We Declare These Truths

by Angus and Batya Wootten and the Messianic Israel Alliance

The purpose of this article is to make known the position of the Messianic Israel Alliance in regard to the following subjects:

Salvation
The Messianic Israel Alliance believes that salvation is a free gift that is available to whomsoever will respond to the Holy One of Israel. We believe that He is gathering people from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. When the Redeemed of Israel are fully regathered, they will shine with every skin tone known to man. We believe that, the shed blood of Messiah Yeshua is the source of eternal life for every human being, including the twelve tribes of Israel. We believe that, the doors to Israel's commonwealth are open to whomsoever the Almighty invites to go through them, and, once they come to a saving faith in Messiah Yeshua, they thereafter belong to His eternal "commonwealth of Israel" (Ephesians 2:11-22; Revelation 5:9).

The Deity of Our Redeemer, Messiah Yeshua
We believe in Messiah Yeshua's Deity and Eternal Presence. We believe that we need to repent of our sins and have faith in His finished work on the Cross, that He is our Redeemer, and therefore, He is our Elohim, our God come in the flesh. "Israel's King and Redeemer, YHVH Almighty [says], I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God."And, "I, YHVH, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob" (Isaiah 43:10; 44:6; 60:16). The Word reveals that, "No man can by any means redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him." And that, "God [alone] will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol" (Psalm 49:7-15). As followers of Israel's Messiah, we are "redeemed with...the precious blood of Messiah." He was "slain, and purchased for God with His blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation" (1 Peter 1:18-19;

Revelation 5:9). He is the First and the Last, the mysterious Alef and Tav of Scripture, the Mighty God, and our Creator (Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1-3; 10:33; Colossians 1:16; Revelation 21:6; 22:13).With child-like faith, we believe in the plurality of the One and Only God, in His compound unity as defined by the Hebrew word, "echad" (Matthew 18:3). We declare this to be a cardinal and immutable truth upon which our faith rests.

The Twin Sins of Replacement Theology
We do not believe in Replacement Theology, meaning that the "church" has replaced the Jewish people in YHVH's divine plan. We instead believe that He brought the people of Judah back to the Land, and we support the modern Nation of Israel. On the other hand, we believe that separating the true ekklesia/ congregation of the Messiah from its rightful identity as part of the people of Israel leads to misunderstandings. Thus, we teach about "both the houses of Israel" and about their full restoration (Isaiah 8:14; Ezekiel 37:15-28; Ephesians 2:11-22). Even as those of Judah cannot be replaced, so those of brother Joseph cannot be replaced. Neither house can be replaced by the other. We believe that both houses need to be fully restored in Messiah Yeshua, and to forgive, love, and appreciate the good in each other.

Anti-Semitic and Anti-Christian Attitudes
We believe that, in different ways, "both the houses of Israel" have "stumbled" over the Sanctuary/Temple that is Messiah Yeshua (Isaiah 8:14; John 2:19-22). And that, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Collectively, "we acknowledge our wickedness and the guilt of our fathers," and that "we have indeed sinned against You,"O LORD (Jeremiah 14:20; Daniel 9:11; Romans 3:23). However, we also know that forgiveness is available for those who repent of their sins (Luke 24:47).

Both houses of Israel, both Ephraim and Judah, have stumbled, because both were partially hardened to different truths about the Messiah (Romans 11:25). But now is the time for that blindness to come to an end. It is time for all involved to seek to comfort and uplift each other, and to "honor those to whom honor is due." It is time to honor each house for the different truths that they have brought forth (Romans 13:7). We therefore honor the Jewish people for seeking to maintain the eternal truths of Torah; and, we honor the Church for seeking to maintain the truth about the Only Begotten Son of God. Neither house has done a perfect job, and we choose to leave behind the errors of both, to embrace the positive things that both offer, and, to add to those good things, the truths from Scripture that our Father is revealing in this hour of final restoration.

We believe that now is the time to, "Go through, go through the gates, clear the way for the people; build up, build up the highway, remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples" (Isaiah 62:10). Israel's staff of "Union," which signified the "brotherhood between Judah and Israel," was broken long ago, but now is the time for our two sticks to again be made one in our Father's hand (Ezekiel 37:19; Zechariah 11:14). It is time for us to seek restoration, and, Anti-Semitism and Anti-Christian attitudes will have no place in that restoration. Both are sins in the eyes of our Heavenly Father.

