Introduction
There are some students of Scripture who, in spite of what I believe to be compelling Pauline testimony to the contrary (link), nevertheless believe that the earth – and not heaven – is going to be the eonian home of the believers who belong to the company of saints that Paul referred to in his letters as “the body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:12-13, 27; Rom. 12:4-5; cf. 1 Cor. 6:15-19; 10:16-17; 12:12-27) and “the ecclesia which is [Christ’s] body” (Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4, 12-16; 5:23-24, 30; Col. 1:18, 24; 2:19; 3:15). In this article, I’m going to demonstrate that, even if we didn’t have Paul’s testimony concerning where the eonian allotment of the saints in the body of Christ is going to be, we would still have good reason to believe that it won’t be on the earth (whether the present earth or the new earth).
Here is a summary of the position that I will be defending: On the earth during the eons to come, God will continue to make a distinction between his covenant people, Israel (who will continue to exist as a twelve-tribed, set-apart people whose identity is based on their particular ethnicity/lineage and covenantal relationship with God), and the nations. During this future time, Israel will have a preeminent, favored status and will be especially blessed by God, while the nations/gentiles will (1) be subordinate to Israel and (2) receive their blessings through the mediation of Israel.
If this position is valid and scripturally sound, then I believe we can reasonably conclude the following: during the eons to come, the saints who constitute the body of Christ will be not be part of, or identical with, either Israel or the nations on earth. And if that’s the case, then we can further conclude that the location where God is going to be “displaying the transcendent riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7) will not be the earth. Rather, it will be “in the heavens” and “among the celestials.”
The future status of Israel and the nations according to Hebrew prophecy
In Ezekiel 37:15-17 we read the following:
The word of Yahweh came to me, saying: As for you, son of humanity, take for yourself one stick, and write on it: For Judah and for the sons of Israel joined with him; then take another stick, and write on it: For Joseph (Ephraim’s stick) and all the house of Israel joined with him. Bring them near, one to the other, into one stick for yourself that they may become one in your hand.
Some have attempted to insert the body of Christ into this passage by claiming that the two sticks becoming “one” in Ezekiel’s hand represents Jews and Gentiles becoming “one in Christ.” While it’s certainly true that Jews and Gentiles in the body of Christ are “one is Christ” (for this is a truth clearly taught by Paul in verses like Gal. 3:28 and Eph. 2:13-18), what we read in the above passage from Ezekiel has nothing at all to do with what Paul revealed in his letters concerning the status of all who are in the body of Christ. The nations are simply not in view here. Ezekiel’s “stick parable” has entirely to do with the reuniting of the divided kingdom of Israel, and the people who are said to be represented by the sticks are (1) “Judah and the sons of Israel joined with him” and (2) “Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel joined with him.”
In verses 20-28, the “stick parable” (and the future state of affairs associated with it) is explained and described in detail, as follows:
With the sticks on which you wrote held in your hand before their eyes, speak to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I shall take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will convene them from all around and bring them to their own ground. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king for them all. They shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they be divided into two kingdoms any longer. They shall not defile themselves any longer with their idol clods, with their abominations and with all their transgressions. I will save them from all their backslidings in which they have sinned and will cleanse them. They will become My people, and I Myself shall become their Elohim.
My servant David will be king over them, and there shall come to be one shepherd for them all. They shall walk in My ordinances and observe My statutes, and they will do them. Thus they will dwell on the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, in which your fathers dwelt; they will dwell on it, they and their sons and their sons’ sons throughout the eon, and David My servant will be their prince for the eon. I will contract with them a covenant of peace; It shall come to be an eonian covenant with them; I will establish them and increase them; I will put My sanctuary in their midst for the eon, And My tabernacle will be over them. Thus I will become their Elohim, And they shall become My people. Then the nations will know that I, Yahweh, am hallowing Israel When My sanctuary comes to be in their midst for the eon.
