- Published on
by George Sidney Hurd
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:2-3)
In the previous blog we saw that the covenant that God made with Israel was emphatically unconditional and therefore irrevocable. In spite of this, those who hold to Replacement theology would say that the Church has replaced the nation of Israel and therefore all the promises to national Israel were either conditional and forfeited by them upon rejecting their Messiah, or else they somehow became spiritually applicable to the Church only.
Some would say that the promise only applied to Abraham, since the Lord here simply says, “I will bless you.” However, the blessing he received requires that the promise include his descendants as well. In verse 7 the Lord extends it to his descendants when He said: “To your descendants I will give this land.” This promise must be fulfilled through his posterity since he did not himself possess it. In Genesis 17 the Lord reconfirms His covenant in a manner which clearly includes his descendants:
“And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Gen 17:7-8)
So, we see that the covenant made to Abraham was also made to his descendants. It is important to note that it includes the permanent divine title-deed to the land of Israel which is presently being re-inhabited by the people of Israel in our day. The promise is that the land would be their everlasting (olam) possession. The land has always pertained to the Israelites from the moment God made His covenant promise to Abraham. It is theirs as a permanent possession - not so much because of the use of olam, which simply means “indefinitely,” but because of the irrevocability of God’s unconditional promise to Abraham.
As a matter of fact, the nation of Israel has yet to come into possession of the Promised Land in its entirety. God specified the boundaries of the land which He gave to them:
“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates — 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” (Gen 15:18-21)
As one can see, the Israelites have yet to possess all of the land which the Lord has given them. The largest amount of the Promised Land they have possessed so far was during the time of Solomon’s reign but that falls far short of the promise, as we can see in the map below.
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:2-3)
In the previous blog we saw that the covenant that God made with Israel was emphatically unconditional and therefore irrevocable. In spite of this, those who hold to Replacement theology would say that the Church has replaced the nation of Israel and therefore all the promises to national Israel were either conditional and forfeited by them upon rejecting their Messiah, or else they somehow became spiritually applicable to the Church only.
Some would say that the promise only applied to Abraham, since the Lord here simply says, “I will bless you.” However, the blessing he received requires that the promise include his descendants as well. In verse 7 the Lord extends it to his descendants when He said: “To your descendants I will give this land.” This promise must be fulfilled through his posterity since he did not himself possess it. In Genesis 17 the Lord reconfirms His covenant in a manner which clearly includes his descendants:
“And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Gen 17:7-8)
So, we see that the covenant made to Abraham was also made to his descendants. It is important to note that it includes the permanent divine title-deed to the land of Israel which is presently being re-inhabited by the people of Israel in our day. The promise is that the land would be their everlasting (olam) possession. The land has always pertained to the Israelites from the moment God made His covenant promise to Abraham. It is theirs as a permanent possession - not so much because of the use of olam, which simply means “indefinitely,” but because of the irrevocability of God’s unconditional promise to Abraham.
As a matter of fact, the nation of Israel has yet to come into possession of the Promised Land in its entirety. God specified the boundaries of the land which He gave to them:
“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates — 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” (Gen 15:18-21)
As one can see, the Israelites have yet to possess all of the land which the Lord has given them. The largest amount of the Promised Land they have possessed so far was during the time of Solomon’s reign but that falls far short of the promise, as we can see in the map below.
Did God forget His promise to give them all that territory? Did He revoke His promise made to Abraham? No. In Ezequiel God specifies how the land is to be divided among the tribes of Israel in the Millennial kingdom. Before doing so, He reaffirms His covenant faithfulness to Israel in having given the land to Abraham and his descendants:
“You shall inherit it equally with one another; for I raised My hand in an oath to give it to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you as your inheritance.” (Ezek 47:14)
In spite of the irrevocability of God’s promise to give Israel the land, some today still deny that Israel’s presence in the land has any prophetic significance. It is nothing short of a miracle that after 2,000 years of dispersion and over 50 attempted genocides they not only continue as a people group, but the nation of Israel has been reestablished in their own territory with many practicing Jews who speak in their revived ancient Hebrew tongue. Furthermore, all attempts of the surrounding Arab nations to drive them into the Mediterranean have only resulted in Israeli victories of biblical proportions.
Can we reasonably say that all this is nothing more than coincidence? I don’t think so. The Lord said that they would be scattered among the nations and remain without a national identity until the latter days when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Lu 21:24; Ezek 38:8; Hos 3:4-5). If this isn’t a fulfillment of prophecy, then what are they doing back in their land? While most of them will continue in unbelief until they look upon Him whom they pierced when the Deliverer comes from Zion, they are being brought back into the land as in Ezekiel’s prophesy of the dry bones and from there they will be brought to life, just as was prophesied (Ezek 37:1-14).
It is understandable that many in the world who do not know God and are ignorant of His promises and the biblical history of Israel could say that the Land of Israel does not rightfully pertain to the Jews. But, how can we as Christians deny their inalienable right to the land which the Lord promised them with an oath? (Ex 13:5-7; Ex 32:13)
So, we have seen that the promise of the land was irrevocable and perpetual, extending beyond Abraham himself to include his posterity. What then about the promise to bless those who bless Abraham and curse those who curse him? Does this promise extend to his posterity as well? I think that both the Scriptures and history clearly indicate that such is indeed the case.
When Isaac blessed Jacob (Israel) he made it clear that the blessing of Abraham was passed on to him and then to his sons who made up the 12 tribes of Israel. The blessing clearly extends beyond Jacob to include all his descendants. In Genesis 27 verse 29 Isaac blessed Jacob or Israel saying:
“Let peoples serve you, (Jacob Israel) and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!”
In what sense could it be said of Jacob that peoples and nations served him and bowed down to him? In what sense did his brethren bow to him and serve him during his lifetime? He had only one brother, Esau. However, his brother had descendants who have always been enemies of the Israelites. To spite his mother, Esau married the daughter of Ismael. Many of the Arab nations who have opposed Israel’s descendants to this day are the descendants of Jacob’s brother, Esau. The majority of those who call themselves Palestinians today are in reality not descended from the Philistines as claimed but are largely the descendants of Ismael and Esau or the brethren of Jacob. At any rate, the promise given to Jacob clearly extends to his posterity since its fulfillment requires descendants. While Esau’s descendants may refuse to serve Israel in this age, we see that all the nations will serve them when the Millennial kingdom is established from Jerusalem. In Isaiah 60 verse 12 it says of that time
“For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined.”
Later, when the Israelites approached the Promised Land, Balak asked Balaam to curse Israel so that he could defeat them. However, the Lord told Balaam that he was only to speak the words He gave him to say concerning Israel. Each time he sought to pronounce a curse against Israel he prophesied blessings instead. In his third attempt to curse Israel the word of the Lord that came from his mouth was:
“How lovely are your tents, O Jacob! Your dwellings, O Israel!.. 8 "God brings him out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox; He shall consume the nations, his enemies; He shall break their bones and pierce them with his arrows. 9 He bows down, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him? 9 Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you.” (Num 24:5,8-9)
So, here we see that not even the Mosaic covenant, which was conditional and came four-hundred years after the promise made to Abraham, invalidated His unconditional promise to the house of Israel. When Israel sinned against God, He judged them as His people. Indeed, Israel has been under God’s judgment since the Diaspora. However, even in His judgments He curses the very nations He uses to judge them. He made a full end of the nations of Babylon and Assyria for what they did to Israel even though they ultimately carried out His purposes in the judgment of His people (Jer 20:12; 30:11; 46:28).
