Artwork by Douglas Kallerson.
Lo Ammi, Not My People – For Now
One of the issues in the world today, and which is becoming increasingly polarized, concerns what its role, if any, Israel still holds in redemptive history. Most people have heard of replacement theology, Zionism, and other terms that seek to define Israel’s place in the greater scheme of things. Some definitions, as we go, will help.
Replacement theology, also called supersessionism, is a doctrine that I do not hold to. It is an unbiblical concept that was born out of a need to justify that God’s word is, in fact, reliable when it otherwise appeared to fall apart at the time when Israel was exiled by Rome.
At that time, there were so many promises found in Scripture that were never fulfilled. What was the church to do about that? In short, replacement theology teaches that the Christian Church has entirely replaced Israel as God’s chosen people in His redemptive plan.
According to this view, because Israel as a nation rejected Jesus, the promises, blessings, and covenant privileges originally given to Israel in the Old Testament are now fulfilled spiritually in the Church. This means that prophecies concerning Israel’s restoration, land, and future kingdom are to be interpreted symbolically rather than as literal promises to the nation of Israel.
Because of this, this doctrine teaches that Israel no longer has a distinct prophetic role in relation to Scripture. Instead, the Church is considered the continuation or fulfillment of “true Israel” in God’s ongoing purposes. As such, some find Israel, the nation that exists today, an aberration.
Some go so far as to claim they are not the people who were exiled for rejecting Jesus, and they have no legitimate right to the land they possess. One of a great number of problems with this is that when asked why Israel lost the right to the land and was exiled, the answer is that they fell under the promised curses of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
It is true, they did. Exactly what the Lord promised them would occur, did occur. But replacement theology leaves the door of punishment open with no logical point for it to be closed. And yet, the Lord promised that the door would, in fact, be closed. Not only is this true of Old Testament promises and prophecies, but it is also true of New Testament words, such as those of Jesus in Matthew 23 –
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Matthew 23:37-39
In those verses, Jesus is speaking to Israel about future events. There is a time when their house would be left desolate. However, Jesus tells them exactly when He will return to earth and what will bring that about. The words are explicit and apply to no one but Israel of the future at that point. They were never fulfilled in Jesus’ first advent.
Equally illogical, it would mean that there is a group of people in the world, suffering the curses of the law, who are somehow not identifiable. But denying the people in the land of Israel today are the same people who were exiled, means that Israel must still be exiled and still under punishment among the nations. The premise is ridiculous on the surface.
The Jews scattered around the world for two thousand years were always considered the Jews who were dispersed. Only when they were regathered to the land of Israel did they suddenly become “not the true Jews” in order to justify the untenable nature of replacement theology.
Several other similar arguments, equally untenable, can be drawn out from this theology. All are easily refuted when held up to what the Bible proclaims.
Another point concerning this is that the typology of Old Testament passages, as we have learned over the years in the Superior Word sermons, clearly and unambiguously points to what God is doing in redemptive history, including the restoration of Israel.
For those who don’t know what I am talking about, you have missed a vast store of theological wealth by not following these sermons. What God will do is carefully pictured in what has already happened.
A second term that needs to be defined is Zionism. Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people have the right to return to and live in their historic homeland in the land of Israel, and that the Jewish nation should exist as a recognized state there.
It is generally assumed that this idea originally emerged in the late 19th century when Zionism developed as a political movement that sought safety and self-determination for Jews amid widespread persecution. For many, both Jews and non-Jews, there was a religious conviction tied to biblical promises concerning Israel’s restoration.
In modern usage, the term Zionism, for the most part, refers to support for the existence and preservation of the State of Israel, which was established in 1948. I am not a replacement theologian. I’ve taken the time to read and understand the Bible. I am a Zionist, however, for the same reason. It’s not because it is a late 19th century movement, but because it is a biblical movement, prophesied thousands of years ago, and which has been held to by many Bible-believing Christians all along. In Isaiah 11, it says –
“It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left,
From Assyria and Egypt,
From Pathros and Cush,
From Elam and Shinar,
From Hamath and the islands of the sea.” Isaiah 11:11
This was prophesied by Isaiah before Israel’s first exile to Babylon. Therefore, either Isaiah got it wrong, and this is not God’s word (and so why are we debating the status of Israel at all?), or there would be a second exile followed by a second recovery of the people.
