by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
“Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof<\/em>” (Matthew 21:43).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Here, Jesus was speaking to physical Israelites, people who claimed physical lineage to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However, that physical nation was only a temporary one that served as a stage for God’s larger plan for a greater nation -a spiritual people with deeper connections to God in “righteousness” (the “fruits” God always desired in His kingdom).<\/p>\n
Abraham was the father of the Israelites. The People who had been known as “My People<\/em>” (Israel) would be known as “not <\/b>My People<\/em>” (Hosea 1:6-11; 2:14-23). The “so all Israel will be saved<\/em>” of Romans 11:26 refers to the salvation of all genuine Israelites who were not completely hardened against Christ, so that they could not remain hardened and start believing in Jesus. Those are the real Israelites who can get grafted back in. The olive tree of God’s people is God’s people, the righteous remnant and those with potential to unharden their hearts against Jesus, allowing the wild olive branches (Gentiles) and the natural branches that were cut off due to unbelief to join together in the righteous olive tree of God, the true Israel, the church of Christ. Jesus would build His church (assembly of people) (Matthew 16:18) on a rock of truth.<\/p>\n
The physical nation of Israel was but a shadow of the true Israel that God planned to have in Christ. If we are “Abraham’s children<\/em>” through faith, then we are the true Israel of God through faith. No way around it! “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise<\/em>” (Galatians 3:26-29). How are we Christ’s<\/em>? Through a faith that is “baptized into <\/b>Christ<\/em>” (Galatians 3:26-27). If you are Christ’s, then even Gentiles of such faith are the true seed of Abraham, and if we are the true seed of Abraham, then we are the true “Israel of God<\/em>” (Galatians 6:15-16). The church of Christ is the true Israel of God, and any Jew or Gentile can be united with Christ to be the true Israel of God. Otherwise, you are cut off (Deuteronomy 18:15ff). No mere Israelite in the flesh is God’s blessed people. All spiritual blessings are for those who are in <\/b>Christ (Ephesians 1:3-7). Curses remain on all who are outside of Christ. Blessings of God’s grace are upon the spiritual Israel of God!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” (Matthew 21:43). Here, Jesus was speaking to physical Israelites, people who claimed physical lineage to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However, that physical nation was only a temporary…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[448,557],"class_list":["post-88382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church","tag-israel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32955,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-abraham-a-gentile-or-a-jew\/","url_meta":{"origin":88382,"position":0},"title":"Was Abraham a Gentile or a Jew?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was Abraham a Gentile or a Jew? I heard that he was first a Jew, but I also heard that He was a Gentile before and then a Jew. Answer: \"Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63042,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/and-so-all-israel-will-be-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":88382,"position":1},"title":"And So All Israel Will Be Saved","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Romans 11:26 is typically misunderstood and misapplied. The church is the true Israel that will be saved. The gospel is the power to save (Romans 1:16). Being a mere Jew in the flesh does not save. There must be the circumcision in heart to make a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32758,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-esau-and-ishmaels-descendants-considered-gentiles\/","url_meta":{"origin":88382,"position":2},"title":"Were Esau and Ishmael’s descendants considered Gentiles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We are studying Genesis 36 and the generations of Esau.\u00a0 Several questions arose that have generated some good discussion, but we are needing some help. The questions asked \"Were Esau and Ishmael's families considered Gentiles? Or were they Jews?\u00a0 We are a little confused about when the Jewish nation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28643,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-difference-between-hebrew-israel-jew-canaan-etc\/","url_meta":{"origin":88382,"position":3},"title":"What is the difference between Hebrew, Israel, Jew, Canaan, etc.?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: God promised to bring the people of Israel to the promised land, and the Jews went to the promised land, but wasn't there more people in Israel than just the Jews? Answer: I'm having trouble with your question because I think there are some problems with definitions. Hebrew This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":82830,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/spiritual-israel\/","url_meta":{"origin":88382,"position":4},"title":"Spiritual Israel","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Galatians 6:12-18 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I ran across someone claiming that there is no spiritual Israel, that all references to Israel are to the physical nation. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0From this position, he claimed that the kingdom was postponed because of Israel\u2019s unbelief. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He claims that physical Israel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8571,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-only-the-jews-gods-chosen-people-in-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":88382,"position":5},"title":"Were only the Jews God’s chosen people in the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you believe and teach that the house of Israel were all Jews? I mean that only the Jews were God's chosen people in the Old Testament. Thank you. Answer: The Israelites were chosen by God above all the other nations because of His love for their ancestors (i.e.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88382\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}