Who is Israel
Who do you think is Israel? Are these people all the descendants of Abraham? Surely not, it is far more complicated! And who is Israel in the New Testament? What about Jews who don’t believe in God?
The origin and purpose of Israel
After the fall of man, humankind drifts further and further away from God. The flood does not change anything and finally the people decide to make a name for themselves by building a tower in Babel that should reach the heavens. But God stops this by causing the people to speak in different languages. Then God reaches out and made a name out of Abraham (at this time he’s still called Abram). He makes a covenant with him. Gods plan is that his descendants will be a blessing to the whole world.
Abraham goes on to raise a big family which moved over to Egypt due to a famine and settled there. Over the next 400 years this family becomes a vast people and finally they are enslaved by Pharaoh. God responds by sending the 10 plagues to show that he takes care of his people far, far better than the Egyptian gods or the military or political power of Egypt takes care of the Egyptians.
In the story of the Pesach (Passover) begins just before the last plague God reveals his intention regarding Israel. Now, it is important to note that everybody who wants to live permanently with Israel and be part of the covenant becomes Israel — because covenant means to become part of a family. It’s God’s desire that Israel will include all nations so that all are brought into a relationship with God. This happens in the Exodus, where a lot of others join Israel when they leave Egypt.
God makes a new covenant with these people at Sinai and this is covenant which becomes the constitution for the new nation “Israel” (before this they were a family or a group of slaves).
More people joined Israel over time, such as Rahab, Ruth vs. Orpah and Uriah and many others. But this was only a limited amount and not in a dimonsion as God intended.
Israel fails the covenant
But there is a more severe problem on the horizon. Israel’s behaviour is worse than that of their neighbors and they therefore break the covenant. As a consequence, they are send into exile. But God speaks through the prophets. He tells Israel that after the exile he will restore their remnant and Israel will reach its full purpose. So when the exile ends after 70 years, Israel expects all the prophecy to be fulfilled right away.
But this does not happen. The conclusion for Israel was, that they are still in the exile waiting for another exodus with all the promises fulfilled called “Day of the Lord” just as the Exodus out of Egypt. However, these promises were for the remnant of Israel but also included that the nations will be part of Israel.
A new beginning
When Jesus came the first time, he claimed through his words and actions that the Day of the Lord has come, and “the gospels are written reflecting the Second Exodus”.
With this he also redefines Israel. He calls himself “Son of Man” and made himself the remnant of Israel and he started a new covenant with anyone who was willing to join starting with Israel including all the Gentiles.
But the Day of the Lord has only partially arrived, so we are living in a time in between, where the kingdom of God is there, but not fully yet.
The church did not replace Israel, but Israel fulfilled its mission by reaching the Gentiles so that they (and any Jew who is willing) could form the Church.