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The Mixed Multitude That Formed a Nation
When Israel departed from Egypt, Exodus 12 makes a critical observation: they left not as a pure-blooded ethnic group but as a “mixed multitude.”
This detail is not minor. The Holy Spirit saw fit to include it because it strikes at the heart of what defines Israel. They were not a people united by DNA, but by covenant. The group that assembled at the foot of Mount Sinai, where the religious life of Israel began with the consecration of the priests, was not defined as Hebrews. Scripture repeatedly refers to them instead as “the people.”
That mixed company—Egyptians, Ethiopians, and others—joined Israel through the shared experience of the Passover and submission to the covenant law of God. Their identity as God’s people was not based on racial descent from Abraham, but on obedience and faith. This faith, as we will see, is the key element in the concept of ‘Israel by Faith’.
One Bloodline, One Thousand Men
Consider the early history of Abraham’s household. Genesis 14 tells us that Abraham had 318 fighting men born in his house, suggesting a total household of perhaps 2,000 men, women, and children. And yet at that time, only one person—Isaac—was of Abraham’s bloodline.
By the time Jacob and his household went down to Egypt, only 70-75 were descendants of Abraham’s blood. Yet they were given the fertile land of Goshen, indicating their numbers were massive. The thousands who followed Abraham by faith, not blood, were counted as part of the covenant.
From its inception, Israel was a spiritual, not racial, entity, a unity of faith and belief that transcends bloodlines and connects us all as one spiritual family.
Foreigners by Birth, Israelites by Faith
As Israel grew and eventually left Egypt, the number of non-Hebrews who joined them continued to grow. Believing Egyptians, foreign slaves, and even intermarried families became part of the people of God.
This adoption was not haphazard. God instituted laws in Deuteronomy that regulated when and how foreigners could participate fully in covenant life. It was not about racial exclusion but about moral and spiritual preparation, a testament to the importance of our spiritual growth and maturity in our journey of faith.
Nehemiah later enforced these laws, not to promote blood purity, but to ensure the covenant community was spiritually mature and faithful to the covenant.
Covenant Rites Over Circumcision of Flesh
Old Testament Israel was bound together by two rituals: circumcision and Passover. These marked one’s inclusion in the covenant, not one’s ethnicity. And in the New Testament, these signs are replaced by baptism and communion.
What matters now, Paul writes in Romans 2:29, is not circumcision of the flesh but “of the heart.” A Jew is not one outwardly but inwardly. The essence of being a true Israelite is spiritual.
Israel’s Identity Fulfilled in Christ
The New Testament makes it unmistakably clear that Israel finds its fulfillment in Christ. Galatians calls the Church “the Israel of God.” Paul declares in Romans that Abraham is the father not only of the Jews but of all who believe. Jesus Himself declared to the Pharisees in John 8 that Abraham rejoiced to see His day. Salvation has always been through faith, and faith has always looked to Christ—even in Abraham’s day.
Revelation completes this picture. In chapter 7, we see twelve tribes mentioned again, but some familiar names are omitted. Dan and Ephraim, apostate tribes, are replaced. This tribal listing is symbolic, not genetic—it marks out the fullness of the elect. And the great multitude seen worshipping before God includes people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. This is the faithful Israel: the redeemed in Christ.
No Bloodline Can Save
Throughout history, some have attempted to preserve or prioritize Jewish racial identity. But even in ancient Israel, that identity was never purely ethnic. The Pharisees fell into error by emphasizing bloodline over faith, and many modern interpreters repeat this mistake.
There is no singular “Jewish race” today. What exists is a religion, often synonymous with humanism, as seen in modern Judaism’s philosophical kinship with secularism. Paul condemned the attempt to separate Jews and Gentiles in the gospel. Christ tore down the dividing wall.
Exodus and Revelation: A Story of Redemption
The book of Exodus parallels the New Testament. The plagues, the deliverance, the Passover, the wilderness, the sealing of the people—all find their counterpart in Revelation.
The sealing of God’s saints today is not with lamb’s blood on doorposts, but by the blood of Christ on hearts. Just as the mixed multitude left Egypt and received the law at Sinai, so the Church—comprised of every ethnicity—is called out of spiritual Egypt and sealed with the Spirit.
God’s Grace Builds a Spiritual Household
The early Israelites complained, murmured, and longed to return to Egypt. But they had faith enough to leave. Many were Egyptian or other foreigners, riffraff by cultural standards, but God included them.
The household of God was always composed of outsiders adopted in. This grace-based adoption carries over into the New Testament, where we are told in Ephesians 2 that Gentiles were once far off but are now fellow citizens in the household of God.
Jerusalem: City of All Believers
Psalm 87 names Egypt, Babylon, Tyre, and Ethiopia as the birthplaces of those who are spiritually born in Zion. This was never about bloodlines. Zion is the city of God because of the faith of its citizens, not their genealogy.
As such, the Church is the continuation of Israel, not a replacement, but the fulfillment. The names of the twelve tribes are written on the gates of the New Jerusalem, and the apostles’ names are written on the foundation. The Old and New are united in Christ.
Conclusion: Israel Always Meant People of Faith
From the call of Abraham to the multitude in Revelation, Israel has always been defined by covenant, not by ethnicity. The story of the Bible is not of a chosen race but of a chosen people—a mixed multitude—bound not by blood but by belief.
The children of Israel are those who walk in the faith of Abraham, who saw Christ’s day and rejoiced. Whether born in Goshen or Galatia, in Babylon or Brooklyn, the true Israel is composed of those who say “Amen” to the promises of God and are made righteous by faith.
We are Israel, if we are in Christ.