As the Roman exile is that second exile, then God has performed what He said He would do by returning this disobedient nation back to the land He has called His own. In Amos, also a pre-exilic book, the prophet closes out the book with these words –
“I will bring back the captives of My people Israel;
They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them;
They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.
15 I will plant them in their land,
And no longer shall they be pulled up
From the land I have given them,”
Says the Lord your God.” Amos 9:14, 15
This presents another problem with replacement theology. If the words of Amos are not true, then God failed to keep his promise to Israel after the first exile, which he must be speaking of if Isaiah was wrong about a second exile (which he wasn’t wrong).
Or Amos was speaking of the time after the second exile, which he was. He has to have been because James cites Amos 9:11 in Acts 15, noting it has a future application which applied to Israel, the people.
The prophecy being cited by James refers to the tabernacle of David, meaning Israel’s intimate fellowship with the Lord in a kingdom relationship. It refers to a time when Davidic rule would again be realized in the land.
This has never occurred since the time of Coniah, whom Jeremiah spoke of in Jeremiah 22:24, 25, words which were also pre-exilic and which extended to only the very beginning of the Babylonian exile.
Amos 9:15 says that the Lord would return Israel to their land, planting them so that they will never be pulled up again. Either the Lord failed at this after the Babylonian exile, which He did not, or the promise is in line with the words of James, meaning that they would be brought back a second time (just as Isaiah said), at a future date.
So sure is this prophecy that John Gill, who lived from 1697 to 1771, said –
“by which it appears that this is a prophecy of things yet to come; since the Jews, upon their return to their own land after the Babylonish captivity, were pulled up again, and rooted out of it by the Romans, and remain so to this day; but, when they shall return again, they will never more be removed from it; and of this they may he assured; because it is the land the Lord has, ‘given’ them, and it shall not be taken away from them any more; and, because he will now appear to be the ‘Lord their God’, the ‘loammi’, Hosea 1:9, will be taken off from them; they will be owned to be the Lords people, and he will be known by them to be their covenant God; which will ensure all the above blessings to them, of whatsoever kind; for this is either said to the prophet, ‘the Lord thy God’, or to Israel; and either way it serves to confirm the same thing.”
Adam Clarke, who came a few years after John Gill, says the same thing –
“Most certainly this prophecy has never yet been fulfilled. They were pulled out by the Assyrian captivity, and by that of Babylon. Many were planted in again, and again pulled out by the Roman conquest and captivity, and were never since planted in, but are now scattered among all the nations of the earth. I conclude, as the word of God cannot fail, and this has not yet been fulfilled, it therefore follows that it will and must be fulfilled to the fullness of its spirit and intention. And this is established by the conclusion: ‘Saith the Lord thy God.’ He is Jehovah, and cannot fail; he is Thy God, and will do it. He can do it, because he is Jehovah; and he will do it, because he is Thy God. Amen.”
This is why I am a Zionist. Because God is a Zionist. He wrote the book. Zionism never had a beginning. It is derived from the eternal council of God. Having said that, and now to get to the purpose of this diversionary sermon, because we had to divert from 1 Samuel to hear it, just recently, Passover began in Israel.
In celebration of that, the headlines from Israel said, Netanyahu Casts Iran War as Modern Exodus. Another article from All Israel News said, Is 2026 a Re-enactment of the Original Passover?
Both of these, and all such claims, fail to recognize that what happened at the original Passover was performed by God for one overarching purpose, which was to bring glory to Himself. But this particular glory is specific, not general.
From a proper Christian perspective, what was the reason God chose Israel, worked through them in the manner He did, and accomplished His great miracles?
Was it to glorify one people over all others? Was that the ultimate point of the Passover? The answer is No. Rather, these, and all such stories found in Scripture, point to one particular thing, one main point. What is that point? The answer is found in John 5 –
“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” John 5:39, 40
And again –
“Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” John 5:45-47
After the resurrection, this sentiment is repeated in Luke 24 –
“Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.” Luke 24:44, 45
Scripture points to is Jesus. A question must be asked to establish a baseline for everything else to come concerning God, Jesus, Israel, and the world at large. Is Jesus God?