To me, God’s judgment of His people is comparable to a father who out of love punishes his child for correction. Imagine if someone were to misinterpret your punishment of your child for hatred and decided to do you a favor and beat-up-on your child. Wouldn’t you become indignant of their attitude and actions against your child? The Lord reassured Israel and Judah in the midst of His judgments against them that He would always be with them and will take vengeance against their enemies saying:
“I have chosen you and have not cast you away: 10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. 11 Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; they shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish. 12 You shall seek them and not find them — Those who contended with you. Those who war against you shall be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing.” (Isa 41:9-12, cf. Isa 49:25-26)
Later the Psalmist pronounces blessings of peace and prosperity upon those who love Jerusalem but the curse of ruin and destruction upon those who hate Zion:
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces. For the sake of my brethren and companions… Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back. Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up.” (Ps 122:6-8; 129:5-6)
I would ask the reader: “Do you pray for the nation of Israel and for the peace of Jerusalem?” “Do you love Jerusalem for the sake of our brethren, the Israelites?” I can assure you that if you have hatred and contempt in your heart for Israel you do not have the Lord’s heart for His chosen people. Some would say that they are no longer His people, but Paul still referred to the Israelites as the people of God whom He foreknew or foreloved even in their blinded state. Paul said:
“I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!... God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew (foreloved)… Concerning the election THEY ARE BELOVED for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Rom 11:1-2,28-29)
Should we not fear lest we find ourselves hating those whom God loves? God loves all mankind but seeing from eternity His heart goes out in a particular way to the small despised and oppressed nation of Israel. As the nations in their pride and sin did not want to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to the desires of their sinful hearts, but of Israel He said:
“You only have I known (intimately) of all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” (Amos 3:2)
As His own, He disciplines them and scourges them when necessary as any good father, but woe to those nations who curse her or rise up against her. Look at history and you will see that the nations or individuals who bless the little nation of Israel are blessed, whereas those who curse her are under a divine curse.
Living in Colombia, bordering with Venezuela, I was grieved upon hearing Venezuela’s dictator Hugo Chavez publicly curse Israel saying: “I seize this opportunity to once again condemn the state of Israel from the depth of my soul and from my very bowels. Accursed be the state of Israel! Be accursed, terrorist and assassin!” A few months later it was announced that he had cancer in the pelvic region. On March 5, 2012, less than two years after cursing Israel, he died. Today, what was just a few years ago the most prosperous nation of South America, is in a state of total collapse. One might argue that it is just a coincidence. However, history shows that God is the avenger of those who come against His people Israel. As Zechariah says of those who come against God’s people, the daughter of Zion, “he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.” (Zech 2:8). This was said of His people in a time when they were under His judgments. We should not presume that we are at liberty to curse and abuse the apple of His eye simply because they are presently in unbelief and under God’s disciplinary judgments.
We, as the wild olive branches who were grafted in against nature should not boast as if we were chosen in the place of Israel, but rather we should have a reverent fear, recognizing that God has not permanently rejected the natural branches (Rom 11:19-25). They will be grafted in again and ultimately all Israel will be saved because God has sworn with an oath to bless Israel and as pertains to His promises to Israel, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent” (Num 23:19).
“You shall inherit it equally with one another; for I raised My hand in an oath to give it to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you as your inheritance.” (Ezek 47:14)
In spite of the irrevocability of God’s promise to give Israel the land, some today still deny that Israel’s presence in the land has any prophetic significance. It is nothing short of a miracle that after 2,000 years of dispersion and over 50 attempted genocides they not only continue as a people group, but the nation of Israel has been reestablished in their own territory with many practicing Jews who speak in their revived ancient Hebrew tongue. Furthermore, all attempts of the surrounding Arab nations to drive them into the Mediterranean have only resulted in Israeli victories of biblical proportions.
Can we reasonably say that all this is nothing more than coincidence? I don’t think so. The Lord said that they would be scattered among the nations and remain without a national identity until the latter days when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Lu 21:24; Ezek 38:8; Hos 3:4-5). If this isn’t a fulfillment of prophecy, then what are they doing back in their land? While most of them will continue in unbelief until they look upon Him whom they pierced when the Deliverer comes from Zion, they are being brought back into the land as in Ezekiel’s prophesy of the dry bones and from there they will be brought to life, just as was prophesied (Ezek 37:1-14).
It is understandable that many in the world who do not know God and are ignorant of His promises and the biblical history of Israel could say that the Land of Israel does not rightfully pertain to the Jews. But, how can we as Christians deny their inalienable right to the land which the Lord promised them with an oath? (Ex 13:5-7; Ex 32:13)
So, we have seen that the promise of the land was irrevocable and perpetual, extending beyond Abraham himself to include his posterity. What then about the promise to bless those who bless Abraham and curse those who curse him? Does this promise extend to his posterity as well? I think that both the Scriptures and history clearly indicate that such is indeed the case.
When Isaac blessed Jacob (Israel) he made it clear that the blessing of Abraham was passed on to him and then to his sons who made up the 12 tribes of Israel. The blessing clearly extends beyond Jacob to include all his descendants. In Genesis 27 verse 29 Isaac blessed Jacob or Israel saying:
“Let peoples serve you, (Jacob Israel) and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!”
In what sense could it be said of Jacob that peoples and nations served him and bowed down to him? In what sense did his brethren bow to him and serve him during his lifetime? He had only one brother, Esau. However, his brother had descendants who have always been enemies of the Israelites. To spite his mother, Esau married the daughter of Ismael. Many of the Arab nations who have opposed Israel’s descendants to this day are the descendants of Jacob’s brother, Esau. The majority of those who call themselves Palestinians today are in reality not descended from the Philistines as claimed but are largely the descendants of Ismael and Esau or the brethren of Jacob. At any rate, the promise given to Jacob clearly extends to his posterity since its fulfillment requires descendants. While Esau’s descendants may refuse to serve Israel in this age, we see that all the nations will serve them when the Millennial kingdom is established from Jerusalem. In Isaiah 60 verse 12 it says of that time
“For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined.”
Later, when the Israelites approached the Promised Land, Balak asked Balaam to curse Israel so that he could defeat them. However, the Lord told Balaam that he was only to speak the words He gave him to say concerning Israel. Each time he sought to pronounce a curse against Israel he prophesied blessings instead. In his third attempt to curse Israel the word of the Lord that came from his mouth was:
“How lovely are your tents, O Jacob! Your dwellings, O Israel!.. 8 "God brings him out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox; He shall consume the nations, his enemies; He shall break their bones and pierce them with his arrows. 9 He bows down, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him? 9 Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you.” (Num 24:5,8-9)
So, here we see that not even the Mosaic covenant, which was conditional and came four-hundred years after the promise made to Abraham, invalidated His unconditional promise to the house of Israel. When Israel sinned against God, He judged them as His people. Indeed, Israel has been under God’s judgment since the Diaspora. However, even in His judgments He curses the very nations He uses to judge them. He made a full end of the nations of Babylon and Assyria for what they did to Israel even though they ultimately carried out His purposes in the judgment of His people (Jer 20:12; 30:11; 46:28).
To me, God’s judgment of His people is comparable to a father who out of love punishes his child for correction. Imagine if someone were to misinterpret your punishment of your child for hatred and decided to do you a favor and beat-up-on your child. Wouldn’t you become indignant of their attitude and actions against your child? The Lord reassured Israel and Judah in the midst of His judgments against them that He would always be with them and will take vengeance against their enemies saying:
“I have chosen you and have not cast you away: 10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. 11 Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; they shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish. 12 You shall seek them and not find them — Those who contended with you. Those who war against you shall be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing.” (Isa 41:9-12, cf. Isa 49:25-26)
Later the Psalmist pronounces blessings of peace and prosperity upon those who love Jerusalem but the curse of ruin and destruction upon those who hate Zion:
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces. For the sake of my brethren and companions… Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back. Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up.” (Ps 122:6-8; 129:5-6)
I would ask the reader: “Do you pray for the nation of Israel and for the peace of Jerusalem?” “Do you love Jerusalem for the sake of our brethren, the Israelites?” I can assure you that if you have hatred and contempt in your heart for Israel you do not have the Lord’s heart for His chosen people. Some would say that they are no longer His people, but Paul still referred to the Israelites as the people of God whom He foreknew or foreloved even in their blinded state. Paul said:
“I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!... God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew (foreloved)… Concerning the election THEY ARE BELOVED for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Rom 11:1-2,28-29)
Should we not fear lest we find ourselves hating those whom God loves? God loves all mankind but seeing from eternity His heart goes out in a particular way to the small despised and oppressed nation of Israel. As the nations in their pride and sin did not want to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to the desires of their sinful hearts, but of Israel He said:
“You only have I known (intimately) of all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” (Amos 3:2)
As His own, He disciplines them and scourges them when necessary as any good father, but woe to those nations who curse her or rise up against her. Look at history and you will see that the nations or individuals who bless the little nation of Israel are blessed, whereas those who curse her are under a divine curse.
