True, a segment of believers do believe and teach that idea, although I do not. My approach is different. The sectarian, factional church replaces nothing. She is an addition to what our Lord ushered in and a counterfeit copy of the one body of believers, the congregation of the redeemed.

Old Israel formally ended in A. D. 67-70 when God employed the Roman Army to remove her. He did this because of her continual and chronic rebellion against Him. He amputated all of the land He had given them during the Roman/Jewish war.

It is my view that National Israel in the Middle East is a bogus copy of the original. Let it be noted that God never promised to give Israel land, or anything else, but on condition of obedience. And this is why He canceled out the land they once occupied by divine right. Without going into a lot of detail just here, let it be said that National Israel in the Middle East does not exist by divine right.

Does God have an “Israel” today? Yes, she is the one “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession,” as described by the apostle peter in 1 Peter 2:9. This “Israel” is the household of faith and the one body of believers (Eph. 4:4). If “Israel” in the Middle East is an entity of God, we have two bodies of believers, a direct contradiction of the apostles Peter and Paul.

“In other words, it is not the natural [physical] children who are God’s children [today], but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring” (Rom. 9:6-9). Then again: “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly...No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly” (Rom. 2:28-29).

In a nutshell, Israel in the Middle East, as a Nationally established State, must defend herself against her enemies—and in a robust manner. But she and evangelical Leaders and Editors should cease asserting that the physical land of Israel belongs to the Jews forever because God promised it to them.

From my perspective, National Israel does not own one inch of land by divine right. She owns it by National right only. It is not an exaggeration to say that during the Roman/Jewish war of A. D. 67-70, God removed forever the divine right of Jews to possess physical land—as a nation. They may no longer possess and rule by divine right.

Is God finished with Jews as a race? Absolutely not, no more than He is finished with Gentiles as a race. God has not forsaken Jews or Gentiles. He wants all of them to come to His Son for deliverance and salvation. My entire thrust has been that He is finished with the Jews as a holy people and nation or as a religious and political state. We ought to accept the reality that God has only one “Israel” today, and she is the family or one body of believers (Eph. 4:4), not the sectarian, factional, divisive church.

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