I would like to study with you something that I am actually not prepared to preach about!  I am still studying the subject myself.  I want to study with you about Israel, a subject about which there is great confusion in the Christian world today.

I still remember, in 1959, a group of people headquartered in Waco, Texas.  They had a new interpretation of the 1290 days and the 1335 days.  They had decided that these time periods began by certain events that happened in 1955.  So a whole group of them decided, in 1959, that they were going to go to Israel and be ready for Jesus to come.

When Jesus did not come in 1959, we thought that was the end of that group.  I  just assumed that I would never meet anybody like them again.  The theology of their leader had been proven undependable.  I thought that was the end.  I have to say that I was very surprised, when I was preaching in Los Angeles in about 1989, to have a man come to me, a Seventh-day Adventist, wanting to teach me some new things.  So I looked at his material, and here it was the same material that these people were teaching back in 1959.

It is not just Adventists that have gotten mixed up on this.  Political leaders in the United States are mixed up on this.  I am sure you have read about it in some of the magazines and newspapers or seen it on television.  There are people involved in shaping the national policy for this country that are confused on this issue.

We need to understand something about what the Bible teaches about Israel and who it is. 

Before we open God’s Holy Book, let us have a word of prayer together.  “Father in heaven, as we now are going to open your Holy Book and read it, we earnestly pray that your Spirit will be here to teach us the truth.  Give us a heart to obey and follow you.  We pray for Jesus’ sake.  Amen”

All of you know where Israel comes from.  Every teaching that we search in the Scriptures we can find in embryo form in the book of Genesis.  One of the most famous men in the Bible was a man by the name of Jacob.  Jacob means literally a heel grabber.  How would like to have that for your name?

I was talking to my mother about Jacob the other day, and I said, “Mom, I tell you I do not think I would care to do business with either Jacob or Laban.  He was too much of a sharp shooter.  His dealings got him into a lot of trouble.”  You can read in Geneses 32 where Jacob had a fight all night with the Lord.  He did not know it was the Lord; he thought he was fighting with Esau or somebody else.  That fight is used to represent the struggles that God’s people will go through at the end of time.  It is called, in Jeremiah 30, “the time of Jacob’s trouble.” 

Incidentally, something for you Bible students who would like something interesting to study, the Bible talks about three times of trouble that are greater than any time before or after.  That seems impossible to our human way of thinking, but that is in the Bible.  There is the great time of trouble that is greater than anything else that has ever been.  That is in Daniel 12:1.  That is the trouble for the nations.  There is the time of Jacob’s trouble—that is for God’s people—that is greater than anything before or after.  That is in Jeremiah 30.  Then there is the great tribulation for 1260 years that Jesus talked about in Matthew 24 that is greater than anything before or after.  Three times of trouble that are greater than anything before or after in the Scriptures.  It seems impossible, but that is what the Scripture says.  That is something to study out.

At the end of this night, when Jacob was battling with the Lord, Ellen White says that his sins came up before him during that night.  (See Patriarchs and Prophets, 196, 197.)  He was almost overwhelmed with the sense of his sins, but he kept struggling, and at the end, the Lord told him, “Your name is not going to be Jacob any more; your name is going to be Israel.”  Israel means a prince with God.  Ever since that time, the descendents of Abraham have been known by the name of Israel, one of the most wonderful names in the entire Bible. 

We all know who Israel was in the old covenant.  It was the descendents of Abraham of who all the males were circumcised, as you can read in Genesis 17.  If they were not circumcised, they were not part of the covenant.  (See Genesis 17:2–14.)  From then on, all of Jacob’s descendents were known as the children of Israel or often simply as Israel.

What we want to know is not who was Israel in the old covenant, but what is Israel in the new covenant.  This problem or this situation is addressed immediately in the beginning of the New Testament.  John the Baptist is preaching, as we begin reading in Matthew 3:7: “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers [poisonous snake]!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.”  For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  Verses 7–10.

He goes on to say that although he baptized them with water, there was One coming after him, One that was stronger than he, and that this person was going to baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  Now notice, he says in verse 9, “Do not even think to call Abraham your father.”  That is the very thing that they were pleased to say.  “We are Israel, because we are the descendents of Abraham.”  John the Baptist said, “Look, God is able to raise up children to Abraham of these stones.”

Who do the stones represent?  A stone is dead; it is not alive.  A stone represented the nations of the Gentiles that were spiritually dead.  Paul, writing to the Ephesians, says, “You were dead in trespasses and sins.”  Ephesians 2:1.  So, immediately when we get to New Testament times, in the very first of the New Testament, we see the idea that the children of Abraham are not just the blood descendents, but Israel is a people that God has raised up as spiritual children of Abraham.

Let us look at several texts now in the New Testament, which will spell out very clearly who Israel is in the new covenant.  These are the texts that our Christian friends that are promoting these national policies on the part of Israel do not understand.  The people in Israel today are not Israel.  Most of them are not even Christians; they are not Israel.  They are not spiritual Israel.  Who is Israel in the new covenant?