Living in Colombia, bordering with Venezuela, I was grieved upon hearing Venezuela’s dictator Hugo Chavez publicly curse Israel saying: “I seize this opportunity to once again condemn the state of Israel from the depth of my soul and from my very bowels. Accursed be the state of Israel! Be accursed, terrorist and assassin!” A few months later it was announced that he had cancer in the pelvic region. On March 5, 2012, less than two years after cursing Israel, he died. Today, what was just a few years ago the most prosperous nation of South America, is in a state of total collapse. One might argue that it is just a coincidence. However, history shows that God is the avenger of those who come against His people Israel. As Zechariah says of those who come against God’s people, the daughter of Zion, “he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.” (Zech 2:8). This was said of His people in a time when they were under His judgments. We should not presume that we are at liberty to curse and abuse the apple of His eye simply because they are presently in unbelief and under God’s disciplinary judgments.
We, as the wild olive branches who were grafted in against nature should not boast as if we were chosen in the place of Israel, but rather we should have a reverent fear, recognizing that God has not permanently rejected the natural branches (Rom 11:19-25). They will be grafted in again and ultimately all Israel will be saved because God has sworn with an oath to bless Israel and as pertains to His promises to Israel, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent” (Num 23:19).
- Published on
by George Sidney Hurd
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In considering whether or not the Abrahamic promises still apply to the Israelites it is important that we first consider the unconditional nature of God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants.
When the Lord told Abram that he would inherit the land and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars of heaven, Abram asked Him: “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?” (Gen 15:8). In order to reassure him that the fulfillment of the promise was certain the Lord told him to cut some animals in half, placing the halves opposite of each other. This was the manner in which the Chaldeans of that time made solemn covenants between two persons. The two men would pass between the animals which had been cut in half saying: “May the same be done to the one who breaks this covenant.”
However, in order to emphasize that the fulfillment depended entirely upon His covenant faithfulness, the Lord caused Abram to fall into a deep sleep and He passed alone between the animals. This made it clear to Abram that the fulfillment depended entirely upon God’s covenant faithfulness and not the faithfulness of Abraham or his descendants. After that it says:
“On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates — 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” (Gen 15:18-21)
There were promises given later under the Law, but they were usually conditional covenants – “If you…then I….” In contrast, the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants was emphatically unconditional. He didn’t say: “If you and your descendants continue in my ways, then I will give you the land.” No. The Lord solemnly swore by Himself with an oath saying: “To your descendants I have given this land.” The fulfillment of the promise was a given, even before Abram had any descendant, and before they had taken possession of the land.
It is significant that the Lord here changed the tense of the verb from “I will give” in 13:14-17 to the perfect tense, “I have given.” From this point forward in Scripture He refers to the Promised Land as “the land I have given to the children of Israel” (Nu 20:24; 20:12; 33:53, etc.). Even when He sent them into captivity among the nations in judgment, He still refers to it as “the land I have given you” and promises to restore them permanently in their land afterwards. After warnings of strong and severe judgments, before removing them from the land, He promised their ultimate restoration saying:
“I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God.” (Amos 9:15)
This speaks of a final restoration of the 10 northern tribes of Israel to the land after their dispersion, never to be removed from it again.
Some would argue that God said that He would restore them to their land, but that was before they had rejected Jesus as their Messiah. However, there is more than one problem with this reasoning. In the first place, God inhabits eternity, is omniscient and therefore knew that Israel would reject their Messiah when He gave the promise to Abraham. He also knew what they were going to do when He told them that He would bring them back into their land forever.
In the second place, as we already saw, His promise to Israel is unconditional and irrevocable. God through Jeremiah reassured Israel and Judah of His covenant faithfulness to them at a time when the 10 tribes of Israel had already been conquered by the Assyrians and dispersed, and Jerusalem was being sieged and its inhabitants taken captive to Babylon. The Lord promised them saying:
“For behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah, says the Lord. And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it… 11 For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you; Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I WILL NOT MAKE A COMPLETE END OF YOU. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.” (Jer 30:3,11)
Here God reassures both Israel and Judah that, however severe His judgments may be, they would never permanently lose their national identity as subsequently did the Assyrians and Babylonians and other nations who came against them. The existence of Israel as a people after nearly 2,000 years without a land is a clear indisputable testimony to God’s covenant faithfulness.
It is said that Queen Victoria of England asked Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli for evidence of the existence of God. After a moment of reflection, he replied, “The Jew, your majesty.” Indeed, the only nation of biblical times which still retains its national identity is the nation of Israel. And this in spite of all attempts of anti-Semites to eliminate them throughout the centuries. Israel’s existence is the fulfillment of God’s promise which He most emphatically reiterated a few verses later where, in spite of their sin and apostasy, He swore saying:
“Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name): 36 ‘If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.’
37 Thus says the Lord: ‘If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel FOR ALL THAT THEY HAVE DONE, says the Lord.” (Jer 31:35-37)
The Lord’s choice of words here could not have been more emphatic! Nothing Israel has done or might do in the future can cause God to go back on His promise. If the Abrahamic covenant were a conditional covenant, as was the Mosaic Law, then their sins would have constituted a breach of contract and God would be absolved of all responsibility to fulfill His promise. But the Lord by Himself made an unconditional promise to Abraham and his descendants. He then goes on to declare that, when the Messiah returns, the destroyed city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt better than it ever was before:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that the city shall be built for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 The surveyor's line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath. 40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.” (Jer 31:38-40)
Here the unconditional promise continues, declaring that, in the future, Jerusalem will be rebuilt for the Lord, but it describes Jerusalem with a greater glory than it has ever previously known. Even Gehenna, the accursed valley of dead bodies and ashes, will then be holy to the Lord and this new millennial capitol will never be destroyed or conquered again forever. When will this take place? The prophets all speak of it being fulfilled in the latter days. Hosea prophesies:
“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.” (Hos 3:4-5)
God who knows all things before they take place declares that the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord and David their king after a prolonged time of exile, and this will take place “in the latter days.” Again, it is not conditional as merely some potential future event. It doesn’t say, “If they return and seek the Lord,” but rather is a statement of fact, “they shall seek the Lord and fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.”
Also, in Micah 4 we see that “in the latter days” Jerusalem will be the seat of world government and all the nations will come to Jerusalem to worship the Lord (Micah 4:1). In Ezequiel chapter 36 onwards it speaks of the restoration of Israel to their land. In chapter 37 we see the vision of the dry bones which represents “the whole house of Israel” (Ezek 37:11). The dry bones are first gathered together before flesh comes upon them and they live again. This would parallel their present gathering into the Land of Israel while yet in unbelief. In chapters 38 and 39 we see that in “the latter years” the armies of Gog will come against Israel when Israel is dwelling safely in their land, but his armies will be destroyed by God (Ezek 38:8,22,23). The reference to them dwelling safely in their land could possibly be the result of a peace-accord put together by the Antichrist, whom they will welcome, thinking that he is their long-awaited Messiah (Dan 9:27). When the Lord comes from Zion delivering Israel, it says that the whole house of Israel will acknowledge Him as their God, and He will restore them:
“So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward… 28 then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. 29 And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord God.” (Ezek 39:22,28-29)
In Ezekiel chapters 40 thru 47 it gives details concerning the Millennial temple in Jerusalem with its measurements and the service of worship. The Millennial temple will not be the third temple that the Jews today are making preparations to build, since their plans are patterned after Herod’s temple and the dimensions do not correspond with the Millennial temple described here in Ezekiel. However, they will apparently rebuild the third temple before the middle of Daniel’s 70th week when the coming prince or the Antichrist causes their sacrifices and offerings to cease (Dan 9:27; Matt 24:15; Rev 11:1-2). After giving the detailed description of the Millennial temple, in the latter part of chapter 47 much detail is given specifying how the restored Land of Israel is to be divided among the 12 tribes.