Moreover, we can know for certain that the “Israel” with which the above prophecy is concerned refers to a people who God distinguishes from “the nations” (i.e., Gentiles), and whose very identity is based on their distinct ethnicity/lineage (i.e., descent from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), along with the covenants that God made with them and the related promises God made to them. In Ezekiel 22:15 we read the following concerning the house of Israel with which the above prophecy is concerned:
“I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will consume your uncleanness out of you.”
It is the same “house of Israel” that was scattered and dispersed by God among the nations that God has promised to one day gather from among the nations and bring into their own land:
“As a pleasing aroma I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered. And I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations.” Ezekiel 20:41
Thus says the Lord God: “When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and manifest my holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob.” Ezekiel 28:25
“For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.” Ezekiel 36:24
Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.” Ezekiel 37:21
Notice that, after they’re gathered by God and brought to their own land, the “people of Israel” who are being referred to in these verses are just as much differentiated from “the nations” among whom they were scattered as they were before they were scattered by God.
A similar distinction between the nations and the re-gathered people of Israel can be found in Joel 2:15-19 and 23-27. In these verses we read the following:
Blow the trumpet in Zion! Hallow a fast! Proclaim a time of restraint! Gather the people! Hallow the assembly! Convene the elders! Gather the unweaned children and the sucklings at the breasts! The bridegroom shall fare forth from his chamber, and the bride from her canopy! Between the portico and the altar shall the priests lament. The ministers of Yahweh then shall say, Commiserate, Yahweh, over Your people, and You must not give Your allotment to reproach, that the nations rule among them. Why shall they say among the peoples, Where is their Elohim? Then Yahweh will be jealous for His land, and He will spare His people. And Yahweh will respond and say to His people, Behold Me sending to you grain and grape juice and clarified oil, and you shall be satisfied with it. And I will not make you a reproach among the nations any more.
Then, sons of Zion, exult! And rejoice in Yahweh, your Elohim! For He will give to you the former rain in just measure, and He will bring down for you the downpour, the former rain and the latter rain as at first. The threshing sites shall be full with cereal, and the wine vats shall run over with grape juice and clarified oil. I will repay to you for the years which the locust devoured, the grub and the beetle and the larva, My great army which I sent among you. Then you shall surely eat and be satisfied, and you shall praise the name of Yahweh, your Elohim, Who deals with you marvelously, and My people shall not be ashamed for the eon. You shall know that within Israel am I, and I am Yahweh, your Elohim, and there is none else beside Me. And My people shall not be ashamed for the eon.
We go on to read the following in Joel 3:1-2:
For, behold, in those days, and in that season, when I shall turn back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also convene all the nations and bring them down to the vale of Jehoshaphat. And I enter into judgment with them there concerning My people, and My allotment, Israel, whom they disperse among the nations, and My land which they apportion, and they handle the lot for My people.
In these verses, it’s clear that the people who are referred to as “Your people,” “Your allotment,” “His people,” “My people,” “sons of Zion” and “Israel,” – and who are distinguished from “the nations” and “the peoples” – belong to the same ethnically/covenantally-distinct people whom God brought out of Egypt, and who comprised (and will comprise, in the future) a single nation existing in a certain geographical territory on the earth. We can therefore conclude that, during the eon that’s in view in these passages (which is the eon to come), God will still be making a distinction between his covenant people, Israel (who will continue to exist as a people whose identity is based on their particular ethnicity/lineage and covenantal relationship with God), and the nations/gentiles. It’s further evident that, during this future time, Israel will have a preeminent, favored status and will be especially blessed by God.
In accord with the preeminent, favored status that Israel will have during the eon to come, there are a number of prophetic passages from the Hebrew Scripture that affirm that the nations during the eon to come will be subordinate to Israel, and that many of the blessings they will enjoy during this time will come to them through the mediation of Israel. The following are just a few examples:
Isaiah 45:14-17
Thus says Yahweh of hosts, The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, mortals of exceptional measure, shall pass over to you and become your servants. After you shall they go. In manacles shall they pass. And to you shall they prostrate, and to you shall they pray: ‘Yea, among you is the El, and no one else is the limit of the Elohim.’ Surely, You, El, are concealing Yourself, the Elohim of Israel, a Saviour. They are ashamed and even confounded, all of them together. And they go into confounding, artificers of forms. Israel is saved by Yahweh, with a salvation eonian. They shall not be ashamed nor confounded for future eons.
