Ever notice how when we read the Bible, it seems like the Israelites were God’s super special people? They were blessed, fought for, and even had some wild miracles done on their behalf. Even today, you often hear folks in church say that Israel is God’s chosen nation.
But when we look at the scriptures, we see a God who is a master planner and not just someone who was showed favouritism (Rom 2:11).
A Flashback to Abraham
Let’s do a flashback to Abraham, the father of the Israelites. You see that when God calls Abraham out of Ur, he was an idol worshipper, and God chose him, and separated him.
God blesses him in Gen 12 and he says in you all the families or nations of the earth will be blessed. That was God’s plan and mission statement. It was not because of God’s favouritism but rather he wanted Abraham to be a conduit for blessings to all the nations of the earth. As it says in Gal 3:6-9:
Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
The Nation of Israel vs true Israel
Now, here’s where things get really interesting. Sure, Israel got a heap of promises and blessings, and many assume that being a biological descendant of Abraham automatically makes you blessed. But the Bible flips that idea on its head. In Romans 9:6-8, Paul explains that not everyone with physical ties to Israel is considered part of God’s true family—In other words, it’s not about being born of the flesh; it’s about being part of the promise (Romans 9:6-8).
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.” That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.
Paul goes on to point out that the real “children of promise” are those who share Abraham’s faith (Galatians 3:6-9 ). This means that anyone who believes—no matter where they’re from—is part of the spiritual Israel. This isn’t just a neat twist; it’s a powerful reminder that God’s plan was never to bless just one nation and then treat everyone else as an afterthought. After all, John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world,” meaning His love and blessings are for every single person (John 3:16 ).
What is Spiritual Israel?
It is the Israel God always had in mind, and it has Spiritual Israel has nothing to do with the nation of Israel. Spiritual isn’t about biological birth, but about faith. It is the church. Eph 3:6 says:
This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.
So we are blessed with Abraham! These are all people who are set apart or sanctified by the Lord. God had this in mind, when he blessed Israel, because in his mind those who were of the faith were the children of promise.
God’s Equal-Opportunity Blessings
Think about it—if God’s blessings were based on race or national origin, most of us (being Gentiles) would be left out. But God chose to work through faith. He showed Abraham that righteousness comes by believing in Him, and that same righteousness is available to everyone: Jew, Greek, Indian, Canadian, Asian, African, American—if you have faith, you’re in! This idea of Spiritual Israel means that every believer is set apart and blessed by God (Romans 9:6-8). There is no partiality! We are blessed in Christ.
And that’s what makes the Bible so amazing. God wasn’t just picking one group to be His special kids; He was laying out a plan for everyone to receive His promises. We’ll dive deeper into exactly what those promises are in a future blog post, so stay tuned!
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