Promises Made to Israel Find Fulfillment in the Church

By Hazel Holland

The Bible reveals that God’s elect of all the ages are one people, with one Savior, and have one eternal destiny. This continuity can be seen by examining the following Old Testament passages of Scripture and noticing that promises made to Israel find their fulfillment in the New Testament church, and words spoken to Israel are applied directly to the church. 

Promise to Israel

 “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’” Hosea 1:10 (NIV)

Fulfillment in the church

 “What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?  What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?  As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” and, “In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’” Romans 9:22-26 (NIV)

Promise to Israel 

“I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.  I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” Hosea 2:23 (NIV)

Fulfillment in the church

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” 1 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV)

Promise to Israel

“On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages;  I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old.”  Amos 9:11 (NKJV)

Fulfillment in the church

 ^“Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.  And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: ‘After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up; So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the LORD who does all these things.’  “Known to God from eternity are all His works.” Acts 15:14-18 (NKJV)

Spoken to Israel 

“And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.   And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.   And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:  blood and fire and pillars of smoke.   The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.  And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.   For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls.” Joel 2:28-32 (NKJV)

Applied to the church 

 “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place… But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:  ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your  sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. and on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.  I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath:  Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.  And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’” Acts 2:1, 16-21 (NKJV)

Spoken to Israel

“You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” Exodus 19:6 (NIV)

Applied to the church

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” Peter 2:9 (NIV)

Spoken to Israel 

^“My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Ezekiel 37:27 (NIV)

Applied to the church

^“What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?  For we are the temple of the living God:.  As God has said: “ I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God,  and they will be my people.” 2 Corinthians 6:16 (NIV)

Spoken to Israel

“Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.’”  Leviticus 19:2 (NIV) 

Applied to the church

“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16 (NIV)

Spoken to Israel 

"The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.” Jeremiah 31:31 (NIV)

 Applied to the church 

“In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” Luke 22:20 (NIV)

Conclusion

If the church (comprised of both Jews and Gentiles) fulfills these promises made to Israel, shouldn't we be repenting of teachings that view Israel and the church as having two distinct eternal destinies?  

According to the New Covenant there is not an eternal earthly Kingdom for Israel, and an eternal heavenly Kingdom for the church.  There is only one eternal inheritance for both the church and Israel.  That eternal inheritance is Jesus Christ! 

Link:  What God Joined Together at the Cross
Link:  Promised Land Issues