The route one must take to become part of the family of God (His church) is exemplified by Ruth the Moabitess when she turned her back on her Gentile religion (one of Satan’s “wild olive trees”) and wholly embraced her mother-in-law’s Israelite religion (God’s “good olive tree”). Her complete change of life was evidenced by her words: “Your God will be(come) My God and your people will be(come) my people.” Later, having forgiven and erased her Gentile/heathen past, God allowed her to become the mother of Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of King David, the progenitor of Jesus Christ. Why was it necessary for her to totally and permanently forsake her Gentile religion? Why is it necessary for church people to do the same today?

The spiritual condition of Gentiles is graphically laid out in Ephesians 2:11-13 and First Corinthians 12:2 where Paul reminds both church bodies that, prior to being engrafted into the Commonwealth of Israel THEY HAD BEEN (SPIRITUAL) GENTILES, and like all spiritual Gentiles, were “… WITHOUT CHRIST, ALIENS FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF ISRAEL, STRANGERS FROM THE (OLD AND NEW) COVENANTS OF PROMISE (THE INHERITANCE), WITHOUT HOPE (OF SALVATION) AND WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD.” He identifies Gentiles as those “… not having the Law” (Rom. 2:14)–workers of iniquity (Lawlessness). Like Ruth, everything changed when they made Israel’s God their God and Israel’s religion their religion, thereby becoming Israelites by being grafted into God’s “good olive tree” (Rom. 11:17-24). Being so grafted made them part of the church, “… the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16). The fundamental question that must be answered relative to Replacement Theology is: Who were those “Gentiles” to whom Jesus sent the apostles following their ministry to the Jews of the Promised Land?

Initially, Jesus had told the apostles not to go to biological Gentiles with His gospel, but rather to the “Lost (scattered) Sheep of the House of Israel.” The apostles’ ministry to the scattered Israelites would eventually cost them their lives. That Paul would also die for his work among the dispersion (scattered Israelites) is brought out in Acts 28:20 where, near the end of his ministry, he noted, “For the hope (of salvation) of ISRAEL I am in these chains.” THE “GENTILES” PAUL WAS SENT TO MINISTER TO WERE ISRAELITES WHO HAD BECOME SPIRITUAL GENTILES BY LIVING AMONG THEM AND ADOPTING THEIR HEATHEN RELIGIONS. They had to be broken off from their “wild olive trees” and regrafted back into God’s “good olive tree” in order to be eligible for salvation. It was to these “Gentiles”–Gentilized Israelites–that Paul had been sent by the Lord. He was jailed and martyred for ministering Christ to them. It was for the “hope of Israel” that he found himself “in these chains.” In Acts 28:25-28 Paul told the Jews that God had sent him (Paul) and the other apostles to “… this people” (Israel). He told them that because “this people” had rejected the gospel, God would later send His salvation-producing Truth to biological Gentiles “… and they will (future) hear (believe) it.” Note in Acts 23:11 that Paul was to testify to people in Rome JUST AS HE HAD IN JERUSALEM. Paul had minis- tered to Jews in Jerusalem and would do so to Jews in Rome. This is borne out in Acts 28:17-31 where we are told that for the two years prior to his death he ministered to the JEWS of Rome. Further proof that the focus of his ministry in Rome was to Israelites is found by identifying those whom he quoted–Isaiah 6:9/ Jeremiah 5:21 and Ezekiel 12:2–Old Testament prophets who wrote exclusively to and about ISRAEL. Because Israel rejected their words and the words of the apostles, the gospel and the salvation it offers was made available to biological Gentiles through converted Israelites living among them. As prophe- sied, those Israelites would become God’s “light” to them. The spiritual descendants of those “lights” and converted Gentiles comprise the Body of Christ today.

It was to the scattered “Lost Sheep of the House of Israel” (Gentilized Israelites) living among the heathen Gentiles that Jesus sent His apostles, telling them to make disciples among them (Israelites). These were the people about whom God was speaking in Micah 5:7 whom He refers to as the remnant of Jacob (twelve Tribes of Israel) who had been scattered among the Gentiles like dew on grass. To these Israelites God would offer the hope of salvation which can be attained only by knowing, believing and obeying His Word with faith in Him. By doing so they would become the church (Acts 7:38), “… the Israel of God,” having been redeemed (purchased and brought back) to Him through faith in and obed- ience to Him. Further proof that the apostles’ initial ministry was to Israel is found in Acts 20:18-21 where Paul tells the Jews about his ministry to the “Jews and Greeks (Greekized Jews).” Acts 21:21 clarifies the focus of Paul’s ministry by saying that he had taught “… the Jews who are among the Gentiles.” These were Jews (some called “Greeks” for having embraced the Greek language, religion and life-style) who were living among the Gentiles as noted in 20:21.

Did Jesus come to earth to save Israel? Did He send His apostles to find globally-scattered Israelites and offer them salvation? Or had God changed the focus of their ministries to biological Gentiles under the New Covenant? The Scriptures answers these questions. The Institutional Church has for some 2000 years rejected the Biblical passages you are about to read. Refusing to believe what God has plainly told her, she concocted the Replacement Theology scheme in order to justify her rejecting the “Jewish stuff” found in the Bible. As you will see, that “Jewish stuff” is in reality “God stuff” that must be believed and obeyed in order to have any chance for salvation. To be continued. L.J.