Embracing Unity: Unveiling the Interwoven Tapestry of Israel, the Church, and Our Shared Faith
The year was 2002, and our family lived in Merrimack, New Hampshire. We began attending a conservative Baptist Church just down the street, a traditional New England church building with a white steeple and bell tower. I was a new believer in Jesus but was confused about Christianity. Did my Jewish heritage mean anything? After all, I knew that Jesus was a Jewish man. And wasn’t His actual name Joshua, pronounced Yehoshua in Hebrew?
Was Christianity an entirely new religion, or was it an offshoot of Judaism? And what exactly is a church? Has the church, in some way, now replaced Israel? How did the church become disconnected from its Jewish and Hebraic foundation if so?
I understood Israel to be the nation and the people of God. However, the church comprised many nationalities, most of whom were not Jewish. How could we, as Jews, the natural descendants of Abraham, fit into this seemingly large mass of Gentile Christians? Were we now required to relinquish our Jewish identity? For some reason, none of the churches my wife and I had been attending resembled the Jewish culture and religion I had grown up with. I had so many questions.
Years earlier, I chose to walk away from my Jewish heritage by moving from Israel back to the United States. Sadly, at that time, I also felt that being Jewish was something to be ashamed of. In my mind, we were a messy group of stereotyped people that the world seemed to hate for no explainable reason. And I believed that by concealing my Jewish heritage and blending into American culture, I might finally be accepted in the world.
Strangely, the opposite happened. I found myself continually questioned in a rather negative light about my ethnic background, and even encountered anti-Semitism in high school, college, and later in the workplace. Claiming myself to be of German-Italian nationality usually diffused most tense conversations. But now, as a true Christian believer in Yeshua, I found myself longing to embrace my lost heritage.
I spent the next several years intensely studying the bible. Equipped with a new-found understanding of Old and New Testament scripture, it was evident that God held a mysterious love for the Jewish people. I suddenly found myself feeling blessed because of my heritage and not cursed. But all these questions about the church and Israel remained unanswered. So, the Lord took me on a journey of historical reading that brought into perspective the transition of the early church. From my study, it seemed as though pride and religiosity had taken the church away from its Jewish foundation.
Christianity was about having a life-long personal relationship with the God of Israel. This relationship was enabled through the sacrifice of Yeshua, the King and the Savior of Israel. This relationship was rooted in God’s love for all people and, very significantly, the Jewish people. But the church, from my perspective, had evolved into a man-made institution of religious denominations segregated over contradicting theologies that, for the most part, diminished, if not outright rejected, the Jewish people and the nation of Israel.[i]
I lived in a “no man’s land” between two worlds. The Jewish world continued to reject its Jewish Messiah, and the Gentile world seemed to ignore the Jewishness of its Messiah. How would the two be reconciled into one? And, would this reconciliation somehow cause us, as Jews, to lose or give up our Jewish heritage?
God already held the answers, and the scriptures told His story. God’s plan was simple and yet marvelously hidden. This mystery would unfold over generations, starting with Abraham. God chose one person from whom the entire foundation of God’s Kingdom would unfold.[ii] Then, the great nation of Israel would emerge through Isaac and Jacob. Israel was to become God’s family, whom the Lord had chosen out of every nation, to be His special treasure and heritage. And they were to be a gift to all nations. Because from them would come one seed, the Messiah, Yeshua—the Savior of the world.[iii]
Israel was to become a light to the Gentiles and a blessing to every nation, bringing God’s message of salvation to every person and filling the whole earth with His blessings.[iv] The nations were to be grafted into Israel, which are called the natural branches of Abraham. Together with the Gentiles, in Christ, we become one people of God comprised of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.[v]
God’s simple plan unfolds with yet another dimension. Israel fails in her calling and largely rejects her Messiah. Therefore, the Lord fulfilled His prophecy by turning to the Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy.[vi] The Gentiles, now grafted into Israel, would join their Messianic-Jewish brethren as “one new man” in Christ to complete the great commission.[vii] In provoking Israel to jealousy, the Gentiles were to arouse the unsaved Jewish people to accept their Messiah and fulfill their calling to become a light to the nations. Now, joining with their Gentile brothers as one people of God, the message of salvation would go from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.[viii] Then, in the fullness of time, Yeshua would return with His congregation of saints to Jerusalem to establish His earthly kingdom over all the nations.[ix]
But something went wrong. A root of division and a spirit of anti-Semitism had taken hold within the church, starting as early as the first century. Tertullian, a foundational pillar of the Catholic Church and called the “father of Latin Christianity,” writes to The Jews about the Law of Moses.
He says this: “Out of the womb of Rebecca, two peoples and two nations were about to proceed—of course those of the Jews, that is, of Israel; and of the Gentiles, that is ours. Each, then, was called a people and a nation; lest, from the nuncupative appellation, any should dare to claim for himself the privilege of grace. For God ordained two peoples and two nations as about to proceed out of the womb of one woman…”
Two peoples and two nations? Yeshua said: “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16, NKJV).[x] Jesus affirmed there would be one people, not two.
Tertullian is essentially saying that God has two chosen people groups—Israel, the lineage of Jacob, and the Gentiles, the lineage of Esau. His writing is not scriptural. There is only the Jewish Messiah and His atonement for both Jews and Gentiles. Yeshua Himself said: “For salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). Tertullian’s writings also became the foundation for modern-day Palestinian liberation theology.
This teaching was advanced by the Roman Catholic Church in the 1960s, saying that Esau, not Jacob, is the recipient of the covenant promises.[xi] And yet Paul contradicted this idea, saying, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen” (Romans 9:3-5).
