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Israel and Judah, part 5

It is one thing to believe in Christ and in the purpose for His first coming as the Savior of the world; it is another thing to believe in Christ and the purpose for His second coming. His disciples in the New Testament were required to believe that He was truly the Christ, the Son of God, and to believe that God raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand. His first coming fulfilled the calling given to Judah and King David.

But we are now in a new era and are responsible to believe in Christ in His calling as Joseph-Ephraim.

All genuine believers in Christ, who have faith in Him and His purpose 2,000 years ago, are by definition part of the Church, which is actually the tribe of Judah, as Paul tells us. This is because they are branches grafted into the Judah Tree, whose “root” is Jesus Christ (Revelation 22:16).

However, there are two comings of Christ, and the second has a distinct purpose that goes beyond that of His first coming. The Joseph calling is primarily to claim the birthright of Joseph, which is characterized primarily by the Fruitfulness Mandate, that is, Sonship.

Recall that there were two main aspects of the original birthright. The first was to “rule” over creation (Genesis 1:26), and this scepter was given to Judah (Genesis 49:10). Hence, Christ came the first time to lay claim to His throne rights as King. The second was to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28), which is about bringing forth the sons of God. So Jacob’s blessing upon Joseph stated in Genesis 49:22,

²² Joseph is a fruitful bough [ben, “a son, or branch on the family tree”], a fruitful bough by a spring; its branches [bat, “daughters”] run over a wall.

Ultimately, the birthright was the right of birth, and the holder of the birthright had the right to give birth to the sons and daughters of God. When the scepter and the birthright are merged together at Christ’s second coming, the leadership is transferred from Judah to Joseph. At that point Christ’s “body” is defined as the body of overcomers.

Over the years, I have studied many different movements in the Church, each having its own emphasis and pet doctrine thought to be of paramount importance. In the end I came to see that the primary teaching in our time is about Sonship. Of course, we must understand the foundations of faith in Christ as the King of Judah, but an understanding of the Sonship message is of particular importance for those who are already part of the Church.

The Delay in the Divided Kingdom

When Jacob blessed his sons and divided the birthright among them, it did not cause an immediate problem, because they were united as one nation. Each tribe benefited from the calling of the other tribes because they were one body. The problem came later when the kingdom was divided. The breach separated Israel from Judah so that the blessings of the full birthright were unable to be fulfilled on a historic level.

This breach ensured that Christ would have to come twice—once for Judah and again for Israel (or Joseph). This caused the later rabbis to debate whether the Messiah was to come as Messiah ben Judah or as Messiah ben Joseph. Both sides had valid arguments, but it seemed that they were unable to reconcile the two views, because they could not believe that He must come twice. For this reason, even to this day, having rejected Christ in His first advent, the religious Jews still look for a single appearance of the Messiah.

Christians who believe the New Testament understand that Christ must come twice, although even the purpose for these comings are not fully distinguished or understood. The confusion is caused primarily by the Church’s misunderstanding of the difference between Judah and Israel and between the scepter and the birthright.

It is my purpose in these studies to help clarify the Scriptures.

The breach between Judah’s scepter and Joseph’s birthright after the death of Solomon made it inevitable that there would be a delay in establishing the full Kingdom. So the Church was not a manifestation of the Kingdom but was instead a manifestation of Saul’s stop-gap kingdom. It was a kingdom but was only a partial Kingdom that God contemplated. The delay of the full Kingdom had to await Christ’s second coming 2,000 years later.

God, of course, built these delays into His original plan for His Kingdom. He designed this delay in order to manifest the full Kingdom at the end of the great work week of 6,000 years since Adam. This was commonly taught by both Christians and Jews in the time of Christ. The early Christian writing called Epistle of Barnabas reads:

Barnabas 15:3
Of the Sabbath He speaketh in the beginning of the creation; And
God made the works of His hands in six days, and He ended on the
seventh day, and rested on it, and He hallowed it.

Barnabas 15:4
Give heed, children, what this meaneth; He ended in six days. He
meaneth this, that in six thousand years the Lord shall bring all
things to an end; for the day with Him signifyeth a thousand years;
and this He himself beareth me witness, saying; Behold, the day of
the Lord shall be as a thousand years. Therefore, children, in six
days, that is in six thousand years, everything shall come to an end.

