The Phantom Israel Part 1
Are the biblical Israel and the modern state of Israel the same?
I never thought I’d be asking this question in 2026. Let me state this question differently: Are the modern state of Israel under Benjamin Netanyahu and the biblical Israel under King David two distinct entities with no connection between them?
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Of course, many centuries separate the two bodies called “Israel.” Yet, why should a doubt be raised whether Jewish people descended from Abraham and his offspring now residing in Israel are not the same?
When one fantasizes that the Israel of the Hebrew Scriptures no longer exists and has been replaced by the New Testament Church, that person has transformed modern-day Israel into a shell of its former self. This Christian belief is called “replacement theology.” I view this newly rendered Israel as a “phantom Israel.”
Replacement theology is the primary source of the mystification of Israel. Those who redefine biblical Israel into a spiritual Israel need to have their view of a shadow Israel demystified.
Kirk Cameron’s Bizarre Views on Israel
In a recent YouTube video from the messianic ministry, First Fruits of Zion, the podcast host Jacob Fronczak discusses Christian celebrity Kirk Cameron’s views on the modern state of Israel. In brief, Cameron questions whether the ancient nation of Israel and the modern Jewish state are identical. Several evangelical pastors, such as Andy Woods, and other scholars have astutely responded to Cameron’s misguided view on Israel.
The Promises to Abraham Are Meant ONLY for the Patriarch
As an example of Cameron’s baffling position on Israel, he maintains the blessings promised to Abraham apply ONLY to the patriarch, but NOT to his descendants. The former TV star appears to be wearing foggy lenses when he suggests the nation of Israel does not appear in the establishment of God’s covenant with Abraham, “And I will make of you a great NATION, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing (Genesis 12:2 ESV) (bold font added by author).
If Israel is not the nation promised to Abraham, according to Kirk Cameron, who is the nation God promised would come forth from Abraham? Could it be Edom or Turkey? Perhaps the nation God promised to the patriarch is Great Britain. I’ll let the reader answer this question.
Read more: The Phantom Israel Part 1The Identity of Israel Needs Yeshua’s Clarification
Cameron drives on, suggesting that Israel’s identity in the first century is blurry. Because the ID card for Israel is so hard to decipher, Yeshua needed to demystify the true identity of the seed of Abraham.
It was up to the long-awaited Messiah of Israel to unravel Cameron’s fabricated mystery about the Jewish nation. According to Cameron, Yeshua arrived on the scene and “demystifies who the children of Abraham truly are.”
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I am fuzzy as to why, after almost 1500 years of Israel’s existence, Yeshua needed to clear up the mystery of Israel’s identity. The New Covenant never indicates that the Roman Empire, Jewish political and religious leaders, or the early messianic Jewish leaders needed a course titled “Israel 101” to unravel the mysterious identity of the Jewish nation.
Kirk might be referring to passages such as John 8:39-40: “They [a sampling of Jewish religious leadership] answered him [Yeshua], ‘Abraham is our father.'” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God” (John 8:39-40 ESV, brackets with clarification are mine).
Upon closer examination of John 8:39-40, one realizes the Messiah of Israel was applying His message to the behavior of specific Jewish leaders in the first century. He was not demystifying or redefining what it means to be Jewish. He was primarily concerned that certain Jewish religious leaders of His time claimed to be descendants of Abraham. Yet, their desire to kill Him demonstrates moral actions that contradict their claim to be Abraham’s seed. Abraham would not seek to destroy the long-awaited messianic seed.
Only the Christian Church is the “True” Israel
As one who dabbles in Replacement Theology, Kirk slips in Romans 9:6 to prove his case: “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For NOT all who descend from Israel belong to Israel” (Bold font belongs to author, ESV).
Cameron interprets the text as saying, “not all Israel is Israel just because they are Jewish.” The only actual members of God’s Israel, according to Kirk, are those who have faith in God’s promises in Yeshua.
Therefore, if a Jewish person does not accept Yeshua as Messiah, then that person is NO LONGER a member of the nation of Israel. According to Kirk, the newly demystified Israel consists ONLY of those Jews and Gentiles who have trusted Yeshua as Messiah and Lord.
I wonder then, “What does it mean to bless or curse Israel if there is no longer a physical Israel?” Shockingly, the actor states very clearly that to bless Israel means to bless the children of promise, the Church of Jesus Christ. This spiritualized version of Israel is the REAL “Israel” we are to bless. To the former Growing Pains actor, today’s non-believing Israel is de facto a PHANTOM nation. A Jewish cartoon!
