Who is Israel? Is the Church, Israel now? Are there still ethnic Jews? My response will be brief, but hopefully to a point. Israel in the Bible are Yahweh’s chosen, covenant people. Israel in the Bible was chosen by God to be the people He vocationally used to mediate the Messiah to the world through; through the seed of the woman, Mary. This “election” had a special promise tied into it: i.e., that the ethnic Jew would always be tied into the promises and gifts of the living God. According to the Apostle this entails that ‘all Israel,’ all of ethnic Israel will be saved (this is a proleptic promise, yet future from the time of Paul’s authorship of the epistle to the Romans). They are of the natural olive tree, we of the wild olive tree (i.e., we Gentiles). The Church is presently made up of both Jew and Gentile; in fact, the first iteration of the Church was fully Jewish; thus, fulfilling God’s order: i.e., to the Jew first then the Gentile. And yet not all Israel currently believes that Jesus is their Messiah, as such God in Christ is using the Church to make them jealous until they too repent and bow the knee to Jesus. Clearly, just from this rendition, there is a distinction between ethnic Israel and the Church; even into the 21st century. This ought to indicate, in and of itself, that the Church is not ethnic Israel. Interestingly, ethnic Israel’s identity has always already been chained to Yahweh’s promises, and will be forevermore. Ethnic Israel has a telos as the covenant people of God; as already noted, their respective purpose was and is to mediate God’s salvation to all the nations (so the Abrahamic and New covenants, respectively). The nation of Israel, and the promises made to her by God were not superseded by the coming of Jesus, or the institution of the Church; indeed, they were fulfilled. Theologically ethnic Israel’s purpose always pointed beyond itself to its reality in Jesus Christ, just as all of creation’s purpose has pointed just the same. As such, the root of the olive tree, both natural and wild, is Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ, the One for the many (both Jew and Gentile alike); Jesus Christ, the ethnic Jew par excellence, the son of David. In the most proper sense Jesus is Israel, and ‘in Israel,’ all those in union with Him are now included in the expansive promises and gifts that Yahweh originally gave to ethnic Israel. All of those promises have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the ‘Israel of God.’
Ethnic Jews still exist, whether they are Ashkenazi or Sephardic. And just as is the case for us Gentiles they too have only one way to the Father; i.e., through Jesus Christ, the ‘Israel of God.’ The purpose of salvation-history was not to magnify a particular ethnicity, per se, but to magnify the name of Jesus Christ and the triune God of Israel. Jesus is Israel; He is the root of Jesse; the seed of the woman. To realize what it means to be the Israel of God is to come into union with Jesus Christ. Even so, ethnic Israel remains a reality before God, just as the other nations do. As such, God’s providential hand remains with ethnic Israel even and insofar as the promises and gifts made to the fathers remain. We along with them, in Jesus Christ, will finally experience the Land promises made to Israel (Land and Davidic covenants) at the coming of Jesus Christ; when Revelation 21—22 is finally realized.