Has God Cast Away His People Israel?

The title and the subject of today's sermon are one and the same, and it's in the form of a question. And I think it's a question that's important for us to be able to answer as the Church of God today. And that question is, has God cast away His people Israel? Has God cast away His people Israel?

Now, probably most of us here today would be able to answer that question quite readily and, frankly, accurately, if we were put on the spot and asked to respond. But, you know, it would maybe it would be a surprise to you, maybe it would not, but would it be to know that there's a actually large segment of mainstream Christianity around us who would answer that question differently than you and I would?

Has God cast away His people Israel? In fact, there's a belief called replacement theology that would then bring an erroneous answer to that question, replacement theology.

I think sometimes we become so accustomed to what it is we do in the Church of God. You know, we keep the Seventh-day Sabbath, we keep the Holy Days, we walk through their meanings and their purpose, such as we're coming up on again today. And sometimes we maybe forget just how unique our perspective is in the world in which we live and even in the Christian community of this world.

For observing the annual Holy Days of God as the Church of God, it puts us miles ahead in our understanding of so many of those things pertaining to God's plan, His purpose, why are we here, who are we as a church, and indeed God's plan of salvation for all of mankind. We understand answers to these questions because we walk through these days. To know God's Holy Days and to observe them has ingrained in you a clear understanding to today's question, has God cast off His people Israel?

Again, I dare say probably most, if not all, of us here could answer that question and answer it correctly. Who here has heard of replacement theology? Maybe show of hands. Okay, a few of you have. Replacement theology. Replacement theology at its core is the teaching that the church has replaced Israel in the plan of God.

It's a concept that because Israel fell short, right, they deviated from God's way so many times, that they broke the covenant with God, that now God has cut them off, and He has replaced Israel with the church as the recipients of His promises and His prophesied blessings.

Teachers of replacement theology teach that the 12 tribes of Israel no longer a chosen nation with any special status or special future because of their disobedience to God and in the case of the Jews specifically because of their disregard and non-acceptance of Jesus Christ. He came to His own and His own did not receive Him.

It teaches that after the church came into existence on the day of Pentecost, 31 A.D., that God was finished with national Israel. No longer a plan, no longer a covenant or a purpose for them as a people, it has been replaced by the church of God. Again, how would you answer that if it was brought to you?

I think we all know fundamentally what the answer is, but in some ways, as with most false teachings, there's an element of truth mixed in because there are blessings, there are promises that are then conveyed onto the spiritual Israel of God, the church, that are very special and unique as well. But what scriptures will we turn to to reinforce what it is that we believe about God's purpose for Israel?

Because you see, replacement theology is a misunderstanding of God's plan of salvation for all of mankind. And that's why I say keeping the Holy Days is essential to understanding the answer to this question. The story of Israel began with God's calling of a man named Abram. And so I want to walk through today the understanding of the covenant and literally the extensive endurance of the covenant God has made with physical Israel.

And to do so, we should start at the beginning. Genesis 12 and verse 1, we're going to see the foundation and where these promises spring from and indeed why they are enduring. Genesis 12 and beginning in verse 1, Now the Lord said to Abram, Get out of your country and from your family, from your father's house to a land that I will show you. He says, I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great.

He says, And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. I will curse him who curses you. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So we have here, contained in this promise to Abraham, promises of great physical blessings and national blessings that would go out then down the line to his descendants. We also have the greatest spiritual blessing of all as well, that of the Messiah. Right? The Messiah that would come through his line of descendants through whom all the families of the earth, all the people of the earth, would receive that great blessing of salvation.

You know, as the modern-day Church of God today, and I would say living in this place, okay, living in the United States, you and I, here and now, in this place, we live under the incredible shadow of the fulfillment of these blessings, at least in part. Physical blessings unto the descendants of Abraham, the spiritual blessings that come as well through that of receiving the Messiah. But we need to understand, what's critical to understand, is why. Why have we received these things? It's not because of our righteousness, and even in our nation, it's not because of a perfect governmental system.

