Has the church replaced the jews?

[Ovedya]

Disagree (respectfully). Abraham was not a Gentile.  He was the first of the called race of Hebrews.

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings All,

I would be interested in Ya'akov's view if he has the time, but in any case, here are some of the reasons I KNOW that the CHURCH is NOT Israel, nor is it perceived as the NEW Israel by God, nor does it BECOME Israel, nor does it even become a PART of Israel.

1) Clearly the NT reveals a distinction between those of Jacob (Jews/Israel) and those who are Gentiles. For the purpose of salvation both Jew and Gentile shall become as ONE in the Kingdom of God toward the end of time when the "fulness of the gentiles be come in (to the Kingdom of God)", even as those now and since the cross have united in Christ as "spiritual brothers in the "KINGDOM".

2) My "high priest" is after the order of Melchizedek which was a GENTILE. He is NOT after the order of the Levitical or even the Aaronic Priesthood. Certainly NOT of Jacob "SPIRITUALLY".

3) Then we have to examine closely what these verses mean:

Romans 4:12 And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

First Abraham was a "gentile", as was also Isaac and Esau, and with this we have to examine these verses:

Genesis 17:3-5 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, 4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

Please note that the word is NATIONS (plural), NOT just ONE nation as in "Israel" or of "Jacob".

And when we follow this promise through we see the "physical" lineage coming through Isaac, and we see that it was in Isaac that Abraham's seed would be called:

Genesis 17:19-21 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

Romans 9:7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.

Hebrews 11:18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

So here is the promise made to Jacob:

TO JACOB:

Genesis 28:13-15 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

Here are the significant promises made to Jacob (Israel).

1) The Land Covenant.

2) Jacob's seed shall cover the earth.

3) In Jacob's seed shall all the families (tribes, nations) of the earth be blessed.

4) Jacob would be scattered but God would be with them and not forsake them until he has regathered them again to the land of promise.

One thing that is significant here is that there is no mention of Jacob being the "father of many nations" as was the case with Abraham. But what it does say is that Jacob shall BLESS all the nations of the earth, which in fact he did. It was through Jacob that we see the Levitical Priesthood established and through whom many, if not most, the OT prophets came, as well did our Savior - Jesus Christ.

You must remember that Jacob is only ONE of the nations that would be of the SEED of Isaac. The other SEED of Isaac is ESAU who married into the family of Ishmael. Esau was a GENTILE, as was Isaac and Abraham. It was NOT until Jacob was renamed ISRAEL that the lineage of the Jewish nation have its establishment. It was through Israel that the 12 tribes came which included Levi AND Judah. There is some speculation on this, but it is believed that the word JEWS came as it applied to Judah. Before this the lineage passed up the line through the Hebrews. Today we look at Jacob/Israel/Jews/Hebrews as being synonymous. Some even include Abraham and Isaac, but this is incorrect because the RACE of Israel, the Jews did not exist until Jacob/Judah.

So as for Jacob we see this verse in the NT:

Romans 3:1-2 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? 2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

As I mentioned above, we received the OT from the Jews. We received many if not most of the OT prophets from them. We received Jesus from them - all might inclusively be called the "oracles of God".

But UNDERSTAND, Jacob is NOT our "father in the faith", and He certainly is not the FATHER of the GENTILES "physically".

4) Now I have gone into much of the "physical" aspects of Jacob, but what the NT looks at is the "spiritual" application and thus we types and anti-types drawing the OT into view and pointing to the realization of them in the NT.

I have already pointed out the FACT that Jesus was NOT of the Levitical Priesthood, but of the order of Melchizedek. The actual TYPE of Jesus (the anti-type) is Isaac for it is in HIM that the SEED would be called. Isaac had TWO progeny of whom would come MANY nations. One being Jacob from whom the Jewish PEOPLES (nation) would come, and the other Esau who would represent the GENTILE nation(S) (plural). Remember:

Romans 3:29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:

Now with types and anti-types, it is not possible (as best I can discern) to follow the corrolatory to the nth degree. And I mention this because I have also found that from a historical perspective, the Jewish nation (peoples) is a TYPE of the WORLD. The LEVITICAL Priesthood is a TYPE of the "Kingdom of God".

and this brings us to what we must understand about the "Kingdom of God". Without using a lot of scripture (I will if you want me to), the Kingdom of God is where the MANIFEST PRESENCE OF GOD is here on this earth:

Matthew 12:28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.