How do Replacement theologians explain such detailed descriptions of Israel’s restoration in the latter days? Many try to argue against the obvious, saying that the promises were conditional. However, we have already seen that God is very emphatic in stating that His promises to Israel are irrevocable, and that, although He will punish them for their sins, He will never go back on His promises to them.
Another approach is to spiritualize all the passages which speak of Israel’s restoration in an attempt to apply them to the Church. However, the practice of spiritualizing or allegorizing the Scriptures, or any other literature for that matter, is a gross violation of common hermeneutics. An author may choose to make use of allegory or any other form of speech to express himself, but it is a violation of hermeneutics, common sense and the author’s intent to convert what the author has written into allegory.
Some argue for an allegorical hermeneutic, while others insist upon a literal one. However, a sound hermeneutic is neither literal nor allegorical – it is contextual. In other words, we must interpret Scripture according to the nature of the text itself, just as we would do with any other literature. If the author uses literal speech, we should interpret it literally. If he uses allegory or other figures of speech, we should interpret accordingly. This is interpreting according to context or common sense. When Jesus says, “I am the vine,” or “I am the door,” common sense tells us that He is speaking figuratively and therefore, rather than taking Him literally or imagining something beyond the context, we look for the truth expressed within the context itself. On the other hand, when He uses normal speech, we understand Him literally.
The practice of spiritualizing or allegorizing the text in order to accommodate one’s particular doctrinal bias, such as Replacement theology, violates common laws of literature and removes Scripture from the realm of objective, knowable truth. Using such methods, it becomes impossible to reason from the Scriptures as Paul did and as Luke commended the Bereans for doing (Acts 17:2,11). Once we begin to Spiritualize the Scriptures it becomes possible to make the Scriptures say anything we wish. Indeed, the primary reason there are so many divergent doctrines within Christianity is the departure from sound, common-sense hermeneutics – “if the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense.”
Returning to the subject of Replacement theology, many insist that it would be impossible for all Israel to be restored since, according to them, when the 10 northern tribes were dispersed in 722 B.C. they ceased to exist as a people-group. However, the term “ten lost tribes” is erroneous and is never found in Scripture. Even having been conquered and dispersed by the Assyrians, God promised them that He would not make a full end of Israel (Jer 30:11) and that they would never cease from being a nation before Him forever (Jer 31:36).
What many seem to overlook is that all twelve tribes were present and worshipping God at the time of the writing of the New Testament over 700 years after the dispersion. On the day of Pentecost, we see that the devout Jews of the dispersion, representing all the house of Israel, were in Jerusalem for the Passover Feasts:
“And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitudes came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language…. ‘Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know…. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:5, 6, 22, 36)
Here we see that on the day of Pentecost, Jews representative of the whole house of Israel were present in Jerusalem for the Feast (all twelve tribes have been referred to as Jews as well as Israelites since the Babylonian captivity). Paul, speaking before Agrippa, presents in his speech something that was common knowledge – there were devout Jews serving God from all twelve tribes in his time:
“To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews (Acts 26:7).”
James wrote his epistle to all twelve tribes of the Jews of the dispersion:
“James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings (James 1:1).”
Though not all from the ten tribes returned to the land of Israel (that awaits the latter days) they were definitely not all forever lost, nor absorbed by the nations. And of those that apparently are lost, they are only lost to men, not to God. God’s promise was that they would never cease being a nation (Heb. goy “nation or people”) before Him.
The Jewish lineage in biblical times was traced through the father’s line and not the mother’s line. Throughout the Scriptures we see that a child continues to be a Jew even if the child’s mother is non-Jewish as long as the father is Jewish. Joseph married an Egyptian, yet his two sons became the fathers of the two half tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Moses married a Midianite. In the messianic genealogy of Matthew chapter one, we see that Rahab the harlot of Jericho was the mother of Boaz, but Boaz continued to be included in the line of Judah. He in turn married Ruth, a Moabite. So, although there were Gentiles in Jesus’ bloodline, that did not exclude Him from being a legitimate descendent of Judah, and thus qualified to be the Messiah as a descendant of David from the tribe of Judah. God knows the paternal descent of every Jew and is fully capable of distinguishing them and drawing them back into the land and unto Himself.
There are millions of devout Jews in the world today who know they are Jews but do not know with certainty of which tribe they are. Some conclude that because their surnames are Levi or Cohen that they are of the tribe of Levi but even that is not conclusive. Genealogical records cannot be traced back more than a few generations. Israelites have been banished from many nations, persecuted, slaughtered, and obligated to embrace Christendom or the Muslim faith, further complicating things (for a timeline showing how the Jews have been trampled underfoot by the Gentiles see the following link: 1 . It is a miracle that they remain a distinct people after so many attempts to destroy them. Many modern-day Jews have continued to practice the Jewish faith as passed down from their ancestors even though they may not know of which tribe they are descended. Be what it may, God knows their paternal descent and will draw them back into their land in the latter days.
When God speaks of His people as “the whole house of Israel” in Ezekiel He is referring to all 12 tribes of Israel and not only the 10 tribes that separated from Benjamin and Judah after the end of king Solomon’s reign. Ezekiel, writing after the 10 tribes had already been dispersed and Judah was captive in Babylon, wrote concerning their future restoration as one nation in their own land. He was commanded to prophesy saying to them:
“Thus says the Lord God: ‘Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.” (Ezek 37:21,22)
The Scriptures are very clear and emphatic concerning God’s promises to Israel and Judah. The promises are so clearly unconditional in nature that any attempt to negate them would make God out to be a liar. They are so detailed and specific that any attempt to make them allegorically apply to the Church would be ludicrous. Those who deny that God’s promises to the nation of Israel still apply to them would do well to heed the declaration God made through Balaam’s prophesy when he wanted to curse Israel: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Num 23:19)
Some, ignoring the context and flow of the book of Hosea, take certain declarations made against Israel in Hosea as evidence that God has once and for all rejected and divorced Israel. Hosea prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam just before the northern kingdom was conquered and dispersed. In order to communicate His heart to unfaithful idolatrous Israel, He told Hosea to marry a harlot. It is a heartrending story of love and betrayal, but most importantly it illustrates God’s covenant faithfulness to unfaithful Israel. Hosea had children with her, but she continued in her adulterous ways and finally left him, returning to her harlotries. She sank so low that she became a sex slave. To illustrate His covenant faithfulness to His adulterous people Israel, the Lord tells Hosea to buy her back and take her unto himself and love her again as his wife. He said to Hosea:
“Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.’ 2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. 3 And I said to her, ‘You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man — so, too, will I be toward you.’
4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.” (Hos 3)
In Hosea God expresses to adulterous Israel both His jealous anger and His unfailing love and faithfulness to them. Anyone who has deeply loved an unfaithful mate can readily identify with what to others may seem to be contradictory statements in the book of Hosea.
In chapter one the Lord says that He will no longer have mercy on Israel but will utterly take them away (1:6). He told Hosea to tell them: “You are not My people, and I will not be your God.” (1:9). Then in the very next breath He says:
“Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘you are not My people,’ there it shall be said to them, ‘you are sons of the living God.’ Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together and appoint for themselves one head; and they shall come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel! (Jezreel, “the Lord’s sowing.’) Say to your brethren, ‘My people,’ and to your sisters, ‘Mercy is shown.’” (1:10 - 2:1)
Right after saying to Israel, “You are not my people and I will not be your God,” He tells both Israel and Judah that in the future they will not only be received by Him as His people but they will be called sons of the living God and that they will be gathered together and come up out of the land because the Lord will sow them there, never to be uprooted from their land again. Then, in the following verse the Lord tells Hosea to say to his brethren that they are His people, and to his sisters that mercy is shown. Even in His wrath God remembers mercy! (Hab 3:2).
