The three billion plus people today known as Christians agree on very little. But the one thing they all “know” with certainty is that the people known as “Jews” comprise the totality of the Biblical descendants of Abraham known Israel. That which is called “the church” is certain that the strange people who strictly observe the Biblical (Saturday) Sabbath comprise what is left of the 12 tribes of Israel. Question: Are the 15 million Jews scattered throughout the modern world all that is left of the once mighty nation of Israel? Or do the biological descendants of Jacob’s (Israel’s) 12 sons still exist on earth today? If so, where are they? And under what name(s) do they exist? This series will answer those questions.

The primary reason church people cannot answer the above-stated questions is that they do not believe a Biblical fact: All Jews are Israelites, but not all Israelites are Jews. In the same way, all Texans are Americans, but not all Americans are Texans. With that truth stated, we will now enter into a short history of the nation of Israel as I explain the difference between Jews and Israelites. We will begin our fast-forwarded history lesson with the progenitor of the Israelites–Abraham.

“Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:3). Abraham proved his faith in God by obeying what He said, thereby establishing the standard all who profess to be God’s people must follow (Rom. 4:12). Because Abraham believed and obeyed Him, God made him several promises. The Almighty (Lord) promised the elderly childless man that he would become a great nation (Israel–Gen. 12:2), and that all the world would be blessed by one of his descendants (his “seed”–Jesus). God made this promise because Abraham “… obeyed My voice” (Gen. 22:16-18). Note that God blessed Abraham because he OBEYED His Words, not simply because he believed them. The Lord also promised him that the land known as Canaan would be given to his descendants forever. This area–the “Promised Land”–included all of the land between the river of Egypt (the Nile) and Euphrates River (Gen. 15:18).

Many generations later we find God speaking through His servant Jacob, whom He had renamed “Israel,” as he blessed and prophesied over the two sons of Joseph. He said that from that day forward Ephraim and Manasseh would carry his name–Israel. He also prophesied that Ephraim would become a commonwealth (multitude) of nations and that Manasseh would become a (single) great nation (Gen. 48). Israel noted that through his sons, Joseph would become like a tree planted beside a well whose roots would go out in all directions. This symbolically indicated that Ephraim would be a colonizing tribe. The dying patriarch’s prophesies came true when Ephraim’s descendants became the British Commonwealth and the descendants of Manasseh became the United States of America. Be it known that Britain is the ONLY commonwealth in the history of man, and that the United States is the greatest nation the world has ever seen. A commonwealth exists when many nations willingly yield themselves and their resources to a singular nation. This is exactly what took place at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The result came to be known as the British Commonwealth, also known as the British Empire. It must be noted that everything mankind has comes from the land. At one time the descendants of the two sons of Joseph controlled approximately 75% of the world’s land production. It is nothing less than incredible that two nations controlled 75% of the world’s resources while all of the other nations controlled only 25%. One must see God’s hand in this situation.

Fast-backward to the time of Israel’s enslavement. After 420 years of living in Egypt Moses led God’s people out of captivity and to what came to be known as the Promised Land–Canaan–which had become populated by the descendants of Noah’s son Ham. Recall that God had promised possession of Canaan to the descendants of Abraham because of his faithfulness (Gen. 17:8). Some 40 years after their exodus from Egyptian slavery the children of Israel–God’s chosen people–entered the Promised Land. L.J.