This weekly feature is dedicated to Adventists who are looking for biblical insights into the topics discussed in the Sabbath School lesson quarterly. We post articles which address each lesson as presented in the Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, including biblical commentary on them. We hope you find this material helpful and that you will come to know Jesus and His revelation of Himself in His word in profound biblical ways.
Lesson 6: “Abraham’s Seed”
Today’s lesson is predicated on the Ellen White-driven belief that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the true remnant church of Bible prophecy. It borrows from the ancient tradition embraced by the Roman Catholic Church as well as the Orthodox tradition that the Church is “spiritual Israel” now that the nation of Israel rejected their Messiah.
In fact, the idea that Israel as a nation is “out” and the church is “in” reflects very early attempts on the part of early church leaders to distance themselves from the Jews because of political and religious persecution. The idea developed that the Church inherited all the blessings which Israel lost because of its apostasy and rejection of Jesus, while Israel as a nation received the full complement of curses outlined in the Old Testament. Scripture, however, never gives us this picture.
What covenant?
Further, today’s lesson attempts to build its logic on the assumption that God made one covenant expressed in different ways over time. The author never deals with the fact that God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was UNCONDITIONAL and eternal. God’s promises to give Abraham seed, land, and blessing was never predicated on his obedience. Rather, God made eternal promises that WILL be fulfilled because His word cannot fail.
The Mosaic covenant, on the other hand, was CONDITIONAL and was not an addition to the Abrahamic covenant. It was a temporary covenant sealed with two-way promises between God and the nation Israel. If either side broke its promises, the prescribed curses would occur—and that is exactly what we see in Scripture. Israel repeatedly broke its promises, and God repeatedly disciplined them and ultimately exiled the Jews from Judea, destroying the city of Jerusalem and its temple which was the center of Judaism, and the people of Israel went into a nearly 2,000-year diaspora.
The Mosaic covenant was temporary, being given 430 AFTER Abraham and lasting UNTIL the Seed cam (Gal. 3:17–19). It was fully fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and when He rose from the grave, His blood inaugurated the New Covenant and rendered the Old Covenant obsolete (1 Cor. 11:24, 25; Heb. 8:13). Once the terms of the Old Covenant were fulfilled, it ceased to have any governing power over anyone. It is OBSOLETE—including its very words: the Ten Commandments (Ex. 34:27, 28).
Now we live under the New Covenant with a new law, the Law of Christ, based on a new priesthood, the Melchizedek priesthood of the Lord Jesus (Heb. 6–7). Furthermore, the New Covenant is not only for the gentile church and its scattered Jewish believers; it was originally made with Israel and Judah (Jeremiah 31:31–33; Ez. 36:26). The New Covenant is UNCONDITIONAL, exactly as is the Abrahamic covenant. No two-way promises were made when God promised the new covenant in which He would give His people new hearts, new spirits, and put His Spirit and His Law in their hearts. This is not a covenant which we have to “keep” on our end. This is a covenant GOD keeps—and our Lord Jesus, God the Son who took on flesh, has fulfilled all the terms of God’s righteousness and judgment revealed in the Mosaic Covenant as our Substitute.
Because Jesus has fulfilled the Old Covenant, we now deal directly with Him and with the conviction of the Holy Spirit as He reveals our depravity and sinfulness, our helplessness ever to please God. When we trust Him, admitting our need of a Savior and trusting His full payment for our sin in His blood shed and His body offered on the cross, we are born again. He gives us new hearts and new spirits—spirits made alive with His resurrection life which broke the power of sin and death which condemned us all. When we trust Jesus we pass from death to life (Jn. 5:24). We are transferred out of the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His Beloved Son (Col 1:13). We move OUT of condemnation into eternal life and non-condemnation (Jn. 3:18).
Who is the Seed of Abraham?
Adventism has appropriated, ironically, the Mosaic covenant for itself. It persists in the belief that there is only One covenant—and they claim to be the true inheritors of all the blessings God has ever promised because only they keep all the Ten Commandments. However, they do not teach the biblical gospel of faith in the finished work of Jesus ALONE. They do not teach that those who are saved are those who Believe in the Lord Jesus, not those who obey.
Biblical obedience is the fruit of true belief and the miracle of being born of the Spirit. Adventism, however, disbelieves in the human spirit and has no idea what the new birth actually is. Thus they have no idea how to differentiate themselves from the true Israel of God.
Paul is clear in Romans 9 through 11 that Israel, the Jews, will still receive the promised blessings God has said He will give them. He will still bring them back to the land and give them new hearts and spirit and His Spirit when He un-hardens their “partial hardening” (Rom 11:25), “for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29).
