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Did the Christian Church replace Israel or do believers still need to be grafted into Israel? Replacement Theology teaches that the Jews are no longer God’s covenant chosen people and that the Church, originally the Catholic Church and now the Christian Church in general, has replaced Israel as the ‘new Israel.’ This article will reveal what Scripture says about the Jews as being God’s chosen people, and will expose Replacement Theology as a deception conjured up and promulgated by the early Christian Church leaders.

Replacement Theology was promoted and taught by early Christian Church teachers such as Justin Martyr, Ignatius, Tertullian, Origen, Eusebius, John Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, and Martin Luther. All these men, motivated by hatred of the Jews and a desire to separate Christianity from them, taught that God’s covenant with the Jews was no longer valid and that the Christian Church has now replaced the Jews as God’s chosen people.

The Catholic Church to this day teaches that it is the kingdom of God on Earth – the new Israel, its pope is God’s prime minister, the Vatican is the new temple built over the tomb of Peter (“Upon this rock I will build My church” – Matthew 16:18), and the Eucharist has replaced the Passover Meal.

JOHN 4:22:
“You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.”

Yeshua (Jesus) said that salvation was of the Jews. In this He meant that everything concerning salvation came forth from the Jews: the Torah (law), the prophets, the Scriptures (Tanakh and B’rit Hadashah / Old and New Testaments), the apostles, and He Himself – the Messiah (Christ).

ISRAEL, THE FIG TREE

MATTHEW 21:19:
And seeing a fig tree by the road, Yeshua (Jesus) came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.

MARK 11:13-14,20-21:
And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, Yeshua (Jesus) went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response Yeshua (Jesus) said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.”
Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”

LUKE 13:6-9:
Yeshua (Jesus) also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’”

National Israel, the Jews, are represented as the fig tree throughout Scripture. Yeshua (Jesus) did curse a fig tree, and in doing so symbolically cursed the Jews of national Israel, whom He knew were destined to reject Him as their Messiah. He proclaimed that no spiritual fruit would ever come forth from national Israel again (in this age).

No spiritual fruit has come forth from Israel, as Yeshua (Jesus) stated. The Good News of the Gospel of Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ), first proclaimed by the Jewish apostles, this fruit has been spread throughout the world by the Gentiles. The fact that Gentile Christians have spread the gospel message throughout the world does not mean that the Christian Church has replaced the Jews as God’s chosen people.

THE HEBRAIC JEWS OF ISRAEL, GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE

DEUTERONOMY 7:6:
YHWH (the Lord) your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.

THE COVENANT PROMISE TO ABRAHAM

GENESIS 17:7:
I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, FOR AN EVERLASTING COVENANT, TO BE GOD TO YOU AND YOUR DESCENDANTS AFTER YOU.

ALL BELIEVERS, JEWS AND GENTILES, ARE SPIRITUAL ISRAEL ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT PROMISE MADE TO ABRAHAM

GALATIANS 3:26-29:
For you are all sons of God through faith in Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus). For as many of you as were baptized into Messiah (Christ) have put on Messiah (Christ). There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus). And if you are Messiah’s (Christ’s), THEN YOU ARE ABRAHAM’S SEED, AND HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE PROMISE.

Gentile believers have been grafted into spiritual Israel as Abraham’s seed, through faith, not through being descendants of Abraham, and are heirs to God’s kingdom according to the covenant promise God made to Abraham.

RUTH, THROUGH FAITH AND LOVE, GRAFTED HERSELF INTO NATIONAL AND SPIRITUAL ISRAEL – GOD’S KINGDOM

RUTH 1:16:
Ruth said: For wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.