If we could just get back to, say, the perfect formula, then all would be well. There is a better formula than others, but let's just say this is because of Abraham's righteousness and Abraham's obedience that promises were made and fulfilled to his descendants, again given by God from the beginning.

Now, as we move on, we can find the promise then passed on to his son Isaac, Genesis chapter 26 and verse 1.

Genesis chapter 26 and verse 1. Again, let's enter into this with the understanding. This is a long-reaching promise. This is not just something that was brief for a short period of time. This is extensive through history, your generations and the nations of the world receiving a blessing. Genesis chapter 26 and verse 1. It says, there was a famine in the land besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines and Gerar. Then the Lord appeared to him and he said to him, do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land of which I shall tell you. Glown this land and I will be with you and bless you. For to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands. We're talking about the promised land then as an inheritance. He says, and I will perform the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven. I will give to your descendants all these lands and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. I want us to notice why, again, this covenant is this promise is coming down. Verse 5, because Abraham obeyed my voice, kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. So we need to understand, brethren, that the transmission of the blessing all the way down the line from Abraham down through his physical descendants is unconditional. Now there is conditions to blessings, right? There's the blessings and cursings chapter in the Bible and we understand God says you do this you'll be blessed you do this that blessing will be withdrawn. But in terms of the long-term perspective of the promises and of the covenant, it is Israel might go astray but God would bring them back and the covenant is not nullified because the promise was made to Abraham because of his faithfulness and his righteousness. You can find the same set of promises as well passed on to Jacob. We won't turn there but for your notes Genesis chapter 28 verse 10 through 14. That's where God appears to Jacob in a dream at Bethel and then as well extends to him the promise.

As the story continues, Jacob's name is changed to Israel and the question is has God cast away his people Israel? So this is the foundation for the name. Jacob wrestled with God, right? And his name was changed to Israel, Praveller with God. That's Genesis chapter 32 and verse 28.

Jacob had 12 sons which eventually grew into the 12 tribes of Israel. They carried his name forward. Now down through history they became slaves in the land of Egypt. If you walk through that whole process it shows that Abraham, his sons, his descendants, apart from his son's wives, 66 of them went down into slavery or wasn't slavery at the time but went into during the famine into Egypt, ultimately became slaves but emerged a great nation. God blessed them. They multiplied and they came out as the 12 tribes and a great nation ultimately with God delivering them through the events of the Passover so that they might worship him.

So they might assemble before him and receive the blessings he would give them apart from their bondage. So this brings us forward then to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai and I do want to look at the covenant as it's established with Israel. Exodus chapter 24 and verse 1. Exodus chapter 24 and verse 1. Here we're going to see them entering into this covenant with God for themselves. Again, it had been promises. Promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, passed on down now, Israel as a nation coming up to the mountain to receive a covenant with God based upon many of these promises.

Exodus chapter 24 and verse 1. It says, now he said to Moses, Come up to the Lord you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel and worship from afar. And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people go up with them. Verse 3. So Moses came and he told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments and all the people answered with one voice, and they said, All the words which the Lord has said we will do.

Again, this is the covenant relationship. God has laid out for them the terms of the covenant by which he said, You walk in this way, I will be your God. You will be my people. And they said, All that the Lord has said we will do. Right? I do. We agree to this covenant. Verse 4. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and he rose early in the morning, built an altar at the foot of the mountain, twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

And he sent young men of the children of Israel who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and he put it in basins, and half the blood sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant, read it in the hearing of the people.

And they said, All that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all his words. So it was the blood covenant, right?

And the sacrifice, the animal that was killed, the blood was sprinkled upon the people. The covenant that you and I have made with God at baptism is in the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood is sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. But you see, this was a covenant. Our covenant with God as the new covenant church is individually. He calls us individually.

