The People of God

When reading the Old Testament prophets and their descriptions of a future restored Israel, we should be struck by God’s love for His people and encouraged, since we, as members of Christ’s church, partake in the fulfillment of those prophecies. Three elements will help guide our interpretation.

First, the story of God and His people began not with Israel but at creation. Even after our first parents aligned themselves with the serpent (Satan) in their sin, God promised to take back a people for Himself by creating enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). This promise was the beginning of the covenant of grace through which God would gather to Himself a people who would look to Him and His coming work in faith. The covenant with Abraham was a more extensive description of the covenant of grace and the path that God’s history of salvation would take. God would work through Abraham’s line, making him into a great nation, but with the goal of blessing all nations (Gen. 12:2–3; see also Gal. 3:8). God’s particular focus with Abraham and Israel was always for a universal end.

Second, the prophets can speak of judgment and restoration for Israel because they relate to different covenants. After the exodus, God established with Israel the Mosaic covenant at Sinai, which would demonstrate the people’s need for a Savior and what He would accomplish for them. Israel broke this covenant even before leaving Sinai (Ex. 32), and their history is a cycle of disobedience to God’s law. God was gracious and long-suffering but eventually brought upon Israel the ultimate curse of the Mosaic covenant: exile from the land. This would not, however, be the end of the story, just as the sin of Adam and Eve was not the end. Moses as the paradigmatic prophet (Deut. 18:15) foretold of Israel’s failure and of a new work of God that would come after exile (4:25–31; 29:10–30:14; 31:14–32:43), and the rest of the prophets followed in his pattern. Even though Israel would break the Mosaic covenant, God’s promises found especially in the Abrahamic covenant were still to be fulfilled.

Third, the prophets often describe future new covenant realities in terms of their situation in redemptive history—that is, in types and shadows present in Israel (see Col. 2:17; Heb. 10:1). Also, the prophets often include in one description a future that will come about in various stages or multiple levels of fulfillment. Both elements have been described as the prophetic idiom and explain why we can properly interpret prophecies about a restored Israel as fulfilled in the church.

For an example of both parts, Jeremiah in chapters 30–31 foretells Israel’s return from exile to dwell securely in the land of blessing under a new Davidic King as a forgiven and obedient people. While there was a partial fulfillment in Israel’s return from Babylon (Ezra 1:1), the complete fulfillment goes beyond the prophetic description of Israel. Jeremiah is describing the time of the new covenant (Jer. 31:31), which was inaugurated in the first coming of Christ (Luke 22:20; Heb. 8:8–13) and will be brought to consummation at His return in the new heavens and the new earth (2 Peter 3:13).

The prophets at times are explicit about God’s desire to include the gentiles as His people (Isa. 42:6–7; 49:5–6), although they are still described in terms of the prophetic idiom, as when the nations stream to God’s temple in Jerusalem (Isa. 2:1–4; Mic. 4:1–3; Zech. 8:20–23; 14:16). For another example, Amos 9:11–12 foretells that the restoration of David’s fallen tent will include men from all the nations. During the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, James quotes this text. The church was wrestling with the implications of the work that God was doing among the gentiles and their relationship with the Mosaic law. James concludes that God’s taking of a people for Himself from the gentiles agrees with the description in Amos (Acts 15:13–18). Thus, James has identified this future prophecy about Israel, the rebuilt tent of David, as fulfilled in Christ’s new covenant church, and that it would include both Jews and gentiles, who are both equally saved by grace through faith (Acts 15:11).

More often, the prophets speak only about restored Israel, and yet these prophecies also apply to the church. In Hosea 1–3, God is illustrating His relationship with Israel through Hosea’s marriage to adulterous Gomer and her children. Each chapter contains descriptions of God’s judgment on Israel for its unfaithfulness to the Mosaic covenant and then turns to the restoration of Israel by God tied to the promises of the Abrahamic covenant. These future descriptions of the people of God are a good example of the prophetic idiom, because they depict a restored Israel in a land of blessing, and yet Peter applies them to the church, showing that they are descriptions of the new covenant (1 Peter 2:10). Likewise, Paul, as he is discussing God’s sovereign work in salvation, quotes from Hosea 2:23 and 1:10 to show God’s calling from both the Jews and the gentiles (Rom. 9:24–26).

While the New Testament demonstrates that the prophetic promises of a restored Israel find their fulfillment in Christ’s church in which there is no longer a distinction between Jew and gentile (Eph. 2:11–3:6), Paul in Romans 9–11 expresses his anguish and desire for more of his fellow Jews to come to salvation through faith in Christ. He is concerned to show that God’s promises have not failed and for the gentiles to have the right attitude of gratitude and humility. God has not rejected Israel and replaced them with the gentiles; instead, the gentiles have been graciously included as a part of God’s people, as Paul’s metaphor of the olive tree demonstrates (11:17–24). While there is debate regarding verses 25–27, it is clear that Paul includes unbelieving Jews as those, along with the gentiles, who may be recipients of God’s mercy if they turn to Him through faith in Christ. May Paul’s desire for the conversion of both characterize us.