The answer to that question is the single most important question in all of human existence. The answer is, “Yes, Jesus is God.” He is Yehovah incarnate. Therefore, as Christians who accept that He is, everything else must come under that main tenet. Jesus Christ is God.
As all of Scripture points to Him, God incarnate, then the stories of the Old Testament were initiated by God, watched over by God, and accomplished by God to tell us of what he would do in and through Jesus, not Israel. This is where the disconnect with modern Zionism takes place in the minds of most pro-Zionist Christians.
Zionism is God’s plan, but the purpose of that plan, though involving Israel, does not find its main purpose in Israel. It finds its main purpose in Jesus, including what He will do with Israel in the future.
That takes us back to the primary purpose of the Passover. As I said, it is for God to bring glory to Himself. If the Passover points to Jesus (because the word clearly reveals that it does, as in 1 Corinthians 5:7, for example), then God is bringing Himself the ultimate glory of the Passover through the Person of Jesus Christ.
To equate what is happening today in Israel, in any shade, hue, or tone with what God has done in and through Jesus is… well, frankly, it is blasphemous. Without including Jesus in the equation, it becomes all about Israel. It dismisses the intent God has for Israel and His plan of redemption.
It is true that God will use these events for His glory. It is the purpose of returning Israel to the land of Israel. But, as with Scripture, the purpose of saving Israel from Egypt was not to exalt Israel. Rather, it was to exalt the Lord, and, in type, to exalt Jesus Christ. Israel was chosen to be the nation through which that would happen.
That makes Israel incidental to the story, not the focus of it. Israel, the nation, will be exalted among the nations, it is true, but only after they acknowledge and exalt Jesus Christ.
The same truth exists for the Gentile believers of the earth today. God has not exalted the believing Gentiles because they are worthy of it. He has done so to be glorified in and among them, while at the same time provoking Israel to jealousy (Romans 11:11) so that they may turn and be saved.
And why do they need to be saved? (I’m speaking of Israel collectively here, as a nation). It is because they rejected Jesus as a nation. John 15:23 says, “He who hates Me hates My Father also.” The standard thinking in Israel, concerning Israel, and which is constantly used to justify that God is on Israel’s side, is that they are His eternal covenant people, etc.
Unfortunately, those verses have a context that must be considered. Taking verses out of their intended context forms a pretext. For example, one of the most commonly used passages in Scripture that is cited in an attempt to justify faithful allegiance to Israel by Christians is from Genesis 12 –
“And He said, Yehovah, unto Abram,
‘You must walk to you from your land,
And from ‘your nativity,
And from house, your father’,
Unto the land which I will ‘cause to see, you’.
2And let Me make you to ‘nation, great’.
And let Me bless you.
And let Me enlarge your name.
And you must be ‘benediction’.
3And let me bless ‘blessing you,’
And ‘lightening you’, I will execrate.
And they were blessed, in you, all families the ground.’” Genesis 12:1-3 (CG)
Within the past half year, Mike Huckabee used this very set of verses to imply that those who do not support Israel are under a curse. I have had this verse cited to me, warning me that I tread on dangerous waters because of various things I have said about Israel and their coming temple.
The building of that temple is not a point Christians should rejoice over. Nor is it something we should support. The coming temple is completely opposed to God’s plan of salvation in Christ.
To understand this, pick up the Bible and read the book of Hebrews. God implores the Jewish people, through that book, to reject temple worship and everything associated with it and come to Jesus by faith, apart from any deeds of the law. The temple will be built not because God approves of it, but because the antichrist does.
This is seen, explicitly, in both the Old and New Testaments, specifically Daniel and 2 Thessalonians, but elsewhere as well. The reason for the two witnesses in Revelation 11 is that they will tell the people about Jesus, right there in Jerusalem, where the temple is.
Supporting the rebuilding of the temple signifies a total separation from Christians doctrines found in Scripture and a complete rejection of the full, final, finished, and forever work of Jesus Christ. Instead of elation for a new temple, there should be mourning for what it will bring upon the nation of Israel.
Two-thirds of them (Zechariah 13:8) will be annihilated because they failed to understand the time of Jesus Christ’s visitation, something they continue to not understand to this day.
As for Israel today, I do support them. In fact, I don’t know anyone who supports them more than I do, but not in the manner of blind allegiance that permeates the thinking of many Christians.