Paul later quotes this passage, expanding it to include the Gentiles who are now sons of God and joint heirs through faith in Christ, Abraham’s seed (Rom 9:25). Replacement theologians interpret this as meaning that we are now the people of God to the exclusion of national Israel. However, reading the development of Paul’s argumentation through to Romans chapter 11, it is evident that he is referring to the inclusion of the Gentiles but not to the exclusion of national Israel. We Gentiles, as wild olive branches, were grafted in, but when the Deliverer comes from Zion, removing ungodliness from Jacob, all Israel will be saved and restored (Rom 11:25-28). Israel and Judah will be reunited as one nation and David shall be their king (Hos 3:5; Jer 30:9).
In chapter 2 of Hosea, verses 2 to 13, the Lord renounces Israel as His wife and delivers her over to the consequences of her own adulterous ways. However, once again we see that, beginning in verse 14 through to the end of the chapter, He afterwards allures her and leads her into the wilderness where He speaks words of comfort to her. I believe that the wilderness represents the time of Jacob’s trouble or the Great Tribulation (Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1; Rev 12:13-14). In their affliction they will seek the Lord (Hosea 5:15-6:1). Then again, as in chapter 1, there is a full reversal in which God takes her back to be His wife forever:
“And it shall be, in that day, says the Lord, that you will call Me 'My Husband,' and no longer call Me 'My Master,' I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; 20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.” (Hos 2:16, 19-20)
Again, it is the very same Israel He divorces and casts off that He later betroths forever, rather than it referring to the Church replacing Israel. The Church, the Bride of Christ, will be married for the first time to Christ as a chaste virgin, becoming the wife of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem. In contrast, Israel is here received back as Jehovah’s wife to possess their earthly inheritance in the Land of Israel. This is made abundantly clear in the verses that follow in chapter 3 where it says that they will abide many days without a king but will return to the Lord and to David their king in the latter days. (Hos 3:4-5)
Again, in chapter 5 we see the Lord rejecting not only Israel but also Judah, however not permanently, but only until they seek Him:
“For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue. 15 I will return again to My place TILL they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” (Hos 5:14-15)
This is clearly not speaking of Israel being replaced by the Church. It is the same Israel and Judah that are scattered and taken captive who will later seek His face in their affliction. The verses which follow clearly speak of their restoration:
“Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight.” (Hos 6:1-2)
Again, it is clearly the same Israel whom the Lord has torn in judgment who will later seek Him for healing and revival. While this and other passages referring to God’s dealings with the people of Israel may have a secondary application to us within the Church, its primary reference is to national Israel and Judah – not spiritual Israel. Many promises and prophesies concerning Israel are first applied to the Church in order to provoke Israel to jealousy, but their full fulfillment awaits the time of their full restitution.
Some Replacement theologians argue that Christ replaced Israel as the true Israel of God since “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Hosea 11:1), is applied to Christ in Matthew where it says: “When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (Matt 2:14-15)
However, as we continue reading in Hosea it is evident that, although Christ is identified with Israel, He doesn’t replace Israel. Christ going into Egypt and being called out of Egypt back into the Land of Israel contrasts Israel’s failure upon leaving Egypt with Christ’s obedience much like the contrast between Adam and Christ, the Last Adam, but Christ doesn’t replace Israel. This becomes evident as one continues reading in Hosea. For example, verse 5 says: “He (Israel) shall not return to the land of Egypt; but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to repent.” Later in the chapter He speaks of how He will not always be angry with Israel but will show mercy towards them in the end:
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. 9 I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, the Holy One in your midst; and I will not come with terror.” (Hos 11:8-9)
Those who think that God would permanently reject Israel for all that they have done forget that God is a God of mercy who does not cast off forever nor willingly afflict the children of men. In His mercy God promises that He will bring them back into their land from the nations where He scattered them in His anger. He says in the verses that follow:
“They shall walk after the Lord. He will roar like a lion. When He roars, then His sons shall come trembling from the west;11 They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt, like a dove from the land of Assyria. And I will let them dwell in their houses,’ says the Lord.” (Hos 11:10,11)
In the 19th and early 20th centuries Replacement theologians ridiculed Premillennial Dispensationalists for insisting upon the normal, literal interpretation of these and numerous other passages prophesying the restoration of Israel and Judah in their land in the latter days, but they insisted on believing it simply because the Bible said it, even though it seemed impossible at the time. One would think that now, seeing that Israel is a nation and they are returning to their homeland, all would recognize that God is fulfilling His promise to Israel. But sadly, as with the brothers of the rich man in hades, some will not believe even if one were to rise from the dead.
It should be clear to any unbiased student of the Word that God’s promises to Abraham and his descendants, the children of Israel, are unconditional and irrevocable. We as Gentiles should be thankful that in God’s mercy, we have been grafted into the olive tree, becoming heirs of the blessing of Abraham. But we should not presume to have replaced Israel. God clearly still has a glorious future in store for His people Israel.
[1] http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/HistoryJewishPersecution/
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In considering whether or not the Abrahamic promises still apply to the Israelites it is important that we first consider the unconditional nature of God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants.
When the Lord told Abram that he would inherit the land and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars of heaven, Abram asked Him: “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?” (Gen 15:8). In order to reassure him that the fulfillment of the promise was certain the Lord told him to cut some animals in half, placing the halves opposite of each other. This was the manner in which the Chaldeans of that time made solemn covenants between two persons. The two men would pass between the animals which had been cut in half saying: “May the same be done to the one who breaks this covenant.”
However, in order to emphasize that the fulfillment depended entirely upon His covenant faithfulness, the Lord caused Abram to fall into a deep sleep and He passed alone between the animals. This made it clear to Abram that the fulfillment depended entirely upon God’s covenant faithfulness and not the faithfulness of Abraham or his descendants. After that it says:
“On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates — 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” (Gen 15:18-21)
There were promises given later under the Law, but they were usually conditional covenants – “If you…then I….” In contrast, the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants was emphatically unconditional. He didn’t say: “If you and your descendants continue in my ways, then I will give you the land.” No. The Lord solemnly swore by Himself with an oath saying: “To your descendants I have given this land.” The fulfillment of the promise was a given, even before Abram had any descendant, and before they had taken possession of the land.
It is significant that the Lord here changed the tense of the verb from “I will give” in 13:14-17 to the perfect tense, “I have given.” From this point forward in Scripture He refers to the Promised Land as “the land I have given to the children of Israel” (Nu 20:24; 20:12; 33:53, etc.). Even when He sent them into captivity among the nations in judgment, He still refers to it as “the land I have given you” and promises to restore them permanently in their land afterwards. After warnings of strong and severe judgments, before removing them from the land, He promised their ultimate restoration saying:
“I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God.” (Amos 9:15)
This speaks of a final restoration of the 10 northern tribes of Israel to the land after their dispersion, never to be removed from it again.
Some would argue that God said that He would restore them to their land, but that was before they had rejected Jesus as their Messiah. However, there is more than one problem with this reasoning. In the first place, God inhabits eternity, is omniscient and therefore knew that Israel would reject their Messiah when He gave the promise to Abraham. He also knew what they were going to do when He told them that He would bring them back into their land forever.
In the second place, as we already saw, His promise to Israel is unconditional and irrevocable. God through Jeremiah reassured Israel and Judah of His covenant faithfulness to them at a time when the 10 tribes of Israel had already been conquered by the Assyrians and dispersed, and Jerusalem was being sieged and its inhabitants taken captive to Babylon. The Lord promised them saying:
“For behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah, says the Lord. And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it… 11 For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you; Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I WILL NOT MAKE A COMPLETE END OF YOU. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.” (Jer 30:3,11)
Here God reassures both Israel and Judah that, however severe His judgments may be, they would never permanently lose their national identity as subsequently did the Assyrians and Babylonians and other nations who came against them. The existence of Israel as a people after nearly 2,000 years without a land is a clear indisputable testimony to God’s covenant faithfulness.