Isaiah 49:22-23
For thus says my Lord Yahweh, Behold! I will lift My hand to the nations, and to the peoples will I raise My banner high. And they bring your sons in a bosom pouch, and your daughters on the shoulders shall be borne, and kings become your foster fathers, and their chiefesses your wet nurses. Nostrils to the earth, shall they prostrate to you, and the soil at your feet shall they lick up. Then you shall know that I am Yahweh, and those expecting Me shall not be ashamed.
Isaiah 60:1-16 (cf. 66:10-12)
Light up! Light up, Jerusalem! For come has your light, and the glory of Yahweh over you is radiant. For behold! The darkness is covering the earth, and murkiness the folkstems, yet, over you, radiant is Yahweh, and His glory over you is appearing. And the nations will go to your light, and kings to the brightness of your radiance.
Lift your eyes around and see your children. All of them are convened. They come to you. Behold! All your sons from afar are coming, and your daughters on the side are being fostered. Then you shall see and beam. And awed and wide will be your heart, for turned to you shall be the throng of the sea. The estate of nations shall come to you. An accumulation of camels shall cover you, dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all those from Sheba shall come. Gold and frankincense and precious stones shall they carry, and of the praises of Yahweh shall they bear tidings. All the flocks of Kedar shall be convened to you, and the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you. They shall ascend with acceptance on My altar, and My house of prayer will I beautify.
Who are these? As a thick cloud are they flying, and as doves to their crevices. For to Me the boats of the coastlands are stretching, and the ships of Tharshish among the first, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of Yahweh, your Elohim, and to the Holy One of Israel, for He beautifies you.
And your walls are built by sons of foreigners, and their kings shall minister to you. For, in My wrath, I smote you, yet, in My acceptance, I have compassion on you. And your gates are open continually. By day and night they shall not be closed, for bringing to you the estate of the nations, with their kings leading. For the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and these nations shall be deserted, yea deserted. Its glory does Lebanon give to you, and to you it shall come; the fir, and the elm, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary, when the place of My feet will I glorify. And go to you to prostrate shall all the sons of your humiliators, and worship at the soles of your feet shall all your spurners. And they call you the city of Yahweh, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
Insomuch as you became forsaken and hated, and there was no help, I constitute you a pomp eonian, an elation of generation after generation. And you suck the milk of nations, and the breast of kings shall you suck. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, am your Saviour, and your Redeemer is the Sturdy One of Jacob.
Jeremiah 33:7-9
And I have turned back the captivity of Judah, And the captivity of Israel, And I have built them as at the first, And cleansed them from all their iniquity, That they have sinned against Me, And I have pardoned all their iniquities, That they have sinned against Me, And that they transgressed against Me. And it has been to Me for a name of joy, For praise, and for beauty, to all nations of the earth, Who hear of all the good that I am doing them, And they have feared, And they have trembled for all the good, And for all the peace, that I am doing to it.
Zechariah 8:14-15, 20-23
For thus says Yahweh of hosts: Just as I planned to do evil to you, when your forefathers made Me wroth, says Yahweh of hosts, and I did not regret, so I reverse what I planned, in these days to do good to Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. You must not fear!
Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Still it shall be that many peoples shall come, and the dwellers of many cities. And the dwellers of five cities shall go to another city, saying, ‘We are going assuredly to beseech the face of Yahweh, and to seek Yahweh of hosts; I am going, moreover.’ And many peoples and staunch nations will come to seek Yahweh of hosts in Jerusalem, and to beseech the face of Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh of hosts: In those days ten mortals, from all the languages of the nations, will take fast hold. And they will take fast hold of the hem of a man, a Jew, saying, ‘We will go with you, for we hear that Elohim is with you.’