Israel's calling, if I can use that word in covenant with God, was a national covenant. This was a national covenant that they entered in as a nation together. This covenant relationship was established between God and the nation of Israel. And it's at the heart of answering the questions, again, surrounding the concepts of replacement theology. To understand what this covenant is, the lasting nature of the covenant, why God made it with this nation, and where those promises began. It's foundational to answering the questions regarding replacement theology. It's also important to note that God made another covenant with Israel just prior to their entry into the promised land.

That's contained in Deuteronomy, chapters 29 and 30. And that covenant included the habitation of the promised land. God said, I'll bring you in, I'll settle you into this land. It'll be your inheritance. And it also included the removal and the destruction of them for disobedience. And we walked through that, didn't we, as we went through the judges. You know, early sliver of Israel's history in the promised land.

The times they rebelled, went into captivity, then God delivered them as they cried out to them. Restoration, once again. But this covenant, God said, it allowed for being put out of the land, but it also allowed for we need to understand repentance in the future. Restoration. That provision has always been a part of the covenant of God with Israel.

So understand, these were not short-term covenants. This started with God's promise to Abraham, continuing down through Isaac and Jacob. It was solidified in covenant form with Israel at Sinai. And although the people of Israel were often unfaithful in response to God, we need to remember who is faithful in this agreement.

Even in our covenant with God, we are the weak link. God is faithful to his word. He's faithful to his word in the covenant he made with Israel as well. When God makes a covenant, it is enduring, brother. Deuteronomy chapter 7. Let's go there next.

Deuteronomy chapter 7. Let's understand how God looked at this covenant, the enduring nature of it, and his relationship with the people of Israel. Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 6 says, For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. So this relationship of God and Israel as you walk through the passages of Scripture describing a covenant is very much like a love relationship and the terminology there is of a loving relationship between God and his people. Verse 7 it says, The Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the other people. For you were the least of all peoples. Just think of what you were when you came out of bondage, right? You were, in one sense, the downtrodden on the face of the earth. In one sense, you were despised by the nations around you and you had been in bondage. But God says, I chose you. Verse 8, But because the Lord loves you and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, again where the promises started, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Verse 9, Therefore, know that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments. And he repays those who hate him to their face to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates him. He will repay him to his face. Verse 11, Therefore you shall keep the commandments, the statutes, the judgments which I have commanded you today to observe them. Then it shall come to pass because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them that the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which he swore to your fathers. And he will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your land, your grain, your new wine, and your oil, the increase of your cattle, the offspring of your flock in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock. So Israel was given this amazing promise and this amazing opportunity from God. He would settle them into an incredible land, land flowing with milk and honey, and they would be the model nation to the rest of the world to look upon. So that people looked at their blessing, they looked at their prosperity. So many passages actually of what God promised Israel if they obey him mirror the promises of the millennium. The plowmen overtaking the reaper and the abundance and the blessing of living as a nation and covenant with God. And the other nations were to look at that model and say, you're blessed because of your God. And we want to know him too. And the knowledge was to spread out from there and eventually encompass the nations of the world. That is what God purposed for Israel if they were to be faithful in the land.

Let's go next to Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel was a prophet that wrote during the time of Judah's captivity in Babylon. And as we read here, we're going to see, again, God's love of Israel, how he treasured those people. We're going to see the joy of the relationship, but we're going to see the sadness as well expressed by God as the people turned from at least upholding their end of the covenant. Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 1 says, again, the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man caused Jerusalem to know her abominations. Jerusalem here, in this case, is used as a term for Israel as a whole. But cause them to know their abominations and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem, your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. It shows where Israel has gone in their behavior now, following the way of the nations.

Verse 4, As for your nativity, on the day you were born, your naval cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you. You were not rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling clothes. You know, when the new barren baby then comes out of the womb, it's a very real sight. Let me just say that, right? I mean, this baby is birthed out and they need to be wiped down, they need to be cleaned up, the naval cord is severed and they're wrapped. Now you look down on this adorable bundle of joy and that's an unforgettable thing.

