Replacement Theology Undone By One Greek Word In Galatians 6:16

How Revelation Chapter One Obliterates Replacement Theology
Apr 08, 2019 09:08 am
How Revelation Chapter One Obliterates Replacement Theology
OPINION (Charisma) – Replacement theology, or “supersessionism,” teaches that the New Covenant, through Jesus, supersedes the Old Covenant, which was made exclusively with the Jewish people. The church is the new Israel. God’s covenant to Israel, despite being reaffirmed over and over again in the Old and New Covenant, is now null and void, according to the beliefs of those who follow replacement theology. The Jews broke that covenant, and God is finished with them forever.

Continue reading How Revelation Chapter One Obliterates Replacement Theology at End Time Headlines.
https://endtimeheadlines.org/2019/04/how-revelation-chapter-one-obliterates-replacement-theology/


How Revelation 1 Obliterates Replacement Theology
6:00AM EDT 4/8/2019 RON CANTOR

(Pixabay/JamesNichols)
Replacement theology, or "supersessionism," teaches that the New Covenant, through Jesus, supersedes the Old Covenant, which was made exclusively with the Jewish people. The church is the new Israel. God's covenant to Israel, despite being reaffirmed over and over again in the Old and New Covenant, is now null and void, according to the beliefs of those who follow replacement theology. The Jews broke that covenant, and God is finished with them forever.

Individual Jews can find salvation in Jesus, but God's plans for Israel (as a nation) have been replaced by His plan for the church. All the promises of blessing to Israel in the Old Covenant now belong to the church.

Monkey Wrench
However, there is a little passage in the first chapter of Revelation that throws a monkey wrench into replacement theology:

"Look! He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen" (Rev. 1:7).


These are John's opening words to the seven churches of Asia. This was written at a time when there was much deeper unity than today. You could simply write to the church at Ephesus and know that all believers in Ephesus would be included.

In speaking of the coming of Yeshua, John draws upon the words of the Hebrew prophets, Daniel and Zechariah. First, he quotes Daniel:

I saw in the night visions, and there was one like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. There was given to Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Dan. 7:13-14).

For those who embrace replacement theology, this first reference to the Hebrew prophets is not so problematic. Even if God has rejected Israel in favor of the church, Yeshua is still coming back in the clouds. But the second reference, in Zechariah, clearly points to Jewish people in Jerusalem recognizing Yeshua:

And I will pour out on the house of David and over those dwelling in Jerusalem a spirit of favor and supplication so that they look to Me, whom they have pierced through. And they will mourn over him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as a firstborn (Zech. 12:10).

This is extremely close to John's words.

"Every eye will see him." / "so that they look to Me."
"Even those who pierced Him." / "whom they have pierced" (John uses the same Greek word for "pierced" as he uses when quoting Zech. 12:10 in John 19:37).
"And all peoples on earth will mourn because of him." / "They will mourn over him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as a firstborn."
All Earth or All Israel?
Related Articles
Is Replacement Theology a Dangerously Demonic Deception?
The Devastating, Lingering Effects of Replacement Theology in the Church
You might say, "But it says all the peoples on earth, not just Israel." Maybe, but some scholars interpret the Greek differently. In Greek, it literally says not "peoples on earth," but "tribes of the land." Dr. David Stern, editor of the Complete Jewish Bible translates it this way: "all the tribes of the Land will mourn him."

He concludes, as do other scholars, that the word "land" used here is specific to the "land of Israel". In Hebrew, we often refer to Israel as simply "Ha'aretz—the land." In fact, this phrase is used even more commonly than the name Israel. If I want to ask a friend if he is in the country, it would be just as natural, if not more so, for me to say, "Ata b'aretz? Are you in the land?" That would be more natural than asking if someone was in Israel.

Of course this lines up with Romans 11:26, which prophesies a national revival in Israel, "and this, all Israel will be saved," after "the fullness of Gentiles." (v. 25) Without going too deep in end-times prophecy, some think the fullness of Gentiles is the end of the world domination by the nations under the Antichrist, while others, like me, see it as the gospel touching every nation—something, according to Matthew 24:14, that must happen before Yeshua returns. Both theories put this massive Jewish revival just before, or even at, Yeshua's return.

