Israel and the Church

Is the Church now Israel?

First published: 2020-06-17 ---- Last edited: 2021-08-24

Many Christians believe that since the day of Pentecost Israel ceased to exist, and that now the Church is Israel. They say that the Church has inherited all the promises given to Israel. Others say that Israel and the Church are separate, and that Israel today is the continuation of Israel mentioned in the Bible, and that the church has not inherited the unfulfilled prophecies given to Israel.

The misunderstandings arises when simple facts in the use of languages are disregarded. Every language has several words for the same object or person: I call my wife Nancy, my children call her Mom, the grand children call her Grammy; she is called by several names but still the same person.

In the Bible we find the names Christ, Messiah, Son of Man, Son of God, Emmanuel, Jesus - all these words point to the same person.

The opposite is also true: Bob, Katie, Jill, Frank, Harry, Brian, Roger - each one of these words can name a multitude of different persons. When my wife talks about Sherry, she has to make clear which one of her friends she is talking about, her old friend from college or the lady in her prayer group. When she switches from talking about Sherry to taking about the other Sherry without mentioning that she is “changing the subject”, it gets confusing. (She sometimes does that.)

The fact of languages is:

Several names can point to one person/object
One name can point to several persons/objects

Paul writes in Romans 9:6

For not all who are of Israel are Israel.

In one short sentence the Apostle alerts us that word “Israel” points at two different objects, two different Israels.

For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises. (9:3-4).

Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. (9:7-8).

Paul distinguishes between Abraham’s children of the flesh and his children of promise.

We find the name “Israel” many times in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. The references are too numerous to be listed here. God gave a new name to Jacob, he named him Israel, the twelve tribes as a whole are called Israel and the House of Israel. After the Northern ten tribes separated from Judah and Benjamin, the ten tribes retained the name Israel, while the Southern part was called the kingdom of Judah. Jesus sent his disciple to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. He said of himself, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Paul attaches many attributes to the name “Israel.” As we saw above, he distinguishes between children of the flesh and children of the promise. He quotes Isaiah:

Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved (9:27).

Then he writes:

Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved” (10:1).

The remnant of Israel are those who are saved.

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob" (Romans 11:25-26).

Blinded Israel is the unsaved of Israel, not the saved remnant.

Because the name “Israel” can point to several different objects, because the name “Israel” can have different meanings, we must look at the context and see which attributes are given to the word “Israel”. Using the word “Israel” without indicating which Israel we are talking about will always and necessarily lead to misunderstandings and confusion. It’s deplorable when people do that!

The branches of the olive tree mentioned in Romans 11 represent the remnant of Israel, those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ. Gentiles who have come to faith in Christ are represented by wild olive branches, grafted into the olive tree; they have become part of believing Israel.

“And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee” (Romans 11:17-18).

The olive tree carries both, Israelite and Gentile believers in Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of Man and the Son of God. The Church is part of believing Israel. Saying that the Church is now Israel is grievously ignoring the difference between Israel saved and Israel in unbelief.

The references to Israel in the Scripture fall mainly into two categories:

The Israelites according to the flesh (Romans 9:3-4), Abraham’s children of the flesh (Romans 9:8), lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24), blinded Israel (Romans 9:27), unsaved Israel (10:1).
Abraham’s children of the promise (Romans 9:8), the saved remnant of Israel (9:27), saved Gentiles as part of saved Israel. (11:25).

Some say that Israel in unbelief, Israel in the flesh does not exist anymore. For two thousand years now, Israel has been absorbed into the Gentile nations; but reality is what the Bible declares to be reality. The birth of Jesus was as much reality when Isaiah announced it, as it was when he was borne in Bethlehem. Events announced by the prophets are reality. - The question remains: “Do we understand prophetic Scripture correctly?”

Jesus calls the unbelieving Jews the Synagogue of Satan.

I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan" (Revelation 2:9).

Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee" (Revelation 3:9).

The unbelieving Jews have at the times of the apostles persecuted the believing Jews and believing Gentiles; and this will continue to the end of this age.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

This event has not taken place yet. The Second Temple was desecrated when pigs were sacrificed in it; but never has anybody sat in the Temple and declared himself to be God. This prophecy is still awaiting its fulfillment in the future. There are strong efforts to rebuild the Temple as soon as the political situation will allow it. A war that would destroy the newly rebuilt Temple would annihilate the whole project. The rabbis have to wait for the political situation to change.

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob" (11:25-26).

All Israel shall be saved (future tense!). A non-existent Israel cannot be saved when the fullness of of the Gentiles have “come in.” This prediction has not yet come to pass. The proclamation of the Gospel to Gentiles is still in progress. The salvation of unbelieving Israel is still in the future. A non-existent Israel cannot be saved.

We can safely conclude that the current State of Israel is “Israel in Unbelief.” The religion of the State of Israel, by law, is Talmudic Judaism. Talmudic Judaism rejects Christ; there are highly offensive statement in the Talmud against Jesus and his mother, Mary. The rabbis maintain the old lie that Jesus was not raised from the dead, but that his body was stolen. The official State of Israel is anti-christian, and ruled by the Spirit of Antichrist. That is why the modern State of Israel has committed many atrocities.

What relationship does the Church have to maintain toward the modern State of Israel?

We know from Romans 13 what position the Church has to take toward governments. We must submit to the authority of governments, which are ordained by God (13:1). – “For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil” (13:4). But there is one reality often overlooked: A government, instituted by God, has to abide by the laws of God. If a government demands from Christians to submit to its authority, based on Romans 13, then the Church can and must demand that the government hast to abide by the laws of God. Is the State of Israel today abiding in the laws of God? Certainly not! They have set the teachings of the Talmud above the Hebrew Bible, what we call the Old Testament. Already Jesus told the Pharisees that they were replacing the Law of God with the teachings of men. This is still going on today.

There is another consideration that we must take into account. Jesus instructed the disciples to be careful in their relationship toward the state and never drink the “Kool-Aid” offered by the state.

And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod" (Mark 8:15).

We read in Matthew and Luke what the leaven stands for:

Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees (Matthew 16:12).

In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).

Leaven stands for false doctrine and hypocrisy.

In 1979, Israel gave a Lear Jet (a private airplane) to a pastor of a large church in the State of Virginia.

The doctrine, philosophy or reason behind that generosity is this: The government leaders do not want the Church to take a stand against Israel, but rather have pastors take members of their congregation as tourists to Israel. The Israeli government wants Christians not to oppose the State of Israel, but to oppose the Palestinians and the surrounding Arab countries.
The hypocrisy part of the leaven is this: Israel is openly anti-Christian and does not allow Christian missionaries to teach the gospel of Christ in Israel. Israel has anti-missionary laws. But its government gives a large gift to a Christian pastor who preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus the Messiah, in his church building and on television to thousands of people.

Millions of Christians are still influenced by the leaven of Herod. A majority of Christian pastors express their strong support for the state and government of Israel, today. Do they get perks for their support? I do not know, but they know; we must ask them.

There is no reason to glorify the present State of Israel, and to support the building of the Third Temple, the temple of the Antichrist. But with Paul, who persecuted the Church, Paul, the Pharisee who was saved, we should say:

Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved" (Romans 10:1).

God will severely judge unbelieving Israel in the “Day of the Lord,” in the “Time of Jacob’s Trouble,” in the “Valley of Armageddon.”

Praise God, today there are many people living in Israel Jews and Arabs, and many Gentiles, who believe in Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah. May our Heavenly Father, strengthen them, protect them, and multiply them. Amen!