From the Church of the 12 tribes to that of the 12 Disciples

"C. Gilbert in his book Practical Lessons wrote concerning the 70-week prophecy: “The seventy weeks had ended; Israel as a nation, as a separate people, was cut off. . . . And the Gentiles, who formerly were not a people, had now become the people of God.” 

And William H. Shea, speaking about the stoning of Stephen, wrote, “When Stephen died, the last prophetic voice had spoken to Israel as the elect people of God.”
Raoul Dederen, in his article “The Church” wrote: “In NT times the term ‘Israel’ represents no longer a national entity but the spiritual people of God, the new Israel. Because national Israel rejected its Messiah, God pursued His work of salvation by giving the kingdom ‘to a nation producing the fruits of it’ (Matthew 21:43). . . . Israel, as God’s covenant people, was rejected. . . . The privileges, promises, and blessing of the covenant relationship were transferred to the Christian church as spiritual Israel and as God’s chosen instrument on earth.” Gerhard Pfandl