There is a reason why I support Israel. I have already explained it and will continue to do so. For now, we must consider who the Lord was speaking to and under what conditions He would bless or curse those He refers to in Genesis 12.
The Lord called Abram. The words of Genesis 12 were spoken to Abram, not to Israel. It is true that a similar set of words are spoken by Balaam in Numbers 24. But that blessing must be understood from the surrounding context as well.
As for the blessing to Abram, does that transfer directly to Israel? Does it transfer only to Israel? The answer to both is, “No, it does not.” Abram, who was renamed Abraham, received the blessing in Genesis 22. That is why the pronouncement in Genesis 12 was in the cohortative form, “Let me…”
God used the life of Abraham to introduce key doctrines into Scripture. In Genesis 15, the doctrine of justification by faith was introduced –
“And behold! ‘Word, Yehovah’ unto him, to say, ‘Not he will possess you, this. For if whom he will come out from your innards. He, he will possess you.’ 5And He brought out – him, the outside. And He said, ‘You must cause to scan, I pray, the heavens-ward, and you must tally the stars (If you will be able to tally them!).” And he said to him, “Thus, it will be, your seed.’
6And he caused to establish in Yehovah. And He interpenetrated it to him – righteousness.” Genesis 15:4-6 (CG)
Abraham was declared righteous by faith in the word of the Lord. Paul explains that in Romans 4 and Galatians 3. However, the blessing came after that when Abraham’s faith was tested. The Lord told Abraham to take his son of promise, Isaac, and sacrifice him on Mount Moriah –
“And He called, ‘Messenger, Yehovah’, unto Abraham – second, from the heavens. 16And He said, ‘In Me, I was sevened – oracle Yehovah – that forasmuch you did the word, the this, and not you restrained your son, your sole, 17that blessing, I will bless you, and causing to increase, I will cause to increase your seed according to ‘stars, the heavens’ and according to the sand which upon ‘lip, the sea’. And he will possess, your seed, ‘gate, his hatings’. 18And they will bless themselves in your seed, all ‘nations, the earth’ due to ‘which, you heard’ in my voice.’” Genesis 22:15-18 (CG)
The blessing was given to Abraham. It was based on his faith. Paul explains that this blessing anticipates the blessing of faith in Christ Jesus. He carefully details that this blessing only applies to those who have faith in Christ Jesus.
It applies to both the circumcised and the uncircumcised, but only to those who possess faith in Christ Jesus. Since the coming of Christ, it does not apply to those who are under the law. Paul exactingly details this in Romans and Galatians. In fact, Paul says that those who are under law are under a curse (Galatians 3:10).
Unfortunately, far too many supposed Christians dismiss the words of Paul because they do not fit with their unsound theology. But didn’t Jesus say the same thing to those under the law? Yes, Jesus did –
“‘I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. 38 I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.’
39 They answered and said to Him, ‘Abraham is our father.’
Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. 41 You do the deeds of your father.’” John 8:37-41
The works of Abraham, as noted by Jesus, were works of faith, not law (see Romans 4 and Hebrews 11). But the Jews did not believe in Jesus, God incarnate, the central focus of all of Scripture and the ultimate Purpose of giving the law in the first place –
“But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” Galatians 3:23-25
Because of this, the currently unbelieving nation of Israel cannot claim sonship to Abraham. In fact, Jesus explicitly told them who their father is –
“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. 43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? 47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.’” John 8:42-47
One is not a son of God, nor is he considered a descendant of Abraham as outlined in Scripture, if he does not believe in Jesus. This should not be hard to understand. And yet, people are just not getting it. Does national Israel today believe in Jesus? To them, is He their Messiah? No. Therefore, they are not of God. Jesus explicitly said who they belong to – the devil.
Why? Because the devil has authority over all bound by sin. And it is by law that man is bound by sin. Law is what makes sin possible. Unless sin is dealt with through Jesus Christ, they are like all who have not come to Jesus. They are, by default, sinners who belong to the devil.
Jesus spoke of exactly this in Revelation 2:9 and 3:9. Go look those verses up. He calls them a synagogue of Satan. Earlier, I asked, “Is Jesus God?” The answer was…? Yes!
If Jesus is God (and from a proper handling of Scripture, He is), the next question that needs to be asked concerning national Israel is, “Have they, as a nation, accepted Jesus?” The answer is No.
