Which Israel?

 

 

This may be a puzzle

But it need not be, my friend,

An explicit reading, I dare say,

Should bring it to an end.

 

Go to Romans chapter 9

And you will see what I mean,

As I read it for myself

I see two different scenes.

 

I see Israel number 1

And I see Israel number 2,

Since not all Israel are of Israel

Is clear to me and you.

 

 

Yes, there are two “Israels”

Read it in Romans 9:

One of the flesh and one of promise,

Lock this in your mind.

 

This is explicitly stated

In not all Israel are of Israel,

Israel number 2 you should see

Are an assorted people.

 

Not all children

Because they are Abraham’s seed

But the children of the promise

Are counted for seed.

 

Predestined to be so

In God’s redemptive plan

That all the nations of the world

Will be blessed in Abraham.

 

 

“At this time will I come

And Sarah shall have a son,”

It was not Ishmael as some may opine,

 Isaac was her promised one.

 

 

Yes, Ishmael was older

But Isaac was the promised son,

Very similar to Esau and Jacob

But Jacob was the chosen one.

 

 

It was said to Sarah

The elder shall serve the younger,

As it is written, Jacob have I loved

But Esau have I hated.

 

Of course, love and hate here

Must be put into context

Never mind Jacob did some things

That really made Esau vexed.

 

After all, Jacob was a trickster

And by trickery he made his way

But in all of his dealing and scheming,

God held absolute sway.

 

Do not be side tracked

By the quality of men God chose,

The reason why He chose these men,

Only God knows.

 

Here He chose a trickster

Whose seed crucified the Christ

Arguing they were Abraham’s seed

And Christ did not suffice.

 

Not only of the Jews

Did all-wise all-knowing God call

But He also chose of the Gentiles;

Jews were not them all.

 

Not all of Israel are of Israel

Has a double meaning,

Follow me closely as I proceed

And see what I am gleaning.

 

Not all of Israel

Meaning not every Israelite,

To say that they all will be saved

Is just not right.

 

Thank God there were Jews

That did come to Christ,

Not all of them rejected the Saviour

Losing out on eternal life.

 

Not all of Israel

Are of Abraham’s flesh,

But in Abraham’s seed, of course,

The Christ, all will be blessed.

 

So that Israel number 2

Comprise both Jew and Gentile,

Both being endued by the Spirit;

The flesh being defiled.

 

For in the flesh, it states

Dwelleth no good thing,

Paul makes this clear in chapter 7

In what he’s offering.

 

‘Tis God’s sovereign choice

To choose as He did choose

But it is an act of man’s free will

Whether he win or lose.

 

 

Israel number 2 is the elect

The chosen of Almighty God,

These are they that came by faith

When they heard Him call.

 

“Whosoever will may come”

Is the invitation to one and all,

“Elect according to God’s foreknowledge”

Them that heed His call.

 

Neither Jew nor Gentile

But all are one in Jesus Christ

Who gave his life a ransom for many:

A once for all sacrifice.

 

Romans 9:30-33

 

What shall we say then?

That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness,

Have attained to righteousness,

Even the righteousness which is of faith.

 

But Israel,

Which followed after the law of righteousness,

Hath not attained to the law of righteousness.

 

Wherefore?

Because they sought it not by faith,

But as it were by the works of the law.

For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;

 

As it is written,

Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence:

And whosoever believeth on him

Shall not be ashamed.

 

 

 

Be sure to say which Israel

For not all Israel are of Israel,

The one of faith is not ethnic Israel

But the New Covenanted Israel.

 

Stewart Russell © March 20, 2024

 

My Name Is in the Bible

 

 

My name is in the Bible

I guess you didn’t know,

And just in case you want the proof,

The proof to you I’ll show.

 

I guess you’d probably think

It’s Michael or Gabriel

Or since I could never be an angel,

It must be Peter or Lemuel.

 

It couldn’t be Esau or Jacob

No such names these days,

No James and John and David

We’re into the African ways.

 

No more European trappings

And colonial underpinnings,

That may have been useful in its time

Now all of that we'er trimming.

 

“Where in the Bible?” You ask

And I will show you soon

But when I really think of it

I can jump over the moon.

 

If to you I seem excited,

It is because I genuinely am

To think that my name was included

In God’s redemptive plan.

 

My name is not only unique

But it is a common name as well,

“How can that be?” I hear you ask,

I am only to delighted to tell.

 

Go to John chapter 3 verse 16

And you’ll find it written there,

Right there in the Holy Bible

On its pages bright and fair.

 

For God so loved the world

That he gave his only begotten Son

That whosoever, yea, that’s it!

That’s where I got it from.

 

 

My name is whosoever

And you will find it in God’s Word,

In the golden text of the Bible

You can be absolutely assured.

 

Assured of divine salvation

Like all the whosoever

That call on the name of Jesus Christ

Knowing they shall be his forever.