But God is just saying here, you know, you're somewhat of a pitiable sight, Israel, in your infancy. Verse 5, He said, No, I pitied you to do any of these things for you to have compassion on you, but you were thrown out into the open field when, excuse me, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born. He says, And when I passed by you, and I saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you, in your blood, live. Yes, I said to you, in your blood, live. This is describing God's mercy and His love and His compassion upon Israel when He entered into covenant with them in their infancy as a nation. They were the cast out of the world, but God said, I took you and I made you my own. Verse 7, He says, I made you thrive like a plant in the field, and you grew, you matured, you became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, but you were naked and bare. And when I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love. He says, So I spread my wing over you, I covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became mine, says the Lord God.

This is describing a very intimate relationship that God entered in with Israel as He took them in covenant. Now, if you have a marginal reference in your Bible, you see that the term here, spread my wing, as in God said, I spread my wing over you, could also be translated as spread the corner of my garment. Or even in some translations, I think they say, spread my skirt. God said, I put my wing, the corner of my garment, my skirt, I spread that out over you. And if you research out that usage in the Scripture, you'll find it's used in Ruth chapter 3 and verse 9, where Ruth comes to Boaz by night. And she lays as his feet on the threshing floor, and she says, cover me with your skirt. You are a near kinsman. And he was exercising then, as that story played out, the role of the kinsman Redeemer, and took her as wife. So this is a very intimate relationship. It's talking about a very intimate gesture. It's a gesture of marriage that's been described here. And God married Israel in covenant. Okay, they were united in covenant together, and now he's bringing them along as a nation. And that's a relationship that, as a faithful God, he would not cast aside. Verse 9, carrying on, he says, then I washed you with water, yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil. I clothed you in embroidered cloth, gave you sandals of badger skin. I clothed you with fine linen, covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. I put a jewel in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you are adorned with gold and silver. Your clothing was fine linen, silk, embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey and oil. You are exceedingly beautiful and exceeded to royalty. Verse 14, it says, your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through my splendor, which I had bestowed upon you, says the Lord God. So, I mean, you just think about it as you read through the Bible in the years of then King David comes to the throne, and then, especially following that, the glory years of Solomon, the splendor of Israel went out across the earth, the trade and the influence, and those that even came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. God says, oh, that was my blessing that I spread upon you and adorned you with in the eyes of the world. It's describing God's active involvement and taking Israel as a nation, cleaning them up, making them his own special people, and establishing them as a prosperous nation in the Promised Land.

But as you read on then, again, remember, this is Ezekiel writing from Babylonian captivity, there's a change in the relationship, and it's not from God. Israel takes off. Israel goes after the gods of the nations around them. Israel enters into practices that were then despicable in the eyes of God and against the covenant. Verse 15, it says, but you trusted in your own beauty. You played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it. You took some of your garments, adorned multi-colored high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be. He says, you know, the high places where then where the nations around them worship their God. He said to Israel, you went and played the harlot on those hills with those gods.

Eat it should not be. Verse 17, you also taken beautiful jewelry from my gold and my silver, which I have given you, made for yourself male images, played the harlot with them. You took your embroidered garments and covered them. You have set my oil and my incense before them. Also my food, which I gave you, the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey, which I fed you with, you set it before them as a sweet incense. And so it was, says the Lord God. Moreover, you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to me, and those you sacrificed to them to be devoured. He says, you know, it's hard to even read these things, frankly. This is a result of a nation that was in covenant to God. He gave them everything. And they turned in this way. He says, we're your acts of harlotry, a small matter, that you have slain my children and offered them up on them by causing them to pass through the fire. And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare and struggling in your blood. Verse 31, God says, you erected your shrine at the head of every road. You built your high places on every street, yet you were not like a harlot because you scorned payment. He says, you know, as my people, you weren't like someone that was standing on the street corner to receive payment. He says, you gave this away for free to any of those who would receive it. Verse 32, you are an adulterous wife who takes strangers instead of her husband. So, brother, it's a very sad commentary regarding what Israel had become.