John is quoting Zechariah, saying that at the coming of Yeshua, those who pierced him in the land of Israel will mourn over this fact, and it will lead to national revival (see Zech. 13:1). Also, while it is possible that every eye around the world would supernaturally see Yeshua coming, it is a fact that the "inhabitants of Jerusalem" (Zech. 12:10a) will see Him as He returns specifically to the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:3-4) just east of the city.

At the very least, it has a double meaning, as prophecy often does, of the Jewish people seeing and receiving Him, as well as people all over the world.

John and the Hebrew Prophets
From this verse, we can conclude that John affirms the prophecies of the Hebrew prophets:

He comes in the clouds.
The people of Jerusalem will see Him.
They will mourn over their past rejection of Him.
He returns to physical, national Israel.
They receive him (as Yeshua says in Matt. 23:39b as they say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord").
This refutes replacement theology, which has no place for the end-time revival in Israel that the prophets predicted over and over (because replacement theology has no place for Israel at all). You would think that both the fact that Israel has been restored as a nation (as the prophets said) and that Jewish people are turning to Yeshua more and more (as the prophets said) would cause those who believe that God is finished with Israel to rethink their position.

We pray that they do.

Enjoy this podcast with Rabbi Jonathan Bernis, speaking about his book, A Lasting Peace, which looks at the Middle East crisis through a prophetic lens.
Get Spirit-filled content delivered right to your inbox! Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

Great Resources to help you excel in 2019! #1 John Eckhardt's "Prayers That..." 6-Book Bundle. Prayer helps you overcome anything life throws at you. Get a FREE Bonus with this bundle. #2 Learn to walk in the fullness of your purpose and destiny by living each day with Holy Spirit. Buy a set of Life in the Spirit, get a second set FREE.




 Is Replacement Theology a Dangerously Demonic Deception?
https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/standing-with-israel/69212-is-replacement-theology-a-dangerously-demonic-deception
Standing With Israel
Want to receive Standing With Israel by email? Sign up here
Is Replacement Theology a Dangerously Demonic Deception?
6:00AM EST 1/22/2018 RON CANTOR

(Pixabay/kharaziofficial)
To believe God has rejected Israel is to deny reality
Replacement theology is the belief that the Jewish rejection of Jesus resulted in God rejecting Israel, in favor of the church. The church is the new Israel and the old Israel is simply cursed. All of the promises in the Old Testament to Israel are now to the Church, while the curses remain the property of the Jewish people.

This became official church doctrine by the fourth century, but was popular by the year 150 through the writing of Justin Martyr, where he referred to the church as the "true Israel." Shockingly, the root of this demonic doctrine began to grow a mere 19 years after the resurrection. (Read more about that here). It is why Paul wrote such a strong caution in Romans 11, warning them of the consequences of turning against Israel.

"For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God—severity toward those who fell, but goodness toward you, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off" (Rom. 11:21-22).

In 130, Emperor Hadrian went on a demonic rampage against the Jews. They were exiled from Jerusalem, forbidden to enter under threat of death. The name was changed from Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina, to honor Jupiter. Judea was renamed Palestine. He wanted to rid the land of every last vestige of Jewishness.

Get Spirit-filled content delivered right to your inbox! Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

For the next 1,818 years, the Jews wandered the globe without a nation. Having passed through persecutions, the Inquisition, pogroms, the Crusades and ultimately, the Holocaust, indeed, one could have made a strong case that the Jewish people were cursed—that God was finished with them.

The Comeback Kid
However, we have seen so many prophecies fulfilled in the last 150 years regarding the Jews, that one must be blind, dumb or intellectually dishonest to believe that God has replaced Israel with the Church or that Israel is forever cursed.

Here we are, nearly 2,000 years later, with Israel restored and Jerusalem as her capital. You really have to disconnect yourself from modern history to still embrace replacement theology. That would mean that by massive coincidence, Israel was rebirthed in 1948, Jerusalem was restored through the miraculous victory in the Six-Day-War, millions of Jewish exiles came back to Zion just as the prophets predicted, and all this while being the most persecuted people in world history, having suffered 52 attempted genocides.