The promises given in the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Israel are not going to be fulfilled in the nation of Israel like people think.  They are not.  That is not going to happen.  They are going to be fulfilled to the real Israel.  So who is the real Israel?

The apostle Paul deals with this at length.  Let us read a few texts.  First, Romans 2:28, 29: “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God”

Turn over a page or two to Romans 4:13–18.  Now this is a very specific text on this subject.  “For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.  For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ ”   Now it would be very difficult to get more specific than that!

The apostle says the children of Abraham are not the children just according to the law.  They are those that have the faith of Abraham, and those that have “the righteousness of faith,” as it says in verse 13. 

 Then turn to Romans 9:6–8.  This also is a very explicit text.  He says, “But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect.  For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’  That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.”  Verse 8 is about as specific as you can make it.  It would be very difficult to explain it more plainly.

He said the children of the flesh are not even the children of Abraham; they are not even part of it.  It is the children of the promise that are counted for the seed, and he gives the example of Isaac and Ishmael.  We could go back to Genesis 17:23–25 and prove that.  You see there the record on the very day that God commanded and gave the right of circumcision to Abraham.  On that very same day both Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised.  But was Ishmael ever counted as part of the seed?  No.  Was he circumcised?  Yes, but he was never accounted as part of the seed.  In Isaac his seed was to be called.  The children of the promise are accounted the seed.

 Go over to the book of Galatians and there again Paul becomes very specific about who he is talking about.  Look for instance in Galatians 6:16: “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.”  Who is the Israel of God?  Well he has already told us in the book of Galatians who the Israel of God is.  Look in Galatians 3:7: “Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.”  There again it is about as clear and straightforward as you can say it.  Those that are of faith are the sons of Abraham.

Look in verses 27–29: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”  There you have it again.

This is the battle John the Baptist had to fight.  Jesus had to fight it.  All the apostles had to fight it.  Especially the apostle Paul had to fight it, because he was sent to the Gentiles.  Even some of the apostles were not completely clear on this point.  Read Sketches on the Life of Paul, and you will see that.  So Paul had to repeatedly specify who Israel is in the new covenant.  He makes it exceedingly clear that these Gentiles are a part of Israel now, and the people that call themselves Israel are not part of Israel at all.  They are not Israel unless they have the faith of Abraham and unless they believe in Christ.

If we want to state it another way, you could not remain a part of Israel without following Jesus by faith into the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary.  The same thing happened in 1844.  You could not remain a part of Israel unless you followed Christ into the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary.

We have looked at who was Israel in the old covenant, and who is Israel in the new covenant.  But now we come to something sad, and that is that not all Israel is going to be saved. 

Let us look first of all at the words of Jesus in Matthew 8.  A few years ago I looked at some of these texts, and I found something very interesting.  In every case in the gospels that I have found, where Jesus says that when He comes again there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, if you look at those texts, you will find that every single time He is talking to people who belong to Israel who think they are going to be saved, but they come right up to the end, and they are not.  Every single time He is talking about those people.

Look at verses 11 and 12: “And I say unto you that many shall come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Notice, many are going to come from all over, but the sons, or children, of the kingdom are going to be cast out.  So all of Israel are not going to be saved.

Look at Matthew 22:11–14: “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.  So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’  And he was speechless.  Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  For many are called, but few are chosen.”

And then look at Mathew 7:21–23: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ ”  The Greek word there is anomia, which means lawlessness.  John Tyndale, in 1522, translated that as iniquity, and that is all right, but the literal meaning of the word is lawlessness. 

These are the people that are breaking God’s law yet claim to be Christians.  They claim to be part of Israel, but they are not. 

Well, if all Israel are not going to be saved, then who is going to be saved?  That is the subject that I want to study with you.  I confess to you that I still have to study it some more.  I cannot give you an exhaustive study, because I still have to study it some more.

Let us look at a few texts that specify who out of Israel is going to be saved.  First of all, let us look at Mathew 24:37: “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

Well let us look back to the days of Noah.  “And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven.  They were destroyed from the earth.  Noah only remained [was left] alive, and they that were with him in the ark.”  Genesis 7:23.  That word left is a very interesting word.  It is translated many times as remnant.  There was a remnant with Noah in the ark, and that was all that was saved.  Everything else was destroyed. 

Now Jesus said it was going to be like it was in the days of Noah.  In the days of Noah,  this verse tells us that there was a remnant with Noah in the ark.  They were saved, and everything else was destroyed.  Is that the way it is going to be?  Yes, that is the way it is going to be.

Even though I am just beginning to make a detailed study of this, I have found quite a few texts already.  We are just going to look at a few of the texts I found.  I want you to see what the Bible says about the remnant in the last days in Isaiah 4.  Isaiah 2, 3, and 4 are prophecies about the last days.  It says, in Isaiah 4:3, “And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.”

