The True Children of Abraham and the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Read all about it and find out your real roots....... Denominational clergy almost always advance the theological concept that national Israel, of the twelve tribes, was the natural and physical seed of Abraham and that the spiritual seed of Abraham followed in the New Testament through Jesus Christ in a multi-racial, Gentile church. American clergymen encompass a theology that advances modern Jews as being physical or natural Israel, while all other believers, irrespective of racial origin, are then spiritual seed of Abraham by faith in Jesus Christ. More often than not, theologians have reduced all of the twelve tribes of Israel down to this single word: Jew. Typically, most clergy cannot actually identify the Israelites of the dispersion. They place all twelve tribes in a theological box canyon and simply call them all Jews. They have done irreparable harm to the record of the Bible and history by trying to place in the generic category Jews all the twelve tribes of Israel. All true, real Jews are Israelites, but not all Israelites are Jews and never can be! Pre-Protestant Reformation theologians of the Medieval Church pitched this theological tent. This theological stronghold has monopolized if not paralyzed the thinking of most theologians as well as those who follow them. They identify the natural or physical seed of Abraham as the Jews. But this writer admonishes all believers to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12) and to “give diligence to make your calling and election sure” (II Peter 1:10). Every believer should, in the very words of Jesus Christ, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). The question I pose for you is simply this: what will you do with the seed of Abraham? Is this seed physical, spiritual, or both? What does your pastor say? And, what will you teach your children? I pray that you will call a spiritual “time out” and with an open heart and open Bible seek the truth to this question. Pastor Dan Gayman Walk into any denominational church of your choice, for it makes little difference which one you choose. When it comes to any discussion of the seed of Abraham, you will find in that congregation the idea that the seed of Abraham is spiritual. Christianity as currently taught in the nations of the Christian West is in a spiritual depression. Caucasian youth are leaving mainstream Christianity by the droves. Old, mainline, Protestant denominations are struggling to entice people to attend church services. There is spiritual famine across the hinterlands of America and the sister nations of the Anglo-Saxon world. This spiritual famine largely results from the clergy’s failure to teach the Bible as the revelation of God to His children. Preaching and teaching the Word of God ignites the Holy Spirit to strike a spark in the hearts of believers. Where the Word of God is not taught (especially knowledge of the Law), sinners do not become convicted of their guilt, so repentance wanes, the sacrifice of Christ loses any relevance, and the church is wasted. Moreover, the church in the Christian West has miserably failed for the past one hundred and fifty years to articulate biblical truth about ethnic origins. Whereas former generations were taught that all races were created separate and distinct from one another, thus following the Law of Kind after His Kind, the church at large teaches that Adam and Eve are the progenitors of all races. Only a tiny remnant holds fast to the teaching of biblical Israel, which now is a verboten topic. For these and other reasons, it is imperative that biblical Christians identify the physical seed of Abraham. Who Is the Seed of Abraham? The word seed appears frequently throughout the Old and New Testaments and is really one of the more important key words in the Bible. The Hebrew root word zera or zerah (Strong’s Concordance #2233, meaning seed; fig. fruit, plant, sowing time, posterity, carnally, child, fruitful, seed-time, sowing time) is the word that determines who the seed of Abraham are. The word zera (seed) is used for the genetic seed of men, plants, and animals. Genesis l reminds us ten different times that seeds always produce after their own miyn (kind or species). The Law of Kind after His Kind is central to this topic. Besides the ten references to this law in Genesis chapter one, consider this verse from Leviticus: “Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed …” (Leviticus 19:19). The Premise According to Scripture, the seed of Abraham can only be a literal, natural, genetic, physical seed or offspring. The idea that the natural, literal seed of Abraham called Israel in the Old Testament suddenly becomes a spiritualized people in the New Testament seems ludicrous. There is no scriptural authority for such an idea. The seed of Abraham that will inherit everlasting life will receive a spiritual body at the resurrection of the dead. “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body …Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption” (I Corinthians 15:42-44, 50—emphasis ours). What is the Holy Spirit teaching us in I Corinthians 15:42-50? 