The Hidden Birthright Nations of Israel

The Bible is rich in prophecies about the future of Israel—a nation God chose to serve Him. Its history began with the patriarch Abraham, to whom God promised a magnificent blessing because of his willing obedience. The blessing was passed on through Abraham’s son Isaac to Isaac’s son Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel.

Jacob had twelve sons, and their descendants multiplied to become a nation comprising twelve tribes. God called this nation to be an example and was very much involved in its history. After He miraculously saved these people from slavery in Egypt, He gave them a mission: “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).

The Israelites were instructed in what God required of them, and they were to live in obedience to God. Because of the blessings that would ensue if they remained obedient, all other nations would also seek to honor God. “Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people’” (Deuteronomy 4:5–6).

God’s astounding interventions not only delivered Israel from Egypt but also brought the Israelites to a promised homeland. Yet Israel continually resisted God and the prophets He sent as the centuries passed. Under David and Solomon, Israel became the greatest nation on earth, only to deteriorate as it continually rebelled after Solomon’s death.

At Solomon’s death, a civil war split Israel into two nations. Ten of the tribes rejected the dynastic king and chose another king, retaining the name of Israel. The remaining two tribes formed the southern nation of Judah and became known as the Jews. Eventually, each of these nations, Israel and Judah, went into captivity because of continual disobedience to God.

The identity of the peoples of Israel has been obscured through time. The nation of Judah went through many trials, but we know who its people are in modern times, and a portion have returned to establish the state we call Israel today. The Jews, however, are only a small fraction of all the Israelites.

Four Prophetic Promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Where are the other descendants of Israel? God has a lot to say about them at the time of the end of this age. His promises to the patriarchs were astounding—yet they were not all fulfilled by the Jewish people. For that reason, many people today assume that these promises have failed or been given to others. Let us examine some promises that were to be fulfilled specifically for Israel, so we can understand where to find its peoples today.

1. Father of Many Nations—and Kings

God promised Abraham, “I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered” (Genesis 13:16). This has never been fulfilled by the nation of the Jews alone. Consider, however, that though all Jews are Israelites, not all Israelites are Jews.

Abraham’s descendants were prophesied to be exceedingly numerous. “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you” (Genesis 17:5–6). Certainly, the Jews have never comprised “many” nations—though, as we will see, they were to generate a line of kings. However, from Israel were to come many significant and influential nations.

While the descendants of Abraham’s son Ishmael are somewhat populous and have or have had kings, the Bible specifically states that the inheritance would descend through Isaac: “Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her’” (Genesis 17:15–16).

2. Possess Control of Enemy Gates

There are two very revealing truths found in Genesis 22:15–17: “Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: ‘By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.’”

A “gate” can refer to a global “choke point”—such as Gibraltar, Suez, the Straits of Malacca, and many others. Naval control over such passages, by use of a large and capable navy, afforded the means of building and sustaining the British Empire.

Yet this phrase had an even more immediate meaning in the days of Abraham, referring to a place of administrative authority. The Bible often states that agreements and administrative decisions were made in “the city gates.” For example, the agreement that enabled Boaz to marry Ruth was made in the city gate (Ruth 4:1–10). Mordecai is said in the book of Esther to “sit in the king’s gate,” meaning that he held a senior post in the government (Esther 2:19, 21; 5:9).

Thus this promise had very profound meaning, foretelling that the birthright granted to Abraham’s descendants, due to his obedience to God, would put them in a position of power and international administrative control.

Later, this same promise was repeated to Rebekah, the wife of Abraham’s son Isaac. “And they blessed Rebekah and said to her: ‘Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands; and may your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them’” (Genesis 24:60). Anyone can see that the Jews have never exercised such decisive control over those who opposed them. Therefore, it must be other Israelites, not the Jews, who received this promise. Further, we see that God inspired Isaac to pass along to Jacob his promised birthright and blessing (Genesis 28:1–4).

