Two Israels?

One Israel is more spiritual than the other.

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Transcript

Two Israels?

WHEN ARE WE?

The beginning of Jesus ministry on the earth. I'll say about 27 AD. After the last of the prophets in the Old Testament, and before Jesus' death and resurrection. Years before John's book of Revelation.

WHERE ARE WE?

Around Galilee. Galilee was considered part of Israel in the Old Testament, but the kingdom has split and Galilee has acquired a different Roman identity from Judah to the south.

WHY ARE WE HERE NOW?

We're going to look at how Jesus demonstrated the Kingdom of God through an interesting riddle.

WHAT'S THE RIDDLE?

The riddle has to do with Scriptures like Mark 1:14 and 15:

Mark 1

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

But to understand the riddle a little more clearly, I'm going to tell you what I believe the definition of Israel is.

Strong's Hebrew Lexicon says Israel means "he will rule as God".

The word "el" in Hebrew means God.

The name Israel ends in that Hebrew word meaning God.

There are other Hebrew words that end in -el. Many of them don't mean "as God", they mean "of God". Let's look at a few and see how they are translated into English.

The same Lexicon says

Bethel means "house of God." 

Nathaniel means "gift of God."

Gabriel means "man of God."

I think a more literal definition of Israel is "Ruled of God" or you could say, "Kingdom of God".

Here's the riddle I think Jesus was posing. 

If Galilee is part of what used to be called "Israel", and Israel literally means "Kingdom of God", what did Jesus mean when He said, "The Kingdom of God is Near?"

That's the riddle.

What's the answer?

I think Jesus was simply saying that he's both God and the demonstration of how to be someone ruled by God at the same time. He's heaven and earth together saying something like "The rule of God is close!"

Two Isreals means one Israel is more spiritual than the other. Jesus himself is our example of 

SOME NOTES ABOUT SPLIT GEOGRAPHY

Two Israels is an example of what I call "split geography". Two places with the same name, one spiritual, and the other earthly.

In other parts of the Bible,

Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman and said true worship was in the Spirit, not on one particular mountain or another.

Later the Apostle Paul wrote a letter saying there was a current Jerusalem on earth and another Jerusalem above -- in heaven.

In this episode we've seen that Jesus posed a puzzle about the location of the Kingdom of God. I think he did that to underline there are two Israels: one on the earth and one in heaven. He wants us to trust that there's more to life than what meets our eyes.

In the future, Jesus' Kingdom will continue to grow by His divine power at work every moment across many years of God's faithfulness.