Rooted Hope: Israel's Place in God's Unchanging Plan

In This Article:

· Why replacement theology (the idea that the Church has replaced Israel) contradicts Scripture.

· How God’s covenants with Abraham and David prove Israel’s everlasting national identity.

· The prophets’ promises of Israel’s physical and spiritual restoration in the land.

· What the New Testament really says about Israel’s destiny — and how Jesus affirmed it.

· How supersessionism fosters theological error and antisemitism.

· Why the Church is grafted in, not replacing Israel.

· The timeline from God’s ancient covenants to Israel’s modern rebirth in 1948 — proof of His faithfulness.

The assertion that the Bible redefines Israel solely as a “spiritual kingdom” of Christian believers, effectively erasing its identity as an earthly nation-state, stems from replacement theology or supersessionism.

This view posits that the Church has fully supplanted Israel as God’s chosen people, nullifying Old Testament promises of land, nationhood, and restoration.

However, Scripture consistently upholds Israel’s distinct ethnic and national identity alongside the Church, affirming unbreakable covenants and a future earthly restoration.

Far from replacement, the New Testament portrays Gentiles (the Church) as grafted into Israel’s spiritual blessings, not as a substitute (Romans 11:17-24). This claim misreads the Bible’s progressive revelation, conflating the Church’s current spiritual role with Israel’s enduring national destiny.

The Everlasting Covenant with Abraham

First, consider the Abrahamic covenant, foundational to Israel’s identity.

In Genesis 12:1-3 and 17:7-8, God promises Abraham that his descendants, through Isaac and Jacob (renamed Israel), will inherit the land of Canaan as an “everlasting possession.”

If Israel were merely a “spiritual kingdom” now absorbed into the Church, these land promises would be voided. God fulfills his promises and most certainly his solemn covenant.

God’s Promise to Preserve Israel

Jeremiah 31:35-37 echoes this: God vows not to reject Israel “as long as the sun, moon, and stars endure,” linking the nation’s survival to creation’s order itself.

Replacement advocates spiritualize these away, but the Bible treats them as literal, awaiting millennial fulfillment (Ezekiel 37:25).

The Davidic covenant further cements Israel’s earthly kingship.

In 2 Samuel 7:12-16, God promises David an eternal throne through his lineage, ruling over Israel in Jerusalem. This is not transferable to the Church as a disembodied “spiritual kingdom.”

Psalm 89:3-4 and 34-37 reinforce: “I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered... Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations.”

Prophets Affirm Israel’s Future Restoration

Prophetic texts abound with Israel’s future as a restored nation-state.

Ezekiel 36:24-28 promises: “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.” This regathering precedes spiritual renewal, but it is unmistakably physical: borders, cities, and temple (Ezekiel 37:21-28; 40-48).

Zechariah 14:16-21 envisions post-Messianic survivors from all nations worshiping in Jerusalem’s earthly temple during the Feast of Tabernacles, hardly a “spiritual kingdom” of scattered believers.

Amos 9:14-15 adds: “And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them.” These are not Church metaphors; the New Testament applies them to literal Israel in the land covenanted to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

New Testament Confirmation of Israel’s Destiny

Fast forward to the New Testament, in the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), Gabriel declares to Mary: “Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever” (Luke 1:31-33, KJV).

This echoes 2 Samuel 7:12-16, where God promises David an eternal throne through his seed, establishing Christ as Israel’s everlasting King. Here, “the house of Jacob” means ethnic Israel, not a generic body of believers.

Supersessionism reduces prophecy to allegory and undermines Jesus Christ’s role as Israel’s Messiah-King.

Jesus Affirms Israel’s Restoration

In Acts 1:3–7, during the forty days preceding His Ascension, Jesus “spoke of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (v. 3).

When gathered with Him on the Mount of Olives, the apostles asked, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (v. 6). His response, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons” (v. 7), suggests that His teaching during that period had indeed addressed the restoration of Israel’s kingdom. Otherwise, their question would appear disconnected from His instruction.

If the apostles had wholly misconceived His meaning, Jesus, whose mission was to fulfill the Law and the Prophets rather than abolish them (Matthew 5:17), would surely have corrected their expectation or declared Israel’s covenants null.

Instead, His silence on that point affirms continuity with God’s promises, even as the timing of their fulfillment remained veiled.

Supersessionism’s Dangerous Consequences

Supersessionism fosters antisemitism by diminishing Israel’s God-given role, contradicting God’s heart for His “firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22). Abraham’s seed blesses all nations through Christ (Galatians 3:8,16), but ethnic Israel’s covenants endure distinctly (Romans 9:4-5).

The Church participates. It does not supplant or uproot.

To spiritualize Israel away ignores 1,917 years of revelation, from the Abrahamic covenant in 1921 BC (when the smoking furnace and burning lamp passed between the divided pieces (Genesis 15:17)) to the Virgin Birth of Jesus in 4 BC.

From Covenant to Cross to Country: God’s Timetable of Faithfulness

In his final week of 33 AD (Nisan 10-16), Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Nisan 10), aligning with Lamb Selection Day as the Passover prelude; Maundy Thursday evening (Nisan 14) marked Passover Preparation with the Last Supper as the Seder; Good Friday (Nisan 14) coincided with Passover Sacrifice Day, tying his crucifixion to the lamb’s slaughter; Holy Saturday (Nisan 15) observed the First Day of Unleavened Bread as a High Sabbath feast; and Easter Sunday (Nisan 16) fell on the Feast of First Fruits, symbolizing his resurrection offering.

This timeline extends another 1,878 years from those pivotal events to Israel’s reestablishment as a state in 1948 AD, after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, underscoring God’s enduring faithfulness to His covenants.

Dr. Alexis “Alex” Littlefield, Chief of Staff for Christian Action Network, holds a PhD in International Politics and has coordinated high-profile events with congressional staff and administration officials, including assistant secretaries and agency heads. Subscribe to his personal Substack page.