Bible Science Forum

by Rev. James C. Gallagher

Rev. James C. Gallagher, in his sermons presented here, debates the concept of the “true Israel of God.” He argues that it’s not dependent on being a Jew or a Gentile, but on faith in Jesus Christ. The promise given to Abraham, according to Scripture, is the gospel, and those who put their faith in Christ are the descendants and heirs of Abraham’s promise.

“…the fact that the Jew and the Gentile who believe in Christ Jesus, who acknowledge Christ as their Saviour, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Jew and the Gentile come together and they represent God’s true nation, the Israel of God.”

This is Part I of 3 videos with 8 sermons. Audio of all sermons are posted here.

Part I Audio only

Transcript of the first sermon (30 mins) in the series

Now I want to talk about the subject of who is the true Israel of God particularly when the theological community of our day won’t teach it. I don’t think it’s possible to grow in grace beyond a certain point if you don’t understand your identity in Christ Jesus, and who in fact is the Israel of God in Christ that’s necessary for the purpose that it would go out on the air for the benefit of those who aren’t familiar with these doctrines but also to shore up what we have been taught in days gone by and to re-establish these truths and firm them up in our own minds. I’d like to break it down into five parts today.

We want to talk about the promise given to Abraham and the fact that the Jew and the Gentile who believe in Christ Jesus, who acknowledge Christ as their Saviour, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Jew and the Gentile come together and they represent God’s true nation, the Israel of God. Those people who believe in Christ are the people of God and not the Zionists in the Middle East. I want to show you that from the Bible it’s an unmistakable doctrine. So many don’t see it. So many don’t understand it. A lot of people never even heard of that.

So we’ll talk about that today and then Lord willing next week we’ll raise the issue of the unbelieving Jews. What do we do with the unbelieving Jews that have been broken off? And we’ll particularly bring out the idea that the unbelieving Jews that deny Christ have been broken off and the Gentiles have been brought into their covenant. Now we’re actually going to talk about that some today too. But next week, Lord willing, we’ll talk about that through the lens of that all-important chapter Romans 11.

And then thirdly we want to address the question that may come up in some people’s mind: Well, if all what you’re saying is true, pastor Gallagher, then what became of the Jewish nation per se? If what you’re saying is true, that it is believing Jews and the believing Gentiles who are the Israel of God then what became of the Jewish nation? Didn’t God make a promise to them? So we’ll talk about that objection.

And then fourthly we’ll address another objection which inevitably comes up. And the dispensationalists may be overwhelmed with some of the teaching that we have given up to that point but they’ll invariably ask the question; finally they’ll say, well then, what do you do with 1948? If everything you’re saying is true and the Christians are the issue of God, what do you do with 1948? Is it just some sort of big coincidence? What do you do with Zionism? And to answer that question we’ll study the subject of Mystery Babylon because therein lies the answer to that question that no doubt will be in the back of a lot of people’s minds.

Fifthly I’d like to address maybe a question that would crop up, that is, what about the teachings of the restoration of the Jews to the Promised Land? And doesn’t the Lord owe them the land? And aren’t there passages that deal with restoration and we can address that at that time, Lord willing.

Now in truth the conclusion to all of these teachings and the conclusion that we will immediately come to right up front in this very first sermon, the conclusion we’ll come to is that Christians, again, both Jewish Christians, so-called Jewish Christians, and so-called Gentile Christians, that together the Jew and the Gentile come together by faith in Christ and they, and they alone are the recipients of the promise that was given to Abraham. And as such they represent the people of God, the ekklesia, which is the Greek word that you usually see translated in your Bible as church. The ekklesia represents the fulfilment of the promises given to Abraham. That ekklesia, which is made up of Jew and Gentile, they are the true Israel of God. That is a revolutionary knowledge to come to in today’s day and age. And if you don’t have that knowledge and you don’t believe that truth you are spiritually stunted in your growth as a Christian. You can only go so far.

