Who make up Spiritual Israel? Galatians 6:16

“For neither is circumcision anything nor is uncircumcision, but a new creation is something. And all those who will walk orderly by this rule of conduct, upon them be peace and mercy, even upon the Israel of God.” Galatians 6:15, 16

In order to understand who make up spiritual Israel or the Israel of God, we need to first understand who the Seed of Abraham is and how nations bless themselves through this Seed? (Genesis 22:18)

When the Bible refers to Abraham’s Seed, it is not speaking only about 144,000 individuals. Nowhere does the Bible give that hint or make that suggestion. That is simply an assumption. The Jews made a similar assumption. They assumed that the Seed of Abraham referred to all the Jews. In the first century, the Pharisees believed that they were the Seed of Abraham, and that through them all the nations would be blessed. They would traverse land and sea to make a proselyte, to make a person of the nations a part of Israel, and thus believed that they were fulfilling Jehovah's promise to Abraham that all the nations would be blessed through the Seed. But the problem was that the Jews themselves were under a curse, under the curse of the Law. (Galatians 3:10, 11) So they only made a proselyte a subject for Gehenna. (Matthew 23: 15)

Notice how Paul shows that the assumption the Jews made was wrong. He says in Galatians 3:16:

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. It says, not: “And to seeds,” as in the case of many such, but as in the case of one: “And to your seed,” who is Christ.

Paul’s argument is that the word “Seed” is singular not plural, that it does not refer to many, the Jews, but to one person, the Christ. So the question is, how is Jehovah’s promise to Abraham fulfilled, that nations will bless themselves through Christ, the Seed?

When people put faith in Christ, and come into Christ, they then become part of the ONE Seed.

That is what Paul says in Galatians 3:26-29, “You are all, in fact, sons of God through your faith in Christ Jesus (which is expressed by their water baptism). For all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one person in union with Christ Jesus. Moreover, if you belong to Christ, you are really Abraham’s seed, heirs with reference to a promise.”

Therefore, people from all the nations, not just the Jews, can come into Christ and thus become Spiritual Israelites. Unlike in Adam, the Old Mankind, there is no distinction made between male or female, slave or free, Jew or Greek. They have now become the New Mankind by becoming one with the Seed. This is how all the nations bless themselves through Christ, the Seed of Abraham. Thus all people who put faith in Christ and come into Christ by their faith become Spiritual Israel, not just 144,000 individuals.

Notice how the Spiritual Israelites, who are people from all the nations, who have blessed themselves by the Seed, are described in Revelation 7:9, “After these things I saw, and, look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes; and there were palm branches in their hands. And they keep on crying with a loud voice, saying: “Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Now notice no man was able to number them. That is exactly what Jehovah told Abraham when he gave him the promise. No one will be able to number his seed. (Genesis 13:16, 15:5) Jehovah also said to Abraham that he will be a father of a crowd of nations. (Genesis 17:4-6) So there were 3 promises.

1. All nations will bless themselves through the Seed of Abraham. (Genesis 22:18)

2. Abraham's Seed will be numberless, like the sand of the sea. (Genesis 13:16, 15:5)

3. Abraham will be a father of a crowd of nations. (Genesis 17:4-6)

All these three promises are what are shown to be fulfilled in Revelation 7:9. A great crowd of people without number, like the grains of the sand of the sea, from all the nations, unite to the Singular Seed, Christ, by the their faith and become one with the Seed. The Great Crowd is the Spiritual Israel of God, who are the Seed of Abraham. They are people from all the nations who have put faith in Christ, the Seed and become one with him as Paul describes in Galatians 3:26-29.

Paul says in Galatians 3:7, “Surely you know that those who adhere to faith are the ones who are sons of Abraham.

Who then are the 144,000? Just as among the Israelites, there was a Priesthood, similarly among the Spiritual Israelites there is a Priesthood.

The firstborn sons OUT OF each tribe of Israel were supposed to be priests of God and serve him in the Temple. (Numbers 3:11) Jehovah asked the whole tribe of Levi to substitute for the firstborn sons OUT OF each tribe of Israel.

That is exactly what we see also in Revelation 7. Notice how John describes the 144,000 in Revelation 7:4.

“And I heard the number of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel”

They are taken OUT OF each tribe of Israel. This is how he continues to describe them in Revelation 7:5-8. They are the firstborn. They are the priests. So if they are the priests taken OUT OF each tribe of Spiritual Israel, the rest of the people seen from verse 9 onwards have to be the rest of the Spiritual Israelites. Hence Spiritual Israel does not refer just to the 144,000. All who put faith in Christ and express it by their baptism, and come into Christ are Spiritual Israelites. Notice how Paul refers to them in Galatians 6:15, 16,

“For neither is circumcision anything nor is uncircumcision, but a new creation is something. And all those who will walk orderly by this rule of conduct, upon them be peace and mercy, even upon the Israel of God.”

All those who come into Christ have left Adam, the Old Creation. They were dead and buried under the waters of baptism and left the Old Mankind, left the Old Creation, and when they were raised out of water, they came into Christ, the New Mankind, and thus have become New Creation. ALL those who walk by Christ are the Israel of God. (To find out if the 144,000 are literal or symbolic, please see the article “Who are the 144,000?”)

If you look in Revelation 14:1, the 144,000 are seen with Jesus on Mount Zion. The physical Mount Zion was in the City of Jerusalem. Now if the 144,000 picture Spiritual Israel, why are they all on Mount Zion, the capital city? Who lives in the rest of the Promised Land? Do all Spiritual Israelites live only on Mount Zion? No. The 144,000 are part of Spiritual Israel, just as those who made up the Levitical Priesthood were part of Israel. The Great Crowd described in Revelation 7:9-17 is the Spiritual Israel of God. And as such they are part of the New Covenant. If they don't partake of the Bread and the Wine, they will not benefit from the Covenant. There is no such thing as observers. If observing was so important why didn't Jesus say that there would be observers. You cannot be a beneficiary of a covenant unless you are part of the covenant. A person who does not partake of the bread and wine with faith is showing utter disregard for the ransom sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus shed his blood and allowed himself to get tortured so that we can all live a victorious life today, free from the power and control of sin. It is not something to be looked forward to in the future.

Here is another question. Didn't Jehovah say to the people of Israel, when he made the Law Covenant with them, that they would become a kingdom of priests if the kept the Law Covenant? Yes he did.

But they didn't keep the Law. So the Law Covenant couldn't produce a Kingdom of Priests. But the New Covenant did. The New Covenant makes possible for the forgiveness of sins, making us all acceptable to Jehovah. It makes it possible for us to render sacred service in his Temple, in his presence before his throne.

Notice how the Great Crowd is described in Revelation 7:9, 15, “After these things I saw, and, look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes; and there were palm branches in their hands.

That is why they are before the throne of God; and they are rendering him sacred service day and night in his temple;

Now what do you call people who are dressed in white robes and render sacred service in the Temple of God? Here is a clue. The word starts with the letter P. Yes, they are all priests too.

The New Covenant has made it possible for all humans from all nations to put faith in the Seed of Abraham and thus become the Seed of Abraham by their faith, thus blessing themselves, becoming Spiritual Israelites who can render sacred service to Jehovah in his very Presence.

Hebrews 10:14

“How much more will the blood of the Christ, who through an everlasting spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works that we may render sacred service to the living God?”