Barnabas 15:5
And He rested on the seventh day. this He meaneth; when His Son
shall come, and shall abolish the time of the Lawless One, and shall
judge the ungodly, and shall change the sun and the moon and the
stars, then shall he truly rest on the seventh day.

https://earlychristianwritings.com/text/barnabas-lightfoot.html

Most scholars today date this epistle between 115 and 135 A.D., although some, who believe it was written by the same Barnabas as found in the book of Acts, date it as early as 65 A.D. Regardless of who is right, all agree that it reflected the Hebrew Christian viewpoint in the early Church. The Hebrew view was all but extinguished in the middle of the second century when the influx of Greek converts brought in a more allegorical interpretation of Scripture.

The Name Israel

Jacob’s name was changed to Israel after he wrestled with the angel in Genesis 32:24-30. Later, he passed this name down to Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Genesis 48:15, 16 says,

¹⁵ He blessed Joseph and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, ¹⁶ the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and may my name live on in them, and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

Hence, the name Israel became the legal right of Joseph’s tribe. The other tribes could call themselves Israelites only as long as they were in union with the tribes of Joseph. When the kingdom was divided, Judah was cut off from Ephraim and Manasseh, and for this reason Judah had to call itself by an alternative name. They chose Judah, the name of the dominant tribe, and the loyal tribe of Benjamin had to adopt that name as well.

Israel is the birthright name. The ten northern tribes held the birthright tribes, so they retained the name Israel. Nonetheless, because Ephraim led their fellow Israelites into gross idolatry, child sacrifice, and even abortion (Hosea 9:11, 12, 13), God cast them off. God stripped them of the name Israel, because they were unworthy of it. Israel means “God rules,” but the Israelites set up other gods to rule over them.

So they lost their name, and in their exile, they came to be known by alternate names. The Assyrians called them Gomer (or Ghomri), the Persians called them Sakka (from Isaac), the Greeks called them Sacae (or Scythians), and the Romans called them Saxons. These immigrated into Europe, mostly through the Caucasus Mountains, thereby becoming known to modern historians as Caucasians.

But from God’s perspective, they were, at best, ex-Israelites of the dispersion. This marked the end of the Israelites from God’s perspective. The only way to obtain that name and to inherit the birthright of Joseph is to become an overcomer. To be an overcomer, one must believe in Christ and support His claim to the birthright as the Heir of Joseph. Unity with Christ in His role as Joseph is how we may become eligible to benefit from His birthright.

Jacob and Esau—Israel and Edom

In my book, The Struggle for the Birthright, I give a full account of the history of Esau-Edom and how Esau desired the birthright in spite of his carnality and bloodthirsty nature. Jacob too was a carnal believer until he wrestled with the angel that renamed him Israel. Jacob thought God needed some help from the flesh in order to receive the birthright that had been promised to him even before he was born (Genesis 25:23).

When he finally reached a crisis point, knowing that Esau intended to kill him the next day, Jacob wrestled with the angel. I believe he thought he was fighting with Esau, but when the angel did something supernatural, he received his great life-changing revelation. All of his life he thought he was fighting Esau, but he suddenly realized that he was fighting God! That is when he came to understand the sovereignty of God and to know by revelation that God rules.

Yet because he had stolen the birthright by taking it before Esau had time to prove himself to be unworthy, Isaac told Esau in Genesis 27:40 KJV, “when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.” In other words, Jacob would have to give back the birthright to Esau at some point in time to allow the natural process to take place.

Esau’s descendants, the Edomites (or Idumeans) were conquered by the Judeans and were forced to convert to Judaism in 126 B.C. But this did not give them the birthright, because Judah did not own the birthright. Instead, Edom received the birthright in 1948, and with it came the birthright name Israel. But this could not last forever, because “the elder will serve the younger.” Edom today is known by men as Israel, but it is not the ultimate holder of the birthright.

As for the overcomers, they are called to remain loyal to Christ, who is the ultimate holder of the birthright. Overcomers do not support Edom’s claim to the birthright, even though Edom has had a temporary right to it since 1948. The day is soon coming—and is now nearly upon us—when Edom will be destroyed as prophesied so often by the prophets.