What happens when the church doesn't understand Israel?

One of the most concerning things I see today in the church is a confusion or misunderstanding of Israel. 

It's gotten worse over time as the church starts sliding all over the place in belief. While it might not seem like a big deal, and nothing to argue over between two believers, I wanted to do a quick listing of what I see as the outcome of this confusion and the paths that lead from it. As you can see, some are concerning and, if someone goes far enough down the path, there is real destructive potential.

Did the Church replace Israel?

No. Absolutely not.

According to theologian Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, if we look in the book of Acts, the term Israel is used 29 times, and the term church is used 19 times. The two groups are always noted as separate and distinct. This is seen in many other places, too. The book of Romans makes so clear the distinction between Israel and the church, and how there is grafting in instead of replacement.

The church was a mystery, not seen in the Old Testament and only revealed by Jesus at the end of his time on earth. It has always been "a new man" as Paul wrote. We, the Church, did not replace Israel, nor did God break his covenant with Israel and turn to the church in their place. 

Does it matter if Christians get this wrong? What happens when churches don't preach the correct thinking on the difference between Israel and the church?

1. They think Mosaic Law applies to the church.

If the Church replaces Israel, there is confusion about how God will work in and through the Church. For example, those who think the rapture of the Church can only happen on a Jewish feast day. That's thinking that Mosaic Law applies to the church, that God must work within the plans he has for Israel when he works in the Church.

Israel's legal system is not intended for the church.

Thinking this way doesn't mean we're against the law (antinomian) and all about loose living; even Paul himself told the church in Galatians that the church wasn't under the Mosaic law for justification or sanctification. (See Romans 6:14)

Getting this wrong leads to confusion about salvation, mixing up law, works, faith, and election into a messy soup of theology.

2. They think the promises of Israel now apply to the church.

We read ourselves into scripture instead of grasping the right context, meaning we take specific promises God made to Israel and say they apply to us our our nation. While the concepts are true and there may be application, the specifics of the promise were to Israel.

This leads to confusion about the purpose of the church, how the church should respond to current events, and what our focus should be.

3. They begin to adopt Jewish aspects as if it is necessary.

While there's nothing wrong with being interested in Jewish culture, history, or studying the various feasts (all beneficial to help you understand the Bible), you will start to see some people thinking prayer shawls and shofars are necessary. 

They adopt and bring in Jewishness into their church or faith as if they believe they need to become to as Jewish as possible to be accepted or better heard by God. They use Jewish terms when they are not Jewish, as if calling Jesus Christ by a Jewish name is better or a sign of more "accurate" faith. They might even associate with the tribes of Israel.

In regards to prophecy, as mentioned previously, they believe what happens to the church should happen according to Israel's calendar (e.g. on feast days). While it's possible God may call the church home on a feast day, he does not have to. The church doesn't have a calendar laid out for them in the Bible the same way Israel does.

In some sense, they become like the Pharisees in that they begin inserting tradition or outward activities into their religious system, no longer relying on faith alone but making it a "faith plus this" religion.

4. There is confusion about the value of the Old Testament and New Testament.

Oddly enough, if you mix up the difference between Israel and the church, you can swing the other way and say that since the church replaced Israel, we no longer need to be so concerned about the Old Testament. Since we're not under the law and we've been put in Israel's place, we can ignore what was directed to them and focus only on the New Testament.

God's Word is necessary from Genesis to Revelation. It is complete, it is fully necessary, and there's a reason we are to be taught the whole counsel of God, not just the New Testament. Jesus is in the Old Testament and ultimately fulfills it; if you don't know your Old Testament, much of what is in the New makes very little sense.

We see this push in progressive churches, many of whom are also vocal against the U.S. support of Israel, which we'll touch on in just a bit.

5. There is a lot of confusion about the end times.

When Israel is replaced by the church, the prophetic passages of the Bible don't make sense. You must turn towards allegory or strange theories to make it all work.

Unless you see them as distinct, for example, the Olivet and Upper Room discourses are confusing. The Olivet (Matthew 24-25) is a farewell directed toward Israel, while the Upper Room (John 13) is a hello to the church. That's not replacement, that's distinction. And we already know that while God stopped the clock for Israel for a while, he'll start it back up during the time of Jacob's (Israel's) Trouble and finish it out. If Jacob doesn't matter, then the time of Jacob's Trouble must be adjusted to either have already happened or be an allegory.

