Oh Israel My Son
sung by Bernie Knee
Marcello J Garzillo
Oh Israel My Son
The name Israel is an intriguing modern day identity to a people who claim this name as their own. There would be no name Israel if the name were not mentioned in the Scriptures. We need to examine this name as it is disclosed in the Bible.
Breaking into the story flow: Genesis 32:24, And when Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of day. 27, And He said unto him, “What is your name?” And he said “Jacob.” 28, And He said, :”Thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel: for as a prince thou hast power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.”
The word prevailed in the Hebrew dictionary means to overcome. Overcome what? To overcome our human nature. The nature we were born with is the complete opposite of God’s nature. We find this Godly nature mentioned as fruit of the spirit.
Galatians 5:22, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentileness, goodness, faith, 23, meekness, temperance: against such, there is no law.
Is there any nation or people who have acquired this quality or nature by themselves? No! Jacob was not born an Israelite but become one in life. Israel is not a matter of genealogy, but a testimony of one’s character.
Jacob was his birth name. As God worked with him, he was imbued with the very character and nature of God. When God was satisfied with the results, God changed his name from Jacob to Israel, just as one changes a name in marriage.
Jacob became the father of 12 sons and 1 daughter and grew into a multitude of people. Because Jacob now has a God given name as Israel, the entire generations of Jacob are called Israel and became the people who were enslaved in Egypt.
Exodus 3:9, “Now therefore, behold the cry of the children of Israel has come unto Me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10, Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people, the children of Israel out of Egypt.”
Because their father or grandfather Jacob,who was born of the flesh overcame his fleshy nature, he became a child of God, His firstborn.
Genesis 4:22, “And thou shall say unto Pharaoh, ‘ Thus sayeth the Lord, Israel is My son, even My firstborn.
We read where Moses was the servant of God who delivered the first born sons of God from Egyptian bondage. This deliverance was a physical or natural bodily exodus in which Moses gives a scolding report about the people.
Deuteronomy 31:27, “For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am still alive and with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death. 29, For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil shall befall you in the latter days; because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.”
Its obvious that the Exodus of old was only a type, and not the reality of a future and much larger and final Exodus to occur in the latter days. Moses tells us of another prophet who will be raised up like him.
Deuteronomy 18:18, “I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto me, and will put my words into His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I command Him.”
This prophet who will be raised up is the promised seed planted in Genesis 3:15, first by his birth, and 2nd, by His being raised from the dead and becoming a life giving Spirit, 1st Corinthians 15:45. This seed will not be seen of men until we read of it four thousand years later in the Book of Matthew, 1:18.
As stated earlier, the name Jacob applies to the natural seed, and the name Israel applies to the Spiritual seed.
1 Corinthians 15:46, Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual but that which is natural; and afterward, that which is spiritual.
The type and pattern are the same today as of old. We, just as they, are flesh and blood natural beings and the best we are able to do, if possible, is to be a proper human being. But we know that that is not possible with our own strength. We should realize, just as God realizes, that we need something added to us poor mortals, something outside of nature. the Apostle Paul gives us the answer.
1st Corinthians 15:45, “And so it is written, The first man was made a living soul; and the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit.”
Jesus is call the last Adam. He was the end of the Adamic race and was the beginning of a race of people, not through genealogy or umbilical cord to umbilical cord but through being a called race, the same way in which Abraham was called.
Out Of Egypt I Have Called My Son
We read in: Matthew 2:15, And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I have called My Son.”
Jesus, by a miraculous birth, was born a Son of God. Scriptures tell us that He is the first born of many brethren, and that all Israel will be saved though Him, not only Jew but Gentile also. Christ is that quickening spirit. It is His Spirit which is added to the natural man in which men will bring forth the fruit of the Spirit, starting with love and forgiveness resulting in the Israel of God as well as the peace of God.
He was the last Adam who was crucified, raised from the dead, and entered into His glory. He says of Himself:
John 15:1, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the Husbandman.”
No one will ever bring forth the fruit of the Spirit without being joined to the vine. When we have Christ added to our nature we will become a new man, Ephesians 4:24.
We were all born of the old man, Ephesians 4:22, and in these last days, we could have the Spirit of Christ added to us to bring us into a new beginning. This is the true Gospel.
Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, I loved him and called My son out of Egypt.”
was not sown.