Scripture Reading: Gal. 6:16; 3:6-9, 14, 29; 4:28, 31; 5:16-18, 22-23, 25; 6:8; Exo. 3:6, 16
Ⅰ
The Israel of God is the real Israel (Rom. 9:6b; 2:28-29; Phil. 3:3), including all the Gentile and Jewish believers in Christ, who are the true sons of Abraham, who are the household of the faith, and who are those in the new creation—Gal. 6:15-16, 10; 3:7, 29:
A
The real Israel, the spiritual Israel, is the church—6:16; 3:7, 29.
B
There are two kinds of walk by the Spirit, and the second kind of walk constitutes us those who live a new creation and who are the Israel of God— 5:16, 25:
１
To live a new creation and live as the Israel of God, we need to walk in such a way as to observe all the basic principles of God's New Testament economy—1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 3:9.
２
Those who are included in the real Israel walk by "this rule," express God's image, and execute God's authority; they are typified by Jacob, who was transformed into Israel, a prince of God and a victor—Gen. 32:27-28.
３
By living the mingled life of the new creation, we shall be the Israel of God on earth today, His princes and victors executing His authority and representing His government—cf. Rev. 2:26-27:
ａ
Our destiny is not only to be sons of God; it is to be kings reigning in the kingdom of God; Paul's word about the Israel of God implies that we need to live in a kingly way with a kingly walk—Rom. 5:17, 21.
ｂ
To be proper sons of God it is sufficient to have the fruit of the Spirit, but to be kings, the Israel of God, we need another kind of living, a particular kind of walk by the Spirit; we need both the living of the sons of God and that of the Israel of God—Gal. 5:16, 25.
４
If we have the second kind of walk by the Spirit, an orderly walk according to God's eternal purpose, we shall be the Israel of God, representing God, exercising His authority, and carrying out His administration on earth for the fulfillment of His purpose—Gen. 1:26.
C
Today's Israel of God is a miniature of the coming New Jerusalem, which will be the ultimate consummation of the Israel of God—Rev. 21:2.
Ⅱ
In order to be the Israel of God, we need to experience the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—Exo. 3:6, 15-16:
A
Our God is the God of three particular persons—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; this implies that He is the Triune God—2 Cor. 13:14.
B
"The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" is Jehovah Elohim, the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—Exo. 3:15; Gen. 2:4-22; Matt. 28:19.
C
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the foundations of the nation of Israel; without them there would not be the nation of Israel—Exo. 3:15-16:
１
God's people became His people through the experience of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
２
The dealings which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob received before God and the experiences they went through culminated in a people of God.
３
We all need to have the elements of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; without these elements we cannot be the people of God, the Israel of God.
D
In the book of Genesis, the records of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob overlap; Genesis does not portray them as three separate individuals but as constituents of one corporate person:
１
The experience of Abraham signifies the experience of God the Father, the unique source, in His calling man, justifying man, and equipping man to live by faith and to live in fellowship with Him—12:1; 15:6; chs. 17—18; 19:29; 21:1-13; 22:1-18.
２
The experience of Isaac signifies the experience of God the Son in His redeeming man and His blessing man with the inheritance of all His riches, with a life of the enjoyment of His abundance, and with a life in peace—22:1-14; 25:5; 26:3-4, 12-33.
３
The experience of Jacob (with Joseph) signifies the experience of God the Father in His loving man and choosing man (Mal. 1:2; Rom. 9:10-13) and of God the Spirit in His working all things for the good of those who love Him, in His transforming man, and in His making man mature in the divine life that man may be able to bless all the people, rule over all the earth, and satisfy all the people with God the Son as the life supply—Gen. 27:41; 28:1—35:10; chs. 37, 39—49; Rom. 8:28-29.
E
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the God of the tabernacle—Exo. 40:34-35:
１
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob each lived in a tent; while they were living in tents, they were eagerly waiting for the eternal tabernacle of God, the city of New Jerusalem—Gen. 12:8; 13:18; 26:17, 25; 33:18; 35:21; Heb. 11:9-10; Rev. 21:2-3.
２
The New Jerusalem, the eternal tent as the mutual abode for the redeeming God and His redeemed, will be the ultimate consummation of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—John 1:14; Rev. 21:2-3, 22.