A lot of people would be shocked by what I’ve just said. There are a lot of people who have no idea that anybody teaches this. That’s the way I was I always taught. Well, the Jews were God’s chosen people because that’s what Jerry Falwell said. And Billy Graham thought that and Pat Robertson thought that and all the fellas that were on TV and radio they all said the same thing so I thought it was pretty much a universal truth.

I was never really a dispensationalist per se but I was a Christian Zionist because I thought it was biblical. And a lot of people when they hear what you’re saying that Christians are the Israel of God, they’ve never heard that, and when I heard it the first time, I thought what kind of crazy man would teach this? This is some crazy doctrine that came from some guru that was hiding in a closet and now he’s come out and some strange weird doctrine that’s come up. Some Johnny-come-lately. And the truth is that’s about as far removed from the truth as you can get. It’s dispensationalism and Christian Zionism that is Johnny-come-lately. It’s been around for 150 years and for some people that’s ancient history. But over the course of the history of the faith of Christ that’s nothing.

And so we do want to emphasize and teach this doctrine, that modern-day dispensationalism. Now a lot of people won’t even know what dispensationalism is. There are a lot of dispensationalists who do not know that they’re dispensationalists. They’ve never even heard of the term before. So let me just say this. It’s a quick thing, a dispensationalist. Well if you believe in a secret rapture, seven-year tribulation, a thousand year millennium, you’re a dispensationalist.

There are broad divisions amongst those that believe those things. There are different doctrines that are held by different dispensationalists but there’s one thing that binds you together and the thing that binds you together as a dispensationalist, and if you read dispensational literature, they will acknowledge this, is the essence and the heart and the soul of dispensationalism. The heart and soul of dispensationalism is that the church is not Israel and Israel is not the church. They are absolutely separate entities and very distinct. That’s the heart and soul of this new theological revolution that was popularized by the Scofield Reference Bible and really brought to being through the efforts of John Nelson Darby.

Let me read from the Scofield Reference Bible. This is found, if you read the original Scofield Bible where they don’t tamper with his notes. Page 989 which is an introduction to the four Gospels, and Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, the Godfather of Christian Zionism and modern-day dispensationalism says this in his Bible. He says:

Therefore in approaching the study of the Gospels the mind should be freed so far as possible from mere theological concepts and presuppositions, especially is it necessary to exclude the notion, a legacy in Protestant thought from post Apostolic and Roman Catholic theology, that the Church is the true Israel and that the Old Testament foreview of the kingdom is fulfilled in the Church. Do not therefore assume interpretations to be true because they’re familiar.

Scofield Reference Bible p. 989

Now what we have is a recognition by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, who’s writing this Scofield Reference Bible at the turn of the century, the early 1900’s, he is telling us that it was popular, in fact, it was the Christian theology that the Church is the true Israel. And he says we must exclude that notion, which is a legacy in Protestant thought from post Apostolic and Roman Catholic theology.

Now he just finished telling us that the Protestants for the last 1900 years have taught that we are the Israel of God. It came from the, well, he says post-Apostolic. No, what I’m going to show you, no, Apostolic. So he’s making it as if, well, starting around maybe 100 – 150 AD they started to teach that we’re the Israel of God.

So he’ll acknowledge that it goes all the way back to the first century. He just wants to deny that the Apostles taught it. Well that’s what I’m here for. Not so much to teach you the history but to show you, no, this is part of the doctrine taught by the Apostles but at least Scofield is acknowledging what we teach and what we believe goes all the way back to the first century.

He knows that and he says the Protestants have believed it. He says it’s part of Roman Catholic theology, so the Protestants have believed it for 1900 years. Throughout the history of Roman Catholicism they understood that Christians, though they may interpret that as Roman Catholics, but that Christians are the true Israel of God. It’s the history of Christian doctrine.