Luke 10:9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

Luke 11:20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.

And as we know from our OT history, we see God MANIFESTING His presence in the burning bush, in the Ark of the Covenant, in the Tabernacle, in the Holy of Holies in the Temple of Solomon.

So in the NT, we see that wherever Jesus was or wherever God MANIFESTED His presence, that was where the Kingdom of God was being revealed. The Kingdom of God IS NOT confined to a certain location. It is a SPRITUAL Kingdom which is currently MANIFESTED throughout the ENTIRE WORLD, as opposed to the OT, where God chose to reveal Himself in isolated instances and locations.

Please take some time to ponder on this.

And all this leads up to the coup-de-grace in this verse:

Matthew 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

I could replace "The Kingdom of God" above with the "MANIFEST PRESENCE OF GOD" without doing harm to the meaning of the text. I have had some say the it could be replaced with "The Kingdom of Israel", but this in fact would do great harm to the meaning of the text since it was Israel who killed the prophets, including our own Lord Jesus, and have continued to be "blinded" even to today and are right now an aetheistic, anti-christ peoples.

Please understand I am speaking of the Israel of the Flesh, yet it is these very ones that Romans 9-11 declare as enemies of the Gospel for the sake of the Gentiles, and it is they who will also be brought into the "kingdom" in the latter days. (See Deut 4:26-31)

The Olive Tree that God has planted, and watered is the ONLY tree that CAN produce fruit fit for HIS "Kingdom on this earth". There is NO OTHER TREE that produces fruit that is acceptable to Him. This tree was planted in the heart of Israel (the Levitical priesthood - the TYPE of the Kingdom). So we see that Israel had within it "the MANIFESTED presence of God", UNTIL the verse shown above when the "Kingdom of God" was taken from Israel and given to the GENTILES (this is what is referred to by the word "nation").

The Levitical priesthood WAS NOT taken from the Jews though. Please note that the TYPE/ANTI-TYPE analogy ends here.

Now as you know, while the JEWS were GRAFTED into the OLIVE TREE (the Kingdom of God), they produced fruit, but once they were lobbed off, there was no more fruit forthcoming and hasn't been, nor will be until they are grafted back in. But they WON'T be grafted back into ISRAEL, or to the LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD, but will become PRIESTS OF THE NEW ORDER IN JESUS CHRIST who is after the PRIESTHOOD of Melchizedek.

I do hope you take time to examine these things carefully and feel free to ask for clarification on any of these points.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

[Ovedya]

Ummm.....duplicate post???

[angels4u]

I think this article says it all....

 

 HIS PEOPLE > A Covenanted People > Replacement Theology

The error of Replacement Theology Part II

By Clarence H. Wagner, Jr.

Courtesy of Bridges for Peace

In Part I of this teaching, I defined the term "Replacement Theology." Basically, it is a belief that entered the early Church that Christianity superseded Israel, that God's blessings were for the Church and His curses for the Jewish people, and that all the covenants and promises of the Bible now belong exclusively to the Church. This teaching led to centuries of anti-Semitism where Christians became some of the greatest enemies and persecutors of the Jewish people, contrary to the instructions of the New Testament, which we will examine in Part II.

Is the New Testament anti-Semitic? Was it Intended That the Church Treat the Jewish People with Contempt?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

While the New Testament has been used by Gentile anti-Semites, even within the Church, the writers of the New Testament were Jewish, and therefore their arguments, even critical ones, were from the vantage point of being an intra-communal debate, not inter-communal accusation. Even where the criticism is harsh, it is directed towards a particular group or sect of Jews because of their practices, which needed correcting. For example, even though Yeshua spoke harshly to the Pharisees, He nevertheless said of them, "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach" (Matt: 23:2-3). He was distressed that they were "missing the mark" in their self-righteousness, which is something all of us need to be careful of doing.