Zechariah 14:16-18
And it shall come to be that everyone left of all the nations coming against Jerusalem, shall also go up, a quota, year by year, to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, and to celebrate the celebration of booths. And it comes, whoever will not go up from the families of the earth, to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, then the downpour shall not come on them. And if a family of Egypt shall not go up, and shall not come, then it is not on them; to it shall come the stroke with which Yahweh will strike all the nations, which will not go up to celebrate the celebration of booths.
Micah 4:1-3
And it comes in the days hereafter, the mount of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the summit of the mountains, and it is borne by the hills, and all the peoples stream unto it. And many nations go and say: Go, and we will ascend to the mount of Yahweh, and to the house of the Elohim of Jacob, and He will direct us in His ways, and we will go in His paths. For from Zion shall fare forth the law, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem. And He judges between many peoples, and corrects staunch nations still afar, and they pound their swords into mattocks, and their spears into pruners; nation is not lifting the sword against nation, nor are they learning war any more.
We also know that, when God’s covenant people are saved and made to ”dwell securely…in their own land” (Jer. 23:5-8) and thus ”shall not be ashamed for the eon” (Joel 2:26-27), there will be people from among the nations who will be enjoying an allotment in the kingdom alongside them. For example, in Amos 9:11-15 we read the following:
“In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares Yahweh who does this.
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says Yahweh your God.
It’s worth noting that James appeals to this prophecy in Acts 15:13-18 in defense of the fact that it was always in accord with God’s prophesied plan that people from among the nations would be saved and enjoy a share in Israel’s expectation while remaining Gentiles.[1] But what needs to be emphasized is that, in these prophetic passages, we find a clear distinction made between the nations and Yahweh’s covenant people, Israel (“my people Israel”). In addition to making this distinction, Amos also affirms the fact that Israel will be specially favored by God during the future time of which he’s prophesying.
That there will be people from among the nations who will be dwelling within the land of Israel during the eon to come is also evident from what we read in Ezekiel 47:21-23:
And you have divided this land to you, according to the tribes of Israel; and it has come to pass, you separate it for an inheritance to yourselves, and to the sojourners who are sojourning in your midst, who have begotten sons in your midst, and they have been to you as native, with the sons of Israel, with you they are separated for an inheritance in the midst of the tribes of Israel. And it has come to pass, in the tribe with which the sojourner sojourns, there you give his inheritance--an affirmation of the Lord Yahweh.
Here we find a distinction being made between “the twelve tribes of Israel” and “the sojourners” who will be sojourning in their midst. Despite the great privileges that these sojourners from among the nations will undoubtedly be enjoying during this time (for they will have their own “inheritance” within the land), they will nonetheless have a different status than that of the twelve-tribed people of Israel among whom they’ll be dwelling (and according to whom the land in which they’ll be dwelling is going to be divided).
In Isaiah 14:1-2 we read the following concerning the status of these sojourning Gentiles who will be dwelling among the twelve tribes during the eon to come:
For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and He chooses still in Israel, and He leaves them on their own ground. And the sojourners are obligated to them, and they are adherents to the house of Jacob. And many peoples take them, and they bring them to their ground and to their place. And the house of Israel allots them on the ground of Yahweh for servants and for maids. And they come to be captors of their captors, and they sway over their exactors.
We also read in Isaiah 61:5, “And aliens will stand and graze your flocks, and sons of foreigners will be your farmers and your vineyardists.”
We thus see that, even in those prophetic passages where it's clear that people from among the nations will be enjoying an allotment in the land of Israel after the kingdom has been restored to Israel, God’s covenant people will retain their ethnic and covenantal identity during this time. Whether living within or outside of the land of Israel during the eon to come, the nations will remain distinct from the twelve tribes of Israel.
