Israel Only?
If you’ve spent any time on Facebook preterist groups, you’ve no doubt run into the proponents of Israel Only (IO). They are a militant group of (mostly) ex-Christians who are hell-bent on convincing Christians that the Bible’s promises were only for the biological descendants of Abraham. They also claim that redemption ended in AD 70, even for that select few. Here are a couple of quotes from recent encounters:
“Christians today are playing a sick game, a skit pretending they are 1st century Jews.”[1]
“IO destroys the premises upon which the post-AD 70 version of Christianity relies on, and in so doing, shows that today’s so-called Christianity is a godless, powerless, complete fraud.”[2]
As you can see, proponents of IO do not mince words. They believe today’s Christianity is a farce, and they have no qualms about saying it.
Are they right…or have they completely missed the Bible’s message? Let’s look at two of their foundational claims.
IO Claim #1: The Bible’s promises are only for the biological descendants of Abraham.
The passage often cited to “prove” this claim is Matthew 15:24, where Jesus says: “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Admittedly, this statement does seem—if taken in isolation—to support IO. However, the context teaches the exact opposite!
Jesus made this statement during a conversation with a Canaanite lady, who was obviously not a descendant of Abraham. She had just asked Jesus to heal her child: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed” (Matt. 15:22).
Then Jesus said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel…It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs” (v. 24-26).
Then the lady said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (v. 27), to which Jesus responded: “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire” (v. 28, italics mine).
In granting the Canaanite lady’s request, Jesus was essentially teaching that anyone can join the kingdom of God by faith. In other words, salvation is not just for the biological descendants of Abraham!
In fact, John the Baptist condemned the Scribes and Pharisees for thinking their bloodline was what mattered: “Do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones” (Matt. 3:9). Bloodline is irrelevant; what matters is faith.
When the Israelites had fled the Pharoah/Egypt back in around 1500 BC, a “mixed multitude” went with them (Ex. 12:38). Many of these people were not Israelites, yet God established a covenant (the “Old Covenant”) with them. God also said to Moses: “When a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land” (Ex. 12:48, italics mine). To be “as a native of the land” means to be equal to an Israelite in all aspects—including redemption!
Ruth and Rahab are two examples of outsiders who joined Israel. Ruth was a Moabite woman who married into an Israelite family and eventually converted to Judaism. She is the great-grandmother of King David and an ancestor of the Messiah.
And Rahab was a Canaanite woman who risked her life to help the Israelite spies in Jericho. Because of her faith in the God of Israel, she and her family were spared during Jericho’s destruction. Rahab later became part of the lineage of Jesus Christ, showing God’s grace and desire to redeem non-Israelites too.
God’s plan all along was to use Israel to reach the world. To suggest God only wanted a relationship with the physical descendants of Abraham completely misses the message of the Bible. Sure, God chose Israel to bring his message to the world—he had to choose someone—but he never intended to only redeem the descendants of Abraham. God’s plan all along was to use the descendants of Abraham to reach the world (Gen. 26:4, Hab. 2:14).
Today, there is a New Covenant, and anyone can join this New Covenant by putting his/her faith in Jesus. “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:26-29).
Those who put their faith in Christ are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise. Sure, this applies to the physical descendants of Abraham; but it also applies to outsiders too. God is not a racist!
Another big problem with the IO view of redemption—which interestingly was pointed out to me by someone who isn’t even a Christian—is that by the time of Jesus, the ten (scattered) northern tribes of Israel had been intermarrying and interbreeding with the pagans around them for around seven hundred years, ever since the Assyrian captivity. Yet according to IO, these were the only people Jesus came to gather back into the fold (to gather together with the Jews, the southern tribes).
There are two problems with this view: First, these people were hardly pure descendants of Abraham, as they had been interbreeding with pagans for seven hundred years. And second, many of these people had pagan spouses, whom Paul said not to divorce. Paul said believers should not divorce their unbelieving spouses (if the unbeliever is willing to stay with the believer) because the believer sanctifies the unbeliever (1 Cor. 7:12-14). In other words, the unbelieving spouse is redeemed too.
All this flies in the face of IO teaching, which claims redemption is only for the descendants of Abraham.
IO Claim #2: Redemption (salvation) ended in AD 70.
Not only did redemption/salvation not end in AD 70—as IO asserts—but salvation did not even begin in earnest until AD 70. While salvation had certainly broken in at the time of Jesus (see 2 Tim. 1:9, Titus 3:5, 1 Cor. 6:11), salvation did not come in fullness until AD 70. This is why Paul said in around AD 58 that “salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Rom. 13:11). This is also why the writer of Hebrews said in around AD 60 that Jesus will “appear a second time for salvation” (Heb. 9:28). Salvation had obviously not arrived yet, at least not in fullness.