If they have not accepted Jesus, who is God, then they have rejected… God. That is why the book of Hosea, which John Gill cited above, prophesied that this would come about. In Hosea, the Lord calls Israel Lo Ammi, Not My people. Paul explains this in Romans 9-11. In Romans 9, he says –
“But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” 8 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. 9 For this is the word of promise: ‘At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.’” Romans 9:7-9
If you do not belong to Jesus, you are not of the commonwealth of Israel, even if you are of the stock of Israel. That is the entire point of Paul’s discussion in Romans 9-11. It is also the painfully obvious intent of the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers in Matthew 21, Mark 12, and Luke 20. Be sure to read them today.
At this time, God is doing something else, for both Jew and Gentile, that has nothing to do with national Israel. Rather, it has to do with the commonwealth of Israel. It is called the ecclesia, the out-calling, meaning the church.
The common blessing upon Israel falls upon both Jew and Gentile during this dispensation. It does not fall upon national Israel who has rejected its Messiah. This is why Paul cites Hosea in Romans 9:25, 26 –
“As He says also in Hosea:
‘I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.’
26 ‘And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
“You are not My people,”
There they shall be called sons of the living God.’”
While Israel is Lo Ammi, Not My People, God is continuing the redemptive narrative through the church. This does not mean that the church has replaced Israel. That is a fallacy in thinking based on a misguided interpretation of Scripture. We have already discussed that.
But it is just like the fallacy that Israel today is God’s people. They are not. Those who are of faith in Jesus Christ are God’s people. To go around calling Israel God’s people is a slap in the face of Jesus Christ.
Israel may be God’s “chosen people.” That is not a misnomer. They were chosen, they are chosen, and they will be made right with God someday because they are chosen. But they are not God’s people now.
Because Jesus is God, it cannot be otherwise. Calling national Israel of our current time “God’s people” destroys what the Bible teaches. The atoning power of the cross is obliterated, and the glory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is nullified when we use that term for them.
According to the Lord in both testaments, they are Lo Ammi, “Not My People.” This then leads to another obvious question. If they are not God’s people, then why are they in the land of Israel? Why has God brought them back, protected them, and blessed them? Anyone?
The answer is because He has covenanted with them. Their disobedience in no way negates His faithfulness. God has spoken, He has determined, and His will concerning the people of Israel will come to pass.
And that necessitates that we define what the word covenant means. From a biblical perspective, a covenant is a solemn, binding relationship established by God in which He makes promises and defines the terms of interaction between Himself and people.
Unlike a human contract between equals, a biblical covenant is usually initiated by God and may be unconditional (based solely on God’s faithfulness) or conditional (requiring obedience). Covenants often include promises, responsibilities, signs, and blessings or consequences.
God cut a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17. It was the covenant of circumcision. Moses later incorporated circumcision into the Law of Moses. It is the sign of the covenant. However, a sign is something that points to something else. It is not a thing in itself.
Jews point to their circumcision and say, “See, this means I am a member of the covenant people.” This is incorrect because the sign of circumcision ultimately pointed to something else. Anyone? Yes, Jesus Christ.
Man has sin. Sin transfers from father to child. All humans have a father, and thus all inherit Adam’s sin. God gave circumcision to Israel as a sign, anticipating that God in Christ was going to cut the line of sin. He did this in the incarnation.
Jesus was born of a woman. Thus, He is fully human. But because His Father is God, no sin transferred to Him. He “cut” the line of sin in humanity. Sign fulfilled! This is why Paul explains several times that after the coming of Christ, the physical sign no longer has import. He does this particularly in Romans 2 and Galatians 5 and 6.
True circumcision now is that of a believing heart in the completed work of Jesus Christ. As such, and because national Israel rejected Jesus, they are not the covenant people of God. The reason for this is that the New Covenant was given in Christ’s blood.
In this, He annulled (Hebrews 7:18, 8:13, and 10:9. Also, Ephesians 2:15 and Colossians 2:14) the Old Covenant. However, because the covenant is binding on Israel until they come into the New Covenant, they are Lo Ammi, Not My People. That will only change when they exchange the Old for the New.
And that will come about. God has covenanted with Israel and Judah (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Hebrews 8 cites that, clearly indicating that it will come to pass. As for the assurances that they will enter into the New Covenant, they go all the way back to Moses.
