Israel Rejected

If I believed that Israel could or would be rejected by God, I would be breathing into a brown paper bag after reading this passage in Isaiah 66.

    "For just as the new heavens and the new earth Which I make will endure before Me," declares the Lord, "So your offspring and your name will endure. 23 "And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me," says the Lord.
The only question is the antecedent to "your offspring and your name."  Look back at verse 10:
    "Be joyful with Jerusalem and rejoice for her, all you who love her; Be exceedingly glad with her, all you who mourn over her,"
Scroll down to v. 12:
    For thus says the Lord, "Behold, I extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;

Verses 20-21 finalize the definition:
    Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the Lord, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem," says the Lord, "just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21 I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites," says the Lord.

Clearly, we are talking about Israel and the descendants of Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. I honestly have a hard time seeing the New Testament Church included in this. The "exchange" seems, rather, to go in the other direction. The "children" may participate in Church blessings, but the Church is not included here. There may be some overlap in the blessings, but, like the wedding comparison of John the Baptist, the best friend of the groom shares the joy and ceremony, but not the Bride. (John 3:29)

Doesn't that declaration just take your breath away? The future of the children of Israel is linked with the new heaven and new earth. Is there any doubt that God will make a new heaven and new earth? Check Revelation 21. Denying that not only rips the last two chapters from the Bible, but it eliminates any hope of heaven for any and all of creation.

If Israel can be rejected by God, and not "endure," then the new heavens and new earth, likewise, will be extinguished. That only leaves the scenario projected by evolutionists of the earth and solar system being consumed by a dying sun as it morphs into a red giant, then collapses into a supernova and the resulting black hole. This is several billion years in the future, according to their "calculations" but there is no certainty of an alternative.

Now my breath is taken away. Just as pulling the end off a balloon results in a catastrophic structural failure, so excising the final two chapters of Revelation leaves us all in a world of hurt. (Literally.)

The good news is that God cannot lie. So Revelation is secure. And so is the future of Israel. Relax, breathe, the Lord said that earlier, when He said that if Israel were to be rejected, the seasons and diurnal cycle would cease. Genesis 8 said that about the possibility of a flood overtaking the world again.

Jeremiah 33 says it twice about David and his family. Verses 19-22 repeats it, then reiterates the "sand of the sea and stars of the sky" promise the Lord made to Abraham.
    19 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 20 "Thus says the Lord, ‘If you can break My covenant for the day and My covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time, 21 then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, My ministers. 22 As the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.'"

Read this carefully. Who is doing the breaking? In order for God to deny Israel "you" have to break the cycle of day and night. Not even Israel, by her rejection of the Lord changes the day and night. Some are suggesting that man can upset the balance of nature and "heat" the earth, but no one is suggesting that we can tinker with day and night. God is defending his choice of Israel day and night. Interesting picture, isn't it?

Want more verification? Look on down at verses 25 and 26 of Jeremiah 33:
    25 Thus says the Lord, "If My covenant for day and night stand not, and the fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have not established, 26 then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, not taking from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them."
I am not sure where anyone can "find" the doctrine of replacing Israel with the Church in the Bible. This may be a little insensitive, but one might speculate that the source may be a bit of intellectual arrogance or perhaps Biblical sophistication self inflation. "I can read something here that the hoi polloi do not." Not to be uncharitable but the clear intent of Scripture clearly refutes any such replacement speculation.

Will God abandon Israel? Here we can appeal to Paul's favorite negation. "Me genoito!?" King James says, "God forbid." Others "May it never be." "Absolutely, positively no! Never! Impossible." (Jim's interlinear made up)

As a final note, if there is an error in this analysis, I would rather be wrong in saying that God cannot violate His Word and character and be corrected later for over estimating Him, than the opposite. A popular epithet is,"When hell freezes over." But I have never heard anyone aver that something cannot happen until day and night stop.

An epilog is found in Psalm 118:1-4
    Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever. 2 Let Israel say, "His faithful love endures forever." 3 Let the house of Aaron say, "His faithful love endures forever." 4 Let those who fear the Lord say, "His faithful love endures forever." (Ed. The "house of Aaron" is the Levites mentioned above.)

I can confidently believe that Israel will never be abandoned. Glory. And by implication, if God will not abandon Israel, will He ever abandon one who has trusted in Him? Me genoito!