Jesus has initiated a rescue of the scattered lost tribes of Israel from all across the earth and recalled them to God's Jerusalem in heaven -- just as scripture promised He would. Christians must see themselves in the context of this return; not as sole heirs like the Jews do, but as a family of heirs -- a family with a great many brothers and sisters all committed to the same master. As far as the Jews are concerned all these other vanished Israelites have been lost and forsaken forever. But the Bible tells a different story: "God is going to abandon them till the time when she who is to give birth, gives birth. Then the remnant of his brothers will come back to the sons of Israel". (Micah 5:2-3).

The reason why so many Christians do not see themselves in the context of these mysterious charter members of the original House of Israel is that most do not realize that most of God's Hebrews were not Jewish -- only 1/12th of Israel's people were of Jewish descent. Just after the death of Solomon, a political schism occured, dividing Israel into two 'houses' -- one house, the north, included the ten northern tribes and the House of the south, only Judah and Benjamine. The 'House' that disappeared into the pagan North was immense -- it started out at least 10 times larger than the tribe of Judah.

Anyone who has ever worked with genealogies knows that when they track an ancestor who lived even just 300 years ago, they discover a network of descendants from that single source large enough to fill the pages of a telephone book. By the same token, the genetic descendants of those 11 tribes, ten of which disappeared 2700 years ago, and which numbered at least a million people then, have to be infinitely vast at this point.
The ingathering is not genetically based, but the template of the scattering is genetic, and it points overwhelmingly to a massive hidden community scattered across every part of the earth. It is in this immense gene pool that now touches almost every living person on the planet, that the spiritual House of Israel has its roots. We have already examined the Jewish claim that all of God's promises were for their tribe alone. Their genetic lobbying with respect to this claim has been so intense (and supported by so many) that most Christians today tend to view themselves as a kind of '13 th tribe' of Israel, bound to the Jews as an 'adopted' son of Abraham -- a sort of second class citizen of God on earth.

But as the prophets have shown, this is not true. Nor was it ever. Genetics plays no part in the determination of God's people. Not even with the Jews. (Mat.15:12-14). It is true that pagans were given a way to become a part of the House of Israel through a Jewish graft, but that was so that God could bypass the gene pool and open up His offer of salvation to the entire human race. For those who still believe in the genetics of God, the ten missing tribes form a key element of the prophecy. One they cannot discount.Scripture dictated the terms which Jesus had to follow in order for His appearance to be legal according to Hebrew Law. In the same way, the prophets dictated a return based on the framework of the lost tribes. And the return has followed that format -- though it has occured spiritually, not physically.

So what seems at first glance to be a group of genetic outsiders (i.e., gentiles and pagans) rising up to administer the highest offices in God's new covenant , turns out on closer inspection to be otherwise. A great many of these Christians are actually missing members of the original House of Israel in disguise -- a disguise so perfect they are unknown to anyone except to God. The only proof of their camouflage, the fruits that emanate from their new lives in Christ. No one knows which new Christian began from truly pagan roots or which began a hidden member of one of the missing tribes of Israel. Perhaps no one will ever know. All have been combined, and both have been made equal in the eyes of God who has restructured this entire division into just two groups. Because of Jesus, the two 'Houses' of Israel in prophecy must now be seen, not as the tribes of the north and the tribes of the south, but rather in terms of Christians and Jews. The Christians form one of these two houses of Israel, and the Jews the other.

While the Christians have since divided themselves into seven churches (a metaphoric number), just how the various tribes of Israel will ultimately end up relating to one another in heaven remains one of the great mysteries of scripture. (Rv.7:4-15). That relationship can be seen in the prophecy of John.

The Book of Revelation has divided the 'saved' into two groups. (Rv.7:2-17). The first group, the "144,000" (Rv.7:4), lists the members saved from each of the twelve tribes. The second group of saved (the pagans) is so vast, that John cannot even count it. (Rv.7:9). It is important to remember that all numbers given in scripture are symbolic figures. The real numbers are always sealed in metaphore. The remnant of just one of these tribes, the Jews, for instance, lists vastly more than 12,000 people even now.
The Jewish population in the world today measures about 18 million. Nine million Jews alone were massacred by Adolph Hitler. And neither of these figures comes close to the number of Jews born since the days of Jacob. Further, no one can really say what the Jewish population will be in Israel when Jesus returns. One thing is certain though: if we were to literally count only 12,000 of them as saved, virtually none of the people listed above would be included.So we have to see these salvation figures concerning the twelve tribes of Israel as metaphoric. Vastly more than 144,000 are involved, but the true number remains a secret. The second group of 'saved' in John's revelation do not come from the twelve tribes of Israel at all. These are the pagans who converted to Jesus when they heard His word preached to them. These are the 'foreigners' who have been "grafted on".

"After that I saw a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language; they were standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands." (Rv.7:9). We are ONE  for In heaven, both of these groups will be united in the one Jesus Christ, since both have had to go through the great persecution together. (Rv.7:14-17). The relationship between the 12 tribes of Israel and the existance of so many different Christian churches is a strong message to us from God. It tells us that we need to be open-minded about those who worship Jesus differently than we do. Since God's salvation is based on a template of twelve different tribes, the existance of many different churches is a natural proof of their existance.
God has extended His offer to everyone. To tribes and pagans alike. Scripture has made it clear that not only does God intend to bring back all the lost tribes from the north, but that Gentiles, too, will be allowed to join them as equals: "I shall say to a people that was not mine, 'you are my people', and to a nation I never loved, 'I love you'. Instead of being told, 'you are no people of mine', they will now be called the sons of the living God." (Hos.2:1, Rom.9:25).

Speaking for God, the prophet Isaiah echoed Hosea's prediction: "Foreigners who have attached themselves to God to serve him and to love his name...these I will bring to my holy mountain...for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples." (Is.56:3-8). Concluded Isaiah: "I am coming to gather the nations of every language." (Is.66:18). These statements illustrate quite clearly that the salvation of God was meant, not just for the Jews and not just for the twelve tribes of the House of Israel, but for the entire world. Isaiah said that the message of the Lord would go out to all the nations, even to the distant islands across the sea, so that people who had never even heard of the God of Israel would have His love preached in their hearing. (Is.66:19).

With the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus, the world has witnessed all these prophecies come true. God had purposely scattered the House of Israel throughout the world so that His offer of reconciliation and peace could be made to all people everywhere -- not just so that the missing tribes could be saved, but so that all people on earth might be saved. The 'chosen people' are those who accept the offer -- pagan or otherwise. Every pagan who chooses to repent from sin is grafted onto the 'branch' made possible by the birth into the tribe of Judah of the Son of God.  We are all a royal priesthood, grafted by Jesus Christ.The lost tribes of Israel are indistinguishable within this Christian composition. In Christianity there are no Ephraimites, Danites, Manassites or Asherites. There are only Christians. A single tribe remains separated from this unity. And this, only so that the others could be saved. At the end, once all the other tribes and the pagans have been rescued, even that last separated tribe is destined to be combined in the oneness of Christianity, making the entire House of Israel a single people in Jesus Christ.

When that happens, both houses of Israel -- both Christians and Jews -- will be united in a bond that will last forever.

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