesus came so that when we died, we might go to heaven and live happily ever after? At least that is what the evangelicals and the theologians tell us all the time.

And yet, here, a priest in Israel connects Jesus Christ to God’s promises to Abraham — that Abraham’s literal descendants would be delivered from their enemies. It doesn’t say anything about delivering any so-called “gentiles” from their enemies and in to heaven — but rather delivering Israel from her enemies.

The last verse in Luke 1 verifies that John the Baptist came to Israelites to prepare the way of Jesus Christ:

“And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel” (Luke 1:80)

In Luke 2, after Jesus was born, He was taken by His parents to the temple to be dedicated according to the Mosaic Law — you can read that in verses 22-24 — and while there, a man named Simeon appeared at the temple:

“And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” (Luke 2:25-26)

“Christ” means Messiah or redeemer. In Luke 1:68, Zacharias said that God had visited and redeemed His people. Now here is Simeon identifying Jesus Christ as that redeemer — Israel’s Christ in verses 27-32:

“And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiies, and the glory of thy people Israel.”

The word “gentiles” in verse 32 comes from the Greek word “ethnos” (Strong’s #1484) — and it means “nations” — not “non-Jews”. So Simeon was saying that Jesus was to be — through Israel — a light to lighten the nations. And Christians from Europe and North America have printed and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation on earth in the last centuries. It is through them — these so-called “gentile” Christians — that Jesus has been a light unto the nations. And if these Christians of Europe and America are Abraham’s seed because of Galatians 3:29 where we read “if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” If they are Abraham’s seed, then they are the Israel through whom it is fulfilled that Jesus was to be a light to the nations.

That same verse 32 in Luke 2 says that Jesus would be “the glory of thy people Israel.” The fulfillment of that phrase is also found in Christendom. Jesus Christ is the glory of the Christian peoples of Europe, America, Australia and South Africa and New Zealand — another promise or prophecy to Israel fulfilled in Christians. Can they be Israel?

Let us go on in our study proving the New Testament is addressed to Israel. Jesus continually referred to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in His teachings — often quoting passages from the Old Testament as He taught. In the last chapter of Luke — after His resurrection — Jesus appeared to the men on the road to Emmaus — but they did not recognize Him. When He asked them why they were sad, they replied — about the Jesus whom they now thought to be dead:

“But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.” (Luke 24:21)

Their statement is proof they thought of Jesus as the redeemer of Israel, which of course He is called many times. In verse 44 — after Jesus revealed Himself to the rest of the men — He made it plain to them that He — Jesus — was the fulfillment of prophecies made to Israel:

“And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.” (Luke 24:44)

Jesus then speaks of the future and of the mission His Israelite disciples were to accomplish:

“And that repentance and remission of Sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:46-49)

So in the little that we have read, the gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus Christ came to Israel — that He came as a result of prophecies to Israel. That he came to keep promises and covenants that God had made with Abraham and with Israel. That Jesus Christ would then be preached to all nations through these Israelites who would believe on Him. Jesus said to these same Israelite disciples,

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both In Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

In Mark 16:15, these Israelite disciples — not “gentiles” — were told,

“Go ye into all the worId, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

Now these prophecies have all come to pass — and they have been accomplished by Christian Europeans and Americans. They not only claimed the Bible — both the Old and the New Testament as the book of their religious faith — they have translated it into almost every known tongue. They have printed tens of millions of copies of it — and have taken it to all nations and tribes of the earth — even to the uttermost parts of the earth. Yet we are told by the clergy that these Europeans and Americans are “gentiles” — not Israelites.

Did God make a mistake in addressing these prophecies to Israel?

Was Jesus Christ a failure in His mission to Israel? Did His commands get obeyed only by the inadvertent happenstance of another “gentile” race doing what Jesus had instructed only Israel to do? Or are these the people whom Galatians 3:29 said they are: “Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise”?

(End of Part 1)