The Constant Church of God presents clear answers to your questions, directly from the Bible!

One third of the entire Bible is devoted to prophecy!

And an astounding 90 percent of those prophecies are for OUR time today!

However, without this vital key, those prophecies remain a MYSTERY to many.

What is that key?

It is the REAL identity of Israel.

Bible scholars and religious teachers consider Israel as that tiny nation in the Middle East, embroiled in hostilities with the nations around it.

They believe that only the Jews are Israel today.

The Bible, however, reveals a completely different story.

It begins with the man Abram, who was living with his family in Haran, a small village in Mesopotamia.

And God saw tremendous leadership potential in Abram.

And in Genesis chapter 12, God tells him to leave his family and go to a land that “I will show you.”

And in verse 2, God promises, “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Abram did not argue, negotiate or reason with God. He did not question what God told him to do. Nor did he ask for any clarification or explanation.

Abram simply packed up his belongings, took his wife Sara and his nephew Lot; and, at 75 years of age, Abram left for a destination he knew not where, trusting fully that God would direct him.

We pick up our story in Genesis chapter 17, some 25 years later, when God appears to Abram again and enters into a covenant, an agreement with him.

And in verse 6 of Genesis chapter 17, God gives Abram this astonishing promise:

Verse 6.

6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings [meaning ROYALTY] shall come forth from you.

7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.

8 And I will give to you, and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

What so many scholars, historians and theologians miss out on COMPLETELY is this two-fold promise God had made to Abram, whose name God now changes to Abraham — which means, “father of many nations”:

First, the material promise of many nations, enjoying prestige, wealth and prosperity, which the Bible calls the birthright.

And second, the spiritual promise that Jesus Christ would bring salvation to all the families or nations of the earth.

After several years, God tests Abraham’s commitment to keep his part in their agreement.

He commands Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac.

As Abraham was about to carry out the command, God sent an angel to stop him.

“Now I know,” God says “that you will indeed obey Me even if it meant slaying your only son."

And because Abraham was willing to obey God, the promise now became UNCONDITIONAL!

It could not be broken!

God had now bound Himself to keep it.

Abraham’s descendants — as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand of the seashore — would possess the gate of their enemies as well as ALL the land of Canaan.

How large was this land?

In Genesis chapter 15 and verse 18, God specifically stipulates that the land He had promised to Abraham would be all the land of Canaan, “from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.”

Look it up in any bible atlas.

The land of Canaan was an enormous 60-thousand-square-mile-parcel of real estate — about the size of the American state of Georgia — its territorial boundaries stretched from the Nile River in Egypt; north to Gaza and the land of the Philistines on the western shores of the Mediterrenean; eastwards over the Jordan to Syria, Moab, Ammon and Edom; and then, all the way north to Tipsah in the northwestern bank of the Euphrates.

Moreover, Abraham’s descendants would possess and exercise military and political control over strategic gates or strategic passageways of its enemies.

Like the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal.

Bible scholars have questioned that such a birthright even existed.

But the Bible says this birthright is very real!

It is the material inheritance, unconditionally guaranteed by the authority of Almighty God to Abraham and his descendants — a family of nations, numbering as the stars in the sky and sands on the seashore — of immense wealth and bountiful natural resources, unsurpassed prominence and leadership in the world.

WHO then are the beneficiaries of the birthright promise God gave to Abraham?

We will continue next time with Part 2 of this eye-opening quest to identify WHO Israel really is.

This is Ross Abasolo with the Constant Church of God.

Join us again next time to hear more about what the Bible actually says!