After all that God did for them. The question is, has God cast off his people Israel? And we could read through this and say, well, he certainly had cause, didn't he? Because of their response, their breaking of their covenant with him. But God is faithful. And this chapter is describing a love story that has gone terribly wrong. It is a story that remains, frankly, terribly wrong to this day.

But God is not finished with Israel.

Let's jump forward now to the prophet Hosea.

Hosea chapter 1. Ezekiel Daniel Hosea, first here of the minor prophets. Hosea chapter 1. Hosea was a man that God raised up then towards the end of Israel's history. Okay, you had these cycles of in and out of obedience, disobedience, repentance, restoration, disobedience again. And they're now in a condition that is deplorable to God. So God raised up Hosea towards the end of the Israel's time in the Promised Land. He raised them up to deliver a message of judgment and restoration. And he caused Hosea to act out through his own marriage what Israel had become.

Okay, God says this is what Israel is. And Hosea now, I want you to act out as my prophet what Israel has become to me. So Hosea was instructed by God to take a wife of Harlotry, one whom he married and bestowed his love upon and then departed from him. And he bought her back, received her back, and she departed again. And it's something that happened over and over in the life of Hosea. But you see this was reflective of the relationship of God and the nation of Israel. And through that he demonstrated the love of God towards Israel despite their continued unfaithfulness, as well as the restoration in relationship that will one day take place. Again, this is an enduring covenant. Why? Go back to the beginning. The promise to Abraham was enduring, and it would be to his generations. The church does in fact receive blessings as the spiritual Israel of God, but it has not replaced physical Israel in a covenant relationship they have with God as well. And this is an enduring covenant. So the book of Hosea brings to life the direct connection between Israel and the church as well. Because as we're going to see, this is not a a disconnect. Okay, this is not a complete separation. There is in fact a connection between Israel of the flesh and the Israel of God. Hosea chapter 1 and verse 1 says, the word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Bari, the son of Uzziah, excuse me, Hosea the son of Bari, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel. This is not Jeroboam just following Solomon. This is Jeroboam the second, okay, towards the end of Israel's kingdom. Verse 2, when the Lord began to speak by Hosea the Lord, He said to Hosea, Go take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry. He says, For the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord. So he went, and he took Gomer the daughter of Diblium, and she conceived and bore him a son. Then the Lord said to him, Call his name Jezreel. For in a little while I will avenge bloodshed on Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and bring to an end the kingdom of the house of Israel.

Okay, this is big. God says, I'm going to bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. Verse 5, and it shall come to pass in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. So Jezreel was a place, okay, in Israel, but it was also now then the name of the first son of Hosea. What we're going to see as we walk through this is that the children born to Hosea and Gomer play a significant role in the message that God is conveying then to Israel. Hosea was the name of his firstborn, Jezreel. And Jezreel means God sows or God scatters. Scatter seed is the point. God sows seed, God scatters seed, and the message here is that God will punish Israel by scattering them. Not scattering them in the land, he's going to scatter them out of the land. He would bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel, but not an end to the people. Okay, so we have to understand the distinction that the dynasty, that the kingdom of Israel is going to come to the end, and the people were going to be scattered among the nations like you would throw out seed. They would go into captivity by the Assyrians and then from there scattered out and became, so we say lost to history, known as the lost ten tribes. Not lost to God. Hopefully not lost to us today as the church of God either, but God sows. God scatters. Verse 6, and she's conceived again, this time for a daughter, and God said to him, Call her name Lo Ruhama, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah. I will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow nor sword nor battle by horses or horsemen. And so Lo Ruhama means no mercy, and she symbolizes her name, symbolizes the fact that the time of God's mercy upon Israel has come to an end. He had enough of their behavior, and he was withdrawing their mercy at least for a time. However, in verse 7, he says there would be a respite for Judah. Okay, there would be a time where his mercy would still continue upon the house of Judah, and we understand that 120 years went by before Judah then entered into captivity themselves. Now, what's interesting about Judah is they continued after that captivity as a nation. Right? They went into Babylon, but a remnant returned. They rebuilt the temple. They reestablished in Jerusalem, and they stood as a nation, unlike Israel, that the nation had been broken apart and scattered. They stood as a nation, and that was important because there had to be a nation and a people for the Messiah then to be born, the Savior of the world. So God allowed Judah to continue in mercy for this time. Verse 8 says, Now when she had weaned, Lo Ruhama, she conceived and bore Son. And God said, Call his name Loami, for you're not my people, and I will not be your God. And so Loami means not my people.