Paul affirms that all the covenant promises belong to the descendants of Jacob. And to Esau? The Lord said: “But Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage For the jackals of the wilderness” (Malachi 1:3). The scripture is clear. Through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God would establish His covenant and bring forth His Messiah. So, how can Esau be the father of the church? He cannot, and Tertullian’s writings, once again, are not scriptural.
Tertullian has written the first literary piece on supersessionism, which we call replacement theology. This false theology has served as the foundational teaching of the Catholic Church for centuries. It replaces the Hebraic foundation of the church with a new Gentile foundation—one that came through the lineage of Esau, not Jacob.
While the Catholic church denies adherence to replacement theology, the church’s written position regarding Israel and the church bolsters it. It says: “The Church regards both Jews and Christians as complementary and overlapping peoples of God. We are both elect… While the church is the New Israel, this does not obliterate the identity of the Old Israel, nor deprive it from playing any role in God’s plan of the ages.”[xii]
By calling the church “the new Israel,” they are effectively saying the church has replaced Israel. Also, they identify with Tertullian’s “two people groups and two nations” theology. Despite the Reformation, many Protestant denominations have continued to hold to this same view or have maintained an apathetic or illiterate view of scripture that dilutes or undervalues the calling of the Jewish people.
The Apostle Paul said this about the Jews: “What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God” (Romans 3:1-2). Paul distinctly called out the Jewish people, telling us they hold a unique and irrevocable calling. He did not say the church had replaced the Jewish people. And, Paul wrote this about the Gentiles: “You who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:15). Just like Esau, who was cut off from the covenant promises of God, the Gentiles were also cut off from these same promises. But now the Gentiles have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Paul also said: “And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree…” (Romans 11:17). Paul is telling us that to the Jews belonged all the promises (which are now fulfilled in Christ). And to the gentiles belonged nothing. Nothing until the blood of Yeshua covers them and grafts them into Israel to become “one new man” in Christ and one people of God with Israel.[xiii] Again, he did not say the church replaces Israel.
God has dealt severely with Israel, who are the natural branches that rejected their Messiah. He even cut them away to give place for the Gentiles to be grafted into His Kingdom.[xiv] But Paul also warned the Gentiles not to boast or become proud against the Jews, saying, “For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either” (Romans 11:21). “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off” (Romans 11:22).[xv]
Brothers and sisters in Christ: If you desire to know where God’s heart is? Look for His people, Israel.[xvi] The Lord said: “Yes, I will rejoice over them [Israel] to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul” (Jeremiah 32:41). Wow! With all of God’s heart and soul, He has promised to do good to the Jewish people and restore them to the land He swore to Abraham.
In these last days, the church must grow strong in faith and prayer, grow deep in knowledge of scripture, grow powerful in the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and grow in love for all people, especially the Jewish people. The church must fulfill her purpose and calling for Israel, provoking the Jewish people to jealousy, praying for and standing with Israel, and enduring to the very end to complete the great commission.
Israel and Jerusalem will be at the very epicenter of Yeshua’s earthly kingdom.[xvii] And those who bless Israel will be blessed and partake in her blessings.[xviii] God profoundly loves Israel. Likewise, any spiritually mature Christian will also love Israel.[xix] The following are but some of the many promises that God has made for the Jewish people:
“Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, And set up My standard for the peoples; They shall bring your sons in their arms, And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders; Kings shall be your foster fathers, And their queens your nursing mothers; They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, And lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord, For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me” (Isaiah 49:22-23).
“The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, And their kings shall minister to you; For in My wrath I struck you, But in My favor I have had mercy on you. Therefore your gates shall be open continually; They shall not be shut day or night, That men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, And their kings in procession. For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, And those nations shall be utterly ruined. The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, The cypress, the pine, and the box tree together, To beautify the place of My sanctuary; And I will make the place of My feet glorious. Also the sons of those who afflicted you Shall come bowing to you, And all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet; And they shall call you The City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, So that no one went through you, I will make you an eternal excellence, A joy of many generations. You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles, And milk the breast of kings; You shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob” (Isaiah 60:10-16).
The Lord has answered my questions about Israel and the church straight from His written word. Israel was to become the church by inheriting all the promises from Abraham through Yeshua. The church is God’s assembly of all His creation, a great nation and a company of nations that would join under the God of Israel.
Despite our natural differences, God’s power of oneness is fully revealed when He unites us as one people of God through the blood of Yeshua and the Holy Spirit dwelling within. Our nationalities and cultures are not homogenized through Christ, but through Him and His kindred Spirit, we can embrace our differences, for we are all uniquely created in His image. We are one in Christ and “one new man” comprised of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.[xx] God has not replaced Israel with the church. We collectively are the church.
[i] U.S. Membership Denominational Ranking: Largest 25 Denominations/Communions –2004 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches show that 14 out of the 25 denominations, representing 79.5% of membership hold a supersessionism or replacement theological viewpoint.
[ii] Ephesians 3:1-7.
[iii] Genesis 12:2, 22:18, Exodus 19:5, John 4:22, Galatians 3:16.
[iv] Isaiah 27:6, Acts 13:47.
[v] Genesis 35:11, Romans 11:17, Revelation 7:9.
[vi] Deuteronomy 32:21, Romans 11:11.
[vii] Ephesians 2:15.
[viii] Acts 1:8.
[ix] Zechariah 14:4-5.
[x] Katulka, Christopher. Palestinian Liberation Theology. The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc.
[xi] Akin, Jimmy. The Corporate Conversion of Israel. Catholic Answers. 2003.
[xii] All Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Bible (NKJV) unless otherwise noted, Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982.
[xiii] Ephesians 2:12-16.
[xiv] Romans 11:17-24.
[xv] Ibid.
[xvi] Zechariah 2:8.
[xvii] Isaiah 60:12.
[xviii] Ibid.
[xix] Romans 11:28, Romans 15:27.
[xx] Ibid.