So when you see replacement instead, you get some odd end times understandings, and strange interpretations of Bible passages directed to or about Israel. I've seen so many, it's hard to list them all.

Jerusalem is Mystery Babylon. Revelation already happened. We are going to change the world so it's good enough for Jesus to come back. The church is going to bring in the kingdom of Christ. We are currently living in the millennial kingdom. The church has to be purified and go through the tribulation. The Jews are behind everything, and the antichrist will be Jewish. 

Just about every strange interpretation of the end times you find can be traced back to muddling up the difference between Israel and the Church.

If you think the church replaced Israel, Jesus coming back and his millennial kingdom is confusing. Passages in the Gospel where Jesus if first offering his kingdom only to the Jews make little sense, nor does the moment he begins offering it to the Gentiles once his offer has been rejected by Jewish leaders.

6. There is room for anti-Semitism.

Even when it's wrapped in a few cherry-picked Bible verses, anti-Semitism is from the pit of hell. Being able to find a Jewish person who does evil is not justification; all varieties of people do evil.

Unfortunately, anti-Semitism is on the rise in nearly every nation (which keeps growing the flood of Jews to Israel, as God said would happen), and unfortunately, it is too often associated with people who:

• Claim to be Christian.
• Claim to be Christian, have strange anti-Semitic-leaning theories, but assure you that they are not anti-Semitic.
• Don't know their Bible well, but know a few key verses and use those to paint all Jewish people as the "synagogue of Satan."
• Claim to be American patriots against globalism.
• Caught up in conspiracies (e.g. Qanon, there is no real war in Ukraine, all corruption is tied to Jews, etc.).
• Are conservative candidates who periodically point out that top world leaders are Jews.

From the left, we've long had a movement against supporting Israel (BDS, "boycott, divest, sanction"). But now from the right, we are also seeing some of that, in a different form. Anger over financial aid given to Israel for their Iron Dome system, for example, and a version of "America First" which doesn't want any foreign aid, including that which has traditionally gone to Israel. 

Additionally, because of the "conspiracy theories" in recent years that have actually been proven true and led to significant distrust in authority, all conspiracy theories are being given equal ear, particularly those tied to the New World Order. Because people are not able to sift out the true information, the false information, and the godly or ungodly parts all packaged together, they take it all as true even if only some might be true, and think the problem in the world is a Jewish cabal.

Satan has done an excellent job deceiving people by mixing truth and lies all together, creating a chaos that pits one group against another and then, the next day, incites a new situation where within those groups there is new fighting. There is no peace, only paranoia, suspicion, and a fall to fight the "bad guys" and be a patriot, forgetting that it is God who sets up leaders and kingdoms, and makes them fall, for his own purpose.

7. There is concern about God's promise to us.

When you begin to muddle the two and that causes you to blur what happens between God, Israel, and the Church, you come up with a scenario in which you don't think God keeps his promise even if you don't realize it.

Remember God's covenant with Abraham? He alone made the promise, and the weight to keep it was on him. Abraham did not have to "earn" it; God alone made the fire pass between the animals as his covenant with Abraham.

If the Church replaced Israel, God doesn't keep his promises. How so? Because the reasons we have for the Church replacing Israel is their rejection of Jesus and their continual failure to follow God's Law. But God made the covenant with his chosen people, and it wasn't based on their action or goodness. It was based on the nature of who he is. So if he rejects Israel and replaces them, God's promises to the Church are also suspect. Your salvation is suspect.

Additionally, for those in the Church who believe that it must go through the tribulation to "purify" Jesus' bride (a strange concept, in terms of brides and weddings, that abusing and torturing the bride makes her more pure for her husband), then Jesus was a liar when he said "it is finished" on the cross. Either it was finished, or it wasn't. We don't earn our way, or become "more pure" by the horror of the tribulation. Full payment (and purification) for our sins, through incredible grace, happened on the cross.

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God is not finished with Israel, but right now, the Church is what he is working through. Soon, Israel will again be his focus when the Church has been removed from the earth.

Please be VERY CAREFUL even when consuming content by Christians, because this is creeping into everything and it's going to lead you astray. Patriots quoting Bible verses and using Christianese don't mean you get to let your guard down.