Replacement theology says God has replaced Israel with the Church because they rejected the Messiah, that they are at best just like any other nation. The world apart from church theology says Israel is an evil baby-killing occupier guilty of genocide. So from the faith-based side and the secular side, they are condemned on both fronts. The American left has basically forsaken them, and the American right is not far behind if the trends continue. Antisemitism is at a raging peek, and there’s no telling how long it will last or if it will get even worse. Jews say that in every generation, there are those that rise up to destroy them, and they are right. In this generation, a lot have risen up. But instead of that being an indicator of their actual position with God, what if it was an indicator that God is about to do something with them again? Wouldn’t the enemy want to destroy them if God was about to use them or do something wonderful with them? Instead of suffering the consequences of being abandoned by God, what if their sufferings are a direct indicator that they are God’s? To help answer these questions, let’s go straight to the Bible and see what it has to say about these things in the Haftarah part of the Parsha Vayikra, which was read in synagogues around the world March 21, 2026. In Isaiah 43:21-44:23, God begins with bringing charges against Israel, that they have not worshipped Him as He called for in the sacrificial instructions He gave them, which I just covered extensively in my last four blog posts.

“Instead, you have burdened me with your sins
and wearied me with your crimes.
²⁵ I, yes I, am the one who blots out
your offenses for my own sake;
I will not remember your sins” (Is. 43:24b-25, CJB).

For anyone who is a myopic historian, Israel had been rejecting God long before Jesus came, but He never once forsook them. He disciplined them, yes, but He did not abandon them.

“Now listen, Ya‘akov my servant,
Isra’el whom I have chosen:
² Thus says Adonai, who made you,
formed you in the womb, and will help you:
Don’t be afraid, Ya‘akov my servant,
Yeshurun, whom I have chosen.
³ For I will pour water on the thirsty land
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my Spirit on your descendants,
my blessing on your offspring.
⁴ They will spring up among the grass
like willows on the riverbanks.
⁵ One will say, ‘I belong to Adonai.’
Another will be called by the name of Ya‘akov.
Yet another will write that he belongs to Adonai.
and adopt the surname Isra’el” (Is. 44:1-5, CJB).

This pouring out of God’s Spirit on Israel is also in Jeremiah 31 as under the new covenant God makes with Israel (Jer. 31:30). The water God will pour out on Israel is His Spirit, also mentioned in Joel chapter two as the “latter rain” (Joel 2:23), the passage which Peter cited on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples in the upper room (Acts 2:17). Jesus used this imagery to describe the living water He will give to anyone who asks (Jn. 4:10), and out of them will flow rivers of living water (Jn. 7:38). That living water is the Holy Spirit (Jn. 7:39). Joel says this will occur “afterward” (Joel 2:28), that is, “when all the previous activity has been accomplished…the culmination of the judgment of the entire earth” (Complete Jewish Study Bible, 809). This is the same Holy Spirit mentioned here in Isaiah 43. God would not give His Spirit to a people whom He has forsaken or replaced. And as far as I know, we’re not at the culmination of the judgement of the entire earth. The former rain has come, yes, but the latter rain is greater. So that means that God has yet to give His Spirit to the descendants of Israel in the way the prophets foretell.

To the contrary, God says in Isaiah,

Who is like me? Let him speak out!
Let him show me clearly what has been happening
since I set up the eternal people;
let him foretell future signs and events.
⁸ Don’t be frightened, don’t be afraid —
Didn’t I tell you this long ago?
I foretold it, and you are my witnesses.
Is there any God besides me?
There is no other Rock — I know of none” (Is. 44:7-8, CJB).

God calls Israel the “eternal people.” We don’t need to tell God what He’s doing with Isreal. He already told us “long ago.” He has not forsaken them. He has not replaced them. They will receive His Spirit at the culmination of this age. Until then, they have a “partial hardening” (Rom. 11:25, ESV).

God is the Rock. There is no other. When Peter proclaimed that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus said “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” with the antecedent “this” being Peter’s profession that Jesus is the Messiah (Mt. 16:18, ESV). If there is no other Rock but God, then Jesus is God. Isaiah 44:6 also says,

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel
    and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
“I am the first and I am the last;
    besides me there is no god (ESV).

In Revelation, Jesus says He is the first and the last (Rev. 1:17, 22:13), at the culmination of the ages. God is the first and the last. Jesus is the first and the last. Jesus is God. Israel will recognize this one day:

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn (Zech. 12:10, ESV).

In Zechariah, God is described as One pierced. Jesus is the One Who was pierced on the cross. Again, Jesus is God. When Israel recognizes this, God will give them His Spirit. So we have Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, and Zechariah all saying the same thing. That’s just sampling four of the prophets. And these four are all saying God is most definitely not done with Israel. They are not replaced. Are they perfect? No. But is the Church perfect? Think about it, any hypocrites out there. Be warned, antisemites, for “on that day I [God] will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” (Zech. 12:9), “for he who touches you [Jerusalem] touches the apple of his [God’s] eye” (Zech. 2:7). Jerusalem is where God has chosen to put His name forever and where He has decreed He will give rest to the people of Israel forever (2 Kings 21:7; 1 Chron. 23:25; 2 Chron. 33:4, 7; Ps. 125:2; Is. 65:18; Jer. 17:25; Joel 3:20). If you have a problem with that, you have a problem with God, and He will judge you for it on that last day.

I know the wife of a Chabad rabbi who was shocked to find out that Jesus kept Torah. Yes! Israel will one day recognize their Messiah and the earth will recognize that Israel is God’s chosen people and will be judged according to how they treated them in addition to how they handled the Messiah. You don’t want to be on the wrong side that day. I pray that first and foremost, you recognize the Messiah for Who He is and receive Him, and that you also recognize Israel for who they are, God’s chosen people, His testimony of His steadfast love and infinite grace. Now that I am finally through the Parsha Vayikra, I will close this post with a poem again. Until next time, God bless.

Lord God, You called for the Burnt Offering
And that with It they offer you the Grain,
And the Peace Offering that they should bring,
And Sin and Guilt Off’rings that would restrain
Your wrath from breaking out on them again.
You said You would provide the Sacrifice¹,
That Your judgement on us You would abstain.
You said You would willingly pay the price
By saving us through Messiah, the Christ,
To redeem the people You won’t forsake,
Because only Your Life-Blood can suffice
For the Offering You called we should make.
O Rock of Ages, Beginning and End,
Give Living Water and Your Spirit send.

1. Gen. 22:8

Sources

The Bible. Complete Jewish Bible. Biblegateway.com. Accessed 20 Apr. 2026.

The Bible. English Standard Version. Biblegateway.com. Accessed 20 Apr. 2026.

The Complete Jewish Study Bible. Peabody, Hendrickson Publishers, 2016.