Israel and the Church

Tearing down the demonic doctrine of Replacement Theology

As an introduction to this article I would encourage every Christian to carefully and thoughtfully go through this. We are living in a time where there is so much misinformation. We’ve got our “podcast heroes.” – Anyone with a microphone and a nice camera and an opinion becomes an authority because they have a large following online (youTube, Spotify etc.)

If you are not clear about the current topic. This article will help you greatly. If you believe that Israel does indeed have a divine purpose in the plan of God in these last days, then this article will greatly equip you. And if you are one of those that believe in replacement theology (that God has given Israel up and the church has replaced Israel), or anything along those lines, then this article will challenge you. I encourage you to read this article nonetheless. Regardless of your position your faith will be strengthened as a Christian by the time you finish this article. Allow the Word of God – Scripture to confront and tear down any lies that the enemy has sown regarding this matter. Everything in this article is based in the Bible and gives us the full context of God’s word concerning this matter. Always when we approach the Bible, we need to look at the entirety of God’s word concerning a matter. And I have seen that, regarding this topic, certain verses are cherry-picked and other verses are conveniently left out or reinterpreted to push a certain narrative. God’s word does not allow for private interpretation and praise God for that. You may think the subtitle is quite inflammatory by calling replacement theology a demonic doctrine but by the end of this article you will see why that teaching flies in the face of and opposes God’s view, his thought, and his heart toward Israel – the Jews.

Why Israel, and why the Jews?

If Israel is such a detested nation in the world—and it is—why does it still exist?

It should have remained dead and buried in the ashes of history—exactly where the current ruler of this world has tried so hard to keep it. But then came 1948: a nation reborn, a people regathered, a land repopulated after 2,000 years of dispersion. How does one account for that?

Up until the 19th century, Jews had largely fled Western Europe due to centuries of persecution and settled in what were then more hospitable nations in Eastern Europe. However, as the concept of returning to Israel began to gain momentum and Jews began to believe that it might even be possible, a wave of pogroms (violent attacks on Jewish communities) erupted across Russia and Eastern Europe, culminating in the Holocaust.

Coincidence? Or was there perhaps a spiritual motivation for this? The ruler of this world knows what the prophecies say about Israel at the end of this age: the return of the Jews to Israel is a herald that his time at the helm is nearly over. If this explosion of hatred had merely been caused by human politics and prejudice, these European persecutors would have been all too happy to hear about Zionism and the Jews’ plans to leave. Yet the opposite happened; we instead saw a kind of fearful desperation that culminated in a mandate that all Jews must be wiped from the face of the earth – now!

Historians find the Holocaust to be a curiosity precisely because none of it makes rational sense. Academics who are ignorant of the spiritual backdrop have tried and failed to unearth sufficient factual motivation for why the Germans suddenly felt that the Jews were such an imminent threat to their national survival, and why it was mission-critical to eliminate all of them immediately. They remain perplexed. As it turns out, the Jews were not a threat to German national survival, but they were a threat to the survival of Satan’s regime over the earth.

The prophecies are clear: Jesus must return to Israel, and all Israel will be saved. And indeed, none of the desperate attempts to prevent Israel from coming into existence have succeeded, and none of the subsequent attempts to wipe her off the face of the earth have succeeded either. (A quick read of Israel’s history since 1948 shows a clear pattern.) Satan may be the prince of the air (Ephesians 2:2), the prince of the airwaves (including the media), and the ruler of this world for now, but he lacks the power to stop what God has determined will be accomplished. God’s will, including all biblical prophecy will be fulfilled. God has spoken it and that settles it.

Yet despite what God has clearly spoken regarding Israel at the end of this age, “everyone [still does] as they see fit” (Judges 21:25). Man does not care what God says or thinks; he wants his own opinion to matter most. Yet this matter — the question of Israel and the church — is not one where we have the right to frivolously pick a side, as if Israel were a sports team. It does not belong to the realm of political opinion or cultural preference. It concerns God Himself and His faithfulness.

Does God keep His covenants?

Remember that the next time you see a rainbow. That rainbow is a promise, and the God who placed it there does not forget what He has spoken.

What Is Replacement Theology?

Replacement Theology is the notion that God has been so disappointed with Israel that He has replaced them with the church. The church is now Israel. The church now inherits all the blessings and promises that were given to Israel in the Old Testament. Israel is no longer the nation of God’s people. They fell from grace, the story goes, and therefore, when the Bible speaks of Israel being a nation again, it now applies only to the church.

What a diabolical slander of the character of God Himself! What of the covenant God made with the patriarchs and their descendants? What of all the prophecies and promises of God never to forget or abandon them? (See Jeremiah 31:31-37, Isaiah 2:3-4, Ezekiel 37:21-28, Amos 9:14-15, 1 Kings 6:13, Romans 11:25-33)

The God of Israel does not, even once in His Word, confuse the church with Israel or Israel with the church. Not one verse. Even when Scripture distinguishes the spiritual from the carnal, it always uses the term Israel for the Jewish people. There is a reason for that. He is the God who keeps His covenants. He is faithful even when we are faithless. He is not fickle like us, ready to change His ways or His eternal promises on a whim.

Israel is the only nation on earth that has been given a redemption promise. When Jesus returns to stand on the Mount of Olives (He will return the same way the disciples saw Him ascend — Acts 1:9-11):

“On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south” (Zech 14:4). It has recently been discovered that there is a fault line that runs from the top of the Mount of Olives westward toward Jerusalem — right into the bricked-up gate at the eastern wall. (See short clip below)

All Israel present at that moment will be saved when they see the One whom they have pierced (Zech 12:10, Romans 11:25-33).

Now if God has replaced them, why would He return to the land of Israel, and why would He give a national redemption promise to them specifically?

This is not to say that everything Israel does as a nation is sinless or that her government is perfect. God Himself says that, even with all of Israel’s flaws, “I have chosen them”. That should bless us, not offend us. It shows God’s faithfulness to them — and, in turn, His faithfulness to us. No Israel, no Jesus. The failure of Israel does not change God’s faithfulness to them. Does God give us up when we fail? When God disciplines Israel in the Old Testament by removing them from the land — the last resort — He does not take away the title deed. He takes away their right to live there, like naughty children sent away from home to boarding school, but they are not disinherited.

As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. (Romans 11:28-29).

If you get Israel wrong, the rest of the Bible gets skewed for you as well. You do not get to cherry-pick the good parts and leave the hard parts. It is true that some of the Church Fathers spoke about the church replacing Israel. But are the Church fathers infallible? Martin Luther himself fell into anti-semitism in his later years, some of whose errant writings were ultimately used by Hitler himself as inspiration and justification for the Holocaust. All men are fallible, and we do not follow anyone blindly. Many Church fathers had terrible theology. The Holy Spirit did not stop superintending His church the day the apostles died just to let the Church fathers run the doctrine.

Paul smelled this error creeping in early on, and the Holy Spirit, through him, addressed it directly in Romans 11 in the first century. Two thousand years later, the cancer has grown much larger and more prevalent, ready to reach its full and most ugly manifestation yet — if you think Nazi propaganda was shocking, I have already seen even more grotesque and far more skillfully crafted equivalents made with the help of AI — going viral across social media. (Note that Paul was addressing the church, and that modern anti-Semitic propaganda is mostly confined to the secular world. However, it is also important to be aware that the church sets the spiritual scene for events in the secular world to unfold. When the Lutheran church in Germany embraced anti-Semitism, for example, it paved the way for the disaster of Nazi Germany. Likewise for Apartheid in South Africa, the French Revolution as opposed to the British who were spared such bloodshed, the fall of Russia to the Bolsheviks, it all began with the spiritual condition of the church in these nations at the period of time preceding those events.)

Think of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) for a moment. The older brother represents the religious taking offence at sinners being welcomed back into the house of the Father, but one should not assume that the prodigal represents “the sinful Gentiles” and the older brother “the Jews.” The sinful Gentiles were not “prodigal sons”, as we were not even sons to begin with. We were wild olive branches of no heritage (Rom 11:17), alienated from the household of God (Eph 2:19), who were later adopted and grafted in (Eph 1:5, Gal 4:7, Rom 11:11-22). The first Jewish believers may initially have been the ones resisting the idea of Gentile aliens being brought in to share in their special covenant with God, but now the “wild branches” have adopted the “older brother” attitude toward the original olive branches that were cut off temporarily for our sake.

In a very real sense, Israel fits the role of the prodigal right now. They were the chosen race who went their own way; they rejected the Father’s house and have wasted their inheritance among the nations. We, who were grafted in from the outside as adopted children, have now become the older brother, judging the prodigal. This is quite ironic, as our salvation came through them, the original sons, in the first place: “for salvation is from the Jews.” (John 4:22).

Such a misplaced attitude can only come from a complete lack of self-awareness — of our own barbaric roots and the extent of the mercy shown toward us. We who were far off, outside of the covenant (Eph 2:17-19), rebels and enemies of both God and Abraham, had no claim to sonship in the Father’s house. Yet here we are, grafted into God’s eternal covenant with the patriarchs. Now the Father stands at the road, watching and waiting for His original lost sons to finally come home. And they most certainly will, as Jesus promises to return to Jerusalem when she cries: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 23:39).

Baruch haba b’shem Adonai. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD — in the name of Yahweh. This is not a phrase spoken by Gentiles. This is the cry of Jewish worshippers welcoming their Messiah. It is quoted from Psalm 118. And our Lord Jesus says He will not return until Jerusalem welcomes Him in this way.

