If you are a Christian, you believe you are grafted into the wild olive tree Israel by faith. Your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior has made you an heir to the Abrahamic covenant. The question then gives itself, what have you become? Are you now a Christian, a Gentile Christian grafted in, an Israeli, a Jew, or a combination of all? How you answer this question determines how you understand and read your Bible. If you answer this question wrong, you will also get the Bible wrong.
Most mainstream Christians would say they have become grafted into the tree of Israel by faith, and now they are gentile Christians. They have not replaced Israel, but they have joined to Israel by faith. Even so, they believe there is a distinct difference between them and the rest of Israel. As Gentile believers, they do not have to obey by all the laws and commandments in the Torah; some apply only to Israel.
Another group of believers would argue their grafting in has replaced Israel. And because they have replaced Israel, nobody has to obey the Torah anymore. Now it is just salvation by grace through faith alone.
The third group believes they have replaced Israel for a time, but when they have been raptured away, Israel will once again be saved. But while they are waiting for the rapture, they dont have to obey the Torah because that is only for Israel.
And then you have all those Christians who believe a mixture from all three groups.
Confused? Where would you place yourself? Are you one of them that would say you dont know which group applies to you, you only know you are a follower of Jesus?
At no point in the Bible do we see Yehovah making any covenant with gentiles. From the Old to the New Yehovahs focus is Israel. There is, therefore, nothing in the Bible that supports the idea that gentiles have replaced Israel or replaced Israel for time. But what about the first group they that believe they are grafted into Israel, but not all commandments in the Torah applies to gentiles?
We Christians must believe in and obey only Yehoshua (Yeshua/Jesus) if we claim Him as our Lord and Savior. If we at any point were to obey or follow the opinions of a man/denomination, we have made them into an idol that has replaced Yehoshua. We also must search the scriptures to make sure the things we believe today are indeed sanctioned by Yehoshua and not lies we have adopted.
When Yeshua, His disciples, and Paul lived among us, they did not have a New Testament. They did not set out to gather the New Testament, and they did not view their writings and teachings as holy. It would be another 300 years until the New Testament existed. When the New Testament was compiled the criteria was to include only letters, writings, and teachings confirming the Old Testament. If something did not line up with the Old Testament, it was not included in the New Testament. Why? Because they knew everything, Paul, the Apostles, and Jesus taught was based on the Old Testament.
In 321 AD, the emperor Constantine made it illegal for Christians to obey Hebrew customs. It became unlawful for Christians to keep the Shabbat, to eat kosher, to use the name Yehovah. We know from other sources Christians, both Jew and Gentile, lived as Messianic Jews up until this happened in 321 AD. What Constantine did was to make it illegal for Christians to obey by the Old Testament.
If you believe you are grafted into Israel, but as a gentile, you only have to obey Acts 15; you have made Constantine into your idol instead of God. It was Constantine, not God, who decided that gentile Christians should not follow the Old Testament. It was Constantine, not God, who chose the Old Testament is irrelevant to New Testament Gentile believers.
Idol worship is a sin, and by worshiping Constantine, even without being aware of it, you are making the Bible to no effect in your life.
If you are a Christian, you believe you are grafted into the wild olive tree Israel by faith. Your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior has made you an heir to the Abrahamic covenant. The question then gives itself, what have you become? Are you now a Christian, a Gentile Christian grafted in, an Israeli, a Jew, or a combination of all? How you answer this question determines how you understand and read your Bible. If you answer this question wrong, you will also get the Bible wrong.
Today we have seen how the Bible says you are Israel (Isaiah 56:3-5). Your faith in Yeshua dying for your sins, obeying His teachings on how to follow the Torah, has grafted you into the wild olive tree by faith. There is no difference between you and a natural-born Israelite. Because of your faith, shown in obedience to the Torah, you are just as much an heir to the Abraham covenant as one physically born in Israel.
Are you a Jew?
In the Bible, the term Jew/Hebrew/Israel is used interchangeably. In today’s terms, a Jew is one who follows Judaism. In the Bible, a Jew is someone from the tribe of Judah, and the tribe of Judah is a part of Israel.
You are first and foremost Israel, but you could be a Jew and have genetical ties to the tribe of Judah.
So make up your mind today to serve and obey Yehovah as a good Israelite instead of following the lies inherited from Constantine.