The testimony of the Greek Scriptures
With regard to how God sees and relates to the saints who constitute the body of Christ, Paul tells us that “there is no Greek or Jew, Circumcision and Uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but all and in all is Christ” (Col. 3:11; cf. Gal. 3:27-28). In other words, God has never made, and never will make, any distinctions between members of the body of Christ that are based on ethnicity or covenant status. Keeping this fact in mind, let’s consider what John wrote in Revelation 7:2-8 concerning a certain company of saints who will be supernaturally protected during the period of divine indignation with which this present wicked eon will end (i.e., the “day of the Lord”):
And I perceived another messenger ascending from the orient, having the seal of the living God. And he cries with a loud voice to the four messengers to whom it was given for them to injure the land and the sea, saying, “You shall not be injuring the land, nor yet the sea, nor yet the trees, until we should be sealing the slaves of our God on their foreheads.” And I hear the number of those sealed: a hundred forty-four thousand. Sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel are: out of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand are sealed; out of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Zebulon twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand are sealed.
Later, these 144,000 saints “out of every tribe of the sons of Israel” are seen “standing on mount Zion” with Jesus Christ (represented as a “Lambkin”), and are referred to as having been “bought from mankind, a firstfruit to God and the Lambkin” (Rev. 14:1, 4). In light of what we’re told about these 144,000 saints, we have no good reason to believe that they comprise or belong to a company of saints in which ethnic distinctions don’t matter (and concerning which one could say, “there is no Greek or Jew, Circumcision and Uncircumcision…”). This company of saints is not just “largely” Jewish in composition; it’s exclusively Jewish. One can’t belong to this company of saints without being Jewish. And this means that the special redemptive favor that this company of saints will be shown by God at this time will be based, at least in part, on their ethnicity and covenant status. Evidently, then, one’s ethnicity and covenantal status will matter at the time when these saints will be supernaturally sealed and “bought from mankind, a firstfruit to God and the Lambkin.” It’s also worth pointing out that those who will belong to this exclusively Jewish company of saints will likely far outnumber the total number of saints who, in Paul’s day, were members of the body of Christ and comprised what he referred to in Rom. 16:4 as ”all the ecclesias of the nations.”
In accord with the fact that God will be making a distinction between Israelites and people of the nations during the future time period prophesied in Revelation, we read that, after Christ has returned to earth, he “shall reign over the house of Jacob for the eons” (Luke 1:33). The “house of Jacob” refers to the people descended from Jacob – i.e., the twelve tribes of Israel. We also read the following in Matthew 19:27-28:
Jesus said to them, “Verily, I am saying to you, that you who follow Me, in the renascence whenever the Son of Mankind should be seated on the throne of His glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
We read of this same promise in Luke 22:28-30:
“Now you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I am covenanting a covenant with you, according as My Father covenanted a kingdom to Me, that you may be eating and drinking at My table in My kingdom. And you will be seated on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
The very fact that the house of Jacob/twelve tribes of Israel are singled out in these verses proves that Christ and his apostles will be making a distinction between Israel and the nations during this time. But what will the status of the nations be while Christ is reigning over the house of Jacob and the twelve apostles are judging the twelve tribes of Israel? In Revelation 2:26-27 we read that Christ declared the following to the saints who will belong to the ecclesia in Thyatira:
“And to the one who is conquering and keeping My acts until the consummation, to him will I be giving authority over the nations; and he shall be shepherding them with an iron club, as vessels of pottery are being crushed, as I also have obtained from My Father.”