Now it may have been almost completely forgotten in this past century in the 1900s but that doesn’t mean that what we believe is not ancient. It is. It is this new teaching that denies that we, in Christ, are the people of God. That’s the new modernist religion that has cropped up lately. That’s the new guy on the block, not what we’re teaching. What we’re teaching is old and ancient but of course we don’t believe it simply because it’s old and ancient. Ultimately it has to be proven from the Word of God, which is what we’ll devote ourselves to.

This is the ad we ran the paper once and we entitled it “The antiquity of the gospel truth that Christians are the true Israel of God”. And what I have is a series of commentaries of different men throughout history, who have said Christians are the true Israel of God. And each one of these statements represents a commentary on Galatians 6:16.

16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Galatians 6:16

Now Galatians 6:16 is what Paul says. “Peace be on you, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.”

So the question after you read Galatians 6:16 is well, who is the Israel of God that Paul is talking about? And so these represent commentaries on that verse. Who is the Israel of God?

Now for instance Justin Martyr. Now that’s going back, all the way to 100 – 200 AD. Justin Martyr says:

For the true spiritual Israel are we, who have been led to God through this crucified Christ.

Justin Martyr

John Chrysostom, again were talking the first few hundred years of Christianity. Way back then, attached to the time of the Apostles, John Chrysostom made this statement, commenting on Galatians 6:16. He writes, speaking of Paul,

Tell me not then of circumcision, which now availeth nothing, but seek the new things of grace, for they who pursue these things, the things of grace [not circumcision], for they who pursue these things shall enjoy peace and amity [friendly relations] and may properly be called by the name of Israel.

John Chrysostom

Now that’s an unmistakable interpretation.

Now we can jump forward to the Middle Ages, in the time of the Reformation. Here’s Martin Luther. So we’re talking in that range of the 1500s. Martin Luther made this statement about that passage. He said:

The Israel of God are not the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Israel but those who with Abraham, the believer, believe in the promises of God now disclosed in Christ whether they are Jews or Gentiles.

Martin Luther

John Calvin said it this way. He gives the appellation of the Israel of God to those whom he formerly denominated the children of Abraham by faith and thus includes all believers whether Jews or Gentiles, who are united to one church (ekklesia). So Calvin said in essence the ekklesia, both Jew and Gentile in Christ, they are being referred to by that designation, the Israel of God

And then we jump up a little bit, more recently to Matthew Henry in his commentary on Galatians 6:16. Matthew Henry writes, “the Israel of God,” of whom he means all sincere Christians whether Jews or Gentiles.

So if they want to throw stones at us for believing this, they want to hold us in contempt, they want to try and describe it as some sort of anti-Semitic doctrine, they’ll have to level that accusation at 1900 years of Christianity and they’ll have to charge countless numbers of believers, many of whom gave their life for the cause of Christ, with this kind of charge. But one thing ought to be plain. What we’re teaching is no new doctrine and what I want to show you is that indeed it is rooted in the Bible in fact.

I do have with me the Jewish Encyclopedia. In the Jewish Encyclopedia from 1901 there’s a section entitled “Christianity in its relation to Judaism” and this is what they write in the Jewish Encyclopedia. Christianity, November 1901, thus just before the Scofield reference Bible, Dispensationalism had its birth in John Nelson Darby in the 1840s but hadn’t really been popularized yet. The Scofield Reference Bible would popularize it but in the Jewish Encyclopedia they write:

Christianity is the system of religious truth based upon the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was the expected Messiah or Christ and that in him all the hopes and prophecies of Israel concerning the future have been fulfilled.

Jewish Encyclopedia 1901

All the hopes of the nation of Israel have been fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. That’s how the Jews defined Christianity a hundred years ago. And do you realize that modern-day dispensationalism doesn’t even fit the definition of Christianity as given by the Jewish Encyclopedia a hundred years ago. That’s pretty shocking!

