“God divorced His chosen people Israel, therefore they are no longer His people,” is a common refrain heard when the subject of Israel comes up.  It is true that the Lord divorced the Northern and Southern kingdoms, each in its own time frame (Jer. 3:8-11).  In her quest to rid herself of all things Israelite, this is where the modern church fails to understand God’s purpose for Israel, what He has done in the past and will do in the future in order to fulfill that purpose.  Religionists believe that, because He drove the descendants of Abraham from the land He had promised them, He had cast them away FOREVER.  In doing so, they teach, God did away with the Israelite kingdom He had established at Mt. Sinai and allowed Gentiles to take its place.  This new, Gentile-peopled church is, in their words, “Spiritual Israel.”  “Replacement Theology” is embraced as irrefutable truth by the whole of professing Christendom today.  However, those who seek the Truth of God’s Holy Bible know that nothing could be further from Biblical Truth.  The problem with this misconception lies in the tendency of Catholics and Protestants to refrain from in-depth Bible study and to depend on their ministers to study the Scriptures, interpret them according to their particular denominational view and present the end product to them in “headline” form.

This system of study and teaching is the direct opposite of God’s prescribed method.  To plumb the depths of His unchanging Truth we must obey His commanded method of Bible study as presented in Isaiah 28:9-13 where He requires “they to whom He can give understanding” to study His Word “precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”  The Lord then repeats the process, which is His way of emphasizing the Truth and surety of what He has said and written (Gen. 41:32).  Recall that there are four different Gospels written by four different people from four different perspectives.  However, they all tell the same story.  This different-books-but-same-message system is also true relative to the Old Testament’s relationship with the New Testament.  This is why the Apostle Paul noted that the Gospel (“good news”) he and the other apostles preached was the same Gospel Christ (“the Scripture”–Word) preached to Abraham (Gal. 3:8).  That same Gospel was then preached to the ancient Israelites by the Lord’s prophets who called it their “report” (Rom. 10:16).  It was later preached to the New Testament Church (Heb. 4:2).  It is the same Gospel Christ taught His apostles, which is the message their ministerial descendants preach today.  That message is the message delivered by Jesus Christ–THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD (Mk. 1:14).  Neither He nor His message has changed.  “He is the Lord, He changes not.”  “In Him there is no shadow of turning.”  “He is the same yesterday, today and forever.”  He declared about Himself: “I am the Lord, I lie not.”  It is written that “He is not a man that He should lie.”  He spoke only Truth.  He said that His covenant with the seed of Abraham was eternal.  This means that it still exists today.

It is imperative that we understand exactly who Israel was, is and will forever be in the eyes of God.  As I have stated before, the Holy Bible was written to, for and about ISRAEL.  The only time Gentiles are mentioned in the Old Testament is when they came in contact with Israel–God’s “light to the Gentiles.”  In the New Testament, Gentiles are mentioned as heathen people who are given the opportunity to come to Israel’s light.  That light is God’s Law/Truth/commandments that is reflected by those who make up “the Israel of God”–His true church (Gal. 6:16).  These are they who prove their love for Him by obeying His commandments (Mt. 19:17/ Jn. 14:15,23) and therefore produce His light.  It is through obedience to Him that they produce the light Gentile believers “come to” (Isa. 60:3/ Mat. 5:14).  Jesus states in John 15:10 that the only way one can remain in God’s love is to keep His commandments (Law), and that Jesus Himself remained in God’s love ONLY BY OBEYING THEM.  This is the central message of the Gospel, the same Gospel Christ preached to Abraham and to His apostles.  It is the same Gospel His apostles (then and now) preach to those who would join God’s family today.  To keep the Law, which results in holiness and righteousness, the end result of which is eternal life.  Read Romans 5:21, 6:22 and Matthew 10:22 for verification of that fact.  First John 3:4 states: “To transgress the Law is sin; for sin is the transgression of the Law.”  Therefore, to keep the Law is holiness/righteousness which are necessary for salvation.

The idea that God has cast Israel away forever is not true.  He made an everlasting covenant with Abraham concerning his descendants and will not break it.  Recall that His covenant would last as long as there was a sun and a moon in heaven and as long as an Israelite on earth.  Let us consult a few of the statements God made concerning Israel relative to her place in His heart.  In Leviticus 26 God warned the Israels that if they continued to sin He would remove them from the Promised Land and send them to the lands of the heathen (vs 41).  However, in the 44th verse He promised that, even after being defeated and made slaves of their enemies, He would bring them back to Him.  This promise is repeated in Deuteronomy 4:26-31.  In Isaiah 41:8,9, after sinning Israel had been globally scattered, we find the Lord promising not to cast them away permanently.  Then in Malachi 3:6 He says to Israel: “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob (Israel) are not consumed.”

The Word Who became Jesus of Nazareth (Jn. 1:1-4,14) was Israel’s God during Old Testament times.  He was the God Adam and Eve conversed with in Eden.  He was the God with whom Cain, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, et al dealt with face-to-face.  Read The God of the Old Testament.  Key word–Old.  When He came to earth as Jesus of Nazareth He declared: “I was sent ONLY to the lost sheep of the House of Israel” (Mat. 15:24).  Would He have come to earth in search of people who did not exist?  In Romans 15:8 it is written of Him that He came to earth to “confirm the promises made to the fathers” (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob).  In answering his own question, “Has God cast away His people?” the Apostle Paul stated: “God has not cast away His people” (Rom. 11:1,2).  The Apostle James addressed his epistle to the tribes of Israel which God had scattered abroad.  The Apostle Peter addressed his epistles to the same people.  Read God’s Eternal Harvest.  Key word–Harvest.

In Jeremiah 31:10 the prophet writes: “And I (God) will declare it (His Word/Law) in the isles ‘afar off.’  He Who has scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.”  Jeremiah and Isaiah confirm this Truth in Jer. 32:37-44 and Isa. 43:5,6 respectively.  In Jeremiah 18 the prophet notes that just as the potter’s clay was marred (made useless) in the hands of the potter, Israel would be chosen a second time and remolded into a perfect vessel.  In Jeremiah 46:27 God told the people of Israel that He would save them and their descendants though they were “afar off.”  Though they would have wandered far from Him, He would bring them back to Him.  He made the same promise in Ezekiel 20:34.  In the 14th and 19th verses of Amos 9 God promises Israel that He will bring them back to the land that He had given them because of Abraham’s obedience.  He also promised that they would never again leave it.

But much change in the hearts of the world’s Israelites will have to take place before those promises can come to fruition.  Those who are physical Israelites but spiritual Gentiles (heathen) must become “Spiritual Israelites”–God’s true church–also called the Israel of God.  God makes the same offer to physical and spiritual Gentiles who wish to become “spiritual Israel” by obeying His Law.  L.J.