John the Baptists' wilderness message was followed by the revelation that the “True Israel of God” is Jesus Christ. Jesus and Jesus alone lived up to the definition of the name "Israel," which is: “HE WILL RULE AS GOD.” (See Strong's H3478) Notice in the next scriptures how all the UPPERCASE areas equate out to the same opinion of Jesus being the True Israel of God:
Matthew 2:14-15
(14) When he arose, he took THE YOUNG CHILD and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
(15) And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, OUT OF EGYPT HAVE I CALLED MY SON.
Hosea 11:1
(1) WHEN ISRAEL WAS A CHILD, then I loved him, and CALLED MY SON OUT OF EGYPT.
Exodus 4:22
(22) And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, ISRAEL IS MY SON, EVEN MY FIRSTBORN:
John 3:16
(16) For God so loved the world, that HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Mark 12:6-9
(6) Having yet therefore ONE SON, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.
(7) But those husbandmen said among themselves, THIS IS THE HEIR; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.
(8 ) And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
(9) What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? HE WILL COME AND DESTROY THE HUSBANDMEN, AND WILL GIVE THE VINEYARD UNTO OTHERS.
These verses interrelate one to another and show that the Promised Child was and is Jesus Christ! He is the same promise Paul allegorically referred to in
Galatians 6 as the One promised SEED of Abraham. Through Jesus we become partakers of that same Promise. Here are some notable commentaries that concur with the “True Israel of God” being Jesus Christ:
Isaiah 49:3—O Israel: As the name of David is sometimes given to his successors, so here THE NAME OF ISRAEL MAY NOT UNFITLY BE GIVEN TO CHRIST, not only because he descended from his loins; but also because HE WAS THE TRUE AND THE GREAT ISRAEL, WHO, IN A MORE EMINENT MANNER, PREVAILED WITH GOD, AS THAT NAME SIGNIFIES, of whom Jacob, who was first called Israel, was but a type. —John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible
O Israel: A NAME OF CHRIST, AND WHICH PROPERLY BELONGS TO HIM, being the antitype of Jacob or Israel; the Head and REPRESENTATIVE OF THE WHOLE ISRAEL OF GOD; who was of Israel according to the flesh, and an Israelite indeed in a spiritual sense, and was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ISRAEL IS A NAME OF THE CHURCH, often given to it in this prophecy; CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH, BY VIRTUE OF THE UNION BETWEEN THEM, HAVE THE SAME NAMES; as she is sometimes called by his names, Christ, and the Lord our righteousness, so he is here called by her name Israel,
1Corinthians 12:12, —John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Isaiah 49:3—Israel: APPLIED TO MESSIAH, according to the true import of the name, the Prince who had power with God in wrestling in behalf of man, and who prevails (
Genesis 32:28;
Hosea 12:3-4). HE IS ALSO THE IDEAL ISRAEL, THE REPRESENTATIVE MAN OF THE NATION (Compare
Matthew 2:15 with
Hosea 11:1). —Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Neither the ethnicity of the Jews nor their opportunity to receive salvation through Jesus ended because of the AD70 destruction of Jerusalem and her Temple. Sunday, August 10, 2008, is also the Jewish Ninth of Av. That date marks the day that Babylon destroyed the first Temple and Rome destroyed the second. The destruction of the second Temple brought the elimination of the self-righteous system of Law to which the Jews had fallen prey. Jesus' coming in judgment during that generation—as prophesied—firmly established Him as the King of kings and the Lord of lords who does RULE AS GOD! (See
Matthew 28:18) When we (Jew, Samaritan, or Gentile) are "born again," we become a member of Jesus' body and thereby a member of the true Israel of God.
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