Our Attitude Toward Modern-Day Israel and the Two Ultimatums that the World Gives You.

The world gives you two ultimatums. You must choose which ultimatum. Here is a hint: both are wrong. Let us explore these two ultimatums.

The Trap of Having to Defend Every Action the State of Israel Decides to Undertake – Militarily or Socially | Ultimatum #1

What should our attitude be towards modern-day Israel?

A hopeful attitude. Hope toward Israel. Not hype, romanticism or idealism. Just hope.

This does not mean we as Christians must approve every action that Israel as a nation takes. The Bible does not shy away from narrating in detail the many mistakes and evils that Israel has committed throughout her history. The kings and the people sinned greatly and repeatedly, and this has been laid out emphatically across Scripture. The prophets rebuked them. God disciplined them. None of that has erased the covenant with them as a race and a nation, just as your sins have not erased your salvation through Jesus.

But here is the trap that Satan has set for you:

If you stand with Israel, you are obliged to defend and explain every action of the state of Israel.

So many Christians have fallen for this. The goal is to get you to tarnish your own credibility before an audience who might otherwise get saved by your words. Standing for Israel does not equate to lobbying for the IDF or the government of Netanyahu. Of course, they have done and will continue to commit deeds that are indefensible in light of what Jesus our Lord teaches us, none of which should surprise anyone. What were you expecting? They are still a political government in and of this world order (Satan’s kosmos – 1 John 2:15 – You can refer to book Love Not the World by Watchman Nee for further study on this matter of satan’s world system), which is condemned before God. Neither is the rest of the world any better for that matter. We do not stand for the hypocrisy of a self-righteous world that tries to condemn their excesses while disregarding that they are under a constant threat of attack, neither do we blindly approve of every action of the current Israeli government — which is not the government of Christ.

The Israeli government refuses to allow Jews that believe in Jesus to return to their homeland. Believe it or not it is a question that is asked on the official forms for when applying to immigrate to Israel. I know somebody personally who has had this experience. A precious sister in Christ who is a Jew. Her application for Israeli citizenship was rejected because she believes that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Should we approve of that? Of course not! Is it a surprise? No it should not be a surprise. The Bible is clear: concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning God’s choice they beloved to God for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Romans 11:28-31).

So what does standing with Israel look like then? I would rather not hazard a guess or give my opinion, but simply quote to you what God has said:

“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God. “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the Lord’s hand Double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:1-2).

Comfort God’s people. Speak comfort to Jerusalem. Cry out to her that her days of warfare are near an end, that her sins have been paid for. Her Messiah comes.

No nation or people group on this earth has suffered more than the Jews. The catalogue of sufferings, injustices, exiles and persecutions stretches back 2,000 years before the Holocaust of the 20th century. Look at Deuteronomy 28 if you want to read the curses Moses warned would come upon them for disobedience to the covenant. Then look at Jewish history. The sufferings of Israel are real. The sufferings of Israel were prophesied, and the comfort of Israel was prophesied too. We are the comforters. That is part of our calling as the Gentile church grafted into the cultivated olive tree.

And remember this: The God who came to earth came as a Jew, for a reason. We worship the King of the Jews. The Lion of the tribe of Judah. The Son of David. The seed of Abraham. He is a Jewish Messiah. Our Saviour is a Jew.

How then can we curse His people?

Something is deeply wrong if a Christian does not have an inner desire or sense of excitement to see the Jews finally come back to their Messiah, and prophecy has made it abundantly clear that in order for this to happen, the nation-state of Israel must be reborn and stand until the end. Standing with Israel is therefore biblical. Having a deep desire and excitement for the Jews coming to Jesus should be the heart of every born-again Christian. We should be excited to see the fulfilment of Romans 11. This is what God desires. He wants to restore the kingdom to Israel. It is written. Take time to look at the following portions of Scripture (Ezekiel 37:24-28; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Amos 9:11-15; Acts 1:6-7).

Thus if the Jews are beloved to our God, who happens to be the God of Israel, then they too should be beloved to us. I strongly encourage every Christian to carefully read the whole chapter of Romans 11.

The Trap of Appeasing the World | Ultimatum #2

If you want the world to accept you and regard you as wise, at some point or another, you will be required to go along with the notion: “Israel is not a nation. They had their chance. They were replaced by the church. They are the synagogue of Satan, the whole lot of them. They are a curse and a problem, and the world would be better off without them.”

This was Hitler’s heart. He cursed them. Hitler, in fact, told the Germans that he was doing God’s work by ridding the world of these “vermin.” How demonic! How utterly evil! This is not the Spirit of Christ. This is the spirit of antichrist.

There are only two kingdoms beloved brothers and sisters.

This trap puts you diametrically against the God of Israel. You will be loved and accepted by the world, but you will be poking the apple of God’s eye.

“For this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you — for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye'” (Zechariah 2:8).

The apple of His eye. The most sensitive, most protected part. To touch Israel in malice or hatred is to poke the eye of God. Don’t do it. Remember that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10; Psalms 111:10). A major point of Romans chapter 11 is to point out God’s severity toward Gentile believers that boast against the Jews. To brazenly attack the Jews or to incite violence or hatred against the Jews is evil and it shows a total lack of the fear of the One who watches over Israel – the God of Israel (Psalms 121:4).

I have observed something over the years. Christians who oppose Israel and believe the church has replaced the Jews are often not in a good spiritual place. They boast against the natural branches (Romans 11:18), which God the Holy Spirit through Paul explicitly warned them not to do. Could it be that they are now reaping the spiritual results of ignoring that warning? More seriously — those who curse Israel will be cursed. That is not me threatening anyone. That is what God said to Abraham at the very founding of the covenant. “whoever curses you I will curse” (Genesis 12:3). Read it for yourself.

So as believers in Jesus — followers of Jesus, who is the King of Israel, the Lion of the tribe of Judah — we should have a positive, biblical, covenant-aware stance toward Israel. And we should have a deep love for the Jewish people, loving them into the Kingdom of God. Making them envious. Comforting them. Standing with them where Scripture commands us to stand. Speaking truth to them where Scripture commands us to speak.

Not approval of every government action that Israel does. But love. Hope. Truth. Covenant faithfulness.

That is the biblical posture to have.

Every government in this world is somewhat corrupted, some more than others. Why? Because man is fallen, that’s why. And it is unfair to place this impossible moral standard upon the nation of Israel – that you don’t even place upon your own government. So should God also wipe out your nation because of corruption in it or would you like God to extend mercy upon your nation? And here lies a major spiritual principle and a whole teaching in and of itself: if you want God to be merciful to you, you should be merciful to others.

To those who are reading this and realise that may have participated in any way, shape, or form of speaking against the Jews or even cursing them – if you realize that you overstepped, just repent – stop it and course correct according to the word of God and the will of God. You will be forgiven. Praise God for the precious blood of Christ – which removes every sin from us.

The Three Lies the World Tells About Israel

The Abrahamic covenant is built on three pillars: the Land, the Seed, and the Blessing.

“Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you'” (Genesis 12:1-3).

A land. A great nation — a people, a seed. A blessing — to all peoples on earth.

And right now, the enemy is telling the world three corresponding lies. One against each pillar.

The Seed. They are not the real Jews. The Jews of today are impostors. The covenant was for the real Jews, not these ones. (If these were impostors, why then did they not disown their false Jewish heritage and show proof that they were not real Jews when facing multiple pogroms and the Holocaust?)

The Land. That is not their land. They have no claim to it. They are colonisers, occupiers, thieves of land that belongs to someone else. (The name “Palestine” comes from “Syria Palaestina”, the name assigned to Judea by the Romans after they forced the Jews off their land. The Romans chose to rename the land after the ancient enemies of the Jews — Assyria and the Philistines — in order to disassociate them from their homeland.)

The Blessing. They are not a blessing. They are a curse. The world is worse off because of them. Get rid of them and the world will have peace. (Although Jews make up only 0.2% of the world’s population, they have won more than a fifth of the world’s Nobel Prizes. Roughly a third of the Forbes 400 — America’s richest people — are Jewish, and a striking share of the companies that uphold the US economy were founded by Jews. Venice was the medieval centre of finance and trade in Europe, a beacon of prosperity and progress — and renowned for its Jewish financiers. The Jews were persecuted, they left, and Venice declined. Today’s Venice is New York City, and, as in Venice, the Jews are now leaving. Now watch New York decline. Tel Aviv has become one of the three global tech development centres of the world, alongside Silicon Valley and Shenzhen. Farmers across the globe are adopting Israeli-developed drip irrigation as a revolutionary water-saving technique, while Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of Jordan have become heavily dependent on Israeli technology and expertise to help them with a critical water shortage. Not that they like to talk about it.)

Yes, the number of Jewish Nobel Peace Prize winners (approximately 9 individuals) is statistically significant when compared to other ethnic or racial groups, especially considering the small global Jewish population size of about 15-16 million people (roughly 0.2% of the world’s ~8 billion population). This represents a substantial overrepresentation per capita, which is a pattern seen across Nobel

Each lie is a direct strike at one of the three pillars of the Abrahamic covenant. This is no coincidence; it’s a strategy.

Talking about Israel is not political; it is spiritual, and the consequences are eternal — you are taking sides in a war between God and Satan. You might be thinking, “I’m saved, what do you mean the consequences for me might be eternal?” You may not lose your salvation over some careless words, but there will be other eternal consequences:

“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matt 12:35-37)

The enemy wants you to curse them, so that you kindle God’s anger against you. The enemy wants you to think it is only political. Look at the nations that hate Israel. Look at the spirit that rises up against her. Then ask yourself — who am I aligning with?

