"For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but, In Isaac shall your seed be called." (Romans 9:6-7)
These words of the Apostle Paul should be sufficient to clear up all mystery in the minds of Bible believers concerning who are the "Israel" of today. It is plain that all theories and all claims based upon literal descent from Abraham are of no value. It is of no consequence to us to know who are the natural seed of Abraham today, or what is to become of them in the future. No promise of God made to Israel was fulfilled through the simple process of natural descent.
The line of descent from Abraham which God recognises is not a natural line, but a spiritual one. He has never recognised any line but the spiritual one, even from the days of Abraham himself. Of this fact there are many proofs.
When Ishmael was born, and Abraham desired that he might live before God as the heir of the promise, (Genesis 17:18) the Lord said to him, "Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him." (Genesis 17:19)
And when after the birth of Isaac, Sarah desired the son of Abraham by the bondwoman to be cast out because of his mocking, the Lord said to Abraham, "In all that Sarah has said unto you hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall your seed be called." (Genesis 21:12)
Ishmael was the father of a great nation; and we read that Abraham had other sons beside Ishmael and Isaac; but to these he gave gifts and sent them away, and Isaac alone was his heir. So there were several sons of Abraham, but only one heir; multitudes of natural descendants, but only a certain line of them whom God recognised as His children.
Isaac was chosen as the heir because he was the child of promise. The scripture commentary upon this is, "They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." (Romans 9:8)
So then the line of descent was reckoned from God himself. Between God and the carnal nature there could be no possible union, and therefore no child of the flesh could be a son of God. Isaac was the child; that is, he was born through faith in the promise of God made to Abraham, and thus he became a son. No person was ever a son of God who did not become so by faith. It has been possible for all the fallen sons of Adam to become the sons of God by believing, as Abraham did, on "Him that justifies the ungodly." (Romans 4:5)
By so doing they are "born again," into the line of the true descendants of Abraham,--into the family of God. And the same privilege is open to every man today. The distinguishing mark of this line of descent from Abraham, is righteousness; and his descendants compose together a "righteous nation,"--the only righteous nation this earth has ever known. Of them it will be said in the final day of reckoning, "Open the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in." (Isaiah 26:2)
This righteousness is by faith; for we read that: "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness;" (Romans 4:3) and also, "To him that works not, but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." (Romans 4:5)
And thus, as the apostle states in another place, "They which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." (Galatians 3:7)
And the same are also the sons of God; for: "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of men, but of God." (John 1:12-13)
Faith, and faith alone, stands out through all the history of Israel as the means by which the heirship of the promises of God was received. Abraham had faith in God, and God gave him the covenant of circumcision, "a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised; that he might be the father of all them that believe." (Romans 4:11)
But when the Israelites signally failed in faith, at Kadesh-Barnea, and were turned back from the land of promise to wander in the wilderness, circumcision ceased among them, and was not renewed until, under the command of Joshua, they again stood on the borders of Canaan. Though they were the literal descendants of Abraham, and of Isaac, the child a promise, the Lord refused to recognise them as the children of Abraham, because of their unbelief.
John the Baptist, also, and the Saviour, plainly told the Pharisees that they were not the children of Abraham. Said John, "Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our Father: for I say unto you, that God is able of the stones to raise the children unto Abraham." (Matthew 3:9)
Thus he declared that natural descent from Abraham counted for nothing. And the Saviour said of them, "If you were Abraham's children you would do the works of Abraham;" (John 8:39) and also, "You are of your father the devil." (John 8:449)
They had not been born of God and therefore were neither the children of God nor the children of Abraham.
As the natural seed of Abraham were not counted as children without faith, so on the other hand those who were not the natural seed could become united to Israel by faith. Any stranger could come and join himself to them and be counted as one of them. The promises of God were specifically made to the stranger who came and united with Israel, as to the natural descendants themselves.
God did not separate the Israelites from the other nations for the purpose of going off by himself with a certain people to favour them, and shutting the others out. He separated them from the wickedness of the nations around them, that they might not be contaminated thereby; but He excluded no one from joining them and sharing with them in all their blessings. He designed to magnify His name in them before all the world, that men might be drawn to them with a desire to obtain a knowledge of Him.
There is an Israel of God today, as there ever has been; and now, as then, it is open to all persons of whatever race or ancestry to unite themselves to it. There is nothing exclusive about it; it is as free as the offer of salvation. The condition of union with Israel now is the same that it ever was,--belief in God. "They which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." (Galatians 3:7)
The same promises of God to ancient Israel hold good today; the advantages of union with Israel are the same. But there is no promise to the merely natural descendants, and no advantage in being connected with Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob through the flesh. The Israel of God is today the remnant of the "righteous nation," that have been gathered out in all ages from every race and kindred and tongue, by the power of God's grace, through faith.
"Israel" stands for those who by faith have power, as Jacob did, with God, and prevailed. (Genesis 32:38) All these are children of God; and only these has God recognised in past times as Abraham's children, or does recognise as such today. They are those whom Christ has redeemed. "If you are Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:29)--Present Truth, July 19, 1894--Genesis 17:19; 21:12.