It is said that Queen Victoria of England asked Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli for evidence of the existence of God. After a moment of reflection, he replied, “The Jew, your majesty.” Indeed, the only nation of biblical times which still retains its national identity is the nation of Israel. And this in spite of all attempts of anti-Semites to eliminate them throughout the centuries. Israel’s existence is the fulfillment of God’s promise which He most emphatically reiterated a few verses later where, in spite of their sin and apostasy, He swore saying:
“Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name): 36 ‘If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.’
37 Thus says the Lord: ‘If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel FOR ALL THAT THEY HAVE DONE, says the Lord.” (Jer 31:35-37)
The Lord’s choice of words here could not have been more emphatic! Nothing Israel has done or might do in the future can cause God to go back on His promise. If the Abrahamic covenant were a conditional covenant, as was the Mosaic Law, then their sins would have constituted a breach of contract and God would be absolved of all responsibility to fulfill His promise. But the Lord by Himself made an unconditional promise to Abraham and his descendants. He then goes on to declare that, when the Messiah returns, the destroyed city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt better than it ever was before:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that the city shall be built for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 The surveyor's line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath. 40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.” (Jer 31:38-40)
Here the unconditional promise continues, declaring that, in the future, Jerusalem will be rebuilt for the Lord, but it describes Jerusalem with a greater glory than it has ever previously known. Even Gehenna, the accursed valley of dead bodies and ashes, will then be holy to the Lord and this new millennial capitol will never be destroyed or conquered again forever. When will this take place? The prophets all speak of it being fulfilled in the latter days. Hosea prophesies:
“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.” (Hos 3:4-5)
God who knows all things before they take place declares that the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord and David their king after a prolonged time of exile, and this will take place “in the latter days.” Again, it is not conditional as merely some potential future event. It doesn’t say, “If they return and seek the Lord,” but rather is a statement of fact, “they shall seek the Lord and fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.”
Also, in Micah 4 we see that “in the latter days” Jerusalem will be the seat of world government and all the nations will come to Jerusalem to worship the Lord (Micah 4:1). In Ezequiel chapter 36 onwards it speaks of the restoration of Israel to their land. In chapter 37 we see the vision of the dry bones which represents “the whole house of Israel” (Ezek 37:11). The dry bones are first gathered together before flesh comes upon them and they live again. This would parallel their present gathering into the Land of Israel while yet in unbelief. In chapters 38 and 39 we see that in “the latter years” the armies of Gog will come against Israel when Israel is dwelling safely in their land, but his armies will be destroyed by God (Ezek 38:8,22,23). The reference to them dwelling safely in their land could possibly be the result of a peace-accord put together by the Antichrist, whom they will welcome, thinking that he is their long-awaited Messiah (Dan 9:27). When the Lord comes from Zion delivering Israel, it says that the whole house of Israel will acknowledge Him as their God, and He will restore them:
“So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward… 28 then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. 29 And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord God.” (Ezek 39:22,28-29)
In Ezekiel chapters 40 thru 47 it gives details concerning the Millennial temple in Jerusalem with its measurements and the service of worship. The Millennial temple will not be the third temple that the Jews today are making preparations to build, since their plans are patterned after Herod’s temple and the dimensions do not correspond with the Millennial temple described here in Ezekiel. However, they will apparently rebuild the third temple before the middle of Daniel’s 70th week when the coming prince or the Antichrist causes their sacrifices and offerings to cease (Dan 9:27; Matt 24:15; Rev 11:1-2). After giving the detailed description of the Millennial temple, in the latter part of chapter 47 much detail is given specifying how the restored Land of Israel is to be divided among the 12 tribes.
How do Replacement theologians explain such detailed descriptions of Israel’s restoration in the latter days? Many try to argue against the obvious, saying that the promises were conditional. However, we have already seen that God is very emphatic in stating that His promises to Israel are irrevocable, and that, although He will punish them for their sins, He will never go back on His promises to them.
Another approach is to spiritualize all the passages which speak of Israel’s restoration in an attempt to apply them to the Church. However, the practice of spiritualizing or allegorizing the Scriptures, or any other literature for that matter, is a gross violation of common hermeneutics. An author may choose to make use of allegory or any other form of speech to express himself, but it is a violation of hermeneutics, common sense and the author’s intent to convert what the author has written into allegory.
Some argue for an allegorical hermeneutic, while others insist upon a literal one. However, a sound hermeneutic is neither literal nor allegorical – it is contextual. In other words, we must interpret Scripture according to the nature of the text itself, just as we would do with any other literature. If the author uses literal speech, we should interpret it literally. If he uses allegory or other figures of speech, we should interpret accordingly. This is interpreting according to context or common sense. When Jesus says, “I am the vine,” or “I am the door,” common sense tells us that He is speaking figuratively and therefore, rather than taking Him literally or imagining something beyond the context, we look for the truth expressed within the context itself. On the other hand, when He uses normal speech, we understand Him literally.
The practice of spiritualizing or allegorizing the text in order to accommodate one’s particular doctrinal bias, such as Replacement theology, violates common laws of literature and removes Scripture from the realm of objective, knowable truth. Using such methods, it becomes impossible to reason from the Scriptures as Paul did and as Luke commended the Bereans for doing (Acts 17:2,11). Once we begin to Spiritualize the Scriptures it becomes possible to make the Scriptures say anything we wish. Indeed, the primary reason there are so many divergent doctrines within Christianity is the departure from sound, common-sense hermeneutics – “if the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense.”
Returning to the subject of Replacement theology, many insist that it would be impossible for all Israel to be restored since, according to them, when the 10 northern tribes were dispersed in 722 B.C. they ceased to exist as a people-group. However, the term “ten lost tribes” is erroneous and is never found in Scripture. Even having been conquered and dispersed by the Assyrians, God promised them that He would not make a full end of Israel (Jer 30:11) and that they would never cease from being a nation before Him forever (Jer 31:36).
What many seem to overlook is that all twelve tribes were present and worshipping God at the time of the writing of the New Testament over 700 years after the dispersion. On the day of Pentecost, we see that the devout Jews of the dispersion, representing all the house of Israel, were in Jerusalem for the Passover Feasts:
“And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitudes came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language…. ‘Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know…. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:5, 6, 22, 36)
Here we see that on the day of Pentecost, Jews representative of the whole house of Israel were present in Jerusalem for the Feast (all twelve tribes have been referred to as Jews as well as Israelites since the Babylonian captivity). Paul, speaking before Agrippa, presents in his speech something that was common knowledge – there were devout Jews serving God from all twelve tribes in his time:
“To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews (Acts 26:7).”
James wrote his epistle to all twelve tribes of the Jews of the dispersion:
“James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings (James 1:1).”
Though not all from the ten tribes returned to the land of Israel (that awaits the latter days) they were definitely not all forever lost, nor absorbed by the nations. And of those that apparently are lost, they are only lost to men, not to God. God’s promise was that they would never cease being a nation (Heb. goy “nation or people”) before Him.
The Jewish lineage in biblical times was traced through the father’s line and not the mother’s line. Throughout the Scriptures we see that a child continues to be a Jew even if the child’s mother is non-Jewish as long as the father is Jewish. Joseph married an Egyptian, yet his two sons became the fathers of the two half tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Moses married a Midianite. In the messianic genealogy of Matthew chapter one, we see that Rahab the harlot of Jericho was the mother of Boaz, but Boaz continued to be included in the line of Judah. He in turn married Ruth, a Moabite. So, although there were Gentiles in Jesus’ bloodline, that did not exclude Him from being a legitimate descendent of Judah, and thus qualified to be the Messiah as a descendant of David from the tribe of Judah. God knows the paternal descent of every Jew and is fully capable of distinguishing them and drawing them back into the land and unto Himself.
There are millions of devout Jews in the world today who know they are Jews but do not know with certainty of which tribe they are. Some conclude that because their surnames are Levi or Cohen that they are of the tribe of Levi but even that is not conclusive. Genealogical records cannot be traced back more than a few generations. Israelites have been banished from many nations, persecuted, slaughtered, and obligated to embrace Christendom or the Muslim faith, further complicating things (for a timeline showing how the Jews have been trampled underfoot by the Gentiles see the following link: 1 . It is a miracle that they remain a distinct people after so many attempts to destroy them. Many modern-day Jews have continued to practice the Jewish faith as passed down from their ancestors even though they may not know of which tribe they are descended. Be what it may, God knows their paternal descent and will draw them back into their land in the latter days.
