So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

II Kings 5:8 NKJV

The other night my older sons were singing hymns with their younger brother to help him get through his fear of the dark by reminding him of God’s great power. Their selected hymn was “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name,” which contains these lines:

Ye seed of Israel’s chosen race

Ye ransomed of the fall, Ye ransomed of the fall,

Hail Him who saves you by His grace,

And crown Him, crown Him, crown Him

Crown Him and Crown Him Lord of all.

How can Christians who are not of the bloodline of Abraham sing of being a part of Israel’s chosen race? Is this even appropriate or are we claiming something for ourselves that is not ours to claim? To answer that question we have to go back to the time of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel). The covenant made by God originated with Abraham while he was known by another name, Abram. In the course of time, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham.* Why? Because Abraham would not be the father of one nation or of a few nations, but the father of many nations! So in Galatians 3:26-29, the Lord says you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus… “and if you are Christ’s then are you Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Abraham is rightly called the father of all those who have faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. The promise to Abraham and to his seed after him was a promise for all who had the faith of Abraham. So those walking by faith in Jesus Christ are themselves Abraham’s children and the “seed of Israel’s chosen race.”

This idea of Abraham being the father of more than one bloodline and the related teaching that not all Israel by blood received the promise of Abraham was a very hard pill to swallow in the Old Testament and in Jesus’s day, and it remains difficult for many Jews and Christians in the present day. But the “mystery of the gospel” as Paul calls it in Ephesians 3, that the Gentiles should be brought into the family of God, was developed from seed form throughout the Old Testament.

Rahab, a Harlot of Jericho, was brought into Israel by faith while Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, were cut down and destroyed for their unbelief. In our studies through Elijah and Elisha we saw faith come to the widow of Zarephath while many in Israel were bowing the knee to Baal. The kings, princes, and people of Israel saw the fire come down from Heaven on Mt. Carmel. They saw the rain stop and return three years later. They witnessed God’s deliverance in Edom. They heard of the ascension of Elijah into Heaven. And in all of this, the vast majority rejected the prophecy they heard and went about persecuting the prophets.**

But as God’s Word was proclaimed by the prophets, it would not return void. The Lord would go to the highways and byways to bring His people to salvation, even to the land of the nation of Syria. From there Naaman came to King Jehoram of Israel with a message. The king tore his clothes at the message, yet when Elisha heard of it he told the king to ‘send him to me that he might know there is a prophet in Israel.’

God, who works all things according to the counsel of His own will, used the rebellion of Israel to reveal Himself to the Gentile general who might otherwise have been destroyed if Israel had been serving the Lord and fighting its enemies. The rejection of God by Israel became the salvation of Naaman and the ingrafting of the Gentiles into the true vine Jesus Christ. Naaman would come to know that a prophet was in Israel. Do you know the prophet of Israel?

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* Genesis 17:5-6.

** Luke 11:47, Acts 7:52.

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