JAMIE: Hi and welcome to “Something More”. I’m your host today; my name’s Jamie Galloway. On the show today, I have Jonathan Bernis with me today. This is exciting. I want you to get ready because we’re going to chart into some unknown territory. I’m very fascinated at this subject, and just as we were talking before the show, I am so intrigued to ask these questions. Won’t you join me? Jonathan, welcome to the show.

JONATHAN: Thanks Jamie, it’s good to be here.

JAMIE: Yeah so, now you have a new book, “Unlocking the Prophetic Mysteries of Israel”. This is so interesting. What would you define as Israel?

JONATHAN: Well, that’s a good question actually because I think there’s some confusion about Israel. When most Christians hear Israel, they think of that little sliver of land in the Middle East, about the size of New Jersey, with a population of about just over six million Jewish people. But Biblically, Israel is a people; the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob whose name is changed to Israel. So the descendants of Israel are the twelve tribes of Jacob and we’ve been scattered to the utmost corners of the Earth. Sid and I, years ago, were in Kwai Fong, China and met Jewish people in China. One of them said, “Are you Jewish?” and I said, “Yes.” He said, “You don’t look Jewish.” That’s Israel in China. So while it’s a land, it’s a people that have now returned to their land and it’s called the State of Israel because it’s the inheritance of the people of Israel. So when Paul talks about Israel, for example, in Romans 9, 10 and 11, it’s the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that God has sovereignly preserved as a nation.

JAMIE: So many people, that are probably watching this right now, are like me. I’m coming in totally ignorant and saying, “Teach me. I want to learn. This is a fascinating subject”. What do most believers miss about Israel that may not be Jewish themselves? They may be, and may not know it, but what are they missing?

JONATHAN: Oh my gosh, well Jamie, first of all, we have to understand that almost 2,000 years ago, since the very early days of what became known as Christianity, the church fathers began to remove all things Jewish from the faith. Now there were some good reasons for this, there were some not so good reasons for this, but that’s what happened. Shabbat became Sunday worship, the holidays—

JAMIE: Oh.

JONATHAN: The Feasts of the Lord in Leviticus 23, which all have prophetic meaning and all point to Jesus, were removed from Christianity. That’s one thing.  And then the emergence of something that most Christians aren’t familiar with, but live with the residue of, if I can say it that way, replacement theology. That God is punishing the Jewish people because of their rejection of Christ, of the Messiah, and has replaced them with a new people, a new Israel. So, one thing that Christians need to understand is the church is not Israel. The church has been, according to Romans 11, has been grafted into the olive tree which is Israel. So they become sons and daughters of Abraham, but it’s not a replacement of Israel. Israel remains the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that God has sovereignly preserved and promises to restore in a set time of history. That’s happening now.

JAMIE: This is so interesting. I mean, I tell people it was a controversy in the early church over whether a Gentile could be saved or not.

JONATHAN: That’s right. Isn’t that funny?

JAMIE: That’s how backward we are now.

JONATHAN: Complete reversal

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