Who are God’s chosen people? Who are the children of God? Social media is full of opinions and assertions regarding who is saved, who isn’t, who will be, or who won’t. Some say that the geographical area called Israel today doesn’t match the promised land recorded in Numbers 34:1-12, therefore today’s nation of Israel is not the true Israel of Bible prophecy. Others say that Christians are the new Israel and that the secular nation of Israel today no longer consists of God’s people since they rejected Christ. Some claim we are all God’s children and a loving God would never send anyone to hell. The answers are recorded in the Bible and it is through scripture that we can know without doubt who the children of God truly are.
In Genesis 12:1-3, the Lord promised Abraham that he would make him a great nation and that through him all the peoples of the earth would be blessed. The apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 4:13 that these promises were not contingent upon obeying the law but were based upon righteousness through faith. In Galatians 3:18 he advises, “For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise.”
As a Jew, Paul had immense empathy for Israel over her rejection of the Messiah. “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.
It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.” Romans 9:6-8.
Paul connects the dots linking Gentiles to Abraham through the promise in Ephesians 3:6, “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” He doesn’t say in place of, but together with. This means that Christians are not to assume they have replaced Israel and are the new Israel. Romans 11:1a says, “I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means!” In the third chapter of Galatians, Paul declares of Christ, “He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” Galatians 3:14.
Paul tells us that as Gentiles, we are grafted in branches and that we should not become arrogant and ignorant of this fact (Romans 11:11-31). It was by Israel’s rejection of Christ that salvation came to the Gentiles, therefore, since Israel’s failure resulted in blessings for the world, how much more blessings will result with Israel’s acceptance of Christ. Since we are grafted in branches and Israel is the root of our blessings, we should not assume that we are better in God’s eyes. We do not support the root; it is the root that supports us because the blessings come to us through the root. We benefited from Israel’s unbelief and we can also lose the blessings because of unbelief. Since God did not spare the true branches, he will not spare us either if we fall into apostasy.
If Israel does not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted back in and their inheritance restored. “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved,” Romans 11:25b-26a.
As we witness what once were vibrant and successful empires, losing their blessings because of their unbelief, we can testify that countries no longer considered as Christian are shrinking back from global dominance because they are falling away from Christ (Europe and North America). In other countries like China, Iran, and parts of Africa, Christianity is growing rapidly. There will come a point where the growth will cease and the full number of non-Jewish believers will have come into the kingdom.
It is then that the rapture (1 Corinthians 15:51-52) will occur and the bride of Christ will be taken up to heaven and the banquet hall doors will be closed so the wedding supper of the Lamb can be celebrated. There will be many Messianic Jews included in the rapture and this is where much of Israel will wake up and believe. Paul wished to elicit envy among the Jews (Romans 11:13) and this may be how it comes about.
So the children of God are those who live by faith in the atonement and resurrection of Jesus. Many today claim that all people are God’s children, however the Bible tells us that is not true and that we become children of God when we accept Jesus Christ as our savior (Galatians 3:26, Romans 8:14, John 1:12). Furthermore, John tells us we can differentiate between the children of God and the children of the devil. “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” 1 John 3:10.
What confidence do we have that we are indeed children of God? The Bible answers, “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” 1 John 3:21-24.
Paul clarifies what it means to be children of God in Romans 8:12-17, “Therefore brothers, we have an obligation – but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry ABBA, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
Jesus warned the Jews that the kingdom of God would be taken away from the them, as Mathew 21:43 records, “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” He also warned of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (Mathew 24:2) which came to pass in AD 70 when the Romans sieged Jerusalem. Since then, Christianity has spread the gospel throughout the world and has helped more people in need than the nation of Israel ever did in her long history. This is the fruit that Jesus spoke of.
In 1948 Israel became a nation once again and the Jews have since returned to their homeland in fulfilment of Isaiah 66:8. The fact that Israel today doesn’t have the exact same borders as the promised land in Numbers 34 !-12 is a moot point since the Israel in the time Jesus walked in Jerusalem didn’t either, yet Jesus treated her as the whole representative of God’s chosen people. Today’s Israel is no different.
When Paul wrote that all Israel will be saved, he wasn’t referring to every man, woman and child from the gene pool, rather he was saying there would be a faithful remnant that would be saved that represented each of the original twelve tribes. In Romans 11:5 tells us, “So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.”
In the book of Revelation, in the seventh chapter, John wrote about a time of great tribulation in the last days, never before seen and never to be equaled again (see also Mathew 24:21 and Daniel 12:1). In verses 4-8 he described 144,000 servants of God that would be protected from harm. Twelve thousand from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. The secular status of the nation of Israel is of no concern in God’s eyes since there will be a faithful remnant from the true Israel that will be saved and will repopulate Israel in Christ’s millennial kingdom following his second coming.
All true believers, both Gentile and Jew, as brothers in Christ, will dine together at the Lord’s table in the kingdom of heaven. We can know for certain that when we believe we are saved. Hebrews 4:14-16 reminds us, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
God’s plan is a perfect plan and we are so blessed through Jesus Christ to be part of that plan! Praise the Lord for his foreknowledge and grace; for extending the blessings he promised to one man (Abraham) to all who believe, through one man (Jesus Christ). God’s children have a heart for the Father and come from all walks of life. From many church denominations, countries and Israel itself. God’s children are citizens of heaven and have a certain disconnect from the world, not following worldly values, but longing to be with Christ. As Paul elaborates, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Philippians 3:20-21.