Because there are only two kingdoms. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness.

What God Says vs. What Man Says

Why would God bother dedicating an entire section of the book of Romans to this matter if it were unimportant? Why would the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, warn the Gentile believer, “do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you” (Rom 11:18)? And why would He add, “if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either” (Rom 11:21)?

God’s view is often directly opposed by the world and by man’s opinions. Jesus said in the famous Sermon on the Mount: “Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26) And likewise, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the (true) prophets who were before you.” (Matt 5:11-12)

From this we can see that what the world thinks is often in direct opposition to what God says — and this is no coincidence: the whole world lies in the hands of the evil one (1 John 5:19). Who will you align with? Who will you allow to be your “influencer”? Make that decision yourself and be deliberate and determined about it, lest the world decide on your behalf.

Man says there are many paths to God. God says He has provided one unique way, and only through the sacrifice of Christ can anyone be saved. Man thinks his good works can save him. God says, “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Man thinks love is tolerance and a warm squishy feeling. God says that He is love (1 John 4:8), the source of all genuine love, and that the same God who is love also loves righteousness and hates lawlessness (Hebrews 1:9). God is merciful, but He does not tolerate wilful, unrepentant sin that damages both ourselves and others (if you truly love someone, you will hate whatever causes them harm).

Man always thinks he knows better, and in so doing he exalts himself against God and calls God a liar (1 John 5:10).

The same mindset underpins Replacement Theology. It is man looking at Israel, looking at the world, looking at history, and deciding he knows what God must do with His covenant people. But who are we to set ourselves up as judges? Are we not the descendants of the same Gentiles who had completely abandoned all knowledge of God and were utterly lost in their own ways of sin and self-destruction? Were it not for God’s continual and merciful interventions, we would have wiped each other from the face of the earth by now.

The Covenant God Swore by Himself

The first covenant God made with a chosen people was the Abrahamic Covenant, sealed with Abraham and confirmed through Isaac and Jacob. A key aspect of this covenant is that, from the beginning, it was a free gift.

The first chosen subjects of God’s covenant with the race of men were deeply flawed and fallible. Abraham lied about his wife twice (Genesis 12:10-20; 20:1-18) and tried to sell her off to Pharaoh in order to spare himself potential harm (Pharaoh himself was fortunately more noble). Jacob, after deceiving his father in order to rob his brother (Genesis 27), still persisted in his attempts to lie and cheat his way through life. God was not picking the “A team”, morally speaking. These men had no claim on God’s favour. The covenant was not a reward for their performance. It was given entirely on the basis of God’s sovereign choice. Now, because this covenant is based on God’s sovereignty and not on human performance, human failure cannot revoke it.

The gravity of this covenant is underlined by the oath that God made to confirm it. Keep in mind who is doing the swearing. God is not a man. He transcends time. He already saw the end. He saw the failures. He saw the disappointments. He saw the idolatry, the rebellion, the golden calf, the exile, the rejection of the Messiah. He saw it all, and yet He swore by Himself.

“When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself” (Hebrews 6:13).

Consider that for a moment: there is nothing higher than God, so He swore by Himself. He made Himself the guarantor of this covenant. This is not a contract between equals the way we see in business. It is a divine and unilateral contract with man, with God Himself as the collateral. God has put His own name and His own being on the line. In the time and context of Abraham’s culture, men went into covenant with one another by cutting a bull or other large animal into pieces. The pieces were laid out in two lines with a bloody passage in the middle of the two lines. Then the guarantors of this covenant — both parties — would pass through this awful passage, and in so doing they were symbolically declaring “May this happen to me (what happened to this animal), if I break the terms of this covenant.” The major exception on this occasion was that God told Abraham not to pass through the bloody passage (Genesis 15:9-17); He alone would pass through it, thus making Himself the sole guarantor of this covenant. Therefore, if Abraham or his descendants failed to uphold the terms, it would be up to God to pay the price — and He did so in full, as a man, on behalf of all men.

This is not a one-time arrangement that fades with the patriarchs. From Exodus through to the last pages of the book of Revelation, the refrain runs: “I will be your God, and you will be My people.” (Exodus 6:7; Jeremiah 31:33; Revelation 21:3). This is the divine contract; it is His self-binding pledge.

This is where Replacement Theology falls apart. Those who hold to it look at the historical discipline — the exiles, the loss of occupation — and they wrongly conclude that the whole covenant promise was broken or transferred to the church. But the gift itself is permanent: God Himself is the guarantor, He upholds it despite the Jews’ failures, and He pays for all transgressions of this covenant Himself. This permanent gift carries forward seamlessly into the Davidic covenant, where Israel’s political destiny is locked in. The Lord Jesus as the Son of David is still going to reign physically as King over the whole earth from Israel in the Millennial Kingdom, upon His return (Zechariah 14:4; Zechariah 14:9).

The Chesed of God

The covenant gift — the land and the promise given to Abraham and his descendants — was based on grace. The immediate blessings within that covenant were based on conditional human responsibility. Their actions had real-world consequences. The books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings cover a thousand years of history. That is a vast span of time.

It took Israel a thousand years of lived history, from Abraham to King David, to finally conquer and fully inhabit the promised land. Ten centuries of being sheltered, oppressed in slavery, delivered, learning the Lord’s faithfulness in a desert, and then constant war against Satan and his servants. After all this, having finally reached a point of peace under Solomon, Israel systematically forfeited it all over the next five hundred years, until the Babylonian destruction. They won the land and the right to live in it through obedience, and then lost the right to live in it through consistent disobedience. Sin, then discipline, then loss of the land.

Now pay attention, because here is where someone aligned with Replacement Theology will say, “See, God finally gave up on them.”

But this is exactly what their history refutes.

If the plan was just to replace them, why the patience? Why the long thousand-year wait? Why not do it right after the golden calf? Why not during the dark days of the judges? Why did God keep pursuing them, sending prophet after prophet, warning and pleading, disciplining and restoring?

One word explains it.

Chesed. The Hebrew word for loving-kindness, steadfast love, covenant loyalty. It means that God is loyal to His promises even when the human party is faithless. This is why God did not abandon Israel. His chesed kept the covenant intact.

Notice this. God kept pursuing the Jews even while He disciplined them. Even when God escalated His judgement to its most severe against Israel — exile — He did not give up on them. Listen to the Lord Jesus weeping over Jerusalem: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'” (Matthew 23:37-39).

That tells you everything. Even in His judgement, even in His sorrow, He was still speaking about a future moment when Israel would receive Him. He did not write them off. And neither should we.

And here is something we have to be clear on. Many people loosely say that the devil has blinded the eyes of the Jews. That is not what Scripture teaches.

God blinded Israel. It was the LORD who hardened them in part, in His own discipline and in His own purpose, “until the full number of the Gentiles has come in” (Romans 11:25). The Apostle Paul makes this point explicitly. The blinding of Israel is the act of God, not of Satan, and it was for the express purpose of opening the door to the Gentiles. It is at this moment that you should be praising God as a Gentile believer. That he opened the door of salvation to you, you who were far off and didn’t even know what salvation was (John 4:22), and grafted you into Christ, the Vine (Romans 11:11; Romans 11:17).

Who does the devil blind? “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 4:4) — written in a Gentile context. The devil blinds the unbelieving Gentiles. God in His sovereign discipline blinded a portion of Israel. These are not the same thing, and the difference matters.

Because what God does in discipline, God can undo in mercy, and He has promised to do exactly that (Romans 11:23-24). We often attribute Ezekiel 37 to unbelievers being born again through faith in Christ, but if we strictly look at the context… Yes we are looking at unbelievers because they’re dead and come alive through the word of the LORD but notice who this concerns. Notice which people are being referred to here in the context of the chapter? I put in bold these parts for you to see.

Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

13 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.
– Ezekiel 37:9-14

This is a prophecy concerning the house of Israel. It has nothing to do with Gentiles in the context. God here acknowledges in His Word that His people were cut off, they were dead, and they shall live again – being born again. The very fulfillment of Romans chapter 11, aligning with Zechariah chapter 12. It is so clear that the One who wrote Ezekiel chapter 37 and Zechariah chapter 12, also wrote Romans chapter 11. One glorious Author. The Author of these three aligning chapters is none other than God the Holy Spirit, speaking through men! (2 Peter 1:20-21). Glory to God!

Ownership vs. Occupation

Even when Israel failed miserably in the wilderness — that faithless, rebellious generation that tested God at every turn — the promise to the nation was not revoked. It was delayed for that one generation, but it was not cancelled. Because “God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29).

The covenant itself is unshakeable. This covenant, which God swore by His own being, is the foundation of Israel’s very existence. God does not break His oaths. God keeps His promises. For those who hate and oppose what God loves, it is something to mourn and weep about, but for those who love God and His purposes, it is cause for much praise and rejoicing!

Now here is where we must make a distinction that Replacement Theology consistently misses.

When Israel entered the land, two things were happening at once. It was the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham, and it was God’s judgement against the Canaanites. Now the Abrahamic covenant provided for unconditional ownership of the land. It was given as a gift, guaranteed by God’s oath. The land belongs to Abraham’s descendants forever.

“All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever” (Genesis 13:15).

“On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said: ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates'” (Genesis 15:18).