In Leviticus 26 are found the details concerning the curses that will fall upon Israel. These are stated by the Lord in the first person, “I will.” The chapter concludes with the following…
44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them;
The Lord speaks through His word. His word becomes His signature of assurance. Does this passage speak of one exile, and then all hope is lost? No, it refers to two exiles. Does this passage speak of accepting or rejecting Christ, who is their Lord, as a justification for His breaking the covenant? No, it does not.
Is not Christ Jesus the Lord, Yehovah, who has come in human flesh? Yes, He is. And so, if Israel rejected Jesus, is that any different than of their having rejected Yehovah previously? Absolutely not. None of these apply.
The Lord made a covenant, and it must stand. The appeal is to the patriarchs, and it is then noted in the Mosaic Covenant. It has nothing (zip, zero, nada) to do with the church age, except that Gentiles have been grafted into the promised salvation by faith. Or did you miss that, O, misdirected replacement theologian!
Should I speak of dispensationalism without scholarly support? Have I not cited John Gill, who could never have fathomed what occurred in modern times concerning Israel? Did we also not cite Adam Clarke, born 1760 and died 1832, years before the modern dispensationalist and Zionist movement? We will turn again to Clarke. Of Leviticus 26:44, he says –
“Though God has literally fulfilled all his threatenings upon this people in dispossessing them of their land, destroying their polity, overturning their city, demolishing their temple, and scattering themselves over the face of the whole earth; yet he has, in his providence, strangely preserved them as a distinct people, and in very considerable numbers also. He still remembers the covenant of their ancestors, and in his providence and grace he has some very important design in their favor. All Israel shall yet be saved, and, with the Gentiles, they shall all be restored to his favor; and under Christ Jesus, the great Shepherd; become, with them, one grand everlasting fold.”
While the land laid so utterly desolate that Mark Twain stood shocked at the curse which befell it, while the people of Israel were so scattered and so diminished that the world almost entirely ignored them as anything other than a nuisance, and while the Lord seemed completely absorbed with blessing the church and cursing the few remaining and scattered Jews, the word of God still remained the word of God. It has stood while the faith of those who read it… faltered.
The disbelieving Christian spiritualized its content and neglected its intent, but the word remains unchanged in what it proclaims. And why should it be otherwise when the word bears the mark of a Divine Signatory…
44 (con’t) for I am the Lord their God.
ki ani Yehovah elohehem – “for I Yehovah their God.” Who is speaking? Yehovah, the God of Israel. He is the covenant-keeping God. Their faithlessness does not in any way negate His faithfulness. His word is unconditional to the patriarchs, and it cannot be violated.
His words of verse 44 are unconditional in what they proclaim. And yet, let us cast them to the wind. Let us spiritualize them. Let us reject the sure and everlasting promises of Yehovah – because we are faithless replacement theologians. Let us accept the words of those who waffle in the Sea of Scripture instead. From the Pulpit Commentary of the 1800s –
“God’s pardon will, even yet, as always, follow upon confession of sin and genuine repentance. They must recognize not only that they have sinned, but that their sufferings have been a punishment for those sins at God’s hand. This will work in them humble acquiescence in God’s doings, and then he will remember his covenant with Jacob, and also his covenant with Isaac, and also his covenant with Abraham, and for the sake of the covenant of their ancestors, he will not cast them away, neither will he abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break his covenant with them. Whether Jewish repentance has been or ever will be so full as to obtain this blessing, cannot be decided now. Perhaps it may be the case that all the blessings promised by Moses and by future prophets to repentant and restored Israel are to find their accomplishment in the spiritual Israel, the children of Abraham who is ‘the father of all them that believe’ … seeing that ‘God is able of stones to raise up children unto Abraham’ …” Pulpit Commentary
How stupid. This commentary, which is somewhat reflective of replacement theology, with a minor caveat questioning if this could still apply to the Jews, mixes four dispensations in one. They started with God’s pardon being based on repentance. That is speaking of the verses in Leviticus, the dispensation of the law.
It then defers back to the dispensation of promise, which was given first to Abraham, and then to Isaac, and then to Jacob. In that dispensation, of which we participate in the spiritual blessings, was the land promise – a promise meant for Israel, not for the church.
