Are they those who believe in Christianity or Judaism or Islam?  Are they white people from Europe or black people from Africa or the indigenous people from North and South America?

Many years ago, I read The United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy, a book by Herbert W. Armstrong that claimed that Europeans and North Americans were the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel.  Recently I watched a documentary titled From Hebrews to Negroes by Ronald Dalton Jr. that similarly argues that black Africans are the descendants of Israel.  These are two examples among many in which one of this world’s people groups claims to be the true people of God.  Among those who hold the belief that the true people of God are religiously monotheistic (belief in one God), Abraham’s descendants are considered the true people of God.  Who are they?

Does it matter?

Wars have been fought over this or similar questions.  Threats of another American Civil War loom over concerns about cultural, moral, and religious division.  Recently, entertainers and professional athletes have made statements that aroused accusations of anti-Semitism.  The debates, having political and financial ramifications, are heated and sometimes violent.  Apparently, it matters to some people.

But does being a genetic descendant of Abraham or Israel matter to God?

Usually, the Bible is cited as the authority that answers this question.  Let’s look into the Bible to see what it has to say.  The Bible consists of two parts: Old Testament and New Testament.  The Old Testament, completed around 400 BC, is replete with prophecies of a coming person who would be the Anointed One (Messiah or Christ) of God.  The New Testament, completed near the end of the first Century AD, is clear that Jesus is that Messiah or Christ, and that he alone is the absolute authority on the Bible.  Jesus Christ said to the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate, In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me (John 18:37).

In the upcoming Blogs, we will take a close look at what the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament, says about this Messiah, and we will consider Jesus, proclaimed by the New Testament to be the person who fulfilled the Old Testament prophesies about his coming.  In them we will see the clear identity of the true people of God.