No nation has ever lost her geographical homeland for more than a short time and remained an identifiable people. Israel wandered for two millennia and survived! Only God could have done that. The very fact that these Jewish fingers can type on this keyboard is proof that God has been faithful to His promises.

The Facts
Let's just look at a few of the dozens of prophecies regarding Israel's restoration and see if they've come to pass: "For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land" (Ezek. 36:24).

Immigration of Jewish people, en masse, began in 1882. Since then, millions of Jews have made Aliyah (immigrated to Israel): "Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west; I will say to the north, 'Give them up," and to the south, 'Do not keep them back. Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth" (Isa. 43:5-6).

From the East, they came back from Yemen, Iran and Iraq. From the South, they returned from Egypt, Ethiopia, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. From the West, they poured in from former Nazi-occupied Europe, Morocco, Algeria and the Americas. From the North ... we will get there. "Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she brought forth her sons" (Isa. 66:8).

Related Articles
Did the Biblical Prophet Zechariah Predict the Current Bleeding-Eye Pandemic in Uganda?
Israel Demolishes Yet Another Terror Tunnel
In one day, May 14, 1948, Israel became a nation. This year marks her 7oth anniversary. Never has a "dead" nation come back to life after 2,000 years of exile: "Thus says the Lord of Hosts: I will deliver My people from the eastern lands and from the western lands" (Zech. 8:7).

Jerusalem was restored in 1967. According to this prophecy, God would be the one who does this. I understand that some don't like the idea of a restored Jewish Jerusalem, certainly not the U.N. But, "Shall the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?'" (Isa. 45:9). (The answer, by the way, is no.)

Therefore, surely the days are coming, says the Lord, that it will no longer be said, "As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt," but, "As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands wherever He had driven them." And I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers (Jer. 16:14-15).

In 1991, the Iron Curtain came down and over 1,000,000 Russian-speaking Jews poured into Israel from "the land of the north."

"[After I bring you back] I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. Also, I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them (Ezek. 36:25-27).

For the children of Israel will remain many days without a king and without a prince, without a sacrifice and without a standing stone, and without an ephod and teraphim.  Afterward the children of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come in fear to the Lord and to His goodness in the latter days (Hos. 3:4-5).

The prophets predicted that after Israel went through a long season without a government or temple, and after God brought them back to their own country, they would have a spiritual awakening and embrace the Messiah (David was long dead and buried, but as Peter tells us in Acts 2:29 and following, prophecies about David after his death refer to Yeshua.) Today, there are more Jewish believers in Jesus than ever before, numbering in the hundreds of thousands. In Israel, there are over 150 Messianic congregations and growing.

You're Not Dumb!
Come on. These are just a few of the prophecies regarding Israel that have come to pass. I did not even mention Isaiah 35:1, which speaks of the desert blossoming like a rose (Israel exports roses from the Negev Desert). Nor did I mention Genesis 12:3, which tells us that Israel will be a blessing to the world (you can't use your iPhone, instant messaging or go to the doctor without encountering Israeli technology). Clearly, you can see with your own eyes that God is not finished with Israel.

Yes, in the Middle Ages, it did look like much of replacement theology was right. But God cannot lie or break a promise, and for 2,000 years, He watched over His word and now He is bringing the prophecies to pass.

In the Hebrew language, the number 18 means life. It was exactly 1,818 years from the time Hadrian changed the name of Jerusalem until the time of her rebirth. Coincidence? I think not.



The Devastating, Lingering Effects of Replacement Theology in the Church
6:00AM EST 12/9/2016 GRANT BERRY
Star of David Christians 
https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/standing-with-israel/61727-the-devastating-lingering-effects-of-replacement-theology-in-the-church
The Holy Spirit is beckoning His church into a deeper place of intercession and strategy for the reconnection of the church and Israel.
We have just entered the next Jubilee period (50 years), and a prophetic shofar has sounded into the reformation of the church with three main foci: the restoration of the one new man between Jew and Gentile; the fullness of the five-fold ministry and the preparation of the bride for the Lord's return.

The next step is for the watchmen on the walls to fully catch this vision—to step into it with a faith that can move mountains and come into agreement with all that the Holy Spirit is wanting to do in the church to bring these directives to pass.