To strip Israel of the nation’s biblical and historical identity has been the aim of all who have opposed Israel or the Jewish people throughout history. Unbeknownst to many replacement theologians, those who want to endorse a phantom Israel end up assigning the nation to a very familiar historical graveyard.
Conclusion: After consulting my calculator, I see three Israels in Cameron’s view. First, we see the physical Old Testament Jewish people. Second, Cameron introduces the Church as the new Israel. Third, if the Church is NOW the new Israel, the physical nation is no longer Israel, but a mirage. My math sees three Israels in Cameron’s thinking: the once existing physical Israel, the current Israel known as the Church, and the current non-Israel Jewish nation. Huh?
Evangelical Leaders Discuss Cameron’s Views on Israel
Here are a few recent examples of pastors and teachers who have responded to Cameron’s “stranger things” view of Israel. Interspersed with the explanations of these evangelical leaders are my own observations.
Pastor Andy Woods, Sugarland Bible Church
Andy Woods, pastor of Sugarland Bible Church, commented in a YouTube video (andywoodministries.com) on Cameron’s unfounded claims about Israel’s identity. Here are some of the erroneous ideas belonging to Kirk Cameron that Woods refutes,
Israel came into existence post-WWII
Cameron observes that Israel did not have a land or a nation for 2000 years since 70 AD. No temple. No sacrifices. In fact, it was not until 75 years ago that political operatives established the country after World War II.
Did modern Israel only come into existence after World War II? This falsehood is a flat-out denial of Israel as a modern-day work of God. Any observer of Israel’s modern history will take note that Jewish people migrated to Israel from Eastern European and Arab countries, where they were persecuted, stripped of their rights, and exterminated. Hundreds of thousands of Jewish exiles in the Diaspora fled to Israel, their biblical homeland, because they were not wanted wherever they resided.
Only an act of the God of Israel, and not solely the maneuvering of Zionist operatives, can account for the miracle of Jewish people returning to the land God gave to Abraham and his descendants. How can anyone explain the existence of the Jewish people for 2000 years, despite centuries of attempts to exterminate them, apart from the hand of God?
However, Kirk Cameron expresses his doubts about whether God promised the geographical land area of Israel to be a safe space for its Jewish residents. Andy Woods, a very pro-Israel spokesperson, notes Kirk’s failure to see Genesis 12:3 as the promise to Abraham that the nation of Israel will come forth from his seed. It appears that Kirk has a reading comprehension issue that veils the actor from seeing the word “nation” in Genesis 12:2, “And I will make of you a great NATION, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2 ESV) (Bold emphasis, mine).
The Church is the True Seed of Abraham
The claim that the Church is the true seed of Abraham is nothing new. Pastor Woods refers to Albertus Pieters’s theological work, The Seed of Abraham (1950), which Cameron also cites. I remember reading Pieters’ book in Bible College, and this work exposed me to Replacement Theology.
In his book, Pieters points to Galatians 3:16, stating that the true seed of Abraham is the Church. Another passage that allegedly supports Replacement theology is Galatians 3:29: “And if you are Messiah’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (ESV). Woods points out that these verses merely state that Christians are the spiritual seed of Abraham, NOT the physical seed. Paul was not teaching that the Church takes over Israel’s identity as the TRUE physical seed, along with her promises.
Gentile Christians Have Taken Over Israel’s Blessings
By implication, Kirk Cameron suggests Israel’s New Covenant blessings now belong to the Gentile members of the Church, which leads members of the Church to think of themselves as the” true Israel.”
In contrast, this author directs the reader to Paul’s writings in Romans 11:17. There, the emissary of the Messiah notes that believing Gentiles were “grafted in among the others (messianic Jews) and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree” (Romans 11:17 ESV, bold font mine). The term Rabbi Shaul uses to describe Gentile followers of Yeshua in the Church or Body of Messiah is “share.”
In other words, Gentile Christians do not “take over” the spiritual blessings promised to Israel nor were they granted the privilege of being the “spiritual Israel.”‘ Instead, these wild olive branches participate in these blessings along with Jewish believers. The word for “share” in the Greek is συγκοινωνὸς, which speaks of “one who partakes jointly, a coparticipant” (Mounce Greek Dictionary).