Salvation was a gradual process that took forty years to fully arrive. That’s why Paul told the Philippians, “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). While salvation had broken in at the time of Jesus earthly ministry, it did not come in fullness until his second coming in AD 70. This is when the Old Covenant “ministration of death” (2 Cor. 3:7) officially ended, and the New Covenant ministration of life/salvation officially began in earnest!
It’s true that the sacrifice for sin was finished at the cross (John 19:30); but the atonement was not. The Old Covenant atonement system was a type/shadow of the New Covenant system. Yet under the Old Covenant system, the atonement was not completed when the animal was sacrificed. There was more that needed to be done. The high priest still had to enter the Holy of Holies, sprinkle the animal’s blood on the Mercy Seat, and come out of (return from) the Most Holy Place and bless the eagerly awaiting congregation. Only then would the atonement process be complete (see Leviticus 16 and Hebrews 9).
The New Covenant atonement process closely followed this Old Covenant pattern. Just as the Old Covenant process required a sacrifice, so did the New. Jesus, of course, was this sacrifice. Under the Old Covenant system, the Levitical high priest entered the temple’s Most Holy Place (aka the Holy of Holies), which was a type/shadow of heaven. Likewise, under the New Covenant system, Jesus is the high priest in the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 7:17), and he entered/ascended to heaven, the real Most Holy Place (Eph. 4:7–9, Acts 1:9).
Under the Old Covenant system, the congregation eagerly waited for the high priest to come out of (return from) the Most Holy Place because that signified that God had accepted the sacrifice and that the atonement process was compete. In fact, Jewish tradition says a rope was tied to the high priest’s leg before he entered the Holy of Holies so that if he died inside—due to God rejecting his service or sacrifice—the high priest could be pulled out without anyone else having to enter. (Only the high priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies.) The time inside the Holy of Holies was a fearful time for Israel, and they eagerly waited for the high priest to come out (return) because this would indicate God had accepted the sacrifice and the atonement was complete.
It was the same under the New Covenant system. Jesus ascended to heaven, the real Most Holy Place, and his disciples eagerly waited for him to return because that would indicate God had accepted the sacrifice (of himself) and that the atonement was complete. “To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation” (Heb. 9:28). Note: If the second coming has still not happened—as many Christians believe—then the atonement is still not complete!
The similarities between the Old Covenant atonement system and the New Covenant atonement system are undeniable. The Old served as a pattern for the New. The Old Covenant atonement was a type/shadow; the New Covenant atonement is the reality (antitype).
This comparison shows that salvation did not arrive—at least not in fullness—until the second coming in AD 70. This is when the Old Covenant “ministration of death” (2 Cor. 3:7) officially ended, and the New Covenant ministration of life/salvation officially began in fullness.
What’s more, Scripture says the New Covenant age of salvation will never end. Both Hebrews and Isaiah specifically talk about the “everlasting [new] covenant” (Heb. 13:20, Isa. 61:8).
In fact, in Revelation’s description of the new heaven and earth—which arrives after the second coming—it shows people and nations coming into the city, the New Jerusalem[3], for healing and salvation (Rev. 21:26; 22:2). Keep in mind, this is after the second coming, in the new heaven and earth…and people are still being saved.
Isaiah, likewise, describes the second coming (Isa. 66:15; cf. 2 Thess. 1:7), which is followed by God gathering all nations and tongues from “Tarshish and Pul and Lud…to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory” (Isa. 66:18–19, italics mine). This happens after the second coming; and people are being gathered for salvation.
Here’s another telling passage that Christians worldwide read every Christmas season:
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end” (Isa. 9:6–7, italics mine).
Of the increase of his government there will be no end. This, too, shows that salvation and redemption never ends.
Conclusion: The IO view of redemption is grossly unbiblical. Salvation is not only for the physical descendants of Abraham, and redemption did not end in AD 70!
For more information about the topics discussed in this article, purchase my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament’s Prophecies Were Fulfilled, available NOW on Amazon.
By Alex Polyak, Director of The Bible Fulfilled, 5/8/25
[1] Gary Hoskins (@gwayne11000) posted this in the comment section of The Bible Fulfilled’s YouTube video “Does Marriage End After the Second Coming/Resurrection,” viewed 2/27/25, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN7qpv88nFw&t=6s
[2] Michael Bradley, “What is IO?” YouTube video, viewed 3/25/25, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHg8o2L3B9k
[3] The New Jerusalem refers to the Church. We can be sure of this for three reasons. First, the writer of Hebrews calls the new heavenly Jerusalem the church (Heb. 12:22–24). Second, Revelation 21:1-2 describes the New Jerusalem as “a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:1–2). And who is this husband and bride? Jesus and the church (see Rev. 19:7–9 and Eph. 5:25–27). Third, Jesus told the woman at the well that people would no longer worship in physical Jerusalem, but in spirit and in truth. In other words, they would worship in the new heavenly Jerusalem (John 4:21–24), which came down from heaven in AD 70 (Rev. 21:2, 22:6–10).