3. A Great Nation and Company of Nations

God gave Abraham’s grandson Jacob, when he first left his father’s home, a dream containing a prophecy: “Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 28:14). Jacob’s descendants were prophesied to be a great colonizing people, occupying many different places.

A bit later, God told Jacob, whose name had by then changed to Israel, that his family would become a company of nations. “Also God said to him: ‘I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body’” (Genesis 35:11). This prophecy sheds more light on who the modern descendants of Israel are today—at no time did Judah and the Jews become a company of nations, which the modern descendants of Israel must include.

God then singled out the tribe of Joseph for special attention. Joseph especially would be a great colonizing power, also prophesied to be mighty in war. We find that the rise of Israel—the tribe of Joseph in particular—would reach its fullness near the end of the age, in the “last days” before the return of Christ to the earth. “And Jacob called his sons and said, ‘Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days…. Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; his branches run over the wall. The archers have bitterly grieved him, shot at him and hated him. But his bow remained in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel)’” (Genesis 49:1, 22–24).

Many nations would become jealous of Jacob’s descendants. For centuries, people have specifically attacked nations issuing from Joseph or plotted against them. God, coming to their aid, has delivered them time and time again. Which nations have experienced this?

4. Joseph’s Birthright and Judah’s Kings

“Therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you” (Genesis 27:28–29).

Here was a promise of great wealth and rich land. Peoples would serve the descendants of Jacob. This blessing was passed to Jacob’s son Joseph. Even Joseph’s brothers would be subservient to him (Genesis 37:5–10; 42:6). Has this been fulfilled through the Jewish people?

Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and to them were promised the great birthright blessing—the choicest blessing ever given to any people. Yet the kingship would belong to Judah: “Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel—he was indeed the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel, so that the genealogy is not listed according to the birthright; yet Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came a ruler, although the birthright was Joseph’s” (1 Chronicles 5:1–2).

Notice that the birthright was to be shared by the brothers Ephraim and Manasseh. Yet, when Israel blessed Joseph’s two sons, something surprising occurred. The custom was that, when passing on a blessing, one would place his right hand on the head of the older son, the recipient of greater blessing. Yet God inspired Israel to place his right hand on the head of the younger son, Ephraim. “And Joseph said to his father, ‘Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.’ But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations’” (Genesis 48:18–19).

Manasseh was to be a great nation, but Ephraim would become a multitude of nations. This prophecy has never been fulfilled by the Jews. Rather, while the great birthright blessings were thus given to Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh, the kingship would belong to Judah, who “prevailed over his brothers, and from him came a ruler, although the birthright was Joseph’s” (1 Chronicles 5:2).

Judah and the Jews were prophesied to produce the kingly line in Israel. “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Genesis 49:10). The phrase “until Shiloh comes” indicates that this kingly line would be extant on the earth right up to Jesus Christ’s return.

Identifying the Lost Tribes of Israel Today

Putting these predictions together, which family of peoples fits the biblical promises made about the Israelite birthright-holders at the end of the age? The only peoples on earth matching the description of these biblical predictions are those of the British Isles, including their descendants—the peoples of Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. They have been a great colonizing power whose arms were strengthened and delivered in war; who have possessed vast wealth in natural resources, food production, and a large population; and who have controlled much of the wealth of the world for centuries—this describes no other people in human history.

The migration of that same people out of the Middle East and across northern Europe—and some over North Africa and through Spain en route to France and the British Isles—is well-documented historically. Though modern Israel has largely forgotten its past, hints can be found hidden in history and traditions.

The Scots’ own history actually reveals their relation to Israel. In the declaration of Arbroath, signed on April 6, 1320, King Robert Bruce and the Scottish barons wrote a letter to Pope John XXII, asserting their right to independence, and they included a clause stating that the Scottish nation “journeyed from Greater Scythia by way of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain among the most savage peoples, but nowhere could it be subdued by any people, however barbarous. Thence it came, twelve hundred years after the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, to its home in the west where it still lives today” (National Records of Scotland).