That is greater Israel. Not the small strip on the coast. From the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates. It was given by oath, in a covenant that God Himself ratified by passing between the pieces while Abram slept. The following image may offend some. And in no way am I advocating that Israel takes over these nations in this age. But the prophecy is clear. There is no point where Israel ruled over this much landmass in all of history, even in ancient times. Which means it’s a prophecy yet to happen. And can you guess when that will be? Well it’s not going to happen in the upcoming Great Tribulation (Jacob’s trouble), is it? When the Antichrist reigns on the earth for a short time period and persecutes the Christians and the Jews. It can only be when Jesus returns and restores the nation of Israel. My point in showing this to you as the reader is for you to realize there are prophecies that still need to be fulfilled and they directly relate to Israel and the covenant that God made with Abraham. Will God not keep His word? Of course He will. Are you beginning to see why the Jews are beloved to God for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? It has to do with the covenant that God made and swore by Himself. The Jews are not special in their own right because they are somehow superior. They are special because God chose them. And likewise we are not special in our own right as Gentile believers but it is because God chose us. Are you getting that? The hinge point is on the One who chooses, not the one who is chosen. The One who keeps His covenants. God is the center. It is all about Jesus. It was never about us (Jews and Gentiles). It is all about Him and His glory. God is faithful and He keeps His word. And that is why amazingly Israel becomes a nation in 1948. More on this later in the article.

“The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8).

Did you catch that? Everlasting. Not until the Messiah comes. Not until the church is formed. Everlasting!

But the later laws — the Mosaic laws, the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy — established the rules for conditional occupation. The prophets were constantly reminding Israel that their wickedness and disobedience would mean forfeiting the right to keep the land. They would be exiled. They would lose occupation. But notice the language. They lose occupation. They do not lose ownership. The title deed remained a gift tied to Abraham.

Ownership of the house is guaranteed forever. The right to live in the house depends on behaviour and faithfulness to God. Some may ask at this point: how can I not have the right to live in my own house? Would that not mean that the house is not really mine? Indeed, it is as if Israel were still children. The house is bequeathed to them forever, and that covenant is irrevocable (Romans 11:28-29), but the Father of the house reserves the right to discipline His children until the eternal fulfilment of His promises is made complete. At this point, a replacement theologian would argue that it is the children of faith, the true sons of Abraham (Matt 3:9, Luke 3:8) who will inherit the land at the return of the Messiah, when the Millennial Kingdom is established. It is true that the biological descendants of Abraham who have rejected the Messiah will not inherit this kingdom, and that the Gentiles who have been grafted in will inherit it alongside the Jews who have received the Messiah. However, regarding the destiny of “Israel”, we should not ignore the many promises across Scripture.

What God Has Promised to Israel

Listen to Amos:

“I will bring my people Israel back from exile. They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them, says the LORD your God” (Amos 9:14-15).

Jeremiah:

“‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD. ‘This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, “Know the LORD,” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’ declares the LORD. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Ezekiel:

“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 37:21-23)

This is not speaking to us, folks. Ezekiel continues:

“My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.”’” (Ezekiel 37:24-28)

The nations (the Gentiles) also. This defies any spiritualisation or metaphorical interpretation of the meaning of “Israel”. Ezekiel is talking about a literal land. The duration is forever. “David” is ruling. Note that this was written after David’s death. Let the text speak. A national future for Israel is plain to see.

Now Isaiah:

“Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:3-4)

The nations coming to Israel — does that refer to tourists arriving at Ben Gurion airport for a Holy Land tour? The prophecy says God will be ruling the nations of the world from Israel, out of Jerusalem. If you symbolise and spiritualise this, you have to do it to such an extent that the prophecy means nothing.

Zechariah:

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.” (Zechariah 12:10)

Who are the “inhabitants of Jerusalem”, and who is the One “whom they have pierced”?

A believer who believes in replacement theology is forced to spiritualise all of these hugely significant prophecies. The peace is just internal peace in our hearts. The Kingdom is purely spiritual now. The temple is the church. The land is heaven. Everything gets reinterpreted into metaphor.

But that is simply not how the Bible is written. It is a consistent literal narrative unless the context dictates that it is symbolic. There is nothing in these prophecies to suggest they are merely metaphors. Other similar prophecies concerning the Messiah have been fulfilled literally: born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), riding in on a donkey (Zech 9:9), pierced for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:5), put to death with the destruction of Jerusalem occurring shortly after (Daniel 9:26), buried with the rich (Isaiah 53:9), raised on the third day (Hosea 6:2, Psalm 16:10).

Why were those prophecies literal, while the other prophecies alongside them, which are yet to be fulfilled, are now suddenly no longer literal? That would make for some very confusing and inconsistent reading. God literally meant what He said about the Messiah, and the same God also literally means what He said about Israel.

Shall we try and spiritualize all of the other prophecies which we know were literal? Bear with me on this to make the point. We will approach these prophecies as someone reading the Old Testament verses without knowing about their fulfillment. Just like someone would read prophecies about Israel in the Old Testament, also not seeing their fulfillment. Let’s start. “Born of a virgin.” Well that’s not possible so let’s say “virgin” speaks of purity. So it was a pure woman. And riding on a donkey. Well you can say that a donkey speaks of humility so the Messiah is very humble. It’s not a literal donkey that He rode on – I mean come on. Pierced for our transgressions. Well that means that His heart was troubled when he saw all the sins of the people. Do you see what a great big fat mess and deception this can become? This is called private interpretation. Something the Bible forbids you to do (2 Pet. 1:20). Our Lord Jesus was literally born of a virgin (Matt. 1:18-19) and He was born in the literal town called Bethlehem (Matt 2:1). He did ride on a donkey to fulfill the Scriptures (John 12:14-15; Matt. 21:5). That piercing was His crucifixion (something so powerfully prophetic because the Jews stoned criminals and did not pierce them). How did Isaiah know that the Messiah, the King of Israel, will be nailed to a cross and pierced literally – when the nails pierced His hands and feet as He hung on the cross for our sins (Luke 23:33; John 20:25). Then to die and to have a Roman soldier pierce His side to make sure that He’s dead (John 19:34). Then resurrecting Himself and being raised from the dead on the third day (Matt. 16:21; 1 Cor. 15:4; John 10:18)). I believe that the point has been made.

God, the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets and to water down these significant prophecies concerning Israel because they do not fit a person’s replacement theology framework is a serious issue. We call that being unbiblical and conveniently biased to suit a narrative.

Now we come to Paul, who couldn’t have made the future of Israel any clearer in Romans 9-11.

Romans 9 Through 11: The Knockout Punch

If there was ever an opportunity for Paul to set the record straight and tell the Gentile believers they had replaced Israel, it was in his letter to the Romans — the letter to the Gentile church in the capital of the Gentile empire. Not only does Paul not use that opportunity, he does the exact opposite. He warns the Gentile believer against the very thought of replacement. I refer you to Romans chapters 9 through 11. Three full chapters dedicated to this exact question: has the church replaced Israel?

Paul asks the question point-blank. “Did God reject His people?” (Romans 11:1). And notice something easy to miss here. Paul still calls the unbelieving circumcised — the Jews who rejected Christ — “His people.” Interesting.

And Paul’s answer is emphatic. “By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin” (Romans 11:1). “By no means.” There is not a single hint of ambiguity in Paul’s answer.

The Cultivated Olive Tree

Now we come to one of the most important passages in the New Testament on this subject. Romans 11 gives us the picture of the cultivated olive tree.

The tree is the historical, covenantal people of God, rooted in the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The root is the faithfulness of God to the patriarchs and the covenant itself. It is the immovable foundation.

The natural branches are the ethnic Jews. Some were broken off because of unbelief — because they rejected Jesus their Messiah. The wild branches are the Gentile believers. They were grafted in. They get to enjoy and partake of the root — the promise — which was never theirs by birth.

“If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches” (Romans 11:17-18).

This is the language of being brought near. Paul puts it this way elsewhere: “at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise” (Eph 2:12). But now, through the blood of Christ, the wild branches have been brought near.

This metaphor about the root, the natural branches, and the wild branches completely dismantles the idea of replacement. You do not replace the tree you are grafted into; you partake of it. How can the wild branches grafted in say that they have replaced the tree, which would imply replacing the root itself? Remember, “you do not support the root, but the root supports you” (Romans 11:18). Our existence and salvation as the church are born of and supported by the covenant made with the patriarchs and upheld by the faithfulness of God, without which Jesus would not have come at all. The cross is the fulfilment of this covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, later renamed “Israel”, and with “the House of Israel”, Jacob’s direct descendants.

Some will say, “It is a new tree, the old has passed away”. That would contradict God’s promises throughout Scripture made clearly to “Israel”, the “House of David”, “Jacob”, “Judah”, “Jerusalem” and “Zion”, some of which are recorded above. Would God promise all that to Israel only to cast her away afterward? It would also contradict God’s own character regarding the Law: “Not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matt 5:18). God did not change His mind and discard the old covenant made with Abraham and his descendants; rather, He came to fulfil it.

Then Paul goes further. “After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!” (Romans 11:24).

If a wild branch can be grafted in — which is unnatural and against horticultural sense — how much more easily and naturally can the natural branches be grafted back? It is their tree. It is their covenant. The acceptance of Jesus as Messiah by ethnic Jews is the natural fulfilment of everything God has been doing all along. A Jew coming to Jesus is a Jew coming home.

