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❖ 🌿 Has the Church Fallen for the Serpent’s Oldest Lie About Israel? As antisemitism explodes across the world—on campuses, in city streets, online, and in international institutions—something darker than politics is being exposed. Ancient hatred is resurfacing with modern language, moral cover, and theological permission. Behind the slogans and violence lies an older strategy, first whispered in Eden: not to attack God outright, but to cast doubt on His Word and undo confidence in His promises. He didn’t begin with a fist. He began with a question. “Did God really say…?” (Genesis 3:1) That hiss still echoes whenever the Church is taught that God is finished with Israel, that His covenant words can be spiritualized away, transferred, or re-labeled until they no longer mean what He plainly spoke. ❖ The Deception Exposed Replacement Theology claims the Church has supplanted Israel, that God’s covenants to Abraham’s physical descendants are revoked or “fulfilled” in a way that cancels Israel’s future. But Scripture calls those covenants what the serpent hates most: permanent. “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant… The whole land of Canaan… as an everlasting possession.” (Genesis 17:7–8) “All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.” (Genesis 13:15) If “everlasting” can be redefined, then language has no guardrails and God’s oaths have no weight. ❖ Common Objection “Israel rejected her Messiah, so God rejected Israel forever” (often paired with Matthew 21:43). “The Church is the ‘new Israel.’ Promises are fulfilled spiritually.” ❖ Biblical Reality Matthew 21:43 is real judgment, but it is judgment on fruitless leadership and unbelief, not a cancellation of God’s sworn covenants. Paul answers the larger question directly: “I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means!” (Romans 11:1) “God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew.” (Romans 11:2) And he presses further: “Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all!” (Romans 11:11) If unbelief could nullify covenant promise, no one has hope, because Gentiles were once unbelieving too. Salvation rests not on performance, but on mercy. “You stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble.” (Romans 11:20) “And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.” (Romans 11:23) The issue is not whether God disciplines. He does. The issue is whether God lies. He cannot. ❖ Scripture’s Unbreakable Fortress Romans 11 is a covenant thunderclap aimed at Gentile pride: “You do not support the root, but the root supports you.” (Romans 11:18) The root is the patriarchal promises. The natural branches are Israel. Gentiles are wild branches grafted in to share the nourishment, not to boast as though the tree changed owners. Paul seals the argument: “For God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29) And he gives the timeline: “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved.” (Romans 11:25–26) Hardening is partial. Hardening is temporary. Mercy is the ending. And this is no innovation. The prophets said it first. ❖ Jeremiah 31:35–37 Only if the sun, moon, stars, and seas fail does Israel cease to be a nation before the LORD. Replacement Theology asks you to believe Israel failed first. ❖ Ezekiel 36:24–27 “I will take you out of the nations… bring you back into your own land… I will give you a new heart… and put my Spirit in you.” Regathering, then renewal. Geography, then gospel. ❖ Zechariah 12:10 “They will look on me, the one they have pierced…” Not replaced. Repentant. Restored. ❖ Zechariah 14:4 “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.” ❖ Romans 15:8 “Christ became a servant… to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs.” Confirm, not cancel. ❖ Two Witnesses Worth Hearing J.C. Ryle: “The curses on the Jews were literal; so also the blessings. The scattering literal; so the gathering. The rejection literal; so the restoration.” Charles Spurgeon (1864): “We do not attach sufficient importance to the restoration of the Jews… They are to have a national prosperity again.” ❖ Why This Matters Now Bad theology does not automatically make a believer hateful. But bad theology can make contempt feel holy, and indifference feel biblical. When Israel’s covenants are treated as disposable, Jewish suffering becomes “deserved,” Jewish existence becomes “irrelevant,” and Jewish future becomes “impossible.” That is not the Spirit of Christ. That is the hiss of Eden, dressed in religious language. ❖ Reject the Hiss, Embrace God’s Faithfulness God is faithful. “He does not lie.” (Titus 1:2) So do what Scripture commands: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” (Psalm 122:6) “Do not be arrogant, but tremble.” (Romans 11:20) “And in this way all Israel will be saved.” (Romans 11:26) God keeps His promises to Israel—forever. The King is coming. Maranatha.