The implication of Christ’s promise to the saints who are conquering and keeping his acts until the consummation is that the saints to whom this promise is given will be Jewish, and thus belong to the nation that has been chosen by God to have supremacy over all other nations during the eons to come. The Jewish identity of those who will comprise the seven ecclesias is also implied by the fact that those of Smyrna and Philadelphia will be opposed by “those saying that they themselves are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2:9; 3:9). Moreover, the fact that John was among the apostles who were to be “for the Circumcision” (Gal. 2:6-10) – and thus wrote to saints who belonged to Jewish ecclesias (as opposed to those who comprised “all the ecclesias of the nations” referred to by Paul in Rom. 16:4) – provides us with good reason to believe that the seven ecclesias to whom John was commanded to write (Rev. 1:4, 11) will also be Jewish. [2]
The words of Christ in Matthew 25:31-46 provide us with further evidence that, after Christ has returned and restored the kingdom to Israel, the nations will be both distinguished from Israel and blessed through (and by virtue of) Israel. Those who will comprise “all the nations” referred to in Matt. 25:32 will belong to the same general category of people who are referred to as the “nations” in chapter 24 (e.g., v. 9, 14). It is these individuals who will be separated by Christ when, after taking his seat on “the throne of his glory” (cf. Matt. 19:28), he begins judging the inhabitants of the earth. Since those referred to as “all the nations” in Matt. 25:32 will be further divided up into righteous and unrighteous (with the former receiving an allotment in the kingdom of God and the latter having to endure “chastening eonian”), it follows that Christ’s “brethren” – who are distinguished from “all the nations” – will be comprised of those Jewish believers who will be “hated by all of the nations” during the time of “great affliction,” and who will be heralding the “evangel of the kingdom in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations” before the consummation of the eon arrives (v. 14).
Moreover, it’s significant that, in verses 34 and 41, the righteous among the nations (the “sheep”) are referred to as “blessed,” while the unrighteous among the nations (the “goats” or “kids”) are referred to as “cursed”:
“Then shall the King be declaring to those at His right, ‘Hither, blessed of My Father! Enjoy the allotment of the kingdom made ready for you from the disruption of the world.’”
”Then shall He be declaring to those also at His left, ‘Go from Me, you cursed, into the fire eonian, made ready for the Adversary and his messengers.’”
For the Jewish readers of Matthew’s account, the use of the terms “blessed” and “cursed” in these verses would’ve likely brought to mind the covenant that God made with Abraham, as recorded in Genesis 12:1-3:
“Yahweh said to Abram: Go by yourself from your land, from your kindred and from your father’s house to the land that I shall show you. I shall make you into a great nation, and I shall bless you; I shall indeed make your name great, and you will indeed be a blessing; I shall indeed bless those blessing you, and I shall curse the one maledicting you.”
Based on the prophecy found in Num. 24:2-9, we can conclude that the divine promise to bless those blessing Abraham and to curse the one maledicting him refers not to Abraham alone but also to the nation that Yahweh promised to make Abraham into (in accord with Gen. 12:2). In light of what we read in these passages, it would be reasonable to conclude that the nations who will be present at the future judgment described in Matthew 25 are going to be blessed and cursed in accord with the terms of God’s covenant with Abraham.
Those among the nations who, during the time of Israel’s great affliction, curse or “maledict” Christ’s brethren (through their lack of care and concern for them during their time of affliction) will be cursed.[3] In contrast, those among the nations who bless Christ’s brethren during this time (by providing then with food, drink and shelter, and visiting them while they were sick or in prison) are said to be “righteous” or “just,” and are rewarded for their kind actions. Notice that there is no indication that the righteousness of the “sheep” is based on anything other than how they treated Christ’s brethren; at this future time, a Gentile’s compassionate treatment of those among God’s covenant people (who will have become the targets of severe persecution at this time) will merit great reward after Christ returns.[4]
The nations on the new earth
As demonstrated above, we know that God is going to continue to make a distinction between Israel and the nations on the earth during the coming eon (Ezek. 28:25; 37:21-28; Joel 2:15-19, 23-27; 3:1-2; etc.). It’s further evident that, during this future time, Israel will have a preeminent, favored status on the earth and be especially blessed by God, while the nations will be subordinate to Israel and receive their blessings through the mediation of Israel (Isaiah 14:1-2; 45:14-17; 49:22-23; 60:1-16; 61:5; Jeremiah 33:7-9; Zechariah 8:14-15, 20-23; 14:16-18; Micah 4:1-3; Amos 9:11-15). But will this distinction (and inequality) between Israel and the nations continue on the new earth as well? Yes.