1) The Holy Spirit is confirming that there is a natural body and a spiritual body. The natural body is that which eventually dies and is buried. The spiritual body is that which will be raised from the dead. 2) The body of flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom. If it were a spiritual body, it would not die. 3) Saying that there is a natural (physical) seed of Abraham and a spiritual seed (non-material seed) of Abraham is contrary to Scripture and reality. 4) The natural (physical) seed of Abraham becomes a spiritual seed at the resurrection of the dead and in the translation of those who are living at the return of Jesus Christ. Consider the Two Seeds of Genesis 3:15 When passing judgment upon the serpent, Jehovah declared: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Examine the zera (seed) in this verse. All theologians acknowledge that the principal seed of the woman is the Lord Jesus Christ. In His incarnation, God revealed Himself in human form when He was born of the Virgin Mary, who was espoused to Joseph. Both Mary and Joseph were of the physical, natural, literal lineage of Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. Theologians admit that the seed of the woman in Genesis 3:15 is a literal, physical seed. Indeed, Revelation 12:17 emphasizes the literal and physical seed of the woman. However, most theologians make a doctrinal leap and assert that the seed of the serpent is not literal, natural, and physical. They teach that when a person follows the wisdom of the world, rejects Jesus Christ, and lives in a state of unbelief, he then becomes the seed of the serpent. This is a completely inconsistent treatment of zera (seed of the serpent). If the seed of the woman is natural and physical, why not the seed of the serpent? How can one seed (zera) be physical, but the other not? Moreover, was the enmity between these two seeds not manifested in the birth of Cain, who killed Abel? And, what does I John 3:11-12 tell us about Cain? “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteousness.” Moreover, did our Lord Jesus Christ not identify the good sperma (seed) in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matthew 13:24) as being “the children of the kingdom” in contrast to the tares being “the children of the wicked one” (Matthew 13:38)? The wicked one is identified as the devil (Matthew 13:39). Revelation 12:9 and 20:2 identify the serpent (Genesis 3:15) as that “old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan.” The seed (zera) of the serpent is just as physical and literal as the seed of the woman. It is absurd to say that the seed of the woman is literal but deny the reality of the physical seed of the serpent! Moreover, there is no possibility that the enmity (hostility and hatred) God placed between these two seeds (Genesis 3:15) will allow the seed of the serpent to be subjects for conversion to Jesus Christ! John 8 records a dialogue between Jesus Christ and members of the seed of the serpent. In this instance Jesus declared: “Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it …He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God” (John 8:43-44, 47). Can the “Seed” of Abraham Be Spiritual? Is there any means by which the physical, literal seed of Abraham can become spiritual? Answer: only when the literal seed dies and is resurrected in a spiritual (glorified) body of light. Examine the following verses where the word seed appears: “And if any man’s seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the even. And every garment, and every skin, whereon is the seed of copulation, shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the even. The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even” (Leviticus 15:16-18). Consider the futility of trying to spiritualize the word zera (seed) in these verses. How can one be unclean from having a “spiritual seed” touch his skin or garment? Promises Made to the Seed of Abraham 1) “And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: …” (Genesis 12:7). The word seed (zera) is a literal, physical seed that cannot be spiritualized. The seed or posterity of Abraham was given the land of Canaan as an unconditional promise. 2) “And the LORD said unto Abram …For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever” (Genesis 13:14-15). The word seed (zera) is a physical seed that does not admit to any spiritualizing. Jehovah God has never abrogated this promise to the literal, physical seed of Abraham!. 3) “And he brought him (Abram) forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be” (Genesis 15:5). The seed (zera) of Abraham is literal and physical. At no time could this seed, destined to be numbered as the stars in heaven, be anything but a literal, physical seed of Abram. 4) “In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18). God promised a specific land through His unconditional covenant with Abram and his literal posterity or seed. Again, the word zera (seed) does not admit to any form of spiritualization. 