Paul makes it escape-proof that Gentile followers of Yeshua cannot TAKE OVER Israel’s blessings and claim they are the true Israel. Gentile believers SHARE in the rich spiritual blessings of the Olive Tree, but do not rule over these blessings, nor can they claim the identity of Israel for themselves.
Woods adds his commentary on Cameron’s perspective on Romans 9:6, referred to above. Paul is not stating that the Church has replaced physical Israel. Instead, Romans 9:6 states that within the physical nation of Israel, some believe God’s promises regarding Yeshua as the Messiah, and others don’t.
Throughout the Jewish Scriptures, this teaching is known as the doctrine of the remnant, as seen in Isaiah 6:10:
And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump (Isaiah 6:10).
The holy seed or the tenth that remains in Israel after the nation is disciplined, do not replace Israel. Rather they are a remnant as reminder to God’s everlasting faithfulness to the Jewish nation even in times when God places the nation under temporary judgment.
Kirk’s understanding of Romans 9:6 contradicts the biblical definition of the Church. One can only be part of the church/ekklesia if the individual is a believer (1 Corinthians 12:13). There is no distinction within the Church between true believers/remnant and those who have not yet believed. The remnant doctrine is only true of the physical body of Israel.
Furthermore, to understand Romans 9:6, we need to be aware of the chapter’s larger context and the flow of Paul’s argument. In Romans 9:1, Saul bears his heart regarding his people: “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Messiah for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (ESV).
Then in vv. 4-5, the writer speaks of all the blessings God has given to Israel, including the promise of the Messiah, “To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 9:5 ESV).
The Apostle then wonders in verse 6, and I paraphrase, “Then in light of all these wonderful benefits given to Israel, why is it that my Jewish friends and family have not embraced Yeshua as the promised Jewish Messiah? It can’t be because the word of God has failed, can it?”
I like how the Holman Christian Study Bible phrases this passage, “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel” (Romans 9:6 HCSB).
According to messianic Jewish scholar Michael Rydelnik, in a recent YouTube video titled “How Can the Church be the True Israel?”, Saul teaches in Romans 9:6 that the most faithful members of Israel are not those who are physical members of the nation. Instead, the faithful members of Israel are those who have a relationship with God, in addition to being physical members of the chosen nation.
Saul is narrowing the definition of a faithful member of Israel. He is NOT expanding the definition of a true Israelite to include Gentiles, as some would teach. The fact that there are Jewish people who believe in Yeshua is proof enough that God’s promises of bringing the Messiah to Israel have not failed.
If one is only a physical member of Israel and does not believe in Yeshua as Messiah, it is not as though the Word of God has failed. Jewish unbelief in Yeshua does not CANCEL God’s promise to bring a Messiah to the Jewish people nor any of His other promises given to the nation. Instead, there exists a remnant of Jewish individuals who do believe in Yeshua.
The majority of the nation of Israel remains God’s people. In time, the God of Israel will bring all of Israel to faith in the Messiah.
To summarize, in Romans 9:6, Paul, according to Rydelnik, makes a distinction between those who are ethnically part of Israel and those who are spiritually part of the Jewish nation. The status of Gentile Christians and the Church is not part of Saul’s argument here in Romans 9.
Amir Tsarfati, Messianic Jewish Author and Speaker
Another voice weighing in on Kirk Cameron’s viewpoint is the messianic Jewish author and YouTuber Amir Tsarfati.
The Abrahamic Blessings Only Include Blessings for Abraham
Referring to Genesis 12:3, Amir corrects Cameron’s faulty view of the object of God’s blessing. Yes, the blessing was directed to Abraham personally, but it includes his seed, namely the nation of Israel. This author will demonstrate in a future article that when the Torah cites the Abrahamic covenant, its promises always apply to Abraham’s seed. Not ONLY to the patriarch Abraham.
Tsarfati clarifies that the blessing referred to in Genesis 12 is understood to point to Israel as the recipient of several timeless blessings: the reception of the Word of God, the teaching of one God (monotheism), and the Messiah as the messianic seed. To this list I would add: the eternal existence of the Jewish people; the protection of Israel against those who seek to eliminate the nation, and the existence of a future, earthly messianic era of peace, justice, and righteousness ruled by Israel’s Messiah.
Furthermore, Amir expounds on the truth found in Romans 9:6: there is a spiritual Israel that has accepted Yeshua; the rest have not yet believed. However, Tsarfati clarifies that Rabbi Saul never argued that Israel’s refusal to acknowledge Yeshua as Messiah meant that God had reason to throw the non-believing Israel away.
