The Two “Israels”

Now this comprehends GOD'S whole conception of a spiritual Israel.

Why have we taken that fragment - “the Israel of GOD”?

You know, Paul was almost invidious when he used that phrase.

If you look at the letter to the Galatians, you will see that he is dealing with two Israels, and in that phrase he is saying that there is a true Israel and a false. 

I think Phillips, in his "Letters to Young Churches", has put in a word which, while it is not in the text, is what is generally believed to give the meaning of Paul.

His rendering is: “To the TRUE Israel of GOD”. 

That is exactly what Paul meant. There is another Israel, which Paul says is not the true one.

But there are those who “walk by this rule”, this measure, this standard.

What standard is this? If you look at the letter you will see. “My little children, of whom I am again in travail till Christ be formed in you…” (4:19).

As many as walk by this measure… the true Israel of GOD.

The measure of Christ is made complete by travail.

The true Israel of GOD is the “seed” which is of the travail of his soul.

We see, then, that, whether we like it or not, this is an established law.

We can, of course, do many things in order to avoid or get rid of the travail, but GOD'S law means that there is something of preciousness that comes out when it is suffered for, when you suffer for it.

May we never get to the place where we try to make the Christian life cheap and easy...a perpetual holiday.

While there is the joy...and it should be there; while there should be the deep worship, thanksgiving and praise to GOD: surely the truest reality even of the joy is that it comes from deep experience through suffering.

It is not the superficial, flippant, frivolous kind of Christian who really knows the LORD most. 

No: “We rejoice”, said Paul, “in our tribulations” (Rom. 5:3). 

There is something precious for the LORD bound up with suffering, and you and I have to face that.

A few months ago I received, as out from China, a message given by brother Watchman Nee just before he was put in prison about four years ago.

The subject of that message was - the necessity for the breaking of the vessel in order to reveal the preciousness of the treasure within.

It is true. Now he is experiencing it. But: “He shall see his seed… He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied”.

~T. Austin Sparks~