I suppose if we read up to this point and we simply stop reading right here, we might also believe that replacement theology is true. Because God says, For you, my people Israel, I will not have mercy any longer, and you are not my people. And you destroyed them as a kingdom, scattered them outside of the land. Unfortunately for Israel, the passage doesn't end with this statement.

Because remember the promises that God made to Israel stem from his promises to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, solidified in this covenant. This was long term in its implications.

So no mercy, not my people. Verse 10, he says, Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass in the place where it is said to them, You are not my people. There it shall be said to them, You are the sons of the living God. This is a prophecy. This is future pointing. Certainly from their time, it is future pointing from our time as well. It shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people. There it shall be said to them, You are the sons of the living God. How do you go from point A to point B? How do you make that transition from not my people to the sons of the living God? What process has to take place? Anybody? Shout it out.

Heart. Conversion, right? Okay, that's what you're saying, Dale. Yeah. A conversion is the process that takes you from not my people to the sons of the living God. And so this is a prophecy showing that the restoration of Israel will take place. We need to understand, though, how that restoration takes place. Again, it's the process of conversion. Repentance, baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, receiving of the Holy Spirit of God. Again, it's conversion. And where has that reality begun already? It's begun in the Church of God. Indeed, what God has prophesied for Israel as a future is being foreshadowed today in the Church of God, and how this restoration ultimately will turn out an outcome for Israel is being foreshadowed here today. So this is where we recognize the connection, then, between physical Israel and the Church of God. It's not that God is done with Israel. It's not that He's tossed them aside. And it's not even that God has replaced Israel with the Church, but rather God's ultimate purpose for Israel in restoration, again, is being foreshadowed by the Church of God today. And just like the Church, just like the relationship that we have with God, this process of conversion and restoration will be realized by the whole nation of Israel yet in the future. We know this, don't we? We walk through this through the Holy Days. It begins with the Church. It extends to Israel. It extends, then, to the entire world.

Let's notice how the Apostle Paul acknowledged this connection between Israel and the Church. Remember, not my people shall become, then, the sons of the living God. Let's look at Peter—excuse me, I think I might have said Paul Peter. First Peter chapter 2 and verse 9. Let's understand this connection between Israel and the Church because there's a connection. It is not a disconnect done with one, carrying forward with the other. First Peter chapter 2 and verse 9, as the chapter starts, it's Jesus Christ, right? The stone of stumbling, the rock of offense, stone which the builders rejected. And verse 8 says, they stumble, being disobedient to the word to which they were also were appointed. That's Judah. But verse 9, it says, but you, you the Church, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people.

You see, parallel between how God described Israel in covenant and the Church in covenant, holy nation, his own special people. That you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, that you would be that spiritual model nation to the world today.

Verse 10, who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Do you see the connection? Peter has taken the names of two of the sons of Hosea and applied them in translation here to the Church. Again, verse 10, speaking of the Church, who once were not a people, lo ami, not my people, okay, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, lo ruhama, no mercy, but now have obtained mercy. That is you and I. It is the Church of God. It is the spiritual Israel of God today. And what God is doing through this process in the Church is a forerunner of what He has purpose for the whole nation of Israel, yet in the future. They're not exclusive from one another. It's not that the Church has replaced Israel. Israel will one day live what the Church is living today by covenant, and God's covenant is enduring. The Apostle Paul confirms this point of connection as well between Israel and the Church. Romans chapter 9, verse 24.