The Nation of Israel Ceases to Exist in NT Thinking
Tsarfati points to Romans 11:11-12, “So I ask, did they stumble so that they [Israel] might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!” (Romans 11:11-12 ESV). In addition, I cite Romans 11:25, “Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, UNTIL the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Romans 11:25 ESV; bold font author’s).
Israel’s blindness towards Yeshua is temporary, as recognized by Tsarfati, “UNTIL the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” Romans 11:25). Then “all Israel” will be delivered or redeemed (Romans 11:26).
Israel’s temporary blindness does not imply God has no dealings with the Jewish nation. God has not turned Israel into an empty auditorium, devoid of His blessings, according to the replacement theologians.
Instead, God has packed Israel’s auditorium with His chosen people waiting to enter into the fullness of His eternal blessings. Paul writes, “For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? (Romans 11:15 ESV). God has much more to do with His people.
If the Church is Israel, according to Replacement theology, then this statement makes no sense. What would be the purpose of a promise in which the whole church/ekkesia will experience deliverance at some distant point in the future?
Furthermore, Tsarfati hammers away against the replacement theology crowd by citing Romans 11:29 to describe God’s eternal commitment to the nation of Israel, “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29 ESV).
Antisemites Throughout History Couldn’t Identify the Jewish People
“If Cameron’s view that the nation of Israel did not exist for 2000 years until 1948”, Amir asks, “who did Hitler kill in the Holocaust? Who did Ferdinand and Isabella expel from Spain in the late 1400s?” That nation, which Kirk Cameron states did not exist until 1948, was very real to those who persecuted the Jewish people. Plus, God brought the already existing, but dispersed Jewish people back to the land in 1948 as He promised throughout the Jewish Scriptures.
The Regathering of Jews Back to Israel is Theologically Insignificant
A few Scriptures from the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel demonstrate God’s promises to Israel to bring them back to the land of Israel: “And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.” (Bold font, mine) (Ezekiel 36:23-24 ESV). From the same chapter in Ezekiel, we also read, “You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God” (Ezekiel 36:28 ESV).
Christians who oppose God’s commitment to the people of Israel cannot disregard the Lord’s promise in Jeremiah 31: “If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.” Thus says the LORD: “If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 31:36-37 ESV).
Read these words carefully, “then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a NATION before me forever. It appears Kirk Cameron and others are not examining the Scriptures with attention to God’s unending love for His people, the nation of Israel. The fact that the sun, moon, and stars still exist is proof that God continues to preserve Israel.
For those who struggle with blessing Israel, like Kirk Cameron, because of their perception of Israel’s modern government, they need to answer whether they would have blessed Israel under the governments of evil kings in the southern kingdom of Judah under Manasseh or in the northern kingdom of Israel under Ahab? Where does the God of Israel tell the nations not to pray or bless Israel because of the unspiritual status of any Israeli government? Did the adultery of King David and the spiritual incompetence of his son, Solomon, cancel Israel’s status as a nation?
Despite the character of these wayward rulers, Israel always remained “Israel.” In addition, throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, God would temporarily lift His hand from His people to discipline them for their rebellion against Him. Yet the God of Israel never completely rejected His chosen nation and made them His “phantom people.”
Conclusion
When Kirk Cameron and others advocate that the New Covenant Church has replaced Israel, they assign the modern state of Israel to a phantom status. In addition, they produce several other problems.
- They remove the designation of Israel as the physical nation and apply it to the Church as a spiritual Israel. Hence, what is the status of the physical nation of Israel?
- They place the physical nation of Israel in a limbo state. Some Replacement advocates, like Cameron, have a hard time trying to define the Jewish nation because of their confusing theology.
- They have difficulty fitting all of God’s promises to the physical nation into their theology. Many of the commitments made to Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures remain on the cutting-room floor. RT proponents wind up with a truncated Bible minus all of God’s plans for Israel.
- They have a confused perception of who Israel is today. In my opinion, Replacement theology strips Israel of its identity and relegates the modern Jewish nation to a “phantom” state.
In part 2 of this post, I want to survey the use of the term “Israel” by the early messianic Jewish believers. My survey will focus on the historical document of the Book of Acts and the letters sent by Rabbi Saul to various congregations.
My goal is to see whether the phantom Israel described by replacement theology holds water, or whether their view of Israel belongs on Saturday-morning cartoon shows.
THAT’S ALL FOLKS… until part 2.
