Israel: God’s Promised Land, chosen people and spiritual family.
The importance of Israel is so much more than we see even on the surface. Though most of the world sees a tiny nation in the Middle East when they think of Israel, God sees so much more. He sees a people worth making a covenant with a lasting impact on generations.
“We’re not just called to love the Holy Land and the land of Israel, but the people of Israel,” Franklin says in a recent message. “The uniqueness of Israel, the thing that makes them different from every other nation…God set out to redeem it from other nations.”
Franklin asserts how God has made His covenant with the Israelites, adopting them into His family, placing His glory on them and giving them His good and faithful promises.
It is also uniquely through the Jewish people that the Savior of the world came to redeem humanity.
“Through the nation of Israel, the Savior of the world came. That cannot be said of any other nation. There is no other race of people through which the Redeemer would come,” Franklin says.
He points out how it is this people, God’s chosen people, that we first are given a sneak peak into what adoption in the family of God looks like.
Breaking News. Spirit-Filled Stories. Subscribe to Charisma on YouTube now!
“They have been adopted by God. God has put His glory upon them. They have the covenants that God made. So do you and I,” Franklin says.
God’s covenant is first and forever with the people of Israel. However, for those of us under the blood of Jesus Christ, we are now adopted into the family of God as well. This means His covenant promise to never leave us nor forsake us stands, and His eternal treasures are for us.
“There is spiritual Israel, which is the church, the body of Christ,” Franklin says. “He has made even greater promises and a covenant that is even greater through Jesus Christ for you and I.”
As we see Israel in a state of turmoil dealing with war and persecution, we must remember to pray and stand with these people whom God has made His covenant with. Also, as believers in Christ, we must cling to this ultimate hope the Lord has given us that we will inherit His kingdom.
Join Charisma Magazine Online to follow everything the Holy Spirit is doing around the world!
Abby Trivett is a marketing copywriter and coordinator for Charisma Media.
Stephen Strang