 

For none that come to him

Will he ever cast away,

This assurance is to the whosoever

That come to him today.

 

Stewart Russell © September 3, 2020

 

 

The Enclave

 

 

I know of an enclave

Unlike any other,

It was provided for me

By my Heavenly Father.

 

It is in this world

But not a part thereof,

It’s really the New Jerusalem

Coming down from above.

 

The Apostle saw it

On the Isle of Patmos,

In a vision most clear

When he saw Jesus.

 

It replaced the old one

Covenanted to the Jews,

This one includes you and me

As the Father did choose.

 

Unless there was an old

They can’t be a new

I am speaking of Jerusalem

I trust you catch the view.

 

The old Jerusalem

Has come to an end,

Now there is the New Jerusalem

That the Father did send.

 

 

It is finished, said Jesus,

The old covenant went out,

And with it, the old enclave

It is the new we are about.

 

We don’t have to run in

If we are already inside

For already in Christ,

The believer resides.

 

There is no mix within

As there are in the world,

There is just one in Christ

As shown in the Word.

 

No Jew and Gentile

No black and/or White,

But those indwelt by the Spirit

Having come to the Light.

 

In there we find refuge

During the storms of life

And there, we have the solution,

Re the problem of world-strife.

 

It is God’s kingdom

That is present on the earth

And the entry qualification

Is the new birth.

 

It is the light in the world

And also, the salt,

And if you are not a resident

Then, that is your fault.

 

But that can be corrected

Just respond to the call

That says, “Come into the enclave.

Why do you yet stall?”

 

If your name is whosoever

There is room for you,

And it doesn’t really matter

If you are Gentile or Jew.

 

Come in today

Do no longer delay,

Just heed what the Spirit says

And He’ll show you the way.

 

Stewart Russell © June 2020

 

My Name Is Whosoever

 

 

My name is Whosoever

Now tell me, what is yours?

Please don’t get cheeky with me

I am not from the Azores.

 

It is a biblical name

And a very popular one too,

It is found in seventy-one verses

With eighty-four views.

 

Mostly in the New Testament

And found there sixty-two times,

There is no denying I tell you,

I was on God’s mind.

 

It’s an all-embracing name

Yet, it is so very personal

And particularly in John’s Gospel

It means a special people.

 

In the golden text of the Bible

It is the born-again:

A special people as indicated

Over whom the Spirit reigns.

 

It’s the grand word, Whosoever

“Whosoever will may come”,

Whosoever receives Jesus Christ

Will join that heavenly throng.

 

Whosoever drinks of the water

That Jesus the Christ shall give,

That one will never thirst again

And shall eternally live.

 

 

Yes! My name is Whosoever

But let me hasten to qualify

That whosoever comes to Christ

That one he will not deny.

 

Let me draw to your attention

The two families of the Whosoever:

One that is eternally saved

And one that’s currently severed.

 

For whosoever will may come

But some will never accept

And these are of the Whosoever

That Jesus Christ rejects.

 

Come to Christ today

And be a "Whosoever Accept"

For anything short of receiving Christ

Will be a "Whosoever Reject".

 

 

My name is Whosoever:

I am a Whosoever from above,

My name is etched in the Book of life

And I am in the Beloved.

 

Stewart Russell © June 27, 2021

 

Impeached but Exonerated

 

Impeached but exonerated

And I am not talking about Trump,

He would have to deal with that

On his own account.

 

I am talking about me

And what I have been through

And you who are reading this,

What you’ve been through too.

 

I was impeached and found guilty

Simply because I was born,

Most would find that unusual

Because it’s not the norm.

 

What is the crime in being born

Would be the question to ask,

If Adam and Eve were alive

I would give them that task.

 

However, since they are not

I will point you to God’s Word

Even though something tells me

You have already heard.

 

 

Let us ask the Psalmist

And we will see what he says,

Shaped in iniquity and conceived in sin

That’s how it was way back in the day.

 

So, we were born into sin

That, my friend is the norm,

Consequently, one is counted a sinner

From the very day he is born.

 

Hence the first part of the theme

Impeached from my birth,

Yes, I was impeached

Before I even set foot on the earth.

 

But it doesn’t end there

And I truly thank God for this

And so, I come to the part

That I don’t want you to miss.

 

So as in Adam every man sinned

In Christ every man can access pardon,

Yes! Exonerated in Christ Jesus

Ever since I’ve been forgiven.

 

Impeached on Adam’s account

But exonerated through Jesus Christ

Not on any merit of my own

But because of Christ’s sacrifice…

 

 

When on that first Good Friday

When before the heavenly court

He shouted “Father forgive them!”

Therein is my support.

 

Now being one of the “whosoever”

That believes in Jesus Christ,

I am exonerated through the blood

That will always suffice.

 

Impeached because of Adam

Exonerated in Christ,

If the same can be said about you

I would think that’s quite nice.

 

Stewart Russell © January 25, 2021