Counterfeit “Israel” is wholly illegitimate. The name Israel, first and foremost, is another name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, as Israel, is the servant of God prophesied throughout the Old Testament.
The Lord, in turn, named Isaac’s son (Abraham’s grandson) Jacob with His own name, Israel.
However, while God always keeps a remnant of true believers, the majority of the physical children of Israel proceeded to rebel, repeatedly, against God and, thereby, broke the covenant between God and them.
God, finally, issued them a writ of divorcement.
That said, God promised within the Old Testament to make a new covenant with His true people — those who truly believe on Him and, thus, love and obey Him — just as He promised that His beloved Son would be born of a virgin, in Bethlehem, and that He would be the Saviour of the world, God manifest in the flesh (John 1:14, 1 Timothy 3:16), Emmanuel, meaning “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23).
That new covenant is the subject of the New Testament which demonstrates the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning John the Baptist who would prepare the way for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect, unblemished Passover Lamb of God who knowingly, willingly gave His own life to pay for the sins of the whole world — not just those of Judah but ALL the world — and to offer us God’s free gift of everlasting life in His eternal kingdom.
Thus was Jesus prophesied, as the very Lion (King) of the tribe of Judah, to be the Light sent unto the nations as well as, initially, to His own people. He is the Light of the whole world, as our only Creator-Saviour. Only by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ can ANYONE be saved (Ephesians 2:8-9).
We either come to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, or the scriptures show us plainly and repeatedly that we are “condemned already” (John 3:18, 36), that is, damned to eternal, conscious torment in the lake of fire and brimstone which is the second, post-judgment, death (Revelation 21:8).
Jesus also clearly and irrefutably shows us in John Chapter 3 that we must be born again of the Spirit of God in order to be saved and, thereby, enter into His kingdom, in our glorified spiritual bodies. Read, carefully, the whole of that chapter.
ALL who truly believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and His testimonies become, in that moment, the TRUE Israel of God — irrespective of ethnicity, nation or tongue:
For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek [those of the nations]: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:11-13) — Amen!
You can also learn more about the wonderfully good message of salvation through faith in Jesus the Christ (Anointed) of God on our Salvation page.
