ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH
William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury during World War II, once wrote that, “The church is the only cooperative society in the world that exists for the benefit of its non-members.” Sadly, this statement is not true of every church that bears the name of Christ, but only those who, “Go therefore and make disciples of all men… (NKJV Mat 28:19)”, as they were commanded by their Lord Jesus. This distinction to go out and make disciples of men, seems to stand in stark contrast with the mission of the spiritual predecessor of the Christian Church, i.e. the nation of Israel.
Their great commission was rather the opposite; namely, to stay in one place and have all the nations come to them to be discipled in the ways of the Lord. Regardless, this is only one distinction of many that can be drawn between the two entities, but this does not mean they are entirely different from one another. Quite the contrary actually; Israel and the Church can be seen as two separate entities whose purpose and presence upon the earth bear a striking resemblance to one another.
However, some advocate for the position that the New Testament never confuses Israel with the church at all, stating that there is no evidence, “…that the early disciples saw themselves as the new Israel of God, the continuation of the Old Testament Israel. (177-179)” This is true in the sense that, the church has not and will never replace Israel and does not inherit the blessings that were promised to Israel, to their exclusion, but to say that there are no valid justifications to link the Church’s structure, mission and function, to that of Israel’s, is disingenuous at best.
The “Assembly” that gathered in the wilderness so long ago, and the assembly that gathers today around the world, are very similar in nature and shadow each other quite effectively. Both were called out of the world to be a special, holy, and sanctified people, set apart to glorify God by obeying His commands and accomplishing His will, while proclaiming the coming rule and reign of His Messiah, on the throne of King David.
Obviously, much has happened in the past that disqualified Israel from fulfilling that calling; primarily their rejection and crucifixion of Jesus, who was obviously their Christ and Messiah. As a result of Israel’s denunciation of this responsibility, the Church was raised up to complete the mission, using the same Scriptural understandings that Israel had, with the edition of revelations concerning the mystery of Christ and His Church, which are found in the NT.
It was upon these revelations that Jesus said He would, “…build [His] church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. (Mat 16:18)”, and we now know that His church would also be the vehicle that would open, “…the door of faith to the Gentiles. (Act 14:27)”. So, while the Church and Israel are not identically linked together in the Old and New Testaments, their similarities cannot be dismissed either.
Consider this statement concerning the giving of the Ten Commandments: “…the LORD delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words which the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. (Deut 9:10)” This event essentially takes place today in churches around the world every week; an assembly of people come together to hear the words of God spoken through a human vessel, and they make a decision as to whether or not they will obey those words or rebel against them.
So, while it might be true in a literary or technical sense that, “None of these references alludes [directly] to the New Testament church. (Saucy 214-215)”, you cannot deny that the theological implications of Israel being a type and shadow of the Church that was to come. This was exactly Paul’s point when he said of the assembly in the wilderness, “… all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. (1 Cor 10:3)”, the same Rock we follow today!
Works Cited:
NKJV New King James Version. Holy Bible. Thomas Nelson. Nashville, TN: 2000. Print.
Temple, William. Sermon Illustrations. Web. Accessed 03/18/18. http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/c/church.htm
Saucy, Robert. The Church in God's Program. Moody Publishers, Chicago, IL. 1972. Kindle Edition.
