Is the Church True Israel Today?
Introduction:
We hear so much today about the nation of Israel. Many believe
that God has special plans made to the nation in the Old
Testament. But what is the truth of the matter? Has the church
supplanted physical Israel as God’s special people? Is the
church true Israel today?
Body:
I.
The Parable of the Vineyard
·
Matthew 21:33-46
“Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who
planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in
it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went
into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent
his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its
fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed
one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more
than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all
he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among
themselves, ‘This is the heir, Come. Let us kill him and seize
his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the
vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the
vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers? They
said to Him, ‘He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and
lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him
the fruits in their seasons.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you
never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders
rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s
doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I say to
you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a
nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this
stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will grind
him to powder.’ 45
Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables,
they perceived that he was speaking of them. But when they
sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because
they took Him for a prophet.”
NKJV
Tenants
are Jews.
Matthew 21:45
The Jews [nation of Israel] killed God’s son; thus the kingdom
of God would be taken from them. So God took the blessings away
from fleshly Israel and gave them to the Gentile believers. The
Jews as a nation were going to be replaced by something new, the
church. The “wretched end,” the destruction of Jerusalem came
in 70 A.D. (Matthew
3:7-10)
“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to
his baptism, he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers! Who warned you
to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of
repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, We have
Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to
raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now
the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree
which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the
fire.’ ”
NKJV
II.
Israel in the Book of Acts
·
Acts 13:44-47
“On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear
the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they
were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, They
opposed the things spoken by Paul. Then Paul and Barnabas grew
bold and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God should be
spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge
yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the
Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as
a light to the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the
ends of the earth.’ ”
NKJV
The Jews as a nation rejected Jesus the Messiah. (Acts
18:5-6)
“When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was
compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is
the Christ. But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook
his garments and said to them. ‘Your blood be upon your own
heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’ ”
NKJV
·
Acts 15:14-19
“Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to
take out of them a people for His name. And with this the words
of the prophets agree, just as it is written:
16
‘After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of
David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I
will set up; So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, Even
all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the Lord who
does all these things.’”
NKJV
Cites: Amos
9:11-12
in
Verse 16
This is a prophecy that the rebuilt tent or tabernacle of David
is the Lord’s church where both Jew and Gentile can find
salvation.
III.
Israel in the Book of Romans
·
Romans 9:6-8
“But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For
they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all
children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac
your seed shall be called.’ That is, those who are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the
children of the promise are counted as the seed.”
NKJV
Being in the bloodline of Abraham doesn’t save. Children of the
flesh are not the children of God.
·
Romans 11:1,5
“I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For
I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of
Benjamin.
5
Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according
to the election of grace.”
NKJV
Some Jews were accepted [a remnant] because they became a part
of the elect of God in the church. (Romans
9:27)
“Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: ‘Though the number of
the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, The remnant
will be saved.”
NKJV
·
Romans 11:25-27
“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 until the fullness of
the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as
it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He
will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant
with them, When I take away their sins.’”
NKJV
The
Deliverer is Jesus Christ. Jews have not been discarded. They
can be saved like the Gentiles. (Romans
11:23-24)
“And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be
grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you
were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were
grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how
much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into
their own olive tree?”
NKJV
IV.
Israel in the Book of Galatians
·
Galatians 3:23-29
“But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law,
kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore
the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be
justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer
under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in
Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ
have put on 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 Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then
you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
NKJV
The Law of Moses, which was for the nation of Israel, was only
to last until the Seed [Jesus] should come. All one in Christ,
we become descendants of Abraham by an obedient faith, not by
physical lineage.
·
Galatians 4:21-31
“Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear
the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one
by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the
bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the
freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these
are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives
birth to bondage, which is Hagar – for this Hagar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in
bondage with her children – but the Jerusalem above is free,
which is the mother of us all. For it is written: ‘Rejoice, O
barren, You who do not bear! Break forth and shout, You who are
not in labor! For the desolate has many more children Than she
who has a husband.’ Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are
children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the
flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit,
even so it is now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say?
‘Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the
bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.’ So
then, brethren, we are not children of the bond woman but of the
free.”
NKJV
Physical Israel [present Jerusalem] was cast out and replaced by
spiritual Israel [the church].
·
Galatians 6:15-16
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision
avails anything, but a new creation. And as many as walk
according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon
the Israel of God.”
NKJV
The Israel of God cannot be fleshly Israel because the Israel of
God walks according to Christ. (Philippians
3:3)
“For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”
NKJV
(Colossians
2:11-12)
“In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made
without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh,
by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in
which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working
of God, who raised Him from the dead.”
NKJV
Conclusion:
We have seen the Jews [fleshly Israel] are not God’s chosen
people today. Rather, the church [spiritual Israel] is God’s
special people. All who place their faith in the risen Savior,
repent, confess, and are baptized become a part of spiritual
Israel.
Bobby Stafford April 9, 2017
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