“To argue that God replaced Israel with the church is to depart from an enormous part of biblical evidence.” – Walter C. Kaiser, Jr

 

VOTV – ISRAEL

WAKE UP CHURCH!

 

Mention the name Israel and people will either smile or repine in disdain. If one sets themselves the task of reading through the Bible from cover to cover, one will be presented with an irrefutable and overwhelming fact; namely that the God of the Bible is the God of Israel!!

When one hears the phrase, Israel, the birth of a nation; one’s mind is most likely cast back to just over 60 years ago in 1948, when the Jewish people in defying the attempts of Hitler to wipe them off the face the earth became a united nation again back in their ancient homeland of Israel after spending nearly 2000 years in exile. The real birth of that nation however, despite popular opinion began over 4000 years ago when God called a man named Abraham out from his homeland to journey to a new land, that from him a nation might be born!

There can be no doubt Biblically that the land of Canaan which would later be known as Israel; was promised to Abraham and to his offspring forever!!!

 

(Gen 13:15)

15For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever…

 

Israel’s turbulent history has been fraught with blessings and many cursings; blessings whilst they set their hearts to walk with their God, but cursings when they departed from His ways. Their fractured history has been replete with much bloodshed, persecution and affliction. Yet despite Israel’s continual wandering away from their first love; God has not and NEVER will wash His hands of His covenanted people!

 

(JEREMIAH 31: 35-37)

35Thus sayeth the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: 36If those ordinances depart from before me, sayeth the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. 37Thus sayeth the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, sayeth the LORD.

 

(Gen 15:1-21)

The Hebrew word for covenant is B’rit, meaning covenant, pact, or treaty. It is one of the most frequently used words in Hebrew Scriptures (appearing some 270 times) and is one of the Scripture’s most important concepts.

 

Ancient covenants were often made by animal sacrifice. To “cut a covenant” demonstrated the earnestness of the parties involved in the agreement. YHVH chose to cut covenant with Abram in this manner (Genesis 15:7-11, 17-18). Thus the word B’rit implies the shedding of blood in the process of ratifying an agreement.

 

This covenant with Abraham is an unconditional covenant. The ceremony recorded in Genesis 15 indicates the unconditional nature of the covenant. The only time that both parties of a covenant will pass through the pieces of the animals was when the fulfilment of the covenant was dependent upon both parties keeping the commitments. The significance of God alone moving between the two halves of the animal clearly shows that God himself binds himself to this covenant, and he alone is the one who can keep it.

So if God was to break this covenant, it means that God was to break his word. For cutting the animals in two, was to indicate that if one was to break the agreed covenant, what was done to the animals also was to be done to the one who broke the covenant. God made an everlasting covenant with Abraham concerning the natural descendants of Israel. God cannot deny himself; God’s covenant with Israel is forever. The new covenant he also made in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 31 was also made with Judah and Israel, and never with the church. The partial hardening of Israel in Romans chapter 11, as Paul states, clearly was a blessing unto the Gentiles. How much more then will that blessing be when that partial hardening is removed! If God broke his covenant with Israel, it means that God can break his word with the church. Nowhere in scripture does it say that the church replaced Israel and the Jewish people but the bible clearly says to the church that we are to provoke Israel to jealousy and preach the gospel to them first. To say that God has finished with Israel or the Jews is a lie straight from the devil; whose heart’s intention is to destroy the land of Israel and the Jewish people and to make God out to be a liar.

 

The biasedness of the UN towards Israel, the hatred from all the Arab and Muslim nations and the anti-Semitism from across the globe and certain Christian organisations is a direct attack not only on Israel, but the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the Messiah and King of Israel, the Lord of hosts – Yeshua!

 

We at VOTV stand with Israel despite her many failings, because we choose to stand on the side of our God who dearly loves this race of people chosen by Him. We flat out reject the false doctrine of Replacement Theology which suggests that the Church has replaced Israel as God’s new covenant people (Rom. 11:25-26). At the other extreme we also reject the false doctrine of Dual Covenant Theology which proposes that Israel can be saved without coming through their Messiah, Jesus Christ (John 14:6). We believe that God has an end time plan which shall see the national salvation of Israel and has gathered them back into the land of Israel for that plan to be unfolded. Prophetically, there is much trouble ahead for Israel as we shall see the nations of the world turn against her and a final last attempt under the rule of the Antichrist initiated with the aim of wiping Jews from off the face of the earth (Rev. 12:12-14). It is during this great night of the soul which Jeremiah refers to as ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’ that Israel shall be saved out of her affliction in the Second Advent of our blessed Lord and Saviour, Israel’s Messiah, Jesus Christ (Zech. 12:10, Mat. 23:39).

 

We at VOTV continue to pray for the salvation and peace of Israel and actively support missionary work amongst the Jewish people in Israel, around the globe and at home in the UK.