So we’re not the ones who have to defend our position as Johnny-come-latelys. They do. Now that’s not reason to believe it, but it’s a reason to pause, and at least contemplate, well if you’re a dispensationalist and a Christian Zionist, if you’ve never heard of these things, is it possible that I’ve not understood this correctly. Well, that’s what we want to see. We want to prove it not so much from what other men say, but we do want to be able to prove it from Scripture, which is not really a difficult thing to do. So let’s go to the ultimate foundational promise which is Genesis 12.

We all know what’s there. Now in Genesis 12 this is the original promise given to Abraham. Let’s read it.

1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 12:1-3

So God made a promise to Abraham and if we were to pursue this promise, as it is repeated throughout Genesis and the other scriptures, we would find it restated sometimes in slightly different ways, in slightly different circumstances, but it’s a restating of this fundamental basic promise.

Now we can go to other texts where we see that the promise is specifically given to Abraham and his seed. Here the emphasis is on the promise that is given to Abraham and that God would bless Abraham obviously that God would make of Abraham a great nation but also that he would bless those that bless Abraham and curse those that curse Abraham.

Now again just follow this through in Genesis and you see the same promise repeated to Abraham but it includes Abraham and his seed. So the promise is given to Abraham and his seed. Now how do we understand that promise? We find a biblical hermeneutics given to us in Acts chapter 2.

I don’t think we should dare interpret Genesis 12 without going to Acts chapter 2 to understand the hermeneutic that the Lord’s people, when they were filled with the Holy Spirit, the one that they used. In Acts chapter 2 and verse 41 and 42 because Peter preaches his sermon to the Jews gathered there in Jerusalem and there are many saved on the day of Pentecost. In verse 41 we read:

41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.  

Acts 2:41-42

Now the average Christian may read all of that and think what’s the big deal what are you talking about. There’s nothing there. Well no, there is something here. These early believers that were genuine believers and that were actually filled with the Holy Spirit, they continued steadfastly.

Now it doesn’t say they continued steadfastly in the doctrine of Moses and the prophets. The only Bible they would have had in their possession to use at that time, in these early chapters of Acts, would have been the Old Testament.

There’s no books written yet in the New Testament at this point in history. The only Bible they would have is what we call now the Old Testament, Moses and the prophets. And no doubt that was the Scripture that they were using when they came together to study. In early chapters of Acts they were using the Old Testament. They didn’t have any letters yet from any of the disciples. There hadn’t been any written yet. They had just the Old Testament. And what does it say? That they continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine.

Now the Apostles were not going to contradict, obviously, Moses and the prophets but what this does tell us is that those early believers, that with the Holy Spirit, they received a proper understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures. They received that understanding from the authority of the Apostles. They realize that the Apostles were the hand-picked teachers by Jesus Christ to instruct His people as to the genuine and real meaning of Moses and the prophets. And may we add also the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is recorded in the Gospels and mainly is still under Old Testament times, because it’s not until Christ dies and rises from the dead that He ratifies the New Covenant.

Jesus lived in Old Covenant times and though a reading of it, in the New Testament historically, chronologically, they were living in Old Testament days. And so the New Testament, in the epistles, we’re reading a commentary, the authoritative interpretation of Moses and the prophets, and we’re adding the life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

So if the early believers who were filled with the Holy Spirit understood the proper way to understand Moses and the prophets is through the doctrine of the Apostles, their interpretation, as it is given by inspiration, that is entered into the Canon of Scripture, is the truth and is inspired of God and represents an infallible interpretation of the Scriptures.

They continued, those early believers, in the Apostles doctrine. That’s the hermeneutic they use. That’s the one we should use. When the Apostles speak interpreting a passage of Scripture from the Old Testament, that’s the authoritative interpretation. It doesn’t matter what any modern day teacher says. We must yield to the doctrine of the Apostles and so the hermeneutic we use is not a literal hermeneutic, it’s not an allegorical method, it is simply we will believe the doctrine and the interpretation given to us by the Apostles and we stop there.

