Exodus 4:22-23 "Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD: "Israel is My son, My firstborn. "So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn."

This is one verse that directly associates Israel as a person, as a Firstborn son, and since this does so in a way that personifies the nation about to leave Israel – the Jews say that the locations that use personification are just that and that they all refer to the nation of Israel. Sounds like a reasonable enough argument but can it mean both, sometimes the nation and sometimes one person? The answer is yes. Let’s look at some of the verses.

We already looked at the fact that the promise was made to the Seed meaning one and not a group, so we will look at another in Isaiah.

"And He said to me, 'You are My servant, O Israel, In whom I will be glorified.'…"And now the LORD says, Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, So that Israel is gathered to Him (For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, And My God shall be My strength), Indeed He says, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.'"…"Thus says the LORD: "In an acceptable time I have heard You, And in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You As a covenant to the people, To restore the earth, To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages; That You may say to the prisoners, 'Go forth,' To those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.' "They shall feed along the roads, And their pastures shall be on all desolate heights. They shall neither hunger nor thirst, Neither heat nor sun shall strike them; For He who has mercy on them will lead them, Even by the springs of water He will guide them." Isaiah 49:3-10

Here he calls His servant, Israel. That specific title is used to describe the Servant who shall free the people from sin and darkness and be a light not only to Jacob but to all the nations as well.

"He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors." Isaiah 53:11-12

Here again the term My Servant is used with all the descriptions of suffering (like Jesus did) leading up to this point but the reason for the suffering and offering was to bear the sin and make intercession for the transgressors. This is the same as the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 being fulfilled. The Messiah will come to make an end of sins, reconciliation for sin, will be cut down and will bring an end to sacrifice and offering.

"Then You spoke in a vision to Your holy one, And said: "I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people. I have found My servant David; With My holy oil I have anointed him, With whom My hand shall be established; Also My arm shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down his foes before his face, And plague those who hate him. "But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him, And in My name his horn shall be exalted. Also I will set his hand over the sea, And his right hand over the rivers. He shall cry to Me, 'You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.' Also I will make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall stand firm with him. His seed also I will make to endure forever, And his throne as the days of heaven. "If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments, If they break My statutes And do not keep My commandments, Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, Nor allow My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me; It shall be established forever like the moon, Even like the faithful witness in the sky." Psalm 89:13-37

This Psalm uses many terms to describe the Messiah: My Servant David, My Firstborn and implied "My Son" it also describes his followers as His seed, his sons and uses these terms with the same promises as given to Israel. They are interchangeable. Since Israel means "Prince of God" isn’t it reasonable that the Holy One in Israel be called Israel, the Son of God, and My Servant? Isn’t it also reasonable before God to call all his followers by the same name?

Those who transgress His law shall perish (no longer be considered Israel) but His seed shall endure forevermore.

This brings me to an often misused verse in the Bible John 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day." The Jews in Jesus day believed they could come to God by going through ritual cleansings and being circumcised and thus they could enter the temple and draw near to God. They believed that through this process they had the right to be God’s elect. Today many believe the same because their actions demonstrate a belief that if they are baptized or circumcised and follow the prescribed services in coming to church they are saved.

Jesus was telling them something radically different then their belief but not different then what was told them in years gone bye from the prophet Amos 5: 2-24 "I hate, I despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream."

The same thing was told to them via many prophets in various ways. Your works in coming before God do not earn you anything. God doesn’t need your worship. He wants you to do good as His son. He wants you to believe in Him and live that belief in humility, mercy and justice daily. In that belief you should recognize that no one is guiltless by the law, we have all sinned through ego, pride and arrogance or through covetousness, envy, greed. As such the law that teaches us what is right also condemns us. The only way to overcome that is to have a sacrifice for sin. Jesus is that sacrifice for us. It is through the acceptance of that sacrifice, for transgressing His law of commandments and then committing to live a life as His disciple that draws us close to God.

This in no way is describing some kind of predestination to your life but demonstrates that no man can earn salvation on His own. It is a gift of God given through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus the Christ.

It also doesn’t mean you have no role to play in being a warning or a calling for others, as the Word of God clearly states, "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" Romans 10:14 They hear the Word of God through people. God uses people to call. If they respond to the calling then He will draw near to them. There is nothing mystical about it. Our job is to be a light in the path for others. They choose their response but only God’s mercy can save us in Jesus. AMEN

Jesus describes that gift as being open to all – "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw ALL people to Myself." John 12:32

The blessings to Israel are first and foremost given to Jesus, the Seed. All the children of faith, as the Fathers were, are to be considered sons of God – the Israel of God.

This is what Paul meant when he used the term in Galatians 6:16. This is what he taught the Romans in Chapter 4 when he said not of those of the law are sons but those of faith are sons of the promise.

Paul went further when he described those Jews without Christ as being like Ishmael, the son of the bound woman. While the Christians were the children of Sarah, the sons of the Free Woman. Galatians 4

This brings me to the last term for Israel – the Bride of Christ. "Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce;" Jeremiah 3:8

Revelation 12 uses the terms for Israel from Genesis and describes her as a woman that gives Birth to Christ – the Firstborn from the dead.

In Ephesians 6 Paul goes through the whole analogy of a man and a wife to demonstrate what God intended in Jesus and the Church. He also shows that God demonstrated what was intended in Christ by what occurred in the Creation of Man so that we would ultimately be in the Image of God, in the image of His Son, who will forever have the preeminence. AMEN.