Question: We disagree with your premise on what God has in store for fleshly Israel, the nation. Neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament promises wholesale salvation for the Jews in the end times. | thebereancall.org

TBC Staff

Question: We disagree with your premise on what God has in store for fleshly Israel, the nation. Neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament promises wholesale salvation for the Jews in the end times. We believe that the church is the New Israel of God as the Bible teaches. It’s His New Bride.  He divorced His once chosen people. The divorce was finalized in 70 A.D. Prophet Hosea’s divorce from Gomer mimics God’s divorce from fleshly Israel, which was finalized when they murdered Jesus.

Response: Speaking to “fleshly Israel,” the Lord promised that although they would be scattered across many nations, they would be gathered again (Dt. 30:3).

With the increasing influence of Replacement Theology, it cannot be repeated too often that the Lord distinctly said that “though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished” (Jer:30:11). As to their importance as “signs of the times,” the prophet Joel recorded that “I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land” (Joel:3:2; see also Zec 7,8, etc.).

In Luke:21:24, speaking to Jewish listeners, the Lord Jesus proclaimed, “And they [Israel/Jews] shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”

In Matthew:23:39, the Lord Jesus tells a disobedient Israel, “For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Jesus was simply repeating the promise of Zechariah:12:10, where it is promised that the Lord will return, and “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” How can this be the church? When did the church “pierce” the Lord? It just doesn’t fit.

Further, how can “Hosea’s divorce from Gomer mimic God’s divorce from fleshly Israel, which was finalized when they murdered Jesus”? The Lord specifically tells Hosea to “Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine” (Hos:3:1).

The Lord then tells Hosea to buy back his wife, and Hosea obeys (v. 2). Under the inspiration of the Lord, Hosea declares to his wife, “Thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee” (v. 3).

In a prophecy that is based upon Hosea’s reconciliation with his wife, the prophet writes “For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim” (v. 4). So it has been since A.D. 70, but we are told, “Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days” (v. 5).

Finally, the Apostle Paul noted that God was far from finished with the nation of Israel (Rom:11:1-26). We know from the context that Paul is talking about “fleshly Israel,” a nation into which he was born. “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Rom:11:26).