The New Testament tells of the birth and growth of the church, of the nation of Israel being dispersed and the new creation of born again believers who are the body of Christ literally bearing His Spirit into the world when they come to faith in Jesus. Both Jews and gentiles are part of this church, but the church has been primarily a gentile phenomenon by God’s will. According to Romans 4, all who believe in the Lord Jesus are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. We gentiles are the grafted branches in the tree of God’s purposes, and we receive all the promises promised to the root of the tree, the Patriarchs, through Jesus (see Rom. 11:15-16).
Yet Romans 11 clearly tells us that God is not done with Israel. In fact, He has already partially fulfilled one of His Old Testament promises, that He would bring them back to the land He promised Abraham that his seed would inherit. In fact, the modern nation of Israel was not even on the horizon of anyone’s expectations prior to 1948. Yet God brought forth this nation, literally in a day—exactly as Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 66:7–9.
Is the nation of Israel functioning as believers today? No. Not at all. Yet even this was foretold through Ezekiel:
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD” (Ezekiel 37:7–14).
Most Adventists do not see the nation of Israel as significant at all as a fulfillment of prophecy. Yet God promised to bring Israel back from the nations and to place her in the land He gave her. Today they are there—brought into existence in one day in 1948, and more Jews live in Israel today than at any time in history. They are there as dry bones—assembled but without life. They are no more reconciled to God than are any unbelieving people. But God has promised that even in this, He will keep His promises and restore His remnant of Israel who will be spiritually alive and living in the land He promised.
Furthermore, all of us who are part of the new creation, the body of Christ, will rule with Christ in His kingdom (Revelation 20:1–6; 1 Corinthians 6:3; 2 Timothy 2:12).
All who believe in the finished work of the Lord Jesus, all who are born of the Spirit and adopted by God, all who have passed from death to life through belief—both Jews and gentiles—will inherit the promises God gave to Abraham.
This week’s study is a moral lesson urging Adventists to think about how they can build their church and be better people. But Adventism not only is NOT spiritual Israel (because Scripture never describes the church replacing Israel), but it is not even part of the body of Christ. It teaches another gospel and a different Jesus. Adventism mimics Christianity on the surface and uses right-sounding words, but it is a lifeless shell of false religion that keeps its members in spiritual bondage to a law that is not only obsolete but which brings a curse when it’s clung to on this side of the cross (Galatians 4:8–11; 5:4).
I urge anyone reading this commentary to seriously consider what the New Testament declares about our need to trust Jesus alone. Read the book of Galatians every day this week and ask the Lord to teach you what you need to know.
He is completely faithful! †
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Hi, guys. I started writing a long response to this, but decided this wasn’t the right place to do it. I just want to say that although your understanding of the future of national Israel (and the events of 1948) are common, they are not the only Bible-believing (and non-Adventist) view. It not so clear to me that Rom. 9-11 teaches that “God is not done with Israel. In fact, He has already partially fulfilled one of His Old Testament promises, that He would bring them back to the land He promised Abraham that his seed would inherit.” In fact, I think that the New Testament teaches all over the place that the church has replaced Israel, and also that this is a consistent teaching of Jesus himself during his ministry. Indeed, this replacement, as it were, is one of the NT’s major themes. By “replace” I mean that the church is the antitype of the thing for which Israel, constituted as the people of God under the Mosaic covenant, was a type, a picture. As a physical and geo-political people of God, they foreshadowed the real, spiritual people of God, who would be constituted by their union to Christ under the New Covenant (the same New Covenant which was pictured as being made to the house of Israel and Judah, but brought to fulfillment in the church, the body that, in that way, “replaces” the house of Israel and the house of Judah). The Old Testament promises that Israel would be brought back to the land must be understood in the light of the New Testament, in their fulfillment, which is ultimately the church in heaven — on the new earth. This is because, when we read these things written in their Old Covenant context, we can now can understand both “Israel” and “land” in terms of their New Covenant fulfillment. Paul says the promise made to Abraham was that he would become “heir of the world” not just Canaan. That is NT revelation that was not present in the wording of the original promise but that we must accept as part of its ultimate fulfillment in Christ. In another instance, notice how in Rev. 7, the “great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language,” the church as it really is in its New Covenant fulfillment, is first described in the language of its corresponding OT picture: “144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.” The book of Galatians shows how the Abrahamic promises are, through Christ, fulfilled for the church, the Israel of God. Obviously, this topic needs a whole book, but to put my reading of the New Testament succinctly, I believe the church is the eschatological Israel. I do not know how this view would differ in its specifics from the SDA view.