In Rev. 21:10-14 we read the following:
And he carries me away, in spirit, on a mountain, huge and high, and shows me the holy city, Jerusalem, as it is descending out of heaven from God, having the glory from God. Her luminosity is like a stone most precious, as a crystalline jasper gem, having a wall, huge and high, having twelve portals, and at the portals twelve messengers, and their names inscribed, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. From the east are three portals, and from the north three portals, and from the south three portals, and from the west three portals. And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lambkin.
The very fact that “the holy city” referred to in this passage is named “Jerusalem” is significant. Ever since the city of Jerusalem was conquered by David and made the capital of the Jewish kingdom in 1000 BC, the name “Jerusalem” has been inseparably connected with the people of Israel and their prophesied destiny. Notice, also, that the portals of the wall surrounding new Jerusalem will have inscribed on them “the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel” (this will also be the case with the gates of Israel’s capital city during the next eon as well, as Ezekiel 48:30-35 makes clear). This is not an insignificant detail; as is the case with the name of the city itself, the names that are inscribed on the twelve portals of the wall of the city tell us who the city was designed for, and who will be residing within it.
We further read that the wall of new Jerusalem has twelve foundations, and that “the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lambkin” are on these twelve foundations. As should be evident from the fact that the “apostles of the Lamb” referred to here are twelve in number, these apostles are inseparably associated with the twelve-tribed nation to which they belong. Thus we read that the kingdom for which these apostles longed is that which Christ shall be restoring to Israel (Acts 1:3, 6), and in which they shall be “sitting on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:28-30; cf. Rev. 20:4).[1]
Lest there be any question concerning the ethnic/national identity of those for whom new Jerusalem has been built by God (and who thus will be dwelling within this city), we go on to read the following concerning "the nations" in Rev. 21:23-26:
“And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon, that they should be appearing in it, for the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lambkin. And the nations shall be walking by means of its light, and the kings of the earth are carrying their glory into it. And its portals should under no circumstances be locked by day; for there shall be no night there. And they shall be carrying the glory and the honor of the nations into it, and under no circumstances may anything contaminating, or one who is making an abomination and a lie be entering into it, except those written in the Lambkin’s scroll of life.”
As is the case throughout the rest of Scripture (including the rest of Revelation), the people referred to as “the nations” in this passage should be understood as those among mankind who do not belong to the twelve-tribed people of Israel. That is, those who constitute “the nations” in view here are Gentiles. And according to what we read above, the nations on the new earth will be paying tribute to those within the city (as is indicated by the words, “and [the kings of the earth] shall be carrying the glory and the honor of the nations into it”).
Moreover, the fact that the “glory and honor of the nations” is something that “the kings of the earth” will be bringing “into” new Jerusalem indicates that what was previously said concerning the nations (i.e., that “the nations shall be walking by means of its light”) refers to the nations’ activity and experience outside of the holy city (for it is while the nations are “walking by means of its light” that the kings of the earth will be “carrying their glory into it”). This implies that the nations on the new earth will be living outside of the city. This is in accord with what will be the case during the next future eon as well (for example, in Rev. 20:7-9 we find that the nations will be living outside of “the beloved city” – i.e., Jerusalem – during the future thousand years).
Finally, in Rev. 22:5, we’re told that the saints – i.e., those who will be dwelling within new Jerusalem – shall be reigning “for the eons of the eons.” The first of these future eons will commence when Christ returns to earth at the end of this present eon, and – after the events referred to in Rev. 20:4-10 have transpired – will be succeeded by yet another eon. But over whom will the saints be reigning during these future eons? Answer: Based on what we read in Rev. 2:26-27, it’s evident that, during the first of the future eons, the saints will be reigning over the nations. And since the reign of the saints on the new earth will simply be a continuation of the reign that will begin in the next eon (and since the only other people who will be living on the new earth will be those referred to as “the nations”), we can conclude that the nations are the people over whom the saints of new Jerusalem will be reigning during the last eon.
The fact that those within new Jerusalem will be reigning over the nations accounts for why there will be a wall around the city. We know that the purpose of the wall won’t be for protection, for there will be no enemies on the new earth to threaten the inhabitants of the city (thus, we read in v. 25 that the portals of the city will never be closed). Rather than being for protection, the wall will be a boundary marker that will serve as a visible, tangible reminder of the sovereign status of the city, and its dominion over those who will be living outside of the city.