Scythia is known to historians as the area above and between the Black and Caspian Seas, to which the surviving Israelites were taken by the Assyrians after they were conquered in 721 BC. Some of these survivors, now known as the Scots, then migrated through Spain and came to Scotland around 250 BC, according to Bruce’s declaration.

British Monarchy Linked to Israelite Kings

As millions saw during the coronation of King Charles III in 2023, when British monarchs are crowned they hear some of the same words used for David and Solomon, are anointed with oil, and are seated in a 700-year-old wooden chair designed to hold a gnarled rock. The significance of that rock links the British monarchy directly to the line of David. Our booklet The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy describes this in much more detail, along with many specific prophecies that support this case. History aside, the words of Bible prophecy alone are sufficient to make a positive end-time identification of the American and British-descended peoples as modern-day Israel.

Yet, despite God’s great effort to ensure that the people of Israel were given His law and way of life, and despite His bringing them out of many troubles, in every age they have rejected Him. Because of this, they have lost their identity, preferring corruptions of His true religion. Yet, even now, God wants them to repent and to heed the words of the prophets He sent. The alternative is not something any people would desire.

Bible Prophecy Warns Us to Repent

God anciently gave Israel watchmen, prophets, and teachers. Israel rejected these messengers, but their ancient warnings still apply. Consider Ezekiel’s prophecy of a watchman’s message:

So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. When I say to the wicked, “O wicked man, you shall surely die!” and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: “Thus you say, ‘If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?’” Say to them: “‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezekiel 33:7–11).

Israel, at the end of this age, thinks the wealth it has is the result of its own hand and ignores the God who provided it: “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish” (Deuteronomy 8:18–19).

The American and British-descended peoples will be destroyed if they do not undergo a sincere change of heart. Some will fall under the sway of the prophesied Antichrist and be deceived by his teachings—if they neglect the test in the Bible that allows all people to determine whether a religious figure is teaching according to God’s will: “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).

Yes, God’s law is in force today, just as it will be when Jesus Christ returns to correct our planet’s many problems and to rid the world of its archenemy—Satan, the devil. Christ will establish a government in which the law of God will be fully implemented, and the peace, joy, and prosperity that will result is described in many biblical passages. Israel will be restored, and it will finally become the example to the world that it has failed to become thus far.

For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken (Micah 4:2–4).

Christ will return and usher in a world of peace, prosperity, and righteous law. But what of the time until then? If there is not a widespread turning to the God of the Bible, the nations of Israel will suffer major and destructive famine, economic collapse, a third of its population killed in war, and a third taken into a brutal slavery (Ezekiel 5:12). This is a sure prophecy if repentance does not occur, and it is likely to be fulfilled in the lifetime of many alive today.

Heed the Warning: Seek God to Find Hope

Even if your nation does not repent, God still offers hope for those who are willing to seek Him and change their lives. Zephaniah, direct descendant of the righteous Jewish King Hezekiah, was inspired to write the following: “Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger” (Zephaniah 2:3).

A person who seeks to faithfully obey God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ will be eligible for protection. God will protect many obedient people from the horrors that are to come. And throughout the generations, some of God’s faithful people have been martyred for His truth—yet He has not neglected them. Rather, He has assured them of the greater promise of eternal life in His kingdom.

Regardless of the trials or blessings that await us, we should not place physical protection above our duty to be faithful to our God under any condition. God’s ultimate goal for Israel—and all humanity—is birth into the Kingdom of God. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). If Israel through the ages had been motivated by that same truth, how much greater and more joyous their lands would have been—and indeed, all the world.

The future of the birthright nations of Israel is in their own hands, but your future is in yours—and we as individuals can each decide to heed the warnings presented to the people of Israel living in the last days, placing ourselves under the protection of God Almighty. Will you?