When God speaks of His people as “the whole house of Israel” in Ezekiel He is referring to all 12 tribes of Israel and not only the 10 tribes that separated from Benjamin and Judah after the end of king Solomon’s reign. Ezekiel, writing after the 10 tribes had already been dispersed and Judah was captive in Babylon, wrote concerning their future restoration as one nation in their own land. He was commanded to prophesy saying to them:
“Thus says the Lord God: ‘Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.” (Ezek 37:21,22)
The Scriptures are very clear and emphatic concerning God’s promises to Israel and Judah. The promises are so clearly unconditional in nature that any attempt to negate them would make God out to be a liar. They are so detailed and specific that any attempt to make them allegorically apply to the Church would be ludicrous. Those who deny that God’s promises to the nation of Israel still apply to them would do well to heed the declaration God made through Balaam’s prophesy when he wanted to curse Israel: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Num 23:19)
Some, ignoring the context and flow of the book of Hosea, take certain declarations made against Israel in Hosea as evidence that God has once and for all rejected and divorced Israel. Hosea prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam just before the northern kingdom was conquered and dispersed. In order to communicate His heart to unfaithful idolatrous Israel, He told Hosea to marry a harlot. It is a heartrending story of love and betrayal, but most importantly it illustrates God’s covenant faithfulness to unfaithful Israel. Hosea had children with her, but she continued in her adulterous ways and finally left him, returning to her harlotries. She sank so low that she became a sex slave. To illustrate His covenant faithfulness to His adulterous people Israel, the Lord tells Hosea to buy her back and take her unto himself and love her again as his wife. He said to Hosea:
“Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.’ 2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. 3 And I said to her, ‘You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man — so, too, will I be toward you.’
4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.” (Hos 3)
In Hosea God expresses to adulterous Israel both His jealous anger and His unfailing love and faithfulness to them. Anyone who has deeply loved an unfaithful mate can readily identify with what to others may seem to be contradictory statements in the book of Hosea.
In chapter one the Lord says that He will no longer have mercy on Israel but will utterly take them away (1:6). He told Hosea to tell them: “You are not My people, and I will not be your God.” (1:9). Then in the very next breath He says:
“Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘you are not My people,’ there it shall be said to them, ‘you are sons of the living God.’ Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together and appoint for themselves one head; and they shall come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel! (Jezreel, “the Lord’s sowing.’) Say to your brethren, ‘My people,’ and to your sisters, ‘Mercy is shown.’” (1:10 - 2:1)
Right after saying to Israel, “You are not my people and I will not be your God,” He tells both Israel and Judah that in the future they will not only be received by Him as His people but they will be called sons of the living God and that they will be gathered together and come up out of the land because the Lord will sow them there, never to be uprooted from their land again. Then, in the following verse the Lord tells Hosea to say to his brethren that they are His people, and to his sisters that mercy is shown. Even in His wrath God remembers mercy! (Hab 3:2).
Paul later quotes this passage, expanding it to include the Gentiles who are now sons of God and joint heirs through faith in Christ, Abraham’s seed (Rom 9:25). Replacement theologians interpret this as meaning that we are now the people of God to the exclusion of national Israel. However, reading the development of Paul’s argumentation through to Romans chapter 11, it is evident that he is referring to the inclusion of the Gentiles but not to the exclusion of national Israel. We Gentiles, as wild olive branches, were grafted in, but when the Deliverer comes from Zion, removing ungodliness from Jacob, all Israel will be saved and restored (Rom 11:25-28). Israel and Judah will be reunited as one nation and David shall be their king (Hos 3:5; Jer 30:9).
In chapter 2 of Hosea, verses 2 to 13, the Lord renounces Israel as His wife and delivers her over to the consequences of her own adulterous ways. However, once again we see that, beginning in verse 14 through to the end of the chapter, He afterwards allures her and leads her into the wilderness where He speaks words of comfort to her. I believe that the wilderness represents the time of Jacob’s trouble or the Great Tribulation (Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1; Rev 12:13-14). In their affliction they will seek the Lord (Hosea 5:15-6:1). Then again, as in chapter 1, there is a full reversal in which God takes her back to be His wife forever:
“And it shall be, in that day, says the Lord, that you will call Me 'My Husband,' and no longer call Me 'My Master,' I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; 20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.” (Hos 2:16, 19-20)
Again, it is the very same Israel He divorces and casts off that He later betroths forever, rather than it referring to the Church replacing Israel. The Church, the Bride of Christ, will be married for the first time to Christ as a chaste virgin, becoming the wife of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem. In contrast, Israel is here received back as Jehovah’s wife to possess their earthly inheritance in the Land of Israel. This is made abundantly clear in the verses that follow in chapter 3 where it says that they will abide many days without a king but will return to the Lord and to David their king in the latter days. (Hos 3:4-5)
Again, in chapter 5 we see the Lord rejecting not only Israel but also Judah, however not permanently, but only until they seek Him:
“For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue. 15 I will return again to My place TILL they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” (Hos 5:14-15)
This is clearly not speaking of Israel being replaced by the Church. It is the same Israel and Judah that are scattered and taken captive who will later seek His face in their affliction. The verses which follow clearly speak of their restoration:
“Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight.” (Hos 6:1-2)
Again, it is clearly the same Israel whom the Lord has torn in judgment who will later seek Him for healing and revival. While this and other passages referring to God’s dealings with the people of Israel may have a secondary application to us within the Church, its primary reference is to national Israel and Judah – not spiritual Israel. Many promises and prophesies concerning Israel are first applied to the Church in order to provoke Israel to jealousy, but their full fulfillment awaits the time of their full restitution.
Some Replacement theologians argue that Christ replaced Israel as the true Israel of God since “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Hosea 11:1), is applied to Christ in Matthew where it says: “When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (Matt 2:14-15)
However, as we continue reading in Hosea it is evident that, although Christ is identified with Israel, He doesn’t replace Israel. Christ going into Egypt and being called out of Egypt back into the Land of Israel contrasts Israel’s failure upon leaving Egypt with Christ’s obedience much like the contrast between Adam and Christ, the Last Adam, but Christ doesn’t replace Israel. This becomes evident as one continues reading in Hosea. For example, verse 5 says: “He (Israel) shall not return to the land of Egypt; but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to repent.” Later in the chapter He speaks of how He will not always be angry with Israel but will show mercy towards them in the end:
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. 9 I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, the Holy One in your midst; and I will not come with terror.” (Hos 11:8-9)
Those who think that God would permanently reject Israel for all that they have done forget that God is a God of mercy who does not cast off forever nor willingly afflict the children of men. In His mercy God promises that He will bring them back into their land from the nations where He scattered them in His anger. He says in the verses that follow:
“They shall walk after the Lord. He will roar like a lion. When He roars, then His sons shall come trembling from the west;11 They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt, like a dove from the land of Assyria. And I will let them dwell in their houses,’ says the Lord.” (Hos 11:10,11)
In the 19th and early 20th centuries Replacement theologians ridiculed Premillennial Dispensationalists for insisting upon the normal, literal interpretation of these and numerous other passages prophesying the restoration of Israel and Judah in their land in the latter days, but they insisted on believing it simply because the Bible said it, even though it seemed impossible at the time. One would think that now, seeing that Israel is a nation and they are returning to their homeland, all would recognize that God is fulfilling His promise to Israel. But sadly, as with the brothers of the rich man in hades, some will not believe even if one were to rise from the dead.
It should be clear to any unbiased student of the Word that God’s promises to Abraham and his descendants, the children of Israel, are unconditional and irrevocable. We as Gentiles should be thankful that in God’s mercy, we have been grafted into the olive tree, becoming heirs of the blessing of Abraham. But we should not presume to have replaced Israel. God clearly still has a glorious future in store for His people Israel.