They then refer back to the law – given to Israel, not the church – while mixing in the dispensation of grace, by saying, “Perhaps it may be the case that all the blessings promised by Moses and by future prophets to repentant and restored Israel are to find their accomplishment in the spiritual Israel,” meaning the church and speaking of the dispensation of the millennium at the same time.
The covenant promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is truly what the Lord is referring to. But adherence to, or violation of, the Mosaic Covenant is what brought about the promises of blessings and the promises of punishment. These had nothing to do with the covenant spoken to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And more, they have nothing to do with the church.
Is the church under the law or grace? It is under grace! Paul says to those in Christ, “that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:19
How can what Leviticus 26, which is in the Law of Moses, be speaking to the church? The church is certainly looking for promised blessing but are we also looking for assured curses? No!
We aren’t even imputed our trespasses, so how can we be assured of curses based on a violation of the law that we are not now, and never were, under? Are we in Christ or not? The unthinking nature of the replacement theologian, or those who are unsure about exactly what God means when He says, “I will not break My covenant with them,” is almost unimaginable to contemplate.
45 But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors,
The Lord’s words are spoken as an accomplished fact. Everything is present in the Lord’s mind – from what was, to what will be. It is as if we are looking at a train leaving a station, arriving at another station, and everything in between, all at the same moment. This verse is not speaking of the covenant referred to in verse 42. It is speaking of the covenant that was being given through Moses, and which continued to be given and built upon through Deuteronomy.
Therefore, the “covenant of their ancestors” in this verse is speaking of the Mosaic Covenant. It is about a people far in the future to Leviticus 26, while looking back to this time. The Lord will execute to that future generation the words of the Mosaic Covenant, which was made to their ancestors, meaning that which was executed with Israel via Moses and those with him. This is certain because of the next words…
45 (con’t) whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations,
It is Israel, in the wilderness and who received the words of the covenant, who was “brought out of the land of Egypt.” The Lord appealed to the covenant made with the patriarchs, but He has solidified His word and thus His actions toward that covenant by bringing them out of Egypt and by initiating the Mosaic Covenant.
He had promised to give the land in which the patriarchs dwelt to their descendants. He is now confirming that, and He is stipulating everything associated with that covenant in this covenant. And there is a specific reason for doing this. It is…
45 (con’t) that I might be their God:
This was stated explicitly in Exodus 6:7, prior to the exodus –
“I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” Exodus 6:7
The Lord did bring them out, and then the Lord offered them the covenant which He is now speaking of. They agreed to its precepts, and thus, He is their God. The deal is done. And who is their God? He tells us – meaning all people of the world (including replacement theologians)…
45 (con’t) I am the Lord.’”
ani Yehovah – “I, Yehovah.” Yehovah is their God. Does this change with Jesus’ incarnation? Is He any less God, or any less Israel’s God? Not at all! Nothing has changed between Israel and the Lord. They remain under His authority – to be punished, or to receive mercy and blessing – according to their acceptance of His statutes and judgments.
And those statutes and judgments include heeding the One He will send to fulfill this covenant and to initiate a new one. They have seven years left to them, under this covenant, in order to accept Christ and be restored to God through Him. This was confirmed to them through the words of Daniel 9:24.
The covenant is fulfilled and annulled in Christ, but they have not received Christ. Thus, the Mosaic Covenant is binding on them as a people until they come to Christ.
The laws have been given, the promised blessings and curses have been identified, and the promises of restoration have been named. Israel failed and was exiled twice. But God did not neglect His other promises in the meantime. Throughout the Old Testament, the promise of a Messiah was given.
When He came, He fulfilled what Israel had failed at. And in His fulfillment, He offered them a chance to be included in His New Covenant. They, as a nation, rejected that, as He knew they would, and they went into a punishment “seven times over” for their sins.
With the promise of seven more years of the Old Covenant for them to come to Christ, Israel is now again in the land, being prepared for that to occur.
Those seven years will be a time of great trial and tribulation, but they will end with the Lord Jesus returning to them, rescuing them, and setting up the millennial kingdom among them. And this will occur as it says in Psalm 118 (which was cited by Jesus earlier) when they say, barukh haba beshem Yehovah – “Blessed ‘the coming in Name Yehovah’.”
