Hebrews 1:1
1God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 4being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Jesus is declared here to be the heir of all things, meaning that He is the one who is entitled to all the promises made under the Old Covenant. In 2 Corinthians 1:20, Paul points out that all the promises of the Bible are fulfilled in Christ.
20For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
(2 Corinthians 1:20)
The same is true of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Therefore, the people of Israel are not to be considered the heirs of these promises, but only the guardians of these promises, the bearers of the inheritance. Paul alludes to this in Galatians when he explains our relationship to the Law and all its provisions.
1Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 2but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 3Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
(Galatians 4:1-5)
Israel was thus incorporeal until the appearance of the Heir who redeemed them from the condemnation of the Law and granted them the right to be sons. Jesus, by His coming, suffering, death and resurrection, brought the inheritance to Himself and made us, both Jew and Gentile of the nations co-heirs with Him. Jesus is the only one who can ever claim the inheritance, so Israel cannot either.
I often hear that believers from the Gentiles are joint heirs with Israel, i.e. the Jews. We then base this on Romans 11, based on the description of the noble olive tree, Israel is then seen as the noble olive tree, and the Gentiles can be grafted onto it by the grace of God, while a large part of the Jews have been cut off because of their unbelief. This whole idea depends on a correct definition of who is meant by the noble olive tree. In the Old Testament, Israel is compared to a vineyard and a vine:\
7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
(Isaiah 5:7)
In this comparison, the house of Israel is seen as the vineyard and the house of Judah as the plants, the vines. In John 15:5 Jesus declares Himself to be the True Vine, the Real One, in contrast to Israel and Judah.
1I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
(John 15:1-2)
So God the Father is the one in this equation who holds the pruning shears in His hand, so it is God the Father who cuts off the branches that are not fruitful and casts them into the fire. If we extend this comparison to the noble olive tree in Romans 11, it may become clear that it is not Israel but Jesus who represents the olive tree, and that it is God the Father who cuts off the unbelieving noble branches, namely the unbelievers from Israel, and replaces them with believers from the nations who are grafted like wild branches onto the noble olive, that is, onto Jesus. Unbelieving Jews are replaced by believing Gentiles, this is what we understand by replacement theology, Israel, called to be in Christ, did not get there because of unbelief, and so must make way for other believers, namely from the nations. In Matthew 21:33-46, Mark 12:1-12, and Luke 20:9-19, Jesus gives a parable about a lord who plants a vineyard and rents it out to tenants who are to work it as farmers. However, when the time comes for some of the income to be remitted to the owner, he sends his servants to collect the income, and it turns out that the farmers have no intention of paying the rent. When the landlord finally sends his son, the tenants are incited to kill the son:
6Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. 7But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be our’s. 8And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
(Mark 12:6-8)
The tenants or farmers are the people of Israel and the Jewish leaders of the time. The argument they make is that they are after the inheritance, and for that they are willing to kill the heir. Jesus is the heir, Israel therefore makes no claim to the inheritance and its associated promises, the only way they can share in the promises is if they are united with the heir and in this way become co-heirs with Christ, along with the believers from the nations.
43Therefore 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)
Jesus foretold to the Jewish leaders and their followers that the Kingdom of God would be taken away from them and given to other tenants or farmers who would produce the fruit due to God. The result in Jesus’ day was that the Jewish leaders wanted to seize and kill Jesus. The Jews were jealous of the believers, both Jews and Gentiles, which later resulted in a great persecution that is described in the book of Acts.
I often hear that we should make the Jews envious in order to soften their hearts and prepare them for the gospel. However, what is clear from Jesus’ parable and its implications is that this jealousy is not positive in nature, but pure envy. Throughout the centuries, Jews have fought against the truth that the Church has replaced the people of Israel. In our day, we find this phenomenon within the churches, often encouraged by a so-called collective guilt over the Holocaust and other forms of persecution of Jews that the church is supposedly guilty of. The result is that in large parts of theology, Jesus is replaced by Israel, and that seems to me to have the smell of blasphemy about it.
We began by noting that Jesus is the heir and that all the promises pertain to Him and that apart from Him there is no claim to any promise. This is how Paul describes it:
29And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
(Galatians 3:29)
To share in the inheritance of Abraham, we must be of Christ, and outside of Him judgment awaits us, only believers of every lineage, Jew and Gentile alike, can claim this. And then let the Jews be jealous and fierce about it, this is the only truth, only if they are willing to humble themselves and repent can they be grafted back onto the noble olive and that is Jesus alone.
1And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, 2and shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; 3that then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. 4If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: 5and the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. 6And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. 7And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. 8And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. 9And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: 10if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
(Deuteronomy 30:1-10)
So repentance is the condition for return and salvation. The circumcision of the heart is connected with the New Covenant, this means that even a Jew can only turn to Jesus and nowhere else. As long as he does not accept Jesus, he will angrily point the accusing finger in the direction of the Church and the Gospel, we should not be impressed by this, we cling to Jesus alone. To think that there is still a future for Israel, outside of Jesus, must be seen as completely unbiblical and therefore must be described as blasphemous.