Colleen concedes that the Jews currently living in Israel have not turned to the Lord and suggests that “even this was foretold by Ezekiel”. As far as I can see the supporting passage quoted from Ezekiel appears to say nothing about an unbelieving Israel being returned to the land. In fact verse 14 seems to imply that it is only AFTER their regeneration that they (in context, the jewish exiles then living in Babylon) will be established in the land. “And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. …”. This, of course, is in not surprising and in agreement with the covenant conditions stated so clearly in Deut.30:2,3 “…and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I commanded you today then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the the nations where he scattered you.” In view of these basic principles it is highly unlikely that the influx of unbelieving Jewish settlers into the land after 1948 has anything to do with the fulfilment of bible prophecy. The establishment of Israel as a nation against many challenges is certainly an interesting story but to read into this story the special providence of God or the fulfilment of Bible prophecy (especially in view of Deut. 30:2,3) would qppear to be without scriptural warrant.
The writers assertion on two occasions that Romans 9-11 is “clear” about God’s intention to use ethnic Israel again is not credible as a survey of commentaries and study bibles will quickly indicate. It seems that this issue has been a source of debate throughout the history of the Christian church. The position that sees the Christian church as the continuation of true Israel has probably been the major view – held by not only Roman Catholics and Orthodox but also many Protestants and evangelicals.
Just a few other thoughts which may be relevant to the discussion. Some of our Lord’s final words to an unrepentant Israel were,“…the kingdom of God shall be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce it’s fruit.” Matt. 21:43. Peter tells us that the people to whom the kingdom was given were none other than the new covenant believers, the fledging christian church. Peter takes the very words once applied to the nation of Israel (Ex.19:5,6) and significantly applies them to believing gentiles! “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood a holy nation, God’s special possession…” (see all of 1 Peter2:9,10). The prophecies of return from exile found in the OT need to be understood firstly in their original historical context and most importantly in the light of how the NT writers interpreted and applied them. Much more could be said on this but I throw these thoughts into the arena for your consideration. Sincerely, Winston McHarg
Fuller and Winston, I agree that there are different opinions about this topic within Christianity. That is why I said that the thing that REALLY matters is the core of the gospel; these secondary issues do not determine true Christianity nor do they disrupt fellowship between born again believers.
It seems to me that the way one understands the OT prophecies has much to do with how one sees the future of Israel. As far as the commentaries and study Bibles that indicate that Romans 9–11 is not clear that God intends to “use ethnic Israel again” goes, my only response to that is this: those commentaries and study Bibles are written by people who hold that view. Others are written by people who see Israel as still having a future. As for me, I see Romans 11:25–32 meaning exactly what it says. They are enemies for our sake from the standpoint of the gospel, but from the standpoint of God’s choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. The “gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable”.
I am not dogmatic about how this will all play out. I do not believe Scripture is completely clear about these things. I do, though, believe that I have to understand the words to mean what they say, and at this particular time, I see Scripture saying God has made promises to Israel which have not yet been fulfilled, and those promises are irrevocable. I am open to discovering I am wrong, but I have to see from Scripture that “Israel” no longer means “Israel”, and I would also have to see from Scripture that the church is an extension of Israel and not a completely new creation formed out of the finished work of Christ and born of the Spirit. All believers absolutely are Abraham’s descendants; Romans 4 could not be clearer about that fact. Right now, the church IS the Lord’s temple! I’m just open to the possibility that in the future, God may yet surprise us with the way He completes His body by keeping His promises that haven’t yet been fulfilled!
I’m sure that no one foresaw the reality of the church prior to Pentecost. The idea that mortal humans could be made spiritually alive and indwelled by the Holy Spirit while still living among the spiritually dead was not known. Pentecost ushered in something new. Perhaps God still has some surprises ahead.
Again, I am not dogmatic about this. I consider those who believe in “spiritual Israel” to be my fellow brothers and sisters if they are born of the Spirit. We are united in Christ!
Colleen, your assertion that “Romans 11:25-32 means exactly what it says” depends largely on the context. Romans 11 largely includes the response of Paul to the assertion by some that God had completely rejected Israel (see Rom. 11:1 and 11:11). Paul’s response to that suggestion is to remind his readers that Israel has never been saved en mass. The bulk of Israelites have constantly been unfaithful but there has always been a remnant that have remained true. These were the true Israel. The same was true in Paul’s day and this will continue until the end of time. No, God has NOT totally rejected Israel. What has happened in the past will continue into the future. It will always only be a PARTIAL (verse 25) hardening of Israel. There will never cease to be a time when individual Jewish people will continue to come to faith and in this way “ALL ISRAEL ( ie true, believing individuals) Will be saved” Rom.11:26.
In this same chapter, in his illustration of the olive tree (verses 17-24) Paul assures us that the church is indeed a continuation of true Israel. Although some branches have been broken off, the tree remains. (the initial church consisted of an entirely jewish community, they were the true remnant and thus the continuation of the true Israel.) Gentile believers were soon grafted in but the important point is that the original tree remained. Now this same tree included not only believing ethnic Jews but also grafted in gentile believers. The church is not a separate entity. God doesn’t uproot (or isolate) the original jewish olive tree and plant a separate apple tree! The NT tells us many times that christian believers are the new “Israel of God”, the true “seed of Abraham” etc.