5) “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee” (Genesis 17:7). God made an unconditional covenant to be a God unto Abraham and his zera (seed). This covenant was to be perpetual. Where in all of Scripture did God change or alter this covenant with the seed of Abraham? Never! Moreover, Jehovah never proclaimed Himself to be a God in covenant relationship with any other seed (zera). 6) “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after the thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8). The unconditional promise of the land of Canaan and the assurance that Jehovah would be their God was exclusive with Abraham and his seed (zera). By what authority can another people be declared the spiritual seed of Abraham and inherit this covenantal promise? 7) “And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him” (Genesis 17:19). Abraham became the father of eight different sons. Ishmael was born from the womb of Hagar. Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah came from the womb of Keturah. Isaac was the only seed of Abraham born from the womb of Sarah. The unconditional covenant of promise made by Jehovah to Abraham was exclusive to Isaac alone. No amount of spiritualizing the Word of God could alter what God ordained through His sovereign will. The unconditional promise of the Abrahamic covenant was meant to continue in the seed of Isaac alone, as Romans 9:7-9 confirms: “Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the child of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.” 8) “And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Genesis 21:12). That the seed (zera) of Abraham was to be called in Isaac is one of the most important statements found in Scripture and is confirmed in Romans 9:7 and Hebrews 11:18). At no point in Scripture were any other people— no other descendants of Abraham through Ishmael or the sons of Keturah—included in this covenant. Nor could someone say that they were to become the seed of Abraham by making them spiritual heirs with Isaac! 9) Speaking to Abraham, Jehovah declared, “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies” (Genesis 22:17). The multiplication of the posterity of Abraham through Isaac will account for a vast multitude of people, numbering into the thousands of millions as confirmed in Genesis 24:60: “And they blessed Rekekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.” The Seed of Abraham in the New Testament The word seed appears throughout the New Testament and is from the Greek root sperma (used thrity-seven times in a physical, genetic manner). Sperma is #4690 in Strong’s Greeek Dictionary of the New Testament and means something sown, i.e. seed (including the male sperm); by implication offspring; issue, seed. At no point does the sperma suddenly become spiritual. There is absolutely no biblical authority for both a physical and a spiritual seed (sperma) of Abraham in the New Testament. Matthew 1:1 identifies the New Testament as being “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Hebrew 2:16 confirms that Jesus Christ took on the seed of Abraham in the incarnation: “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” This was a literal, physical seed (sperma) of Abraham implanted by the Holy Spirit into the womb of the virgin Mary (Luke 1:35). Uncreated God took on human form in the Person of Jesus Christ from the literal, physical, and natural seed of Abraham. This was a natural, physical seed (sperma) of Abraham. Moreover, in every instance where the seed of Abraham appears in the New Testament, it is a literal, physical seed. There is no spiritual seed of Abraham. Those who seek to build a multi-racial church from the New Testament by spiritualizing the seed of Abraham succeed only in creating a fraudulent theology. Consider the following New Testament scriptures that document the natural, physical seed of Abraham. In no case can the sperma (seed) of Abraham be spiritualized. 1) Luke 1:54-55: “He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.” The documentary of the New Testament chronicles Jehovah’s faithfulness in fulfilling the promises He made with our fathers (literal seed) in the Old Testament (Romans 15:8). The New Testament is replete with references to the seed of Abraham. This redeemed seed of Abraham, Israel, both Judah (Jews) and the Gentiles (Israel in dispersion), constitute racially the New Testament church, which throughout the New Testament is made up of the literal, physical, or natural seed (sperma) of Abraham. There is no spiritual seed of Abraham from non-Israelites or other races in the New Testament churches. 2) Luke 1:68, 72- 73, 77: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people …To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham …To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins” (emphasis ours). Redemption belongs exclusively to Israel and the covenant line out of which Israel descended back to Shem, Noah, and the Patriarchs. Salvation is a fulfillment of the covenant oath which Jehovah swore with Abraham and resides exclusively in his physical seed. 3) Acts 3:25: “Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed” (emphasis ours). These children are the sperma (seed of Abraham). There is no spiritual seed of Abraham. This is a myth! And, those who perpetuate this myth malign Scripture! The word kindreds (Greek word foo-lay) means of the same race, clan, race, tribe, or kindred. 