THE JEWS WERE BROKEN OFF FROM SPIRITUAL ISRAEL, GOD’S KINGDOM, AND THE GENTILES WERE GRAFTED INTO SPIRITUAL ISRAEL

ROMANS 11:17-32:
And if some of the branches were broken off [JEWS], and you [GENTILES], being a wild olive tree [A SEPARATE GENTILE TREE], were grafted in among them [SPIRITUAL ISRAEL], and with them [SPIRITUAL ISRAEL] became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree [GOD’S KINGDOM], do not boast against the branches [JEWS]. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root [YESHUA (JESUS)], but the root [YESHUA (JESUS)] supports you [GENTILES]. You [GENTILES] will say then, “Branches [JEWS] were broken off that I [A GENTILE] might be grafted in.” Well said. Because of unbelief they [JEWS] were broken off, and you [GENTILES] stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear [GOD]. For if God did not spare the natural branches [JEWS], He may not spare you [GENTILES] either. And they [JEWS] also, if they [JEWS] do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them [JEWS] in again. For if you [GENTILES] were cut out of the olive tree [BABYLON] which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree [GOD’S KINGDOM], how much more will these [JEWS], who are natural branches [NATURAL DESCENDANTS OF ABRAHAM], be grafted [BACK] into their own olive tree [SPIRITUAL ISRAEL – GOD’S KINGDOM]? For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel [JEWS] until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in [BEEN GRAFTED INTO GOD’S KINGDOM]. And so all Israel [JEWS AND GENTILES] will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer [YESHUA / JESUS] will come out of Zion [JERUSALEM], And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob [JUDEA]. For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” Concerning the gospel they [JEWS] are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election [THE CHOSEN PEOPLE] they [THE JEWS] are beloved for the sake of the fathers [ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB]. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you [GENTILES] were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their [JEWS] disobedience, even so these [GENTILES] also have now been disobedient [TO THE TORAH (LAW)], that through the mercy shown you [GENTILES] they [JEWS] also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them [JEWS] all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all [JEWS AND GENTILES].

Concerning the election, the Messiah-denying Jews (God’s chosen elect) are beloved for the sake of the fathers of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Romans 11:28).

THE JEWS HAVE BEEN DENIED THE TRUTH ABOUT THEIR MESSIAH

The two branches of Mystery Babylon will not prevail against the word of God being revealed to His people. During the Dark Ages (500-1500 A.D.), the Roman Catholic Church forbade people from possessing their own bibles and reading from the Scriptures. The Catholic Church burned bibles along with anyone who possessed one. Pharisaic Talmudic Judaism forbids Jews from reading from the B’rit Hadashah (New Testament). As Roman Catholicism failed to prevent the printed Scriptures from being distributed to the Gentile peoples, so too will Talmudic Judaism fail to prevent the Jewish population from discovering their Messiah through the B’rit Hadashah and through Messianics who are presenting the truth of their Messiah to them.

THE JEWS OF NATIONAL ISRAEL ARE GOD’S LOST SHEEP

MATTHEW 15:24:
But Yeshua (Jesus) answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

JOHN 10:11-16:
“I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep [JEWS], and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep [JEWS]. And other sheep [GENTILES] I have which are not of this fold [JEWS]; them also I must bring, and they [GENTILES] will hear My voice; and there will be one flock [JEWS AND GENTILES] and one shepherd [YESHUA (JESUS)].”

The Jews, the natural branches, will be grafted back into the olive tree (spiritual Israel – God’s kingdom), when they call upon Yeshua (Jesus) in their darkest hour, when the armies of the world descend upon national Israel and He returns to save them from annihilation.

MATTHEW 24:21-22; MARK 13:19-20:
“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s [JEWS] sake those days will be shortened.”

LUKE 13:35:
“See! Your house [ISRAEL] is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you [JEWS], you [JEWS] shall not see Me until the [END] time comes when you [JEWS] say, ‘Blessed is He [YESHUA (JESUS)] who comes in the name of YHWH (the Lord)!’”

The story of Ruth serves as an example that God’s chosen people – the Jews, are not to be replaced, but joined (Ruth 1:16). The early Christian Church separated itself from the Jews, but did not replace the Jews as God’s new chosen people and are not the New Israel. Yeshua (Jesus) didn’t come to start a new religion: Christianity, He came to be the Messiah of the already established faith. Christian believers are destined to join with Jewish believers and be grafted in together as one flock into spiritual Israel – God’s kingdom (John 10:16). All believers are spiritual Israel and heirs of God’s kingdom through the covenant promise given to Abraham (Galatians 3:29). Gentiles are the wild branches grafted into the olive tree (spiritual Israel – God’s kingdom), the root of which is Yeshua (Jesus). The natural branches, the Jews, will be grafted back into the olive tree when they eventually come to accept Yeshua (Jesus) as their Lord and Savior (Luke 13:35).