Lost Sheep of Israel: Continuation theology vs. replacement theology

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Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24 NASB). Rather than replacing Israel, believers in Yeshua as the Messiah have joined Israel, the name for God’s people who have been and will be repeatedly scattered and regathered because a “deal” between God and Israel that was ultimately sealed with the blood of Yeshua.

I came to know the Hebrew Roots movement thanks to YouTube, when I stumbled upon some videos produced by Michael Rood. I started digging deeper and find out more about the Feasts of the Lord and what they were really about. When asking these questions to those I was fellowshipping with, I was simply told that they pointed to the Messiah but had no other purpose than good life lessons.

I’ve very teachable and still learning. Jer. 16:19 speaks to me:

“O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of distress, to You the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, ‘Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, futility and things of no profit.’”

I’m not saying that those who taught me over time have purposefully lied to me or set out to deceive but I want to be open and teachable and don’t want to put God in a box. I’ve done that in the past and found that God will blow that box up.

“Though I wrote for him 10,000 precepts of My law, they are regarded as a strange thing.” (Hosea 8:12)

The Torah and the Feasts are a “strange thing” to many Christians, fellow believers in Yeshua.

It is God who draws us to learn more about Him, we can’t draw people to this way.

I have found a lot of valuable teachings on the Internet thanks to ministries such as Tim Hegg, Jim Staley, Michael Rood and Psalm 119 Ministries. But we have to look to the Word of God, even as we appreciate and find value in the teachings of others.

Yeshua said that He came to the Lost Sheep of Israel. As we seen in the scriptures, Israel starts with Abraham (Gen. 22:17-18), Isaac (Gen 26:4-5) and Jacob (Gen 28:13-15 and Gen. 35:10). I looked at these promises and the 12 tribes that came out of Jacob. What do they have to do with me? Anything?

We see in Joseph that he had two sons: Ephraim and Manasseh, Jacob gives the greater promise to the younger son, which is certainly outside of the norm (Gen. 48:17-19). Gen. 47:27 tells us that this small family grew “exceedingly” while in Egypt and the Egyptians became fearful of this large community growing in their midst.

In Exodus, when the children of Israel left Egypt, they didn’t leave alone as we read that a “mixed multitude” left Egypt with them. The existence of this “mixed multitude” spoke to me.

Num. 14:20-23 tells us prophetically that there will come a day when the entire earth will be filled with His glory. How does Torah contribute to this goal?

“For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call on Him? Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?” (Deut. 4:7-8)

If we follow the Torah, we should be a light that nonbelievers are drawn to but if we disobey, our “light” will be seen as a curse and a “byword” by those around us.

“But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.” (Deut. 28:15)

We have a covenant, a promise of a nation and a promise of punishment and scattering with disobedience. God loves us enough to tell us what He expects of us but He also loves us enough to warn us of the consequences of disobedience.

There was not only a physical scattering, but also a spiritual scattering that comes as a result of disobeying God’s statutes.

These promises didn’t only come upon those at Mt. Sinai but also those who would come after them, including us in this current generation:

“Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath, but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here today.” (Deut. 29:14)

When the children of Israel came into the land, they took over the Promised land, from Judges to Kings but they rebelled against God more than they followed God. Prophets came and went warning them of the coming exiles. God rebuked them, particularly the 10 Northern Tribes and warned them there would be a time when they would be lo-ammi they would no longer be God’s covenant people. He divorced them.

We have two houses: Israel and Judah, neither of them are listening to their husband and commit adultery against Him instead.

We see both of them in exile, we see that Israel disappeared to Assyrian. We see that Judah went into exile in Babylon, but 70 years later, they returned and were re-established through the ministry of Ezra and Nehemiah.

There are promises of the eventual return of the 10 Northern Tribes, these “lost sheep.” This was odd to me, after all, didn’t God divorce them? After all, Deut. 24:4 tells us that a man remarrying is wrong:

“then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.”

How can God break His own law? This is a great mystery to be rectified.

Marriage ends at death, the rights and responsibility of a husband and wife ends when the husband dies (Rom. 7:2; 1st Cor. 7:39).

Yeshua’s death shifted everything. This is a love story, it’s not about that is old, that is new, but a re-newed covenant. Redeeming Israel, God’s “lost wife” was perplexing to the prophets. The idea that Gentiles would be joint heirs to the promises of God was a prominent theme that Paul repeated refers to as the “mystery of the gospel” (Rom. 16:25-27; Eph. 3:1-7).

Yeshua did not come to revoke the Torah. If He revokes His own law, there’s no reason to marry or remarry His bride.

We read in Micah that there will be a second Exodus that will dwarf the first Exodus. “I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold; like a flock in the midst of its pasture they will be noisy with men.”

People “cherry pick” the scriptures a lot, but I think I have presented multiple witnesses to make this point. Yet, I am open to correction.

Study notes

Promises of God

To Abraham: Gen. 22:17-18
To Isaac: Gen. 26:4-5
To Jacob: Gen. 28:13-15

Gen. 35:10; 48:5, 17-19; 47:27; Ex. 1:8-11; 2:41; 12:38

Num. 14:20-23; Deut. 4:7-8, 25-27; 30:19; 28:1-2, 15; 29:1

Deut. 28:36-37; 30:1-4; 29:14-15; 1st Kings 11:31-32; Hos. 1:9; 2nd Kings 17:6, 28-29, 34; Isa. 7:8; Jer. 3:8; 2nd Kings 17:18-19; 20:17; 24:20; Dan. 9:2; Jer. 29:10; 50:6; Ezek. 34:6, 11-12; Deut. 24:4; Eze. 34:15; Mic. 2:12; 1st John 3:4; Rom. 7:2; 1st Cor. 7:39; Rom. 6:5-7; Matt. 13:17; Rom. 16:25-27; Eph 3:1-7; 6:19; Col. 1:25-26; Matt. 5:17; Jer. 31:31-33; Eze. 36:26-28; Acts 2; Rom 8:2; Micah 2:12; Ezek. 20:34, 41; Jer. 23:7; John 10:11; Matt 15:24; Isa. 46:10; Deut. 4:25-31; Matt. 22:1-14; Rev. 21:1-6; 2nd Cor. 13:5

Further studies

Start of divided kingdom: 1st Kings 12; 2nd Chronicles 10
Exile Of Israel: 2nd Kings 17; Isaiah 28
Exile Of Judah: 2nd Kings 25
Return of Judah from exile: Ezra; Nehemiah; 1st Chron. 9:1-34; 2nd Chron. 36:15-23; Isaiah 44; Jer 29:1-32; Ezekiel 33 and 35