Romans chapter 9 and verse 24, breaking into flow of the passage here, but the point I want to pull out is specific. Romans 9, verse 24, he says, The Church is made up not of just physical descendants of Israel, but through Jesus Christ, this calling goes out to the other nations, apart from Israel as well. Verse 25, as he says, Again, it's the description of the Church made up of Israelites and non-Israelites, but in covenant with God today. Verse 27, Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel, saying, There's going to be a remnant of physical Israel, but also of spiritual within the Church that will be saved. For he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth. God will always then preserve a remnant of Israel, a physical Israel, but we understand today he's preserved a remnant of the descendants of Israel in the Church as part of that spiritual model nation today as well. And so this is what God has given us through Jesus Christ, not as a replacement, but as a forerunner of what he is offering to all of Israel. Romans chapter 11 in verse 1, continuing on with the Apostle Paul, I guess we could have just jumped here. Could have read this one verse and answered the question, but we would have missed out on a whole lot of interesting passages along the way. But Romans chapter 11 verse 1, I say then, has God cast away his people? Well, there's at least a segment of Christianity that says yes, Israel replaced with the Church. But what does Paul say? Certainly not. For I am also an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew.

All of those covenants, all the agreements in the covenants, all the promises in the covenant of God that he made with Israel are still in effect today, and he will still fulfill them. He purposes to fulfill them in the millennium when he has regathered again to the land, resettled them as his people. Let's go down to verse 11. Romans chapter 11 verse 11, I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not. But through their fall to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now, if their fall is riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness? There's a purpose that God is working out here by which the call would go out to the Gentiles for a time, that they could become a part of physical Israel in addition to spiritual Israel, in addition to physical Israel in the church. And they could be receiving the blessings of Abraham as well, the promises of Abraham. That's what's happening in the church as well. It's the physical nation of Israel. There's a spiritual nation of Israel, and there are promises to Abraham that apply to both, but one does not exclude the other. Verse 13, for I speak to you Gentiles, and as much as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. And if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, Israel, and save some of them, for if their being cast away is reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? You know, once Israel, as a nation, comes to receive this, they too will have salvation through Jesus Christ. Ultimately, resurrection and change will be theirs as well. Verse 16, for if the first fruit 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, you Gentiles, okay, so there was physical Israel, and some of those branches were broken off because of unbelief. And God goes through and prunes as the dead branches, right, that are cut off, but then you have this grafting process of the wild olive tree. Those branches grafted in, those were the other nations, they become a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree. Verse 18, do not boast against the branches, but if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. The root supports you.

What's he saying? We're saying to the Gentiles, don't boast against the natural, by descent, Israelites, because the root, this nation, supports you. And as the Church of God, the Church sprang forth from Israel. Israel was where God had made covenant, Israel is where He gave His laws and His commandments, and they preserved those even unto us today. Israel is the place that the Messiah was promised and from which He sprang, again from which the Church sprang. Started in Jerusalem, and it went out to the nations. Don't forget that the root supports you, the Church of God.

A very important concept to remember. Verse 19.

You will say then, branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well said, because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, he says, but fear. Drop down to verse 25. For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. So Israel has been blinded in part and for a time so that the gospel would go out to the Gentiles, so that it would not be just an inclusive exclusive, right? That's the word I want. An exclusive club of the nation of Israel only, but it would be inclusive of the nations through the calling and through the Messiah. You'll notice God's plan and purpose then for the physical nation, because it still continues. Verse 26 then, Paul says, and so all Israel will be saved. When does that happen? Is all of Israel saved today as a people, as a nation? It is not. And so all Israel will be saved. As it is written, the deliverer will come out of Zion. He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. This is a prophecy. This is future. This is the time yet to come. Again, we walk through the Holy Days. We rehearse these things. At the return of Jesus Christ, they will look upon Him whom they pierced, and they were mourned, and they will repent.