The clear teaching of the New Testament is that the Church was and is to love and honour the Jewish people. In Ephesians 2:11-18, we are told that "by the blood of Messiah," we Gentiles are "made near" to the commonwealth of Israel, the covenants, promises and hopes given to Israel. In Romans 11:11-12, 25, we are told that "blindness in part" has come to the Jews so that the message would be forced out into the nations. Nevertheless, we are told that a time would come when "all Israel would be saved" (v. 26), because the gifts and callings of God towards Israel and the Jewish people were given without repentance (v. 29). God's relationship with Israel and the Jewish people is everlasting.

We Gentile Christians are told that the Jews are "beloved for the sake of the Patriarchs" (Rom. 11:28). They are a chosen people who fulfilled their calling and brought the Gospel to the world. They were chosen to:

Be obedient to God's Word and demonstrate to the world as "a light to the nations."

Hear God's Word and record it - the Bible.

Be the human channel for the Messiah.

The Jewish people have fulfilled their role. The promise to the world through Abraham was that, "in you will all the nations on the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:3). They were to be a light unto the nations and, while they made mistakes as we all do, they did demonstrate the power of God on earth, they did hear God's Word and record it so that we have the Bible, and they were the human channel for the Messiah, who was born, ministered, died, rose from the dead, ascended to heaven and will return to Jerusalem, Israel, in a day yet to come.

God made an everlasting covenant between the land of Israel and the Jewish people that must be fulfilled and completed or His Word, the Bible, will be proven a lie, which it is not. God will never forget or annul His ancient people. If God will not fulfil His promises to Israel, what guarantee do we have that He will fulfil His promises to the Church? (See Jeremiah 31:35-37).

Are Jews, Jews, and is Israel, Israel in the New Testament?

Do They Still Have a Covenant with God?

ABSOLUTELY. THE BIBLE IS CLEAR ON THIS.

1) The Jews are Israelites, not Gentiles (Rom. 9:4).

2) To Israel still belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises (Rom. 9:4).

3) The gifts and calling of God for Israel are irrevocable (Rom. 11:29).

4) There are 77 references to Israel in the NT and none of them refer to the Church. Try replacing the words, "the Church," where Israel is mentioned and the passage is rendered unreadable and silly, e.g., Rom. 10:1, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved." If you put "the Church" where Israel is mentioned, then it is redundant. The Church is the body of saved believers, so how could Paul's prayer be for the Church to be saved?

5) Psalm 105 has a seven-fold affirmation of God's promises of Canaan to Abraham. This is an everlasting promise, as was Genesis 12:1-3.

6) Jeremiah 31:35-37 speaks of the everlasting nature of God's promises to and for Israel, the Jewish people, which is as sure as the sun that shines by day and the moon and stars that glow in the night.

7) The end-time prophecies, which speak of the return of the House of Jacob to their land (Israel) and its restoration, have overwhelmingly been fulfilled in Israel and the Jewish people in the past 120 years. (See, Isa. 11:11-12; Eze. 37:1-14; Eze. 36; Eze. 35:1, Isa. 43:5,6; Jer. 16:14-16; Isa. 60:9-11; Isa. 49:22-23, etc.).

8) The Gospel and Yeshua came "to the Jews first, then the Greek" (Rom. 2:8,9; Matt:10:5-7;15:24). There is a distinction in roles between the two. Galatians 2:28 says: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." This is speaking of everyone's standing before God as equals, because we are all sinners saved by God's grace and the atoning work on the Cross. Nevertheless, our roles here on earth are definitely distinct; e.g., men and women, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, etc. all have distinct roles to play. Likewise, Jews and Gentiles have distinct roles to play.

What is the Role of the Church?

1) "On this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of #### will not overcome it" (Matt. 16:18). The Church is built on the testimony and understanding of Peter, who is Jewish. Ephesians 1:11-14 indicates that Israel and the Jews (we) were chosen, but Gentiles (you) were also included. 2) The Church is related to Israel and partakers of the covenants, promises, and hopes, but we have not been called to usurp them. Our relationship is as "grafted in" (Rom. 11:17); "brought near" (Eph 2:13); "Abraham's offspring" (by faith) (Rom. 4:16); "heirs" to Abraham's promise as adopted sons (Gal. 3:29) and "partakers" (Rom 15:27).

2) To the world, the Church is called to preach the Gospel to all nations and make disciples (Matt. 28:19-20); to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength; and to love our neighbour as ourselves (Mk. 12:30-31).