Art-One-New-ManI believe at this time and during these days that The Holy Spirit is beckoning His church into a deeper place of intercession and strategy to help bring these changes about; to plow the spiritual fields and break up the ground so that the transformation God is wanting for His body may begin to transpire among us.

This will ultimately require a change in church leadership to reconnect spiritually with Israel; to fully embrace the five-fold vision to equip the saints for the ministry and how we view and understand the prophetic office of intercession as well as the emergence of David's tent throughout the earth; to help mobilize God's church into a deeper place of worship, prayer and intercession; to broaden church government and our participation with these most crucial aspects of ministry and to help fuel and empower the kingdom of God on the earth, specifically with greater unity in the local church and the community its serves.

Get Spirit-filled content delivered right to your inbox! Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

Below is a vision given from the Holy Spirit for us to comprehend and pray into to concerning one of these directives, which is at the very root of the restoration in The One New Man. Please read it prayerfully.

The Vision of a Piece of Fabric

In one of our watchmen meetings recently that is attended by 20-30 intercessors from 18 different churches in the Connecticut area, a unique vision was given to us by the Holy Spirit concerning the residual influences of replacement theology. The insight from the Lord is dramatic; and one that, if we are willing to accept it, will help us to understand what God is saying to us during this hour regarding The One New Man and how we need to pray to help change and prepare God's body for what is coming.

These are the notes that were written and sent out to the group the day after this meeting:

"After seeking the Lord about issues for us to pray on in The One New Man for last night, I have been particularly burdened recently, as I have been writing a new section in the book about the influences of replacement theology in the church. And not just the part of the church that still believes in this lie, but also how it is still affecting the part of the church that is moving towards Israel, in our thinking and our theology.

In this light, I shared it with the group, and after communion and a brief time of worship, the Holy Spirit led us into the greater depths of this issue. Several people in the group shared their hearts, and John confirmed this sense in his spirit. There was a focus on prayer and prophecy for Grant in this area, as he is writing the book, with much encouragement, but also specific direction and clarity. They are recorded.

Charisma.png

There was a deeper understanding given by the Spirit of the depths of this lie and its affect on the church. And a root of jealousy was exposed.

The Spirit fell on Grant as the group was praying for him, who went into in a deep cry and weeping as he felt and experienced Joseph's heart, as his brothers sold him into slavery. The weeping was intense and continued for a while with a sense and connection to Joseph as the Jew and the brothers as the Gentile believers in the church and family of God. What a picture!

There were prayers offered for repentance in the body as the group felt this burden, and for the Lord to take us deeper into this issue. 

Susan Torregrossa had a significant vision, and her thoughts are below:

As Sheryl was talking, the Lord showed me a piece of fabric. I was reminded of a video I had seen regarding the shroud of Turin. I could see the fabric as a whole cloth at first, then I could see individual strands of thread in the fabric, and it became magnified. The Lord showed me that what seemed to the naked eye to be a homogeneous piece of cloth, but in fact it was made up of two different materials. He didn't specify what the materials were, but I will use the example of the shroud because I believe it is significant. It was found during inspection of the shroud that the original cloth was made up of linen, which comes from flax. In one corner where an expert repair had been made, cotton had been woven into the strands of the fabric. It was nearly imperceptible except under extreme magnification. The strands were slightly different colors and reacted differently to testing. 

Grant mentioned that he feels that while some churches have moved on past replacement theology, many are still being held back by the residue of its influences. I feel that what the Lord is showing me is that some of the old lies of replacement theology are still affecting the church, because they are the counterfeits of the truth and are interwoven into their fabric. They are imperceptible to the naked eye and can only be exposed through spiritual discernment.

 It reminded me of what my pastor always says about the leaven—once you mix the yeast into the dough, only God can identify and remove it supernaturally.

We need to ask the Lord to remove it, we need to ask Him to unravel the strands of the fabric to expose the counterfeit cotton portions and unravel them from the original linen.

I didn't mention this last night, but I believe that I was seeing the linen/cotton combination because the garment of a high priest was always made of pure linen, representing purity. Just as His priests we are called to wear the linen ephod, we are called to do the same, and so the linen represents this.