When they acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Yehovah incarnate, He will return to rescue them. This messianic promise is what the disciples had anticipated in Acts 1, and it is what is promised in Revelation 20. It is what is minutely described in the prophetic writings of the Old Testament. While still under the Old Covenant, those prophets foresaw the glory which lay ahead in the New.
Israel has been on a journey that has taken thousands of years to come to its fulfillment, but God, who is ever faithful to His word, is bringing them back to Himself, slowly but surely, and despite their continued rejection of Him. This is the Lord who is ever faithful and true.
While He is working towards mending that bridge, He has been tenderly caring for the Gentiles of the world and believing Jews – His people currently. Israel failed to see the glory of what occurred at the cross of Calvary, but they are beginning to see it now as more Jews, almost daily, are realizing what they had missed.
Together, Jew and Gentile are offered the same marvelous grace of God. It is that which says, “Come to Me and your sins will be forgiven. I will no more remember them, and I will cast them further than they could ever be brought back to mind.” Each step of what God has done has been for us to see and realize our desperate need for God’s grace and mercy.
That is the purpose of the cross. Jesus has done the work, paying the penalty for our sin. All we need to do is receive that, and all will be well between God and us.
The land of Israel belongs to the Lord (2 Chronicles 7:20). He gave it to Israel. Their dwelling in it, however, is conditional. When the Lord decides they may live there, it will be so. When the Lord decides they may not live there, it will not be so. But the land has been given to Israel, not to any other nation.
Their return to the land is not because they are currently His people, nor is it because they are right with Him. Ezekiel 36:22 tells us why they are back –
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: ‘I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went.’”
God’s glory is tied up in Israel because Israel bears His name, even when they are Lo Ammi. Everything that has happened to them, and everything that will happen to them, is, above all else, to bring glory to God.
And so, to summarize what has been said. Replacement theology is wrong. It is a failed belief that the church has replaced Israel. It diminishes the glory of God because it fails to understand that the Lord’s very name is tied up in His faithfulness to Israel.
Second, Zionism is proper because God, who gave us His word concerning Israel, is a Zionist. Speaking of a day future to us now, the Lord says –
“For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace,
And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,
Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
And her salvation as a lamp that burns.” Isaiah 62:1
The Lord, by His own sovereign design, determined the day Israel would be returned to the land. He has laid out their future, both tragic and glorious, for them to know His hand is in what occurs, and Jesus Christ will return to them when their time of calamity ends on the day they call out to Him for salvation.
Third, Christians calling Israel God’s people today does a catastrophic disservice to Israel, because it gives them a false assurance that we somehow believe they are right with God. They are not. It also diminishes the significance of the cross of Jesus Christ in the lives of everyone who says it. And because Jesus Christ is God, it brings discredit upon the name of God.
Fourth, supporting the building of the temple in Jerusalem, acknowledging the sacrificial system which will be enacted at that temple, and assuming that those sacrifices will make them right with God, is a blasphemous attack against the full, final, finished, and forever atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
We can marvel that those things take place, just as we can marvel that God has brought Israel back to the land. But our marveling should be because the Bible prophesied these things.
For Israel, we should mourn that two-thirds of them will be exterminated before they realize the futility of their failed sacrificial system. For the rebuilding of the temple, we should mourn that it only means a further rejection of Jesus, of whom those things were only anticipatory types and shadows.
Fifth, Israel cannot be called the “covenant people of God” at this time, unless one is referring to the Law of Moses, under which they remain accursed under the law (Galatians 3:10). Until they enter the New Covenant, the Christ Covenant, it is a galactic misnomer to say they are God’s covenant people. Only those who have entered through Christ’s blood, Jew or Gentile, can make this claim.
Our job is to tell all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, that they are not God’s people until they call on Jesus Christ as Lord. Until that happens, they belong to Satan and remain under his authority.
Jesus. He alone is the ultimate point of Scripture, of Israel’s calling, and of the calling of the church. Without Him, nothing else matters, life is futile, and only condemnation remains. Jesus. All people need Jesus.
Our Closing Verse is from 1 Peter 2, and based on where it is in the New Testament, we know that Peter’s epistle is addressed to the end times Jews, after the rapture of the church –
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” 1 Peter 2:9. 10
Those who were Lo Ammi will once again be the people of God. Trust Him. He is ever faithful to those He has covenanted with.