Discussion page 3

What�s A Name?

Isaiah 62:2 And the Gentiles (correctly Nations as that is what the word means) shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.

Isaiah 65:15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name.

The above source references from the Book of Isaiah have been use by a number of British-Israel, Anglo-Israel, Israel-Identity, Identity Christian-Israelite groups to justify an theory that the new name indicated in these references is the designation 'Christian'. They quote Acts 11:16 ... And the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch".

One brochure I received recently, written by a man from North Carolina USA, argued this very thing - the new name for Israel will be Christian. His argument was most unfortunate - he was reading into the source references that which was not there, thus making a whole new doctrine out of a zealous desire to make scripture say something - which it was not meant to say.

In another place the writer of the brochure tried to argue that Hosea that the designation "sons of the living God" is proof of his argument. Hosea 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

I am at a loss to see how he came to that conclusion - the term �sons of the living God� is one of status. Israel was divorced and then through that great forensic act - the death of Jesus on the cross - were brought back into a covenant relationship with God. See 1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.

This is one of many ideas that have been developed by well meaning folk who hold to the false dichotomy of the church and Israel theory - these they say are the so-called two peoples of God (an idea made popular by the Schofield reference Bible notes). Many writers mix up religious designations with racial/national designations; a perfect example is the noun �Jew� as we have it in modern English. The word defines a religious situation and not a racial one.

Israel has been called many names, as shown below. This was a promise to Abraham in Genesis 35:11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

Some of the names of Israel:

Parthia, Sparta (plus other Greek states), Milesians, Troy, Carthage, Vandals,
Goths, Ostragoths, Visigoths, Cymru/Welsh, Germans, Normans, Bretons,
Irish, Scots, Galatians, Khumri/Wales, Massagetae, Alba, Kernow, Etruscans, Norway,
English, Tocharians, Scythians, Netherlands, Angles, Veneti, Scuths, Albany,
Sweden, Norway, Belgium, France, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, USA - etc, etc.

Once you start reading the Bible as history and not as a religious instruction book, you get a better understanding of what it is saying.

The Prophet Isaiah was writing primarily to Judah and Jerusalem and not to Israel, although Israel was mentions at times. This paper does not have the space to go into all the details of Isaiah's book, but we hope we have been able to contribute to a further understanding of the Bible - our true foundational document.