But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home. For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. And I will multiply people on you, the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt. And I will multiply on you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you will know that I am the LORD. I will let people walk on you, even my people Israel. And they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no longer bereave them of children.
(Ezekiel 36:8-12)
For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. And the nations will take them and bring them to their place. (Isaiah 14:1-2)
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' but 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers. (Jeremiah 16:14-15)
Though I scattered them among the nations, yet in far countries they shall remember me, and with their children they shall live and return. I will bring them home from the land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria, and I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon, till there is no room for them.
(Zechariah 10:9-10)
I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them," says the LORD your God. (Amos 9:14-15)
The Tragic Error of Replacement Theology
Certain theologians in the Christian church have claimed that Israel (the Jewish people and the land) has been replaced by the Christian Church in the purposes of God, or that the Church is the historic continuation of Israel to the exclusion of the former. In this view, the Jewish people are no longer the "chosen people" of God, and all the promises and covenants ascribed to Israel now belong to the Church. This faulty teaching is known as "Replacement Theology" (sometimes called "supercessionism," the view that Israel has been "superseded" in God's eyes by the Church).
As believers in the Mashiach Yeshua, we must remember that we are graciously grafted into the Olive Tree of Israel and made partakers of the covenants given to Israel. God's purposes and plans for national Israel will never be thwarted! In fact, the only reference to the New Testament (brit chadashah) in the entire Tanakh is found in Jeremiah 31:31-37 where it is explicitly stated that the Jewish people will continue to exist as a nation as long as there is a sun and moon seen in the sky! This is further confirmed by Paul's teaching about national Israel found in Romans 9-11.
Replacement theology is a dangerous doctrine that can result in anti-Semitism and false eschatological views. Just as we believe that God will keep His promises to the Church, so we believe He will keep His promises to national Israel - including the future restoration of Israel as the "head of the nations" during the kingdom of God on earth.
When the LORD Jesus comes back to earth, He is heading straight to national Israel, and to Jerusalem in particular. There He will be finally received as Israel's King and Savior and will rule during the millennial kingdom. The Fourth Temple (Ezekiel 40-48) will be built and the nations will come to Jerusalem to pay homage to the LORD God of Israel. All the nations will celebrate the feast of Sukkot, and those that refuse will be plagued with drought (Isaiah 4:2-6; Zechariah 14:17-18).
The Church is the "mystery of God," a called-out group of both Jews and Gentiles that are made part of the overarching plan of God to redeem the world. The Church does not exist outside of Israel (separation theology); nor does it exist instead of Israel (replacement theology); nor does the Church succeed Israel (supercessionism). Instead, the Church is made part of the remnant of Israel ("in-placement" theology).
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