Here is a link to the video I referred to. When you watch it, you will see the close-up magnification of the strands—that is the detail of what the Lord was showing me last night. Down to the very fiber of the core of the church, I believe there are counterfeit ideas and beliefs, many that are so close to the truth that people feel that they are harmless and don't recognize them. But the Lord is saying that these things must be exposed, unraveled and removed from the truth, so His church can move forward unhindered. When you watch the video, you will see how easy it would have been for the scientists to overlook those cotton fibers if they had not been accidentally torn and exposed. 

That is what God wants to do now in the church. There may be a bit of collateral damage, but in the end there will be a course correction that is needed in the church for this time we are living in.

This is a significant vision from the Holy Spirit, to get us to understand that we must be willing to go deeper into the affects of this issue in all parts of the church. Not just to repent and renounce replacement theology but also to understand the depths of how much it has affected and influenced our thinking and theology in the church, in order that we can fully break off all of its influences to restore us into The One New Man between Jew and Gentile.

Hali had further insight on Susan's vision of the fabric, that when you wash this fabric with the two differing materials, one will come out cleansed better, and they will look different the more you clean them. The good fabric will be washed well, but the bad fabric will become wrinkled and shriveled, and it will shrink.

This is a picture, I believe, that as the Lord begins a deeper cleanse and healing in this area, more will be exposed and the counterfeit will be revealed. Let's continue to pray on this, please." 

Grant Berry is a Jewish believer in Yeshua/Jesus and author of The New Covenant Prophecy and The Ezekiel Generation. He founded Reconnecting Ministries with the specific focus to help the church reconnect spiritually to Israel and considers it vital to the kingdom of G-d in the last days. His message focuses on the unity, love and healing that the Father wants to bring between Jew and Gentile, yet clearly points out the differences and misunderstandings between the two groups. Now is the time to look more carefully into this mystery to make way for healing and reconnection in the Spirit. For more information, please visit reconnectingministries.org. 

Get Spirit-filled content delivered right to your inbox! Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

Great Resources to help you excel in 2019! #1 John Eckhardt's "Prayers That..." 6-Book Bundle. Prayer helps you overcome anything life throws at you. Get a FREE Bonus with this bundle. #2 Learn to walk in the fullness of your purpose and destiny by living each day with Holy Spirit. Buy a set of Life in the Spirit, get a second set FREE.

Replacement Theology Undone By One Greek Word In Galatians 6:16
https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/replacement-theology-undone-by-one-greek-word/
By ONE FOR ISRAEL (Messianic Jews In Israel)
 6,437
Sometimes just a small detail coming to light can totally change our understanding of a situation. Over the millennia, Bible scholars have scratched their heads over things that seem obvious to us now with hindsight. Today, it is not hard for us to fathom how everyone in the world could witness the same event simultaneously, for example. The “explosion in knowledge” and great “increase in people travelling to and fro” that Daniel the prophet wrote of (Daniel 12:4) now makes perfect sense with the development of the internet and air travel.

And for centuries it was extremely difficult for Christians to grasp that the word “Israel” in the Bible could possibly mean ethnic or national “Israel”, since it had apparently ceased to exist as a nation. The Jewish people were scattered across the globe for two millennia, and it certainly appeared to many that God’s purposes for them had come to an end. So scholars interpreted the Bible in light of their understanding, not imagining that Israel would exist again once more.

But since the reformation of Israel back in the land in 1948, we can start to read the Bible with new information that helps us to understand what God is talking about when He says, “Israel”. The events of 1948 have presented the shocking possibility that when the Bible talks about Israel, it could now literally mean – ISRAEL!

Since the early church fathers, as far back as Justin Martyr in 160 AD, Christians have been assuming that “Israel” really means “the Church”. Even by 160 AD, the people of Israel had been scattered and the land renamed “Palestine” for almost 100 years, so it’s easy to see how it happened. But you just try reading Romans 9-11 and every time it says “Israel”, replace it with the word “Church”. You will quickly see that it makes no sense at all. Israel really means Israel in both the Old and the New Testaments. While the New Testament often describes Israel and the Church in similar terms – both are the Bride of God, children of God, the chosen people, and so on – never does the New Testament call the Church “Israel”.

