Paul the Poke

Welcome to part 2 of the series, Debunking Replacement Theology.

The nation of Israel and the church, the body of Jesus Christ, are two separate entities. God has not changed His mind. The church has not replaced Israel. God has a unique plan for both.

Genesis 15:18-21 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”

This is the original land grant promised to the future nation Israel. These are the land boundaries of Israel’s future. This configuration has never been realized. This calls for the geography of Israel to stretch from the Nile River in Egypt to the Euphrates River in Iraq. One could argue if this includes the Arabian Peninsula or not.

Now this sounds impossible in today’s world and geo-political climate. Can you imagine the uproar if this was proposed at the United Nations?

But, there will be a land for peace deal when Jesus returns. It will look something like above assuming current geography.

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The key issue for Abram is the same issue we have today. Do we believe God? Do we take what God says seriously? Does God really mean it? In Abram’s case, did he believe the promises of things to come?

There are Jews in Israel’s government today who believe in this promised land grant.

Today in the 21^st century, do we believe the good news of Jesus Christ? His death, burial, and resurrection are the issues for our eternal salvation.

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Genesis 15:6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

So…will God make Israel great again? Over twenty times in the book of Genesis alone, God stated His covenant with the offspring of Abram is an eternal and everlasting promise. He made the claim to Abram (later Abraham), Isaac, Jacob (later Israel) and his descendants.

Will God keep His promise to Israel in regards to the land grant? In the book Toward an Old Testament Theology, Walter Kaiser commented, “sixty nine times the writer of Deutoronomy repeated the pledge that Israel would one day ‘possess’ and ‘inherit’ the land promised to her.” (p. 124-5).

Is God going to bless the world through Israel? Do you believe the record?

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What Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli right really mean when they invoke ‘Greater Israel’ -David Levy, The Guardian

Israel’s war aims were to maximally degrade the capacity of the Iranian state, achieving not so much regime change as state implosion. Despite the ceasefire, Netanyahu has emphasized that this is “not the end of the campaign” and that Israel’s “finger is on the trigger” to resume combat. A seasoned strategist, he has spent the second Trump administration seizing the opportunity of geopolitical fluidity to reach for his end goal: a Greater Israel.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/13/benjamin-netanyahu-middle-east-greater-israel

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What is Greater Israel? From biblical origins to modern-day Zionism, the vision of Greater Israel continues to shape Israeli rhetoric and regional tensions

Since the current Israeli government came to power in 2022, references to “Greater Israel” have become more common. 

Last year, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was filmed advocating for the expansion of Israeli borders to include Damascus, the capital of Syria.

He suggested that Israel would gradually grow to encompass not only all Palestinian territories but also parts of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/explainers/what-greater-israel

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What is Greater Israel, and how popular is it among Israelis? Recent US and Israeli comments on ‘Greater Israel’ trigger regional concerns over sovereignty and territorial expansion.

American right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson with US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee started the current furore. Carlson, an influential figure who has been vocally critical of Israel over the past year, repeatedly asked Huckabee whether he supported Israel controlling all the land between the Nile River in Egypt and the Euphrates River in Iraq.

Huckabee, a Christian Zionist, would not disavow the belief that the Bible promised that land to Israel – even though it now encompasses all or part of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/26/what-is-greater-israel-and-how-popular-is-it-among-israelis

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This series is an excerpt from the book, Rapture the Bride Redeemed. https://www.amazon.com/Paul-Lehr/e/B09W8FB77N