And God will pour His Spirit out upon them as a nation, and there will be a relationship once again. A relationship just as it has begun with the church. A relationship to bring salvation to Israel, and to restore them into a harmonious relationship with God. It's an incredible blessing and it's incredible promise. God is not finished with Israel. The church, for a time today, is to a large degree apart from Israel, but Israel is still a part of the church. Many sitting, I would say, in this room are of physical descent of Israel, and you sit in the Church of God, spiritual Israel today. But you are sons of Abraham. Whether you are physical Israel or Gentile, you are in the sons of Abraham by faith. Because many scriptures show that He is the Father of the faithful, and in Isaac shall your seed be called. He was the son of promise. He was born after Abraham and Sarah were beyond childbearing age, and it was the son by faith that was given. And if you are in the church, you are Abraham's seed according to the promise. And in Isaac, your seed will be called. And so what we have here in scripture running at this time, parallel side by side, is spiritual Israel, the descendants of Abraham by faith, who will be in the kingdom of God, and physical Israel, the descendants of Abraham by the flesh, who will be regathered in the millennium, given a covenant by God. He has not cast away His purpose for them. Let's notice how this will be fulfilled in them then. Ezekiel chapter 39. Ezekiel chapter 39. We're just hitting high points, and again there are so many prophecies you could walk through. That's why we go through the holy days, year after year. Ezekiel chapter 39 is in here this morning. Verse 21. Ezekiel 39 verse 21. God says, I will set my glory among the nations. All the nations shall see my judgment, which I have executed, which my hand will, and my hand which I have laid upon them. Again, future prophecy yet to come. Verse 22. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity because they were unfaithful to me. Therefore, I hid my face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they fell by the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgression, I have dealt with them and hidden my face from them. Again, we understand for a time, and even a time such as it is today. But the time will end. Verse 25. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. After they have borne their shame and all of their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to me, when they dwelt safely in their own land, and no one made them afraid. And when I have brought them back from the peoples, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and I am hallowed in them, and in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. And I will not hide my face from them any more, for I shall have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord. Brethren, this is the future. This is the prophecies. This is what we walk through as we go through Feast of Trumpets, and the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Indeed, even into the eighth day, the restoration of the physical nation of Israel. God's Spirit poured out upon them the model nation to the world that they should have been from the beginning.

And righteousness and holiness will be theirs. Indeed, in those days ten men from every language of nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. Zechariah chapter 8 and verse 23. Israel will be a light to the world. People will see their covenant relationship with God, and they will say, We want a part of it for ourselves.

Take me with you up to the mountain of Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that we as well may learn his ways and walk in his paths. Again, their light will shine forth as a reconciled nation, and all others will see we can be reconciled as well.

Let's conclude back where we left off in the book of Hosea.

Final spot for today, Hosea chapter 1. Hosea chapter 1 and verse 10. As we left them in verse 9, he says, For you are not my people, and I will not be your God, but restoration indeed is promised. Verse 10, Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass in that place where it was said to them, You are not my people. There it shall be said to them, You are the sons of the living God, the conversion of the entire nation, all 12 tribes of the people of Israel. Verse 11, Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, no longer separated as two nations, as they once were. He says, And shall appoint for themselves one head, and as Jesus Christ. And they shall come up out of the land, again out of captivity. For great will be the day of Jezreel. The valley of Jezreel will rejoice as the nation is regathered, but also remember the name of Jezreel means God sows. Indeed, the day is coming when God will sow his people into the land again. They will be his people of promise, of covenant. He will be their God, and they will be his people. God's covenants are true.

His word is faithful. Replacement theology is not a teaching of the Church of God. Let us stand up against what we know not to be true. Let us walk through these holy days living what God has purposed. Let us rejoice in these things. God's holy days are given to us as an cycle, then each and every year, because these days help us to understand God's incredible plan of salvation for all of mankind. And they reveal to us the joy of what God has done and will done to past, present, and future. So, brethren, once again, as was mentioned in the sermon, these days are right around the corner, and the things they portray are real.

Let us rejoice in them as the people of God.