The word “Israel” occurs 70 times in the New Testament (79 times if you include the word “Israelite”), and all but two of these instances are unequivocally referring to the nation of Israel, and not to the Church – the two exceptional cases being Romans 9:6 and Galatians 6:16. In the past, people have clung to Galatians 6:16 as an example of how Israel can mean the church, but let’s examine that verse…

Galatians 6:16 says: “Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of God,” (RSV) or “Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.” (NIV).

But if we look at what the text actually says in the original, these translations have missed a key Greek word:

καὶ ὅσοι τῷ κανόνι τούτῳ στοιχήσουσιν, εἰρήνη ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς καὶ ἔλεος, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ θεοῦ.

Literally translated: And as many as (whoever) to the rule this shall be elementing (observing the fundamentals), peace on them and mercy, and (also) on the Israel of the God.

In other words, even though the Greek text indicates says that Paul was pronouncing peace and mercy to the followers of the Way AND ALSO to “the Israel of God”, those who were translating the text decided it could not possibly mean that Paul wanted to bless the house of Israel as well as the Gentile followers of Yeshua. They chose a far less common way of understanding the grammar, and decided to lump the two together with no distinction. While it is not technically incorrect to translate it in this manner, there are many reasons to stay with the standard meaning of the Greek word “καὶ” to mean “and” or “also”, which is far more commonplace.

Looking at the context of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he is stressing that there is no need for gentile believers to be circumcised or to follow the Law of Moses, but that salvation is through Yeshua alone, for both Jew and gentile. However,  this doesn’t mean that Paul sees no distinction between Jew and gentile, as a cursory look through the rest of his epistles will quickly show you. There is no male or female, he says – and by this he means that both men and women have the same status through Yeshua. But of course there remains a distinction in other ways. Similarly, Paul talks of both the church and of Israel as separate entities many times. They do not blur into one, and there is no evidence that the early church blended the two until 160 AD.

Bible scholar, Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, writes that people who would claim that Israel means the church “must ignore the primary meaning of kai which separates the two groups in the verse in order to make them both the same group”[1], and Dr. S. Lewis Johnson, who taught Greek and New Testament Exegesis at Dallas Theological Seminary, believes that, “the least likely view among several alternatives is the view that the ‘Israel of God’ is the church.”[2]

For centuries, it did not dawn on Bible scholars that the term Israel could possibly truly refer to the actual nation of Israel, or at least the many thousands of Israelites who were “of God”, and they superimposed their understanding that the Church had replaced it.

In some ways, it is true that the nation of Israel is a “type” of church… a foreshadowing of God’s people both Jew and Gentile together. We can see in the language of Paul throughout the epistles that he seeks to encourage Gentile believers to know that they are just as much “God’s people” as the Israelites have always been, and that they matter no less to him. He deliberately draws parallels with Israel and the new Gentile followers of the Way, showing the similarities. But we also know that Moses was a “type” of Messiah, sent to save the Jewish people, and in no way would we say that he is the same thing as Yeshua Himself. In fact, we see the two standing together on the Mount of Transfiguration! One does not replace the other, even if one foreshadows the other in a typological manner. Similarly, in Revelation, we see the tribes of Israel together with every nation, tribe and tongue, worshiping God at the end of time. Israel is Israel, right until the end.

God has no favorites, but He does have a plan. To fudge the distinction between Israel and the Church means that we can miss so much when we read the Scriptures. God wants us to know Him better, to share His heart for Israel, and to understand His plans for Israel in relation to the whole world. He wants us to continually grow in our understanding of His purposes, redeeming all creation to Himself. Seeing Israel as meaning “Israel” when we read the Bible brings a whole new level of revelation about our wonderful God and how He is unfolding His perfect plan for all of us.

[1] Dr. Fruchtenbaum’s paper “Replacement Theology and the Epistle of First Peter” for Ariel Ministries, p.13
[2] S. Lewis Johnson Jr.,  “Paul and ‘Israel of God’, An Exegetical and Eschatological Case-Study” p. 3

About Latest Posts
ONE FOR ISRAEL (Messianic Jews In Israel)
We are an Israeli ministry composed of Jewish & Arab followers of Yeshua (Jesus) who are all about blessing Israel through sharing the gospel online, educating the new generation of born-again believers through our one and only Hebrew-speaking Bible College in Israel, and helping holocaust survivors by supplying humanitarian aid.