I know that Dispensationalists frequently miss the mark on biblical theology. They like to beat the strawman of “Replacement Theology” when they are the only ones that teach a form of it. They switch out the Old Testament Jews with the Church in the mythical (mythical because it doesn’t really exist) Eschatological Parenthesis of the Church Age.
In their system, God quits dealing with the Jews once they reject the offer of the Kingdom of God that Jesus and John the Baptist offered in the First Century. God, frustrated by the liberal use of freewill to reject His plan, then pivots to Plan B, the Church Age. At the end of time, God will Rapture all the Christians off the planet which terminates Plan B. God then returns to His original plan. Then He promptly kills off 2/3 of the Jews. Then the pride of the remaining Jews will be broken and then they will all convert to belief in Jesus. Once, the Jews are sufficiently calibrated, Jesus will return to rule for 1,000 years sitting on a literal throne in Jerusalem.
Folks, this is way better than Ray Bradberry or Phillip K. Dick could ever imagine. Tens of millions of Evangelical protestants believe everything I just said and then some. They think all the above can be found in the pages of the Bible. It can’t unless you use lots of glue, scissors, paste, and imagination. Oh, and discard most of the Bible in the process. No worries though. They are hell bent of defending this escapist trash as the Gospel.
Thankfully, you don’t have to be stuck in denial of the ramifications of the Great Commission.
Today’s lesson is from the book of Matthew. It teaches that Jesus is the true Israel. This being true, then His followers are part of the true Israel too. This is yet another way of showing that God took a remnant from Old Covenant Israel and grafted in the Gentiles. This New Testament Body of Christ is the true Israel. This is yet another rebuttal to the charge of Replacement Theology that Dispensationalists try to level against their opponents. I talked about the Body of Christ being a continuation of the OT believers and its expansion to include Gentiles in my previous post. This post will be about Matthew and his teaching that Jesus is the true Israel.
And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
Matthew 2:13–15.
Here is the Old Testament reference.
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, And called my son out of Egypt.
Hosea 11:1.
OK, you need to ask yourself if Matthew was just being cute by emphasizing the “out of Egypt I called my son” or if he made a mistake in an effort to come up with a fulfilled prophecy concerning Jesus, or did he really mean that Jesus is the true Israel?
Well, yep, Jesus is the true Israel was his point. That is why he includes the account of the temptation in the wilderness. Jesus wandered about in the desert for forty days, the children of Israel wandered about for forty years. Jesus passed his time of testing, but Israel failed and wandered 40 years as a result.
So, Jesus was the true Israel, and his followers are the true Israel.
Here is how Logos Bible Software summarizes the idea that Jesus is the True Israel.
Search criteria > Jesus is the true Israel
Jesus embodies the role Israel failed to fulfill—he succeeds where the nation disobeyed, demonstrating faithful obedience where they rebelled.[1][2] This identity emerges through Matthew’s deliberate recapitulation of Israel’s foundational narrative. Matthew applies Hosea 11:1 (“Out of Egypt I called my son”) to Jesus and structures his Gospel to mirror Israel’s exodus from Egypt, crossing of the Red Sea, wilderness temptations, and arrival at Mount Sinai to receive the law.[1]
The theological significance runs deeper than mere historical parallels. As God’s Son, Jesus reflects his Father’s character and ways, proving himself the true Israelite through obedience to the law where Israel disobeyed and submission to God’s will where they rebelled.[1] Where Israel failed the desert temptations, Jesus remained faithful to God.[3] Jesus is not simply Israel’s savior; he embodies what Israel was meant to be.[1]
This fulfillment extends to Israel’s covenantal purpose. As the true Israelite, Jesus stands on God’s side, championing his cause and embodying his character, becoming the true covenant partner through his fully human trust and obedience.[1] He fulfills this role not for himself but for the faithless covenant partner—achieving righteousness and obedience on behalf of God’s people through his representative work.[1] Paul develops this concept by presenting Jesus as Abraham’s seed who truly inherits the covenant promises, stepping into the position of those under the law to redeem them and realize the blessings in himself.[3]
[1] Michael D. Williams, Far as the Curse Is Found: The Covenant Story of Redemption (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2005), 225.
[2] Barry E. Horner, Biblical Israel: The Anti-Judaic Incursion of Process Biblical Theology (Barry E. Horner, 2021), 91.
[3] S. Motyer, “Israel (Nation),” in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, ed. T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 585.
If you are interested, I got this blog idea from Doug Wilson and then looked it up on Logos as a second witness.