4) Acts 13:32-33: “And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again …” (from St. Paul’s famous Antioch sermon in Acts 13:16-41). The promises unto the fathers were made to a literal, physical seed and found fulfillment (Acts 13:32-33) in a physical, literal seed. All are exclusive to the sperma (seed) to whom the promises were made. 5) Romans 4:13-16: “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all” (emphasis ours). The promise was made to a literal, physical seed and is fulfilled in that same literal, physical seed. Stating the obvious yet again: this promise is exclusive to the sperma (seed) to whom the promise was made. 6) Romans 9:7-8: “Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Not all of the sperma (seed) of Abraham are included in the seed of Abraham. Only the children of the promise, Isaac’s seed, are counted as the true seed (sperma) of Abraham. The covenant of promise made to Father Abraham was exclusive to him and his posterity through Isaac. 7) Galatians 4:19: “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.” The seed that should come is the Lord Jesus Christ, Who came to those with whom the promise was made. Christ was the one principle seed (sperma) of Abraham (Galatians 4:16), in contrast to the many sperma (or seeds) to whom the promise was made. 8) Galatians 4:29 reads, “And if ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Consider this question: exactly who can belong to Jesus Christ? Answer: only those children who are counted for the promise (Romans 9:8). Jesus Christ came to redeem the seed (sperma) of Abraham counted in the promise; having redeemed this seed by His precious blood, they now belong to Christ. He came as a Kinsman Redeemer to buy His people from their bondage. As a near Kinsman (Hebrews 2:16) of the seed of Abraham, He qualified to be a proper kinsman (Leviticus 25:47-49) to redeem His people from their sin. Having been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ (I Peter 1:18-19), this seed now belongs to Jesus Christ. In Isaac the Seed Was to Be Called: The Word of God is clear on this point: the children of the promise were to be counted for the seed (Romans 9:8). Moreover, we learn that it was to Israel, the children of the promise that Christ came: “Who are Israelites …Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen” (Romans 9:5). Abraham was the father of eight sons, but Isaac alone was counted for the seed: “ …In Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Romans 9:7; Genesis 21:12; Hebrews 11:18). The seed of Isaac are known as Israel. Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, was first given the name Israel, which later became the generic family name for the multitudes descended from Jacob and his twelve sons. This name appears more than 2,500 times in the Bible. The Bible was written to, for, and about the twelve tribes of Israel. These are the people counted for the seed. They are heirs to the Abrahamic covenant of promise. They are designated as a holy, special people, above all others of the earth (Deuteronomy 7:6). Israel is called a peculiar people or treasure unto Jehovah God (Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 14:2; 26:18-19, Psa. 135:4; Titus 2:14; and I Peter 2:9). These are the natural, physical, literal offspring (seed) of Abraham. This natural or physical seed of Abraham were made up of two primary bodies when the New Testament was written and the early apostolic Church was being organized. The Israelites living in the land of Judea were called Jews at that time and represented the remnant nation that was organized at the return of a small remnant to the land of Judea at the end of the seventy-year Babylonian captivity. The vast majority of Israelites, all twelve tribes, remained in dispersion. In the New Testament era, these dispersed Israelites, separated from the commonwealth of Israel, the covenants, and promises of God, are referred to as Gentiles, Greeks, Heathen, Barbarian, and Scythians in the New Testament. These are the seed of Abraham who are counted for the people of God. They are the people for whom Jesus Christ died, the heirs to the Kingdom and the subjects of the Bible. The Bible, Old and New Testaments, was written to, for, and about these people. They are the natural, literal, and physical seed of Abraham and will become the spiritual seed of Abraham at the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the translation of those who are alive at His 2nd Coming. The physical and spiritual seed of Abraham are now identified, and all that pertains to them is summarized in Romans 9:4-5: “Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.” These are people who are and will forever remain the only people to be counted as the physical and spiritual seed of Abraham. Finally, the God of the Bible declares Himself to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-Israel and their posterity forever (Exodus 3:6; 15; Matthew 22:32; Mark 12:26; and Acts 7:32).
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 22:25:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015