Now some people if they want to go running into the Old Testament and start interpreting things without the authority of a New Testament commentary be careful. You’re on shaky ground. And I believe the whole Word of God is meant to be read and studied and is for our benefit.

There are sections in the Old Testament that do not have a direct commentary in the New Testament. I understand that. Should we read it? Yes. Should we study it? Yes. Should we contemplate it? Yes. But any interpretation that you come up with without Apostolic confirmation is held on a lower shelf than all the doctrine taught in the New Testament, by virtue of the fact we’re not infallible. But what the Apostles wrote in the Scriptures that is under inspiration and that is the foundation upon which we stand.

Now having said all that we read in Genesis 12 that God made a promise to Abraham and his seed. And I asked a simple question how do we understand that promise? To whom was the promise given? And most people say well to Abraham and his seed. To the Jews. Is that a perfectly accurate understanding? Let’s see what the Apostle says. Now we go to Galatians 3 and verse 16:

16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Galatians 3:16

Paul goes out of the way to say the promise wasn’t given to Abraham and his seeds, plural. The promise was given to Abraham and his seed.

Now I know sometimes when we used the singular it can be a representation of the plural. This is true and no doubt there are overtones to that even in this promise we’re discussing. But Paul is saying, under inspiration, someone wants to argue with Paul, what do you mean? He said seed but wasn’t he referring to plural? In the immediate sense, yes, but Paul is telling us there’s a greater sense to which the mystery of the prophecy is referring to not seeds as of many, it’s referring to a singular seed and that singular seed is Christ. And if the Bible so called literalists want to argue that, they ought to take it up with Paul. They ought to take it up with the Holy Spirit, not with me. I’m going to yield to what Paul says.

Paul said that this promise given to Abraham was given not to Abraham and his seeds, plural, but the promise was given to Abraham and his seed and then Paul identifies who that singular seed is. That singular seed according to verse 16 is Christ. “And to thy seed, which is Christ.” So Paul is teaching us that the promise was given to Abraham and Abraham’s seed. And that the seed of Abraham that is the recipient of that promise given to Abraham is Jesus Christ.

Now before Jesus Christ Abraham had physical children. He had multiple seed that did receive the net result blessing of a bless him that bless thee and curse him that accurses thee. We have evidence of that in the Old Testament and the Lord would hold the heathen nations accountable when they attacked Israel because he made a promise with Abraham and his seed and the Lord indeed would put a hedge of protection around that Old Testament nation the descendants that came from Abraham.

But those are types. They are not an end to itself. Modern-day dispensationalism thinks the bloodline of Abraham is an end to itself. No, its typology and they were precursors to the ultimate seed of Abraham through which the promises given to Abraham would from then on have to channel and it would have to go through him and him alone the promise going to Abraham and his seed and that seed is Jesus Christ.

Now what’s the commentary that Paul gives later on in this chapter about that? We jump down to verse 28 and we read:

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Galatians 3:28-29

So verse 16 taught us that Christ was Abraham’s seed. Now verse 29 is teaching us but if you’re in Christ, who is Abraham’s seed, you also are Abraham’s seed, by virtue of being in the seed of Abraham, who is Christ. Christ in you, you’re in Christ. But Christ is the seed of Abraham and if you’re in Christ you are not only the seed of Abraham, as a believing Christian, but you are an heir, an heir to what? The heirs of the promises that were given to Abraham. The promises that were given to Abraham find their fulfilment in Christ.

When the Jews wrote the Jewish Encyclopedia in 1901 they wrote an accurate definition of what true Christianity is. They weren’t dummies. They understood what Christianity had been teaching for 1900 years and the Jewish Encyclopedia is right and the Scofield Reference Bible is wrong. When the Jews have a better understanding of Christianity than the Christians something’s wrong. We’ve gone way off course. Here it is, verse 29. Not only are we the seed of Abraham but we’re the heirs of the promises given to Abraham.