The danger Paul warns about is pride. The Gentile believer looks at the broken branches and thinks he is better than them. Do not do this. God warns you against it: “Do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches.” You were blind, and now you see. Any pride in this matter is evil. Do not boast that you have Jesus and they currently don’t.

Remember when the Lord Jesus said to the woman at the well, “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22)? Remember Paul’s opening principle: “first to the Jew, then to the Gentile” (Romans 1:16)?

The church owes its existence to God’s promise given to Abraham. The church owes its foundation to that promise. The church owes its legitimacy, its Scriptures, its Messiah, to the promise God made to Abraham. You cannot replace the root that is holding you up.

No Israel, no promise (the covenant), no Gentile church (Gentile believers).

All Israel Will Be Saved

Finally, Paul delivers what he himself calls a mystery. He clearly states that this hardening of Israel for the grafting in of the Gentiles was a temporary measure. He concludes:

“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: ‘The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.’ As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Romans 11:25-29)

Israel has experienced a hardening in part until … The words “in part” and “until” reveal to us that Israel’s hardening is not permanent. Then he goes on to say something even more majestic: “All Israel will be saved.”

Wait a minute. All Israel will be saved?

If the church has already replaced Israel, then Israel is already saved — because the church is already saved. Do you see the contradiction? How can the Holy Spirit through Paul say that all Israel will be saved if the church has already taken Israel’s place?

We can take five points from these five verses in Romans 11 that, taken together, completely annihilate Replacement Theology:

1. “Israel” in this context is distinct from the Gentiles in the church, since “Israel” was hardened so the Gentiles could come in
2. Israel’s hardening is not permanent (“in part”, “until”).
3. “All Israel will be saved”. — the same Israel just spoken of as being hardened so the Gentiles could come in.
4. “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.” Zion is in Israel, and Jacob is the father of the Jews, not the father of our faith. Paul is quoting from Isaiah 59:20-21; he is therefore talking about the same Israel that the prophet Isaiah was talking about: ethnic, national Israel, the covenant people.
5. The covenant has not been taken away from them — “this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” The Holy Spirit through Paul applies this prophecy directly to the same Israel that was hardened for our sake. God has not forgotten His promises to them; He does not simply change or move His eternal covenant: “For God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). It’s still the same covenant with the same people, only now many Gentiles have been grafted in as well, thanks to Israel’s partial and temporary hardening, and in so doing God has made His house full.

This settles the matter, and it is exciting: here is where it becomes precious for us as Gentile believers. God’s grace upon Israel — His refusal to revoke His promise to a faithless people — is a reflection of His grace upon you. If He keeps His word to them despite their failure, He will keep His word to you in spite of yours. The primary application of Romans 11 is to Israel, yes, but the implications for us are enormous. The faithfulness of God to them is the proof of His faithfulness to you and me. Have you ever been advised, “Don’t speak ill of your previous employer in a job interview”? Why? An astute person judges your character this way: if you can gossip about them to me, you will gossip about me to others. Likewise, we should be relieved that God did not betray His original covenant with the sons of Jacob, lest He find us just as unworthy as they were.

Who has the audacity to correct Paul and say he got it wrong? Those who do are taking Scripture out of context, ignoring significant events, and do not know the God whom they claim to serve.

Thank and praise God that He did not give up on Israel. Thank and praise God that He keeps His promises. Because if He is faithful to Israel, He will be faithful to those Gentile believers who put their trust and hope in Christ.

God is faithful.

What About Galatians 3?

It is all very well for me to quote Romans 11 as the ultimate refutation of Replacement Theology, but what if some accuse me of being selective about the Scripture I refer to? What about Galatians 3?

It is ironic that while the clearest refutation of Replacement Theology hinges on the Apostle Paul, he also happens to be the one most often misquoted out of context to support it. In Galatians 3, Paul argues that the true descendants of Abraham are those who have faith in God: “Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham” (Galatians 3:7).

Does this not immediately dissolve the national distinction? Paul famously says “there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

This is the strongest argument for someone holding to Replacement Theology, and it is a crucial question that requires a very careful distinction, which is precisely why I took the time to lay the foundation in the opening sections of this article.

Paul’s statement in Galatians 3:28 refers to our equality of access to salvation and our spiritual standing in Christ. In the church, our standing before God is completely unified. We are “one new humanity” (Eph 2:15). A new race. A new creation. Paul’s statement refers to spiritual standing — no Jew, no Gentile, but one new humanity.

However, notice what Paul does next. He immediately connects this unified faith right back to the original promise given to Abraham. “All nations will be blessed through you” (Galatians 3:8, quoting Genesis 12:3). Therefore, Paul equates this one new race, this new creation, with the same blessing that was originally promised to all the nations “in Abraham”.

This shows us something remarkable. God’s plan was always for every nation, every tribe, and every tongue — all of humanity made in His image (Genesis 1:26). The international, worldwide church is not Plan B. It is not a replacement. It is the “every nation” outworking of the original promise made to Abraham. It was always the goal, and it was initiated and channelled to us through the Jews. Hence the words of Jesus recorded in John 4:22: “Salvation is from the Jews”. As in Romans 11, God did not create a new tree by abolishing the original olive tree. Instead, He grafted the Gentiles, the wild branches, into the original olive tree. Likewise, Jesus said “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17). God did not change His mind. His original plan is being fulfilled as promised to Abraham.

Here is something worth noting: unity in Christ does not erase national identity, just as “nor is there male and female” (Galatians 3:28) does not erase our God-given roles. It is interesting how some very brazenly say that “neither Jew nor Gentile” means ethnicity and national identity have been erased, but simultaneously regard our gender roles as intact. Why is one distinction erased and the other preserved? If we regard all Scripture equally, unity in Christ does not erase ethnic identity, just as it does not erase your identity as a man or a woman, and it certainly does not erase the eternal promises made to Israel as a nation.

So why is the one distinction erased and the other preserved? Why the inconsistency and the very clear bias? You can see that it’s not logical. That means this is a spiritual matter. There is a spirit behind this push concerning replacement theology. And we can very clearly see that it is not the Holy Spirit – if you have made it thus far into the article. It’s a deceiving spirit and a cause for great concern. The Scripture says no male, no female so why do we regard this matter so highly as Christians? Right now this is being contested in the world. Something known as gender dysphoria, and that male and female do not matter, actually. But to the Christian it does matter. There is no true born-again believer in Jesus that sees the roles of male and female as insignificant and something to be ignored or bulldozed over. So why then do these same Christians, who regard male and female as a God-ordained matter, flippantly throw Israel out of the window? That there is no Jew, no Greek – therefore Israel has been replaced. Okay then, there is no male nor female so you can join the world in their deception of clearly violating God’s Word when it comes to the gender that we are born with as male and female. I’m trying to point out to you, dear reader, that, of course, it is not logical. Therefore we deduce that this is a spiritual matter. As the Word says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces and principalities in the spiritual realm that are building these demonic strongholds to harm the people of God (Ephesians 6:12). And what should we do with any teaching, opinion, thought, or imagination that exalts itself against God’s Word, the knowledge of God? We should cast it down (2 Cor. 10:5).

“Not All Israel Is Israel” and the Synagogue of Satan

There are two further verses that Replacement Theology likes to lean on. The first is Romans 9:6 — “For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.”

When Paul says this, he is not saying that there is no longer such a thing as Israel and that the church has now become Israel. We have to be consistent and look at the context. Two chapters later, in Romans 11, Paul writes the most extended defence of Israel’s continuing covenant standing in the entire New Testament. If Romans 9:6 meant that Israel is now set aside and the church is the new Israel, Paul would be flatly contradicting himself within the same letter.

What is Paul actually saying? The same thing that Jesus says about Christians in Matthew 7:21-23:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

When someone calls themselves a Christian, does that automatically mean they are a born-again follower of Jesus? There are many who claim the name of Christ but do not belong to Him. Calling yourself a Christian does not make you one.

That is Paul’s point about the Jews. There are ethnic Jews who are not true Jews in the spiritual sense — those who, for all their lineage, do not have the faith of Abraham. That does not mean Israel as a nation has been erased. It means there is a believing remnant within the larger nation, just as there is a believing remnant within Christendom.

The second verse is the “synagogue of Satan” reference in Revelation 2:9 and Revelation 3:9. The Lord Jesus says there are those “who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”

This is the same principle again. There are people who claim to be Jews and are not — just as there are people who claim to be Christians and are not. The verse is a warning, not a wholesale dismissal of the Jewish people. To use it as a sweeping statement against the modern Jewish people — “they are all the synagogue of Satan” — is to twist the text into a weapon against God’s own promises. Be consistent.

Those who hold to Replacement Theology (or anything like it) need to repent of their heart posture toward the Jews and the nation of Israel.

Two Mission Fields, One Holy Spirit

There is further proof that Israel still has a unique role, and it comes from the very structure of the early church.

The apostles consciously set up a dual mission field. Paul’s mission was explicitly to the uncircumcised — the Gentiles. Meanwhile, Peter, James, and John concentrated their efforts on the circumcised — the Jews. Paul writes it plainly: “they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised” (Gal 2:7).

So much for taking Paul out of context when he says there is neither Jew nor Gentile.

This is a very clear division of labour. If the church had totally replaced Israel at Pentecost, this division would have been completely pointless. Now remember who led these men. It was God the Holy Spirit who led them to do this. Paul for the Gentiles. Peter, James, and John for the Jews.

The fact that the apostles recognised these distinct mission areas proves that Israel still held a unique priority in God’s now-expanded, worldwide plan of salvation.