Winston, I understand what you are saying—and I really do not intend to argue with you. I understand there are likely many details I can’t see clearly yet.
I’m just going to respond to the use of the “olive tree”. In verses 16–18 we learn that if the “first piece of dough” and the “root” are holy, then the whole lump and the branches are as well. Identifying the root is the definer of the tree. The root here is composed of the patriarchs. They were the root of the tree, and the tree that grew up from their root is the entire total of God’s people who consider Abraham to be their father of faith (as per Romans 4 where we learn that Abraham cannot be considered part of Israel because he PRECEDES Israel and thus is the true father of faith to any Jew and to any gentile who believes).
Thus, this tree cannot be called “Israel”. Israel was a distinct nation, and they were the first generation of Abraham’s heirs. Israel was defined by God and given the oracles of God (Rom. 3:1–3). They were, in a sense, the “firstborn” people of God who came from Abraham.
Then God took the kingdom “vineyard” from the Israelites because of their corporate unbelief and gave it to the new iteration of God’s people: the multi-national church who carry the literal presence of God into the nations. God’s people are no longer a nation nor defined by ethnic or cultural details. This second generation, this “second born” people of God, the church—a new creation— is composed of all nations, most of whom are gentiles who did not receive the oracles of God but who received instead His Son who fulfilled the oracles. In a sense, this “second born” of God receive the birthright, new covenant blessings ahead of Israel to whom the promise was first made. Yet in a surprising echo of the biblical example of the second son being the son of “promise” (think Abel, Isaac, Jacob, etc.), the church receives the promises ahead of the Israelites.
This new people of God, mostly from gentile nations, are not the natural branches. They do not bear the ethnic/genetic connection to Abraham that the first generation of God’s people bore. Yet, against the laws of horticulture (which always grafts the cultured, hybridized branch onto a WILD root because wild roots are more hardy and disease resistant), God grafts WILD BRANCHES into the trunk of a CULTIVATED root! It’s entirely upside down.
Paul argues here that the branches do not supply the root; the root supplies the branches. Thus the PATRIARCHS support this tree of God’s people, and both the cultivated and the wild branches are equally beneficiaries of the faith and nourishment and the promises to the patriarchs. Yet, just as in real-life horticulture, the branches remain identifiable. They are not amalgamated. In an orchard, for example, one root can produce both golden delicious apples and red delicious apples from different graftings.
Just so, Paul here identifies natural branches which can be grafted back into the tree if they come to faith—not a tree that is identified by them but into a tree identified by the pre-Israelite ROOT: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Likewise gentile believers are grafted into the Patriarch-supported-and-identified tree. Both Israelite and gentile believers have to be GRAFTED into this tree. Neither bears fruit separated from the non-Israelite roots.
While the Israelites share both ethnic and spiritual inheritance from the patriarchs (which Paul says in Romans 3:1-3 is an advantage because of God’s gifts to Israel), just so the gentiles share spiritual inheritance from the patriarchs—but in that final grafting, it is only the spiritual legacy which “counts”. Both natural and unnatural branches will be grafted into the patriarchal root.
This grafting does not negate the fact that the Israelites are NATURAL and the gentiles are UNNATURAL. It only emphasizes that their ethnic legacy does not give either set of branches an advantage in the tree—but there are STILL two kinds of branches. Neither has a higher standing with God nor any different level of acceptance or service. They are equal in God’s sight: equally gifted and blessed and fruit-bearing—yet distinct, just as the grafted fruit tree does not blend the grafted branches into the identity of the original root stock nor of the original branches. All the branches retain their uniqueness and their unique fruit.
The people of God are multi-national, and God never removes that distinctness. We will know each other in the eternal kingdom, and according to Rev. 21–22, every tribe, tongue, and nation will be there. That means that people will still bear their unique ethnic backgrounds. God doesn’t blur us into an amalgamation. 😉
All to say, I see Paul using the “olive tree” metaphor to identify the people of God, not Israel, and we can make this conclusion because the root of the tree is the patriarchs who existed before Israel. Thus both Israelites and gentiles who believe God are grafted into this multi-national tree of God’s people.
Thank you to Colleen, Winston, and Fuller. Magnificent article and dialog! Lots to chew on here. I agree that God has not forgotten the Jewish people, and that there is more to the prophecy of Ezekiel 37 than the people returning to their land under Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah. However I am also convinced that the Jews recent return to Palestine is not a fulfillment of this or any other prophecy. It is the meek that will inherit the land–alas the entire earth! (Matt 5:5, Rom. 4:13, Psalm 37:9) Though the number of Israel may be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved. A somber thought is that this applies to all races, ethnicities. Grace be with you all!
Vince