[1] http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/HistoryJewishPersecution/
- Published on
by George Sidney Hurd
As we have seen, Replacement Theology is the belief that the Church has replaced national Israel. All the promises which had been given to Israel concerning a future kingdom in their land are spiritualized by Replacement theologians in an attempt to make them apply exclusively to the Church in this age.
What makes Replacement Theology particularly deceptive is that it is partially true. It is true that by virtue of our union with Christ – Abraham’s seed, we Gentiles are now also Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. We Gentiles, although we were wild olive branches, have now been grafted in among the true branches, while most of the natural branches (those of natural Israel) were broken off that we might be grafted in (Gal 3:14-16,29; Rom 11:17). As part of the new creation in Christ, we are of the Jerusalem from above and are called the Israel of God as opposed to natural Israel, or Israel after the flesh (Gal 4:26; Gal 6:16; 1Cor 10:18). The Jew/Gentile Body of Christ is the Church of the firstborn ones who are registered in heaven (Heb 12:23).
It is true that Israel has been temporarily set aside for judgment, but as we shall see, they have not been replaced. It is also true that the Church and not national Israel is presently benefitting from the New Covenant which was promised both to Israel and to Judah (Jer 31:31; 2Cor 3:6; Heb 8:6,13). However, Paul makes it clear that the covenant still pertains to them. He said of the Jews:
“I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.” (Rom 9:3-5, cf. 15:8-9)
Notice Paul’s use of the present tense throughout. Even though they are under partial temporal blindness, they are still Israelites, and the covenants and promises still pertain to them. In the following verses he anticipates that some may ask why, if the covenants and the promises still pertain to them, are so few Israelites benefitting from them. He explains:
“But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’ 8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.” (Rom 9:6-8)
Some would argue from this passage that the Church has replaced Israel since the true Israel of God consists only of those who are of the promise, and in Christ we all, whether Jew or Gentile, are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. However, in the context Paul is speaking of his “countrymen” the “Israelites” (9:3-4). It is best to understand his reference here to those that are the true Israel to be referring to the elect remnant of national Israel. Later in the context he shows how the unbelief of his countrymen Israel led to God showing mercy towards the Gentiles. If “Israel” in verse 8 includes the Gentile believers it would be the exception since Israel is mentioned nine more times in Romans and in every instance it is obvious that Paul is referring to Israel his countrymen, and not the Church (9:4; 9:27; 9:31; 10:19; 10:21; 11:2; 11:7; 11:25; 11:26).
In chapter nine Paul demonstrates that God is sovereign and just in hardening Israel because of their unbelief and showing mercy upon the Gentiles. From 9:30 through 11:10 he explains how the gospel of Jesus Christ is “at the present time” a stumbling-block to all Israel except for a remnant of grace because they seek after a righteousness which is by the works of the Law (Rom 10:3-4; 11:5). God has turned to the Gentiles – a people who didn’t even seek Him, in order to provoke Israel to jealousy (10:19-20). “At the present time” there is a remnant according to grace, but the rest of Israel have been blinded (11:5-8). Beginning in 11:11 through the end of the chapter, Paul speaks of Israel’s future salvation and restoration.
The argument made by Replacement Theologians that the Church permanently replaced Israel falls to the ground in 11:11 through the end of the chapter. Here Paul very emphatically states that Israel’s present condition is only temporary. He then reveals the glorious future which awaits his brethren, the Israelites. This passage speaks for itself and is so important for the issue at hand that I will begin by quoting it here in full:
“I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 12 Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more THEIR FULLNESS!
13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. 15 For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will THEIR ACCEPTANCE be but life from the dead?
16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
19 You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.’ 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel UNTIL the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins (the New Covenant).’ 28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are IRREVOCABLE. 30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all. 33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor? 35 Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him? 36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” (Rom 11:11-36) [1]
Paul begins with the question: “Have the Israelites stumbled that they should fall?” For the Replacement doctrine to be true, Paul would have needed to answer in the affirmative, but instead he responds emphatically in the negative: “Certainly not!” Paul then explains that through their transgression God brought salvation to the Gentiles in order to provoke Israel to jealousy.
Some English translations here present an apparent contradiction, using the same word “fall” both times in the verse. However, whereas the first word (pipto), refers to a complete fall, the second word for fall is paraptomati which means “a slip or a transgression.” It was through their transgression that salvation came to the Gentiles. The third occurrence of the word “fall” in verse 12 is paraptoma and likewise simply means “transgression.” However, in spite of the gravity of their failure or transgression, God did not reject them as a nation, but rather turned to the Gentiles in order to provoke Israel to jealousy.
To me, verse 12 presents a glorious truth which is overlooked by many. He speaks of even greater riches for the Gentiles than that which we are presently experiencing after Israel is finally restored. He said: “Now if their fall (transgression) is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more THEIR FULLNESS!” The reference to “their fullness” is definitely speaking of the full restoration of Israel at Christ’s Second Coming. The English Standard Version reads “their full inclusion.” In other words, when “all Israel will be saved” (v. 26).
What many have failed to see is that the Church, made up of a remnant of elect Jews and Gentiles of this age, is only the chosen firstfruits of God’s new creation (Jas 1:18; Heb 12:23; Eph 1:12). In the “times of the restoration of all” (Acts 3:21), when the Deliverer comes out of Zion removing all ungodliness from Jacob, God will begin the process of restoring all of creation unto Himself, resulting in Him being all in all in eternity (1Cor 15:28). I consider the doctrine of the final restoration of all in more detail in my book, “The Triumph of Mercy.”
In verse 15 Paul again emphasizes that Israel’s final restoration will result in the perfection of the restoration of the rest of mankind which commenced in this age. “For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will THEIR ACCEPTANCE be but life from the dead?” Both contrasts in verses 12 and 15 emphasize Israel’s future restoration. Their transgression which resulted in their being cast away culminates in their “full inclusion” and “acceptance” when Israel sees the Deliverer come from Zion and they say, “blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Luke 13:35).
In verses 16-24 Paul counters the presumption of some that we, the Church, have permanently displaced Israel. In verse 23 we see that, far from Israel having been permanently rejected by God, the Israelites will be grafted in again once the partial judicial blindness is removed and they are given grace to believe (Zec 12:10-11). Then Paul unveils a mystery which Replacement teachers remain blinded to until this very day. He said:
“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel UNTIL the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness FROM JACOB.” (vv. 25-27)
Paul said that the truth he was about to tell them was a mystery. Some Bible scholars define a mystery as a truth previously hidden but now revealed. In a sense that is true, but in another sense a mystery remains hidden. It remains hidden to the carnal or natural mind. Paul said concerning God’s mysteries:
“…we speak wisdom among those who are mature… we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory…no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God… we have received…the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God… But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God…nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1Cor 2:6-14)
So we see that, while a mystery is indeed something revealed that was previously hidden, it still remains hidden unless it is revealed to our understanding by the Spirit. It remains hidden to the natural carnal mind.
What then is the mystery that Paul reveals concerning Israel? The mystery revealed to us is that Israel’s blindness is both temporary and partial, only lasting until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in – until all the elect firstfruits from among the Gentiles have come into the fold. Once the last elect Gentile has come into the fold the Deliverer will come out of Zion and then all Israel will be saved. Zechariah prophecies concerning Israel’s conversion which will take place in a moment when they look upon Him whom they have pierced:
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” (Zech 12:10)
Many think that those who pierced Him will see Him only to afterwards be destroyed by Him taking vengeance for what they did to Him. However, when they see Him whom they pierced coming in the clouds in glory, instead of destroying them, God pours out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem (the Jews) the Spirit of grace and supplication! The revelation of Jesus Christ is for Israel’s salvation – not for her destruction. The result will be a deep national repentance. A nation will be reborn in a day, just as Isaiah prophesied:
“Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children… ‘Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her; rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her… For thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream.” (Isa 66:8,10,12)
Here we see that the nation of Israel will be reborn in one day when the Deliverer comes out of Zion and all those who mourned for her in her affliction will rejoice over her with great joy when the Lord saves and restores Israel. In Isaiah 45:15-17 we see that the nations will be ashamed when they see how the Lord saves