Click here for the balance of the article which covers the following topics:

• The Church/Ekklesia, and the Commonwealth of Israel
• Spiritual Israel-physical Israel
• Use of the Titles "Ephraim and Judah"
• How Many Physical Heirs?
• The Olive Tree of Israel and Her Blindness
• Denials, Bloodlines, Conversions to Judaism, and Our Glorious Future
• Honoring Torah and the New Covenant
• Restoring the Kingdom to Israel
• A Foundation-But Not Our Focus

 

               *******

 

Messiah Yeshua said, "What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops" (Matthew 10:27).

     With this verse in mind, please pardon me while I climb up on my rooftop and kevetchand complain a little bit.

     With all of my heart, I believe that the Holy One of Israel, through Scripture, "whispered" the truth about "both the houses of Israel" and their full restoration in my ear (Isaiah 8:14; Ezekiel 37:15-28). To me, the truth about Israel's redemption is a high and holy truth that should be treated with utmost respect. Therefore, I have something that I would like to shout and maybe even scream about. It is something that bugs me, because it is such a terrible misnomer.

     It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, so I tried to depict our "announcement/complaint" in the attached graphic, which Angus and I dubbed, "Two House - One House Theologies."

     If you like it, we wish you would forward it and this article to every friend you have. Please, please, send it around the world!

     I ask this because I never liked being called "Two House." I dislike the title because it was made popular by someone who copied our teachings and then added some terrible errors. I would love to be able to escape that negative association. Beyond that, I see an absolute irony in the way the title was picked up and is now often used by people who reject the truth about the restoration of Ephraim and Judah. Every time I hear us being labeled as "Two House," I feel like it is an incorrect, unsuitable name, one that does not describe us - or our ultimate goal - but it instead well describes those who oppose the truth of Scripture that we teach!

 

    An irony is said to be an expression in which the intended meaning of the words is the opposite of their usual sense; an event or result that is the opposite of what is expected. To me, the "Two House" title is incredibly ironic because those who are against what they call the "Two House" teaching, are themselves "Two House" teachers! They are the ones who do not embrace the idea of the "One House" theology that we teach! They instead want to continue with a middle wall of partition that Messiah Yeshua tore down long ago. They do not accept the fact that, in Messiah, "former" non-Jewish Believers are "brought nigh" to His commonwealth of Israel, and "now share citizenship with the saints" (Ephesians 2:11-22). They do not embrace the truth that the Messiah of Israel said, "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd" (John 10:16). These "two house teachers" reject the fact that the God of Israel has sworn that He will make the two sticks of Ephraim and Judah - and their companions - one stick in His hand (Ezekiel 37:19).

     In the Garden of Gethsemane our Messiah prayed that we might be "one," even as He and the Father are one. He prayed for His Disciples, and for those who would believe in Him through their Word (meaning, the New Covenant). He said, "I do not ask on behalf of these [Disciples] alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me" (John 17:11, 20-21).

     Messiah's last wish was that we might be one! He even declared that this is the very testimony that will convince the world that the Father has sent Him!

Friends, we need to stop opposing, stop focusing on, and stop even thinking of ourselves as being "Two House." We need to instead become "One House."

Yes, it is absolutely true that there were two houses, and to the extent that they have not entered into the New Covenant, those two houses continue to exist - even in our day. For this reason, our critique of the "Two House" title is done "tongue in cheek." We know there are two houses of Israel that have not yet been fully reunited, but "Two House" does not at all represent the stated goal of the New Covenant.

 

     We see that goal when we read of the Father's New Covenant promise, which was given to both Ephraim/Israel and Judah - however - the New Covenant was made with an entrance caveat, a conditional clause, if you will.

     In Jeremiah 33:14-15 we read, "'Behold, days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth." The Righteous Branch of David is Messiah Yeshua. He said of Himself, "I am the root and the offspring/branch of David" (Revelation 22:16). He came, lived, and died for us, that He might pay the price for our sins, and thus offer us, a "new and better covenant" (Hebrews 7:19; 9:10; 12:24).

     Jeremiah foretold this coming New Covenant: "'Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers...which they broke, although I was a husband to them,' declares the LORD. 'But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,' declares the LORD, 'I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people" (Jeremiah 31:31-33).

     Long live the "One House!"

     I'll get off my rooftop now.

     Batya (and Angus)