Remember, someone who believes in replacement will say, “God gave them up. Why bother with these stiff-necked Jews who rejected their Messiah, Jesus the Lord?” If the church had replaced Israel, why would God maintain a special assignment to them in the age of the church?

This is the point.

God did not give them up. He continued to pursue the Jews even after their complete rejection of the Messiah. Why? Because God is faithful. God always keeps His word. His covenants are eternal, and “not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matt 5:18).

God is faithful to His covenant with Abraham and his descendants. This is why we see two distinct mission fields ordained by the Holy Spirit and carried out through the apostolic leadership of the church.

Jeremiah 31: The Eternal Survival of Israel

Let us return to these verses in Jeremiah, because if there is one passage that should settle this question forever, it is Jeremiah 31. It is the same chapter where God promises the new covenant, the very covenant that supposedly replaces the one made with the patriarchs and their descendants:

“‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD. ‘This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people’” (Jer 31:31-33).

Stop. Read that opening line again. “I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.”

Did God say He would make a new covenant with the church? No. He said He would make it with Israel and Judah. Or do we “spiritualize” that like before and say that the people of Israel are the church and the people of Judah are the church? The new covenant was given to Israel. The Gentiles partake of it through Christ — by grafting — but the original promise of the new covenant was made to the Jewish people.

And then immediately after this promise, God anchors it with one of the most staggering survival promises in the entire Bible.

“This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar — the LORD Almighty is his name: ‘Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,’ declares the LORD, ‘will Israel ever cease being a nation before me'” (Jeremiah 31:35-36).

What is God saying here?

He is making the survival of Israel as a nation conditional on the survival of the sun, the moon, and the stars. If the heavens stop functioning, then Israel will cease to be a nation. The sun is still rising. The moon still gives its light and pulls on the sea to make waves. The stars are still in their orbits. Therefore Israel is still a nation.
He drives the same point home with the next verse:

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,’ declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 31:37).

Hypothetical impossibilities. Can you measure the heavens? Can you search out the foundations of the earth? If so, then God will reject Israel, but until that day comes, He will not. Their sin will not annul God’s plan for them. He will chastise them. He will discipline them. But He will not reject them. Israel will never cease being a nation before Him.

How else can you interpret this? How can you spiritualise this away? If you do, you must water down every prophecy in the Bible, including the ones about Jesus. Be consistent.

This same God who fulfilled the literal prophecies about the Messiah, word for word — born of a virgin, born in Bethlehem, riding in on a donkey, pierced for our transgressions, buried with the rich, raised on the third day — this same God also meant what He said about Israel.

And consider what the world is witnessing right now. The nation of Israel — a tiny country surrounded on every side by enemies who have sworn her destruction — is still standing. Iranian officials and regime-linked figures, in trying to explain Israel’s military successes, have actually accused Israel of using “occult powers,” “supernatural spirits,” “Hebrew talismans,” and “Jewish sorcery.” Multiple nations have tried repeatedly since 1948 to wipe her off the face of the earth, and she is still there.

The Divine Kingdom: God’s Rule on Earth

Daniel predicted that when the divine Kingdom came — the Millennial Kingdom, the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth — it would completely smash and take over all the kingdoms of men. This is the stone cut without hands that strikes the image and grinds all earthly kingdoms to dust (Daniel 2).

Did this happen when the Lord Jesus came the first time?

The King came. He was rejected. And He left (as prophesied in Daniel 9). The full physical, political fulfilment of the Kingdom that Israel was expecting is still pending. Even after the resurrection, the disciples asked Him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).

Now do not skip past this. The disciples — after three years with Jesus, after His death and resurrection, after forty days of post-resurrection teaching about the Kingdom of God — still expected the kingdom to be restored to Israel. That was not a strange or invalid question. It was the natural expectation of men who knew their Scriptures. The Old Testament prophets had repeatedly promised a literal, physical, national restoration of the kingdom of Israel under the Messiah.

And notice that Jesus did not correct the category of their question. He did not say, “Brothers, the kingdom is no longer for Israel — it is spiritual now.” He did not say, “You have misunderstood. The church will be the new Israel.” He said, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority” (Acts 1:7). If there was ever a time for Jesus to correct a misconception that the Kingdom would still be restored to physical Israel, that was His chance. Yet He did not. He corrected only their assumption about when it would happen, nothing else.

The timing was hidden. The reality was not cancelled.

Peter understood this clearly. A few chapters later in Acts, preaching to a Jewish audience, he says: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you — even Jesus. Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:19-21).

Peter is saying something extraordinary. Turn to Jesus. When you — Israel — turn to Jesus, the times of refreshing come. Jesus comes back. The restoration of all things, which God spoke through the prophets, takes place. Peter is connecting Israel’s national repentance directly to the second coming of Christ and the fulfilment of the prophecies still outstanding. That is why we say it again — the question the disciples asked in Acts 1 was not invalid. It was prophesied. They simply had the wrong timing.

So why the gap? The King came, was rejected, and left. This created a two-thousand-year gap. Why? Remember the temporary measure Paul described in Romans 11. For the Gentiles to be grafted in. For the full number of the Gentiles to come in (Rom 11:25). For God so loved the world.

This gap preserves the national hope for Israel — the very thing Replacement Theology incorrectly claims was dissolved. God’s plan is sequential, not contradictory.

The immediate fulfilment of the Kingdom was spiritual, and it is available to everyone who has faith in the Lord Jesus. But the full, physical, and worldwide fulfilment, where Christ reigns from Jerusalem as King of kings — that is reserved for the future. And that future is now very near.

So the promises made to the nation are still valid and intact. They were simply deferred.

Christianity is not a new religion. It is the fulfilment of Judaism. Consider Jeremiah 23:5-6: “‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Savior.'”

Neither Israel nor the church dwells securely today. Jeremiah 23 points to the Millennial Kingdom where the King of Israel, the Lord Jesus, King of kings, rules and reigns — as we see in the book of Revelation and as it is repeated throughout the New Testament.

And what about the law? The moral laws still apply to Christians. The ceremonial laws and dietary laws were fulfilled and concluded in Christ’s final sacrifice. Our Lord Jesus is the reality of all the offerings. They all pointed to Him.

The Divine Kingdom: Not of This World

What, then, of Jesus’ words to Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” (John 18:36).

As in Galatians 3, this is another verse that appears to contradict the rest of Scripture. God promises the patriarchs by covenant, repeatedly reminds the prophets that He will establish His Kingdom in the land of Israel and rule from Zion (in Jerusalem), and does not correct the disciples when they ask when the kingdom will be “restored to Israel” — yet He also says that His kingdom is not of this world?

To understand this, one has to dig into the Greek word for “world” in John 18:36: kosmos (spelled κόσμου in its genitive form in the verse). It literally means an ordered system, arrangement, or the universe. Throughout the New Testament, this word is often used in a negative sense to refer to Satan’s world order. Satan is referred to as the “Prince of this world (kosmos)” (John 12:31). In other words, Jesus was saying, “My kingdom is not of this world order.” That does not mean His kingdom is not physical or will not be physical. To add that would be putting words in Jesus’ mouth which He did not say. He said only that His kingdom is not of this kosmos, and we know from the rest of Scripture that kosmos refers to the world order that is governed by Satan. We also know from the rest of Scripture that God did indeed promise to return to Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives, and that He will uphold His covenant with Jacob and Israel.

You have to use Scripture to interpret Scripture. If you are not sure what a particular verse means, don’t default to a meaning that contradicts the rest of the Bible. Rather, study what that verse really means in its context, checking the meaning and sense of the original Greek word if necessary. Jesus did not say that His kingdom is not of the physical world, so we have no licence to contradict the rest of Scripture by abstracting away any real fulfilment of God’s covenant in the physical dimensions that we live in. As for a future kingdom in another dimension, we should not write that off either, as God does promise a “new heaven and new earth” (Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:12-14; Rev 21:1). But first, His promises to return to the Mount of Olives and establish His kingdom on this earth for a thousand years must be fulfilled (Rev 20:1-6).

Clearly, the current Israeli government is not the promised Kingdom of God. That is still a political system of this kosmos. This does not mean that Satan established Israel in its current form. On the contrary, Satan is fighting against Israel, trying to wipe her out to stop the coming kingdom from being established. But what Satan fears is not the government of Netanyahu. That government, in fact, can be very useful to Satan at times, as he can use the current government’s actions to turn the world against Israel. What Satan fears is the continued existence of a nation of Israel on the land that includes the Mount of Olives, where Christ has promised to return to His people in Jerusalem.

What about Hebrews 12:22, where the Holy Spirit, through the author (possibly Paul), writes to the Jewish believers: “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly”

Does this not show that the New Jerusalem is not physical but heavenly? Indeed, there is a heavenly Jerusalem, and there is a Mount Zion in the heavenlies, and God may well establish a New Jerusalem outside of the dimensions we now live in. If this implies that there is no restoration of the coming kingdom to the physical Jerusalem, then what is Christ returning to when He says He will return to the Mount of Olives? Is this also a heavenly Mount of Olives? What Jerusalem was Jesus referring to in Matthew 23:37-39 when He speaks of returning to her? The verses show clearly that it is the same Jerusalem that “kills the prophets” and “stones” those sent to her — clearly not the heavenly Jerusalem.

Here we need to learn to cut straight the Word of God (2 Tim 2:15) and interpret Scripture with all other Scripture in its full context. There is a heavenly Jerusalem and a reality of God’s kingdom in faith, which we can partake of now in the Spirit. But we should not use that to annul God’s promise of returning to this earth and establishing His kingdom here in a real, physical sense.