3) To the Jewish people, we are called to show God's love "for the sake of the Patriarchs" (Rom. 11:28), for without them we would not have had God's Word or our Saviour who was a Jew from Israel. We are to show God's mercy (Rom. 11:31). We are to give our material gifts to help them (Rom. 15:27). We are to pray for them and for Israel (Ps. 122:6). We are to be watchman on the walls to protect them (Isa. 62:6,7). We are to help with the aliyah (immigration) to Israel and the building up of Zion (Isa. 60:9-11; Jer. 16:14-16; Isa. 49:22-23).

4) According to Romans 11, we are two distinct groups, both grafted into the same tree, which are the covenants and promises given to Israel; grounded in the same root, the Messiah; drinking of the same sap, God's Holy Spirit. We do not hold up the tree, but the tree us, and we are forbidden from boasting against or being arrogant to God's covenant people the Jews (Rom. 11:17-18).

What Happens When the Church Replaces Israel?

The Church becomes arrogant and self-centred.

It boasts against the Jews and Israel.

It devalues the role of Israel or has no role for Israel at all.

These attitudes result in anti-Semitism in word and deed.

Without a place for Israel and the Jewish people today, you cannot explain the Bible prophecies, especially the very specific ones being fulfilled in Israel today.

Many New Testament passages do not make sense when the Jewish people are replaced by the Church.

You can lose the significance of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, for today. Many Christians boast of being a New Testament (NT) Christian or a NT Church as in the Book of Acts. However, the Bible of the early Church was not the New Testament, which did not get codified until the 4th century, but rather the Hebrew Scriptures.

You can lose the Hebraic/Judaic contextualization of the New Testament, which teaches us more about Yeshua and how to become better disciples.

The Church loses out on the opportunity to participate in God's plan and prophecy for the Church, Israel and the world today.

What Happens When the Church Relates to Israel?

The Church takes its proper role in God's redemptive plan for the world, appreciating God's ongoing covenant relationship and love for Israel and the Jewish people.

We can see the consistency of God's redemptive plan from Genesis to Revelation as an ongoing complementary process, not as disconnected snapshots.

We show love and honour for God's covenant people, not contempt.

We value the Old and New Testaments as equally inspired and significant for the Church today.

Bible prophecy makes sense for today and offers opportunities for involvement in God's plan for Israel.

We become better disciples of Yeshua as we are able to appreciate the Hebraic/Judaic roots that fill in the definitions, concepts, words and events in the New Testament that are otherwise obscured. Why? Many were not explained by the Jewish writers of the New Testament, because they did not feel the need to fill in all the details that were already explained in the Old Testament.

Had the Church understood this very clear message from the beginning, then the sad legacy of anti-Semitic hatred from the Church may have been avoided. The error of Replacement Theology is like a cancer in the Church that has not only caused it to violate God's Word concerning the Jewish people and Israel, but it made us into instruments of hate, not love in God's Name. Yet, it is not too late to change our ways and rightly relate to the Jewish people and Israel today. Through Bridges for Peace you can read, study and learn more, and also give to demonstrate God's exhortation to us to bless His Covenant People, whom He still loves. Not only do we need to learn and do for ourselves, but we need to teach others so as to counteract the historical error that has been fostered in the Church for nearly 2,000 years.

Thank God, He is a God of mercy, redemption and second chances.

For links to our associates, click here. Copyright 2001-2003 Israel My Beloved.

Can you agree with this article?

In Christ,Angels :a:

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings God-man,

Disagree (respectfully). Abraham was not a Gentile.  He was the first of the called race of Hebrews.

If you follow the line from Noah, you will see that Abram was raised up in the GENTILE nations. I see no where that he was the FIRST hebrew, but in any case, the Jew (Israel as a peoples) did not exist UNTIL JACOB and after.

ANGELS4U:

Pretty good article. I only disagree slightly about their prophetic role, but none-the-less I would encourage everyone to give it some very serious consideration.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

[eric]

Thank you Angels for that, but could please supply the web site address for Clarence Wagner"s comments,  Thanks and bless you    eric

[angels4u]

Hi Erice and Dad Ernie

This article comes from the same website its from Israel my beloved,I think this is very interesting also.

