A Temporary Refocus

As we move into the New Testament, a refocus takes place. God has little interest in describing individuals’ specific tribal heritage, and the use of the term “Jew” is evermore increased. The answer as to why this happens is that the Holy Spirit’s center of attention changes from that of ethnic Israel to spiritual Israel. The renaming of the Israelites to Jews was of no real concern to God, for true Israel, in the spiritual sense, became, through the cross, anyone who believed in Christ, whether he or she was ethnically an Israelite or not. In God’s eyes, those who follow Christ were and are Israel. God’s focal point for this time of grace is on the spiritual meaning of Israel. However, God is not done with ethnic Israel. There is no reason to believe in what is known as replacement theology, which espouses that the church has completely and forevermore replaced ethnic Israel, for God will once again refocus on ethnic Israel at the end of this age.

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Anglo-Israelists center everything on ethnicity. They do not consider this refocusing of God from ethnic Israel to spiritual Israel. Instead, they claim the spotlight never left ethnic Israel. To them, it just went to England with the Anglo-Saxons.

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For some, this has caused a misunderstanding of the events recorded in the book of Revelation. When someone expresses the belief that the church will be raptured before the tribulation, some supporters of Anglo-Israelism do not even consider this a possibility. This may be because when Anglo-Israelists encounter the term “Israel” in the book of Revelation, as in Revelation 7:4, they believe it is them (i.e., the church), not the Jews referenced. Therefore, they conclude that the church is still present during the tribulation. This is another possible reason why some followers of Anglo-Israelism loathe the idea of a pretribulational rapture. To them, the tribulation is about them and how God will force a purgatory-type cleanse on the church. The truth is, however, God’s focus for the end times will be on those who are not saved, particularly those of ethnic Israel who have not accepted the Messiah. The attention will not be on those who have already come to believe in Christ.[1]

[1] Obviously, there will be individuals coming to know Christ during the tribulation who will have to endure that time.

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