Daniel’s 70 Weeks and Why Israel Must Still Exist

God’s restoration of the Divine Kingdom is stunningly mapped out in the prophecy of Daniel 9 — the prophecy of the 70 weeks.

490 (70 x 7) years in total. And notice the text: “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city” (Daniel 9:24). “Your people” — Israel. “Your holy city” — Jerusalem. This is not about the church. This is about the nation.

The decree issued by Artaxerxes I in 457 BC to rebuild Jerusalem and restore Jewish autonomy starts the countdown clock for the Messiah’s arrival. There are 7 sevens, which is 49 years, for the rebuilding of the city. Then 62 sevens, which is 434 years. That gives us 69 sevens in total: 483 years.

If you count forward 483 years from that decree in 457 BC, you will land at AD 27. Now many scholars place Jesus’ birth at 4 BC, which can be derived entirely from historical records, with no reliance on Daniel’s prophecy at all. But if Jesus was born in 4 BC, then what does that make AD 27? That would be the exact time when Jesus started His public ministry at the age of 30. The prophecy said that “the Anointed One will be put to death” shortly after that (Daniel 9:26). This is quite an extraordinary coincidence, if you want to call it that. I find it more likely that it was a precise prophecy regarding the 69 weeks covering the exact gap from the restoration decree until the start of Jesus’ public ministry.

The precision here is staggering.

Now why do you think God left the 70th week out?

Daniel’s vision showed him the first 69 weeks, leading him directly to the death of Christ. But then there is a prophetic gap which he did not see. He did not see the church age. He did not see the time during which the Gentiles — all of humanity who would repent and believe — would be grafted in. This is sometimes called prophetic telescoping. From Daniel’s vantage point, he saw the first coming and the second coming as if they were close together, but in reality a long valley of time lies between them. The church age is invisible to the prophet’s eye. The image below will help you understand what what is being said.

The 70th week is the final 7-year period, and it has not yet taken place.

Now pay attention. The existence of the final week — the 70th week, the final 7-year period — proves that the nation has to remain distinct and physically functioning until the very end.

Why do I say this?

Because the events predicted for this final 7-year period are intimately and physically tied to the nation of Israel. It is called “a time of trouble for Jacob” (Jeremiah 30:7) for a reason. It is centred on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. These are entirely national events. Refer to Matthew 24, where the Lord Jesus Himself anchors the end times in the geography and people of Israel.

The prophecy of this final week foretells the appearance of the Antichrist, who will make or confirm a 7-year covenant with many, including Israel. It will be the worst time this world has ever seen or will ever see. And, crucially, it involves specific events in Israel — the cessation of sacrifices and the desecration of the temple, the abomination of desolation that the Lord Jesus Himself refers to (Matthew 24:15) — all happening exactly halfway through the 7-year period.

Now stop and think about what this means.

Sacrifices? A temple?

This shows us that the Jewish temple must be rebuilt in Jerusalem at some point. And it can be built very quickly. The Jews eagerly await this. The Temple Institute in Jerusalem has been preparing the vessels, the priestly garments, and the altar for decades. And a red heifer — a requirement for the temple purification ritual, referenced in Numbers 19 — has already been identified and is being kept in Israel. This became news a year before the Hamas attacks in 2023.

These events are geographic. They are specific. Actual sacrifices cease. This cannot simply be spiritualised into the church’s experience. Even if we are the temple in the spiritual sense, as believers indwelt by the Holy Spirit, end-time Israel — the Jews of that final week — needs a physical temple to function as prophesied.

Daniel’s prophecies have been fulfilled precisely — to the exact year — in the first coming of the Messiah, in Him being “put to death”, and in the destruction of the second temple that followed. And these prophecies were not altered after the events happened, as proven by the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, whose manuscripts date from before the birth of Jesus and preserve the Old Testament text — including the messianic prophecies — unaltered from what we have in our own Bibles. This destroyed all the arguments from Jews and atheists alike that the messianic prophecies fulfilled by Jesus were altered by His followers after the events occurred.

In light of the above, why would Daniel’s precisely fulfilled prophecies suddenly stop being precise and become metaphorical for the final week? This is why the State of Israel had to be reborn. Check the prophetic clock. The time is near.

A Nation Born in a Day

Isaiah asked a question 700 years before Jesus, and some 2,700 years before our day:

“Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children” (Isaiah 66:8).

A country born in a day. A nation brought forth in a moment.

May 14, 1948.

David Ben-Gurion stood and read the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel. A nation that had ceased to exist nearly 2,000 years prior — whose people had been scattered to every nation under heaven, whose language was considered dead, whose land was held by another — was reborn.

In a day.

This was no political coincidence. This was prophecy fulfilled. And the moment it happened, Satan went into a rage. Within 24 hours, five Arab armies invaded the newborn state to wipe it out before it could draw breath. They lost. A nation that had not held a sword in 2,000 years withstood the invasion of five surrounding armies in its first weeks of existence, and went on to defeat them.

Why? Because God said Israel will never cease being a nation before Him.

Now notice the order. The Bible says Israel would return in unbelief. The physical restoration comes first, and the spiritual restoration follows. This is exactly what Ezekiel 37 shows us — the valley of dry bones. First the bones come together. Then sinews and flesh. Then skin. Then breath. Bones, body, breath. The physical reconstitution of the nation precedes the spiritual revival.

We are watching the body assemble before our eyes. The breath is still coming.

Many Jews who immigrate to Israel today, when asked why they came, say something to the effect of, “I just felt drawn. I had to come home.” Why do they feel that draw after 2,000 years of exile in foreign cultures? Why move somewhere so dangerous and face so much opposition just because you feel “drawn”? Bear in mind that a lot of these Jews are still atheists, and many have come from wealthy and comfortable backgrounds in first-world nations, yet they obey this “draw” — often against all logic. This is because the God of Israel is calling His people home. He said He would. He is doing it. We are watching prophecy fulfilled in real time.

This is amazing. These are exciting times.

Can you say Satan blinded the Jews? You cannot. God blinded them, in part, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. Can Satan regather them to their land in fulfilment of prophecy? Of course not. The devil has no interest in fulfilling Bible prophecy. God is doing this. He is the one bringing them home.

We are talking about a national awakening that is on God’s timetable, not man’s.

Zechariah and the Valley of Decision

Zechariah also shows this national focus clearly. His visions look deep into the future destiny of the nation.

In Zechariah 12, Jerusalem becomes “a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling” (Zechariah 12:2). The nations all gather against her, the capital of Israel, for a final battle in this age. His visions culminate in the picture of the valley of decision — the Kidron Valley on the eastern side of Jerusalem, between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives. This is where God deals with the nations that have gathered against Israel. And notice: this is a physical location. A specific valley. On a specific mountainside. In a specific city. And it is still revered by Jews today precisely because of this prophecy.

If Replacement Theology were true, and today’s Israel were not the centre of God’s purposes, why would the final global conflict be centred geographically on this tiny patch of land in the Middle East?

It is not just any tiny patch of land. God has put His name there.

The prophecy demands it, it must be fulfilled, and so it shall be.

And then, after the battle, comes the restoration. In Zechariah 8:23, the LORD Almighty says: “In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.'”

Let that settle in for a moment.

Just as God promised Abraham, He uses Israel — the Jews — to bless the nations. “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). It all comes full circle.

The Avodah Blessing: Israel’s Daily Confession

There is something deeply moving about the prayers of religious Jews today. They do not realise the magnitude of what they are saying when they pray them.

Three times a day — in the morning service (Shacharit), in the afternoon (Mincha), and in the evening (Maariv) — religious Jews around the world recite the Avodah blessing as part of the Amidah. The wording is as follows:
“Be pleased, Lord our God, with Your people Israel and their prayer; restore the service to the Holy of Holies in Your house, and accept with love and favour the fire-offerings of Israel and their prayer. May the service of Your people Israel always be acceptable to You. And may our eyes behold Your return to Zion in mercy. Blessed are You, Lord, who restores His Divine Presence (Shechinah) to Zion.”

Stop and read it again.

Restore the service. Accept the fire-offerings. May our eyes behold Your return to Zion. Restore His Shechinah to Zion.

This is recited daily. This is the inheritance of every observant Jewish family across the world. They are praying for the temple service to be restored. They are praying for the offerings to be accepted again. They are praying for the Shechinah — the manifest glory of God — to return to Zion.

Now consider this. The Shechinah departed from the temple in stages, as recorded in Ezekiel 10-11. The Shechinah returned to earth in the person of Jesus the Messiah — “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory” (John 1:14). And the Shechinah will return to Zion when the Lord Jesus returns to reign as King of kings.

So when religious Jews pray three times a day, “may our eyes behold Your return to Zion in mercy” — they are unknowingly testifying to the very thing the New Testament teaches. Messiah came. Messiah is coming again. Their daily prayer is a confession of the second coming.

Is this not amazing?

“Salvation is from the Jews.” (John 4:22) If God in the flesh said it, then it is eternally true. That is why God sent His disciples first to “the lost sheep of Israel” (Matthew 10:6). Remember, the early church was almost entirely Jewish. The first 3,000 converts at Pentecost (Acts 2:41) were Jews. The first preachers, the first apostles, the first believers, the first martyrs — Jews. We have a Jewish Messiah. We have a Jewish Bible. And we have a Jewish people whom God still loves.

And it is a prophecy of Isaiah — chapter 53, written 700 years before Jesus walked the earth — that is leading many Jews to faith in Yeshua today. Read Isaiah 53 to a Jewish person who has never read it before. They will think you are reading from the New Testament. Then tell them where it is. Watch what happens. Many are coming to Jesus through this very chapter.

Prophecies About the Messiah Not Yet Fulfilled

If God has distinct national, physical, and currently unfulfilled plans for the nation of Israel — then the church simply cannot have absorbed or superseded those commitments and promises.

Remember: we as Gentile believers have benefited from the promises given to Abraham and his descendants. Why would God cancel theirs while keeping ours? This is why Paul says Israel is “beloved for the sake of the fathers” (Romans 11:28) — beloved to God for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Consider the prophecies concerning the Messiah that have not yet been fulfilled. The Messiah bringing about immediate worldwide peace. Ending all war. Ending all tyranny. Establishing righteousness and justice over the whole earth.

Has that happened yet?

The Kingdom of God is here now in the church, and it is here spiritually — the powers of the age to come are at work among us (Hebrews 6:5). But it has not yet fully manifested.

The Jews expected this political fulfilment to happen at His first coming. But they missed a crucial set of prophecies — that the Messiah would be “put to death” (Daniel 9:26), and that He would be the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, “despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.” From their perspective, the Messiah did not do what the prophecy said He would do. This is why, tragically, they are still waiting for a Messiah to bring world peace. Where did they get the expectation of worldwide peace from? Their own Scriptures (see the unfulfilled prophecies about the Messiah in the section above titled “What God Has Promised to Israel”). It is real, it was prophesied, it will happen, but it is not the whole picture.

Now hear the words of the Lord Jesus Himself. “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near… For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written… They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:20, 22, 24).

Until. That word is doing tremendous work. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles — until. Until what? Until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. There is an end point. There is a turn. Just as in Romans 11 — “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.” Same word. Same logic. There is a clock running.

There is an immediate fulfilment of Luke 21 in AD 70, when Titus destroyed Jerusalem. But there is also a further fulfilment still ahead. We see this pattern throughout the New Testament. Peter at Pentecost quotes Joel 2 about the outpouring of the Spirit, but Joel 2 also speaks of the great and terrible day of the LORD when the sun is darkened and the moon is turned to blood — which corresponds to the sixth seal in Revelation 6:12-17. Pentecost is a partial fulfilment. The full fulfilment is still coming.

It is the second coming of Christ that fulfils these deferred prophecies. Christ’s second coming is not a metaphor. “Every eye will see him” (Revelation 1:7) is not a metaphor. Our Lord Jesus will physically return just as the two angels said when He ascended, as recorded in the book of Acts. “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Our Lord will take over the government of the whole earth and bring peace to all its peoples. The King of kings will return to reign from a literal, physical location — Zion (Psalm 2:6; 110:2; Isaiah 24:23; 59:20; Micah 4:7).

Here is something worth pausing on. Imagine for a moment that you are alive in 1900. The Jews have been dispersed to the four corners of the earth for nearly 2,000 years. The land is called Palestine. Hebrew is a dead language — nobody speaks it as a mother tongue. The world’s experts in geography, politics, and religion all agree that there is no possible way for the scattered Jewish people to ever return and form a nation again.
But you are reading your Bible. And you are teaching, “There is going to come a day — and it is in Scripture — when God will gather the Jews from the four corners of the earth and re-establish them as a nation in their land. The land will become Israel again. Hebrew will be spoken again. The fig tree will bud again.”

Everyone laughs at you. They say you have lost your mind. They tell you that you are being literal with poetry. They tell you the church has replaced Israel and these promises are spiritual.

And then May 14, 1948, happens. And what you preached from your Bible — what looked impossible to every academic and politician on earth — comes to pass. Because God said it would.

Now ask yourself: do we interpret the prophecies of Jesus’ second coming the way replacement theologians interpret these national prophecies about Israel?

“Well, it says He is coming back, but that’s spiritual terminology — what it really means is…”
Do you see the inconsistency? The same prophet Isaiah who wrote chapter 53 about the suffering Messiah — which we accept as a literal, word-for-word fulfilled prophecy — also wrote chapter 2 about the nations coming to Jerusalem to learn from God. The same prophet. The same kind of prophecy. You do not get to take one literally and spiritualise the other away. Be consistent.

For those of you who still cleave to Replacement Theology after seeing all this, ask yourselves: what is your real issue with the Jews? Have you not sinned? Does it bother you that God still seeks to rule the nations from Israel and manifest His glory from Zion? Examine your heart.

Israel’s Unconditional Survival: Daniel 12 and the Time of Jacob’s Trouble

Rough days are coming for Israel. We need to be honest about that.

The same prophets who promise Israel’s restoration also describe the suffering that comes before the full deliverance. Daniel describes it this way:

“At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people — everyone whose name is found written in the book — will be delivered” (Daniel 12:1).

“Your people” — again, Daniel’s people. Israel. “A time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations” — worse than anything ever. Worse than the Babylonian destruction. Worse than the Roman destruction in AD 70. Worse than the Holocaust. Unless the Lord shortens those days, no flesh will be saved (Matthew 24:22).

Zechariah is even more specific about what happens during this time of trouble.

“‘In the whole land,’ declares the LORD, ‘two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, “They are my people,” and they will say, “The LORD is our God”‘” (Zechariah 13:8-9).

Two-thirds will perish. One-third will be brought through the fire. And the remnant — the one-third that remains — will call on the name of the LORD and be saved. They will be His people. He will be their God. The covenant promise comes home.

This is sobering. Not even the Holocaust can match what is coming during Jacob’s trouble. The world has never seen anything like what is about to come upon the earth, and especially upon Israel. Unless our Lord shortens it with His return, no human flesh will survive.

But Michael arises. The great prince. The angelic guardian assigned to the people of Israel. And in the worst hour the world has ever seen, God preserves a remnant.

Now hear this carefully; the devil wants you to hate the religious Jews, and he is clever: It is the religious Jews who will reject the Antichrist when he comes. They are the ones so afraid to disappoint God, so committed to the Torah, that they will not bow to the abomination set up in the temple (Matthew 24:15). That is why the Lord Jesus said, “Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath” (Matthew 24:20). Why on the Sabbath? Because the religious Jews who will be fleeing care about the Sabbath. He is speaking to them.

These are the ones who, at the end, will look upon the One whom they pierced (Zechariah 12:10). These are the ones who will cry, “Baruch haba b’shem Adonai! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!” (Matthew 23:39). Jesus will return — and they will receive Him. The veil will lift. The blindness will end. All Israel will be saved.

The devil knows how to deceive the nations. It is what he does. Do not fall into that trap.

And listen to what God says about our posture toward His beloved, suffering, soon-to-be-saved people:

“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved… As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” (Romans 11:25-33).

Read that carefully. You Romans were once disobedient and now have obtained mercy through their disobedience. And now Israel is presently disobedient so that, through the mercy shown to you, they may also obtain mercy.

Did you catch that?

The whole point is that they — Israel — may also obtain mercy. God is even using our salvation and testimony as a means to bring back His original lost sons and daughters. There is a promise here, brothers and sisters, and God does not care about your opinions. Repent and believe what God the Holy Spirit is saying through Paul.

Be judges of what you take in with your ears and your eyes.

Why does God say that salvation has come to you — the Gentile believer — “to make Israel envious” (Romans 11:11)? Notice He does not say “to make the Canadian envious.” He does not say “to make the Mexican envious.” He does not say “to make the Australian envious.” Of course we should preach the gospel to every nation. But notice precisely who God is speaking about here. He says to His sons, who are now born again, “Make sure as you live your life, you live in such a way as to love My people — the Jewish people — into the Kingdom of God. Make them envious.”

Why? Because Israel is in a unique covenantal position. Because His heart still aches for them. Because the gifts and calling of God upon them are irrevocable.

God Is Faithful

Beloved brothers and sisters, this is what the whole discussion comes back to.

God is faithful.

If God kept His word to Israel through their failures, their wilderness rebellion, their golden calf, their idolatry under the judges, their division under the kings, their exile to Babylon, and even their rejection of their own Messiah — then you can be sure that He will keep His word to every Gentile believer who trusts in Christ.

The faithfulness of God to Israel is not an abstract curiosity for prophecy buffs. It is the foundation of your salvation. If God had abandoned Israel after they fell, why would He not also abandon you after you fall? If the covenant is transitory for them, it will be transitory for you. Just move on to the next guy. But if He will not abandon them — if He pursues them through millennia of their stiff-necked rebellion with chesed, with steadfast covenant love — then He will pursue you too, and He will never leave you nor abandon you.

The same faithfulness that preserved Israel for thousands of years, that brought the nation back into the land in 1948, that is running down the prophetic clock toward the 70th week of Daniel — that same faithfulness is what holds your soul secure in Christ.

Do not boast against the natural branches. Do not be arrogant toward Israel. Do not be clever with your theology and explain away what God has plainly said. Remember that you do not support the root — the root supports you (Romans 11:18).

I hope you can see why the subtitle of this article is “Tearing Down the Demonic Doctrine of Replacement Theology.” And indeed why we call it a demonic doctrine. Share this article with those who may need to hear such a word for such a time as this.

God has not replaced Israel.

He has grafted you in.

And the same God who swore by Himself to Abraham has sworn to you in His Son. HalleluYah. God is faithful. Amen.

Written by: Brother Angelo

Edited by: Brother Ryan