In Christ,Angels

 

Christianity is Jewish

By Jan Willem van der Hoeven

Director: International Christian Zionist Center

"Christianity is Jewish." The title Edith Shaeffer gave to her book may be offensive to some, but it is historically true.

For in the beginning, the faith we call Christianity started as a purely Jewish phenomenon. No gentiles were involved.

During His life on earth, the notion never entered the mind of the Messiah in Whom the people believed that He was against Judaism in its pure form, and thus wanted to launch a new religion which later came to be called 'Christianity.'

No, the Apostles were all Jews - Torah keeping Jews for that matter, who never turned their backs on Judaism but felt they fulfilled it by believing and following this extraordinary rabbi from Nazareth - Himself an orthodox Jew.

Jesus kept a pure Jewish lifestyle. So did the Apostles and the early Church, as we can see from the comment James made to the apostle Paul, when he visited Jerusalem:

'You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law' (Acts 21:20)

In fact, so exclusively Jewish was the early Church that when, the first non-Jewish converts were won through Peter and Paul's missionary endeavours among the gentiles, the Church's Jewish leadership met in council in Jerusalem specifically to discuss whether or not it was necessary to impose circumcision and a Jewish life style upon these gentile believers. This was their answer:

'They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.

Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, 'You must be circumcised and keep the law' - to whom we gave no such commandment - It seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, Men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.' (Acts 15:23-29)

This Spirit-inspired generosity on the part of Jewish leaders to the first Gentile converts was not that far removed an attitude from the one Jewish leaders today have towards those they would refer to as 'righteous Gentiles.' These Jews hold that such gentiles need only be faithful to the so-called Noahide laws and need not observe all the teachings and traditions of Moses.

Paul, specially appointed by the Lord as 'an Apostle to the gentiles' enlarged upon this theme in his letters to the gentile believers in Rome, Corinthe, Galatia, etc - all gentile cities, stressing that they needed a purity of lifestyle based on obedience to the Holy Spirit rather than to the letter of the Law, all in accord with this first letter of guidance of the early elders and apostles in Jerusalem, as he writes in his epistle to the Galatians for instance:

'I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

But if you led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flash are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you be forehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practise such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Gal. 5:16-25)

Concerning lifestyle; as I already have mentioned, the Jewish believers in the Messiah certainly kept in those beginning days a Jewish Torah-faithful lifestyle, but they did not lay this as a bondage or necessity upon their gentile brethren.

Paul himself makes mention of this seemingly double standard among the believers of his day when he writes these words in his letter to the Corinthians: 'But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches. Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. (1 Cor. 7:17-20)

However because there were these two different lifestyles admitted among the Jewish and Gentile believers during these beginning years this in no way denied the essential unity of Jewish and Gentile believers belonging to one tree, one body.

The Gentile believers though not forced to keep all the commandments and traditions of Moses were nevertheless accepted and integrated as full-fledged members of the ecclesia of God.

This is how Paul, an Apostle designated especially to the Gentiles describes it to them:

'For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew or Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3:26-29)

In Romans Paul uses the analogy of a tree to describe this new found unity between Jewish and Gentile believers, stressing however that we as gentile believers have become part not of a new tree called the Christian church but of their tree - the Jewish tree into which they have been allowed to be grafted in.

'For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 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, do not boast against the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, who are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?' (Romans 11:16,17,18,21,24)

[eric]

Dear Agels4u. Thank you for the web site. I will proceed to give it a thorough going-over. You are....well an angel :a:

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings Angels4U,

Another good post. I would only stress one thing that causes many to adopt a false impression of the Olive Tree. As I pointed out the "Kingdom of God" is synonymous with the "Manifest presence of God" and this is what the "olive tree" in Romans is speaking of. Of the "seed of Abraham (Isaac)" it was in Jacob's seed that God's presence was manifested in such a dramatic manner as to affect the whole world. But Esau was also a part of Isaac and represents the divergence of God's blessings to the Gentiles. So we see that God is not only the God of the Jews, but ALSO the God of the Gentiles. And as I have said Isaac is the TYPE of Jesus (the anti-type). So we see "salvation first to the Jew, then to the gentile". But because the Jews did not receive their Messiah, another day is set for them for God to restore ALL Israel to righteousness.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie