The bible is not a fictional book, it’s a collection of stories about a real, living, breathing group of people called Israelites. The bible (whether we believe it or not) focuses on these chosen people. After the great flood (that wiped out every living soul, animal and beast off of the face of the earth), only eight people were saved. Every other human living today, and all nations of this earth stem from one of Noah’s surviving sons Shem, Ham and Japtheth – Genesis 8. Abraham came out of Shem’s seed and The Most High promised that through him, all nations will be blessed – Genesis 12:3. A lot of nations came out of Abraham, but not all of them are the chosen. Abraham’s son Isaac gave birth to twins, Jacob and Esau which the Most High called two nations while they were in their mother Rebekah’s womb. It was also prophesied that those two nations would never be able to co-exist without fighting – Genesis 25: 30-31. In the apocrypha 2 Esdras 6: 8-9, it explains why Jacob took hold of Esau’s heel. Jacob’s name was later changed to Israel, which means “A prince of God”, and he had twelve sons whom are called the twelve tribes of Israel to this day. Before Israel’s death, he blessed all his children and told each of them what was to befall them in the last days -Genesis 49
Jacob and his twelve sons moved to Egypt to escape the famine that was upon the land in that day, and at the time there was only seventy of them. Over the years, they grew in number and became a threat to the Egyptians. They were treated very harshly to the point that even their male new born sons were subject to be murdered. Prior to the hard bondage, Jacob’s people were ruling in Egypt, after which the hardship period lasted for about two hundred and ten years. It was after the amazing exodus at the hand of The Most High, and the guidance and leadership of Moses, that they became known as a nation. Prior to the exodus, they were simply children of Shem or Shemitic people. The nation of Israel became a holy people when they received the statues, laws and commandments from Moses – Deuteronomy 7:6. God chose them as His special people, not because they were more in number than other people, but to keep the promise He had made to their forefathers.

The Israelites conquered and took over many lands as promised by The Most High. However, they began to rebel against Him by doing exactly that which He forewarned them of. They worshipped the gods of the other nations and offered sacrifices to them which was an abomination to The Most High. Time after time, God sent warnings through prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos and Ezekiel ( just to name a few), telling the children of Israel to turn back from their wicked ways and return to Him. All this was to no avail. Finally, the curses in Deuteronomy 28 were finally unleashed and the destruction of the children of Israel began. Because they did not listen, they were discontinued from their heritage – 2 Kings 17: 17-27. Firstly the twelve tribes were split into two kingdoms, the northern and southern kingdoms. The southern kingdom comprised of Judah, Levi and Benjamin tribes and the northern kingdom consisted of the rest, Reuben, Napthali, Issachar, Manasseh, Ephraim, Gad, Simeon, Zebulun, and Asher (Dan lost the right to be called a tribe). In 70AD, the southern kingdom (predominantly from the tribe of Judah) fled into Africa to avoid Roman persecution, after which they were sold into slavery in ships to other nations. The other tribes were also scattered throughout the four corners of the earth Hosea 1:10 and their land inhabited by those that the king replaced them with.

Why is this important? The descendants of these Israelites are still in the world today. They don’t know who they are but are Israelites living in a gentile state of mind. As opposed to popular belief, The Most High did not forever cast His chosen people away and replace them with a new people – Romans 11:1. Neither is there anything in the bible about spiritual Israelites, all Israelites are by bloodline. Israelites are to be a light unto the gentiles and spread the gospel throughout the world. How can they be a light when they don’t know who they are? – Isaiah 49:6. It is very important that Israelites begin to awaken and realize their identity. Twelve thousand of each of the tribes are going to rule under the discipleship in Christ – Revelations 7:4, and if they don’t know who they are, how are they to be prepared? Even the epistles were addressed and sent to the twelve tribes – James 1:1. My simple call to order is not for us to point out who an Israelite is or not (that is The Most High’s department), but rather, to take God’s word, the laws and commandments seriously. We are to live according to how He called us to live, so we can make it into the kingdom. He gave the laws to the Israelites and He charged them with living under a set of rules and standard. Lets strive to live as close to those standards as He gives us revelation to, and He will reward us in the kingdom. If we are truly being led by the spirit, you will not be breaking the law of Moses by default – Galatians 5:26-26. The word (Christ) is available to all that believe, to the Jew (Israelite) first, and then the Greek – Romans 1:16, 2:9-10.

Till next week, shalom and blessings!
Nikki