Short answer: The Covenant Message is the Bible teaching that God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did not end with ancient Israel. They were carried forward through the scattering and migration of the Israel peoples, and they still shape the Covenant Nations today. Many know it by its older names, British-Israel or Anglo-Israel.
Why do people ask this?
Most of us were taught that “Israel” means the Jewish people and that the promises now belong to the Church in a purely spiritual sense. The Covenant Message asks whether Scripture itself says that. It starts from what the Bible actually promised, then asks where those promises went.
What does Scripture say?
God said to Abraham: “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2). He confirmed it as “an everlasting covenant” (Genesis 17:7). To Jacob He said: “A nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins” (Genesis 35:11). The Covenant Message takes those words as written: a nation, then a company of nations, with kings, over generations.
What is it not?
The British-Israel-World Federation Australia puts it this way: “This message is not about race or superiority. It is about purpose, responsibility and calling.” The same page affirms “the continuing relevance of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (britishisrael.org.au). A people given a blessing is given it to bless others: “in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).
Where does the teaching come from?
The Scripture is old. Supporters also point to earlier witnesses, such as the Scottish Declaration of Arbroath, which spoke of the nation’s origins in the chronicles of the ancients. The British-Israel-World Federation UK records that the teaching “began to take hold” from about 1840, in the Victorian period, when writers like John Wilson and Edward Hine brought it forward, and that the Federation itself was founded in 1919 (britishisrael.co.uk/history). Hine’s short book on the early history of the teaching is a good place to see how and why it first took root.
Others describe why they hold it. Lindsay Mills of the Association of the Covenant People writes: “We are not meant to be a superior master race, but a servant, and an example to the world.”
What comes next?
Over the coming weeks we will take the common questions one at a time: the birthright, the lost tribes, the throne, the early Church, prophecy and the usual objections. Read Scripture first, then weigh the evidence.
Where to read more
- Book: The Early History of Israel Identity (Edward Hine)
- Association of the Covenant People, British Israel Truth and Origins of Anglo-Israelism
- BIWF Australia: what we believe
- BIWF UK: our history
Free resources: Study packs and sermon outlines are free on the Covenant Message resources page.