Conclusion
At the beginning of this study I provided the following summary of the position I said I was going to defend: On the earth during the eons to come, God will continue to make a distinction between his covenant people, Israel (who will continue to exist as a twelve-tribed, set-apart people whose identity is based on their particular ethnicity/lineage and covenantal relationship with God), and the nations. During this future time, Israel will have a preeminent, favored status and will be especially blessed by God, while the nations/gentiles will (1) be subordinate to Israel and (2) receive their blessings through the mediation of Israel.
I feel that this study has shown that the position summarized above is, in fact, valid and scripturally sound. In light of what is revealed in the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures regarding the status and divine treatment of Israel and the nations on earth during the eons to come, we can conclude that Israel and the nations are not only going to be kept distinct and treated differently by God, but that Israel is going to be more favored and blessed by God than the nations during this time. But what implications does this have with regard to where the eonian allotment of those who comprise the body of Christ is going to be?
Well, as noted earlier, we know that God has never made, and never will make, any distinctions between members of the body of Christ that are based on ethnicity or covenant status. With regard to how God sees and relates to those who constitute this company of saints, “there is no Greek or Jew, Circumcision and Uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but all and in all is Christ” (Col. 3:11; cf. Gal. 3:27-28). And during the oncoming eons, God is going to be “displaying the transcendent riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7). Since, during the eons to come, the body of Christ will not be identical with either Israel or the nations on the earth – and since the status and divine treatment of those who constitute the body of Christ will, during this time, be radically different from the status and divine treatment of the nations who will be dwelling on the earth during this time – we can conclude that the eonian allotment of those who comprise the body of Christ will not be on the earth.
[1]
The ability for God-fearing,
righteous-acting Gentiles like Cornelius to enter the kingdom that’s going to
be restored to Israel without being circumcised and keeping the law of Moses
(i.e., becoming proselytes) in no way made it irrelevant to actually be a
member of the covenant people to whom the kingdom is going to be restored. In
addition to the fact that Israelites will have an elevated status in the
kingdom of God on earth (which will give them privileges that even saved
Gentiles won’t have), it’s also the case that Cornelius’ eonian salvation is
entirely dependent on the past and future existence of God’s covenant people.
If God’s people, Israel, permanently lost their identity as an ethnically
distinct people in covenant with God, Cornelius and his household would not be
able to share in Israel’s eonian expectation. For it would, of course, be
impossible for any Gentiles to share in the expectation of (and receive any
blessings through) a people who no longer exist, and whose prophesied
expectation is no more.
[2]
We also know that the exhortations and promises made to the
saints of these ecclesias – such as, for example, the promise that “the one who is
conquering may under no circumstances be injured by the second death” (Rev. 2:11) – are
not applicable to members of the body of Christ (for, in contrast with those
whom Christ said must endure until the consummation to be saved [Matt. 24:13],
our status is such that a failure to “conquer” and “endure” could never expose
us to the fearful fate of being “injured by the second death”).
[3] It should be noted that the Hebrew word translated “maledicting” in Gen. 12:3 means to speak or think of someone with contempt, as if they were of little or no significance or account. In some places, the Concordant Literal Old Testament translates the same word as, “to be lightly esteemed” (see, for example, Isaiah 65:20). Although the actions of the “goats” that will bring a “curse” upon them seem to be passive in nature (vv. 42-44), their failure to help Christ’s brethren during the time of their affliction will, evidently, manifest an inward attitude of contempt or indifference toward them.
[4] In his commentary on this passage, A.E. Knoch remarks as follows:
“When God is judging the earth no greater act of righteousness
can be done than to feed and shelter His oppressed people. Each faithful
Israelite stands in the place of Christ toward the nations. Those who help them
do so at the greatest risk, for they may be called to account by the powers
that oppose them” (Concordant Commentary
on the New Testament, page 49).
