Out of the Body Experience: Why Exclusion from Israel Must Also Mean Exclusion From the Body of Messiah (Response to Jacob Fronczak)

"The Hebrew Roots “spin” on this idea is that OT “Israel” was not a nation descended from the man Israel, but was an incorporated political entity of some kind that people automatically join when they attach themselves to Messiah. Again, you can only believe this if you ignore or reinterpret large sections of the Torah, the prophetic literature, the NT, etc.
     I think at its root this idea is just a manifestation of the desire to be special, to be as chosen as someone can be, to be unique. The “scandal of particularity” is that God chose an ethnic group to be His unique people and if you want to be part of that group, you have to join them on their terms and keep their laws as they have interpreted them (whether we are talking about structured Messianic Judaism or Rabbinic Judaism)," Jacob Fronczak, First Fruits of Zion.

Jacob here succinctly juxtaposes the Inclusionist belief, that Gentile Believers are Included in Israel through the blood of Yeshua, with the Exclusionist belief, that Gentiles Believers are Excluded from Israel by Rabbinic Law (although he, naturally, distorts the case for the One Law position).  But this is a very useful statement, believe it or not.  FFOZ's assertion that Gentile Believers are excluded from Israel and the corollary assertion that Yeshua is NOT Israel are helpful in clarifying our doctrinal beliefs:

"The reasons that generate doctrinal controversy may be ugly and painful, but God not infrequently uses such controversies to bring renewed theological strength and clarity of vision and understanding to his people," (An Introduction to the New Testament by Carson and Moo)

So, because of FFOZ, we now have occasion to explore the mystical connection between Yeshua and Israel and what this connection means for the status of Gentile Believers in Yeshua.

So without further ado...

POINT 1:  YESHUA WAS ALWAYS THE HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD IN ISRAEL

Yeshua was always the Head of the Household in Israel.  He was the progenitor of Israel.  As the true Son of G-d, He was able to covenantally extend this sonship to Israel by becoming one blood with the Israelites (via the Passover Feast).  And this is why it is written:

""Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, "Israel is My son, My firstborn," Exodus 4:22

Yeshua is firstborn Israel; the Israelites were adopted Israel:

"...who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises," Romans 9:4

In the realest sense possible, Yeshua IS Israel!

See also the following verses:

"When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son," Hosea 11:1

"So Joseph got up and took the Child [Yeshua] and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. 15He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my Son." Matthew 2:14-15

POINT 2:  THE BLOOD OF THE PASSOVER LAMB IS THE MECHANISM OF ADOPTION

Ephesians 2 says that the blood of Yeshua bestows citizenship in Israel (the realm of Israel over which Yeshua is King):

"12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ....19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,"

CONCLUSION:

It is no light thing then for Fronczak to say that Gentile Believers have no place in Israel.  Because, as Scripture shows, Yeshua is Israel.

Thus, to be out of Israel is to be out of the Body.