In His references to those who are “not a people,”and who are “not beloved” and are “not a nation,” Paul often quotes Hosea. How did Israel (the 10 northern tribes) become “not a people or a nation?” Hosea explains: “Israel is now among the nations (unidentified as Israelites).” Here he is referring to the world’s heathen nations where God had scattered Israel following her defeat and enslavement by Assyria in 722 B.C. Other Scriptures confirm that, in His wrath God had scattered Israel among the Gentiles (Jer. 19:16/13:24/18:17/23:1/9:32,33;Eze. 12:14/20:23/22:15;Jn. 11:50-52;Acts 2:36-39). Early on God had decreed that Israel was to carry His light/gospel to the Gentiles. When Israel rebelled against Him, causing Him to scatter them globally, He decreed that a remnant of them would return to Him (Isa. 42:6/49:6; Acts 26:23) and would become His light to the Gentiles among whom they lived. Further proof of this is found in several New Covenant Scriptures. The ministry of Jesus and His apostles lays the groundwork for His calling the whole House of Israel back to Himself following the second resurrection (see Ezekiel 37 and The Resurrections).

Jesus noted that He Himself had been sent ONLY to the “lost sheep of the House of Israel,” and that He was sending the apostles to those same people (Mat 10:5,6/15:24). Note also that He referred to Himself as the “light of the world” as long as He was in the world. He called the apostles the “light of the world” into which He was sending them (Jn. 9:5/Mat. 5:14). Jesus was sending the apostles to Israelites to offer them His light. Those who accepted that light were to share it with the Gentiles among whom they lived. In this way Israel would be the “light of the world.” His call for Israelites to be a light to the Gentiles would last “throughout their generations” in “all nations” until the “end of the world.”

Generations of disciples of the original apostles have ministered the Lord’s light/gospel to Israelites living among the Gentiles world-wide. The vast majority of the converted “Gentiles” are in fact Israelites who are ignorant of their Israelite ancestry and are not aware of their ancestral history with God. Others to whom God’s ministers preach are biological Gentiles whose ancestors have no history with God (“have not the Law”-Rom. 2:14). Both–Israelites and Gentiles–are welcomed into the Commonwealth of Israel–His church–upon their belief in and obedience to His Word with faith in Him. Both groups, plus fallen Jews, must be grafted into God’s “good olive tree”–His true religion based on the Ten Command- ment Law with faith in Jesus Christ. Having rejected commandment #4, thereby rejecting the entire Law (Jam. 2:10-20), the Counterfeit Church has rejected God, His religion, His church and His salvation.

In summary, the prophesies of Hosea 1:10/2:23/8:8 are fulfilled in Romans 9:24-29. The people “who are not a people” and “not a nation” whom God is calling back to Himself are the “Lost Sheep of the House of Israel” whom He had scattered among the heathen Gentiles. He sent His apostles to these people to remind them that they were “sons of the living God.” These Lost Sheep have been broken off from their “wild olive trees” (Gentile religions) and grafted into God’s “good olive tree.” They are His “elect,” His “called” who are “predestined” to receive His “glory.” These are they who have answered His call (Rom. 11:7,17). This “remnant” of Israel (from all 12 tribes) who have been returning to God over the past 2000 years have comprised most of His New Covenant Church. As He said, however, those who choose to enter His strait gate and walk His narrow way of obedience to His Word are few in number (Mat. 7:13,14). This is also reflected in His prophecy that His people (Israel) would return to Him “… one of a city and two of a family” (Jer. 3:14). The remainder of His tiny church are converted biological Gentiles.

The fact that God divorced Israel, that He scattered them among the heathen gentiles, that they were subsequently identified as Gentiles and that He would call them back to Himself is brought out in Acts 15:14-19. In this passage James, the pastor of the church in Jerusalem, is reminding the other apostles that (since the founding of the church on the Day of Pentecost) God had been TAKING OUT OF (FROM AMONG) THE GENTILES ‘A PEOPLE’ FOR HIS NAME, whom He described in Amos 9:11,12 as “ALL THE GENTILES WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME.” Note that these “Gentiles” whom God calls by His own name–“Israel,” meaning “power with God”–are His chosen people whom He had earlier declared “not a people.” Note also in Isaiah 65:15 that rebellious Israelites would one day return to Him and be called by “ANOTHER NAME.” We know from Scripture that their other name is “Christian”–meaning disciples of Christ.

Another passage that shows that both Jesus’ ministry and the ministry of His apostles was to the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel is John 7:33-35. Here He is talking with a group of Pharisees, telling them that He would be leaving, and that where He was going they could not come. They reasoned among themselves: “Where does He intend to go? Does He intend to go TO THE DISPERSION (Lost Tribes of Israel living) AMONG THE GENTILES and teach THE GENTILES (Israelites living among them).” Note that they were talking about the dispersion/diaspora (10 tribes) who were living among the Gentiles as Gentiles. Their question was, will Jesus seek out and find those Israelites living among the Gentiles and teach them (the Israelites). If they were wondering if He was going to the biological Gentiles to teach them there would have been no need to mention the dispersion–the Israelites living among them. Because the ten tribes living among the Gentiles had abandoned their God, His Word, His Law, His Sabbath, His language, His Holy Days, etc., the Jews, who had retained all of those things, considered them Gentiles/heathen and called them such, thereby revealing their contempt for their biological brethren. The apostles’ “ministry of reconciliation” would bring Israel and Judah back together as one nation (Eze. 37), then bring them back to God in the form of His New Covenant Church (2 Cor. 5:18). To be continued. L.J.