There is coming a time when all that is left of Israel is just a remnant, and every one of them is going to be called holy.  I have asked congregations, when I was preaching on this subject or when I read this text, when the time comes that the only people left are the holy people, would you be one?  See, everybody else, even in Israel, is going to be destroyed.  It is not just the people in Babylon that are going to be destroyed when the Lord comes.  Everybody that is in Israel is going to be destroyed too—except the remnant; that is all that is going to be left.

Isaiah 10:20 is very revealing about what is going to happen in the future in Adventism.  Let us read verses 22 and 23: “For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness.  For the Lord God of hosts Will make a determined end In the midst of all the land.”  That is talking, friend, about the last days.  It is talking about our time.

This world is going to come to a very climactic and decisive end.  That has been determined already.  And even if Israel is as the sand of the sea, there is only going to be a remnant left.  The question is, Are you going to be among that remnant?  That is a question for me, and that is a question for you.  The apostle Paul quotes Isaiah 10:22 in Romans 9:27.  Isaiah 11:11 is another very interesting verse about the remnant.  Before we go to the New Testament, let us look at one more very revealing verse about the remnant.  This also is a prophecy about the last days.

Zephaniah 3:13 begins by using the word remnant.  It says, “The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness And speak no lies, Nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; For they shall feed their flocks and lie down, And no one shall make them afraid.”

When I was a teenager, I thought for a while that I was going to lose my vision, so I appreciate vision very much.  I am very thankful to the Lord that I can see.  Suppose that I was blind, but I needed to get places, so I tell you that I am going to give you a certain amount of money, and I want you to go downtown and buy me a car.  So you bring me a brand new car.  I gave you the money; I paid for it, and it is all mine.  I have the title to the car.  But can I drive the car?  No.  Why can I not drive the car?  Because I am not fit to drive, even though I paid the price for it, and I own it.

Jesus paid the price so that you could go to heaven, when He died on the cross.  The price has been paid.  You do not have to take out a mortgage.  The price is paid; the title is clear.  Jesus is willing to forgive all of your past sins, so your title will be clear.  But just as I cannot drive a car if I am blind, even if I own it, you cannot go to heaven, if you are not fit to go there, even if you are forgiven.  Because if you are not fit to go there, if you are not sanctified, you would ruin it.  Just like a blind person would wreck his car if he tried to drive it.  Heaven has already been wrecked once.  God is not going to allow it to be wrecked again.

If God allowed me to go to heaven with one defect in my character, what would happen?  Let us suppose that I have overcome every sin but one.  Let us just suppose that my besetting sin is that once in a while I become impatient.  That is the only besetting sin I have; I have overcome everything else.  Could God take me to heaven?  No.  God can not take an impatient person to heaven, because that would wreck heaven.  What if I overcame every sin except the sin of fault finding.  Could God take me to heaven then?  “Oh,” you say, “Heaven is a perfect place.  Nobody will find fault there.”  Have you read the Spirit of Prophecy?  Ellen White says that if God took some people to heaven that they would find fault with it.  Now I do not know what fault they would find, but she says they would.  (See Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, 287, 288; vol. 4b, 30; Testimonies, vol. 1, 145.)

God cannot take me to heaven if I have one character defect, because that one character defect would ruin it.  One intelligence ruined heaven before, one.  It only takes one character defect to ruin heaven, so God cannot take me to heaven with one character defect.  Just like if I own a car and I am blind, even if I am in perfect health in every other way, I am still not fit to drive a car.  That is the only defect I have, but I am not fit to drive a car.  If I only have one character defect, I am not fit to enter heaven.

I am going to read one last text in closing.  I better read this, because maybe there is somebody here that has gotten discouraged.  I have had people come up to me after a preaching service like this and tell me that there was no chance for them to be saved.  Of course, that is not true.  They just did not understand, so let me read this text, in case there is somebody here that does not understand.  Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  That is not the only text on that subject.

If God has begun a good work, God does not do a half way job.  If you have surrendered yourself fully and completely to Him, the One that began in you a good work will finish it.  You say, “Well, Pastor John, how do I know if God has begun a good work in me?”  If God has not been working on your heart, you would not even be here.  There are hundreds and thousands of other people that are not here.  If you surrender completely to Him, He is going to finish what He started.  And when He gets done, there will not be a single character defect left.

The catch is that you and I have to surrender totally to the Holy Spirit and cooperate, not fight.  Ellen White has a lot to say about that.  There are a lot of people, she says, that when the Lord gives them a rebuke or counsel, they get upset, and they begin to fight.  (See Review and Herald, July 3, 1888; Selected Messages, Book 1, 374.)  And of course that slows down the work.  When the Lord is trying to get you ready for heaven, trying to get the character defects out of your life, trying to help you, and you start fighting, that slows things down.  Do you want to make a covenant with the Lord?  Say, Lord help me to cooperate with You.  Help me to accept every rebuke, every counsel.  Help me to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and step fast so that every character defect can be out of my life, and I can be ready; I can be among the remnant, perfect in Christ.