Now a little bit of context in this chapter we’ll only endorse what we’re seeing in these verses. Jew and Gentile together are the seed of Abraham because they’re in Christ. Who is the true seed who receives the promises? If we back up to verse 6 of Galatians 3 we read these words:

6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

Galatians 3:6-7

See in verse 29 we’re told that if we’re in Christ, and you’re only in Christ by being born again and receiving Christ as your Saviour. If you’re in Christ you are an heir and you are the seed of Abraham because you’re in the seed of Abraham and you are an heir of the promises given to Abraham. You are the true children of Abraham. And it’s being stated again here earlier on in verse 7.

7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

Galatians 3:7

Not the Zionists, those who are of faith. Look at verse 8.

8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

Galatians 3:8

What’s that referring to? That promise given to Abraham. Abraham you’d be the father of many nations and in you all the nations and families of the earth will be blessed. That was the promise given to Abraham, right?

Well, Paul is saying that promise given to Abraham is the gospel. The promise given to Abraham in his seed is the same thing as the gospel. It is a promise of blessing His people that He has chosen to be His own and He will bless them by protecting them and prospering them and given them eternal life. It’s the gospel and the promise was that through Abraham all the nations will be blessed. How will they be blessed? Because when they receive Christ as their Saviour they get to join and participate in that promise and blessing that was given to Abraham. We join them we become active participants in the covenant God established with Israel.

Now that may leave some open questions about well then what do you do with natural Israel? So the Christians and all the Jews together the true Israel of God? No, no. The unbelieving Jews who denied Christ, and will see this in a future study, they were cut off and broken off. They were cut out of the covenant.

You say well God won’t break His covenant and promise. I’m not saying that He broke His covenant and promise. I’m saying they broke His covenant. They broke His covenant and through faithlessness and rebellion they were cut off.  I mean we can read in the Old Testament Scriptures about how God divorced Israel and He says you’re not My people. You can read that in Hosea.

Well, we don’t believe him. They want to just say, well, He only meant that He God was angry. He said something in anger like a husband and wife fighting in the kitchen. No, God isn’t like that. If He says it, He means it.

Now other scriptures, and we can’t take the time to go into them now, but other scriptures as we look at this will point out fundamentally very basically and specifically that this whole promise given to Abraham is premised and is revealed through faith. If you don’t walk in faith you are not one of Abraham’s children. You’re not the seed of Abraham and you are not a legitimate heir of the promises given to Abraham but if you walk in faith and receive Christ as your Saviour, whether you’re a Jew or Gentile, then you are not only Abraham’s seed but you are the recipients of the promises given to Abraham and you are brought into that covenant that God made with Israel, the people of God. We’re grafted into that and we will see that in future studies.

Everything we’re saying boils down to this. It all is about faith in Jesus Christ. Our teaching is not race-based. They can call it anti-Semitic if they want. I say to deny this gospel is a form of anti-Semitism because the Jews don’t have any hope, outside of the shed blood of Jesus Christ and outside of faith in Him and the Gentiles don’t have any hope, outside of the shed blood of Jesus Christ and faith in Him. It’s all about believing God.

Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness and if we, whether we be Jew or Gentile, believe God it will be counted unto us for righteousness. And it’s true for both Abraham and the believing Jew today and the believing Gentile today. The way it can be counted unto us for righteousness is because Christ died to pay for our sins and we can receive the imputed righteousness of our Lord and Saviour. That’s the gospel in its purity. It’s based on faith not geography, not a piece of land, and not what kind of blood runs through your genes. We’re saying it’s all about Jesus Christ.

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Audio of other two videos

Part II

Part III

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Recommended Reading

• Book: Apocalypse Now: On the Revelation of Jesus Christ
• Book: Merchants of Death: Global Oligarchs and Their War On Humanity

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