Jesus focuses His teaching on the new Israel under the New Covenant rather than on old physical Israel. In Matthew, the genealogy connects Him to Abraham and David as Messiah and King, yet the birth account refers only to saving His people from their sins, a term that in the New Testament identifies the elect and called of God. Paul reinforces this identification in Galatians 6:16 by pronouncing peace and mercy on those who walk according to the gospel rule and on the Israel of God, making the two expressions parallel descriptions of the same converted group. Under the New Covenant the church is placed between God and physical Israel in the order of divine purpose. The apostles, as representatives of the church, are appointed to sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, showing that the elect now stand in closer relationship to God than the physical nation. The Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers presents the same transfer: the vineyard, symbolizing the nation, is taken from unfaithful leaders and given to other vinedressers who will render its fruits, explicitly described as a nation producing the kingdom's fruit. God therefore shifts from dealing with an entire nation through birth and covenant to selecting individual persons by grace. These chosen ones, called the Israel of God, the elect, the saints, and the Lamb's wife, receive the Spirit, enter a personal relationship with Him, and are prepared to rule. Physical Israel remains the initial field for the gospel under the New Covenant, yet the spiritual entity formed from those who believe and obey now constitutes the true Israel with which God identifies Himself.

Spiritual Israel, identified as the Israel of God, consists of those who walk according to the rule of Christ by placing complete trust in Him, submitting to His standards, and living according to His commandments and instructions. This group forms the elect of the church, the saints who follow His rule and thereby become true prevailers with God like Jacob. God has pivoted His focus from physical Israel to spiritual Israel because physical Israel failed to cooperate with Him under the Old Covenant and received no access to the Holy Spirit. As a result, physical Israel has been set aside for a future work while God now works through the New Covenant with spiritual Israel, granting better promises, better access, and a better High Priest. The development of spiritual Israel begins with justification by faith, which produces peace with God through Jesus Christ and reconciliation that allows personal fellowship. From this position of divine mercy and peace, spiritual Israel faces tribulation that builds perseverance, character, and hope that does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out by the Holy Spirit. Members must therefore set their minds on things above, seek those things which are above, and adjust their priorities Godward. They put to death earthly members such as fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, then put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and lying while putting on the new man renewed in knowledge according to the image of the Creator. This process of sanctification purifies and matures the spiritual Israelite into the image of Christ through cooperation with God, obedience, and the use of His Spirit. Unlike physical Israel, which remained fixated on earthly concerns and failed to respond, spiritual Israel engages the present work of overcoming sin and bearing fruit so that imputed righteousness becomes experiential. The outcome leads to glorification at the first resurrection and positions in the Kingdom, where spiritual Israel fulfills the responsibilities of the called in this age by remaining in lockstep with God's forward movement toward His Kingdom.

Jesus Christ taught that physical Israel and the Old Covenant had proved inadequate for reproducing spiritual children, so His instruction looked forward to a new Israel, a spiritual Israel, together with a New Covenant that would govern the terms of relationship with God. New Testament teaching therefore emphasizes the Israel of God rather than physical Israel. This Israel of God consists of those whom God has called and elected to receive His Spirit and who live according to that way of life and law. Divine spiritual election supersedes physical descent, creating an Israel within Israel so that not all Israel is of Israel. By this election God separated a chosen spiritual remnant from physical Israel and formed it into the church, the spiritual Israel. God works with this remnant by grace rather than works to build a Family of spiritual children. Members of the church receive justification solely by the gift of God through faith, in contrast to the approach taken by physical Israel. The true Israel comprises the children of the promise, those called in Isaac, the seed of Abraham, the elect whom God has chosen as His sons and daughters. God will save all whom He has so chosen, and they will follow the same process of belief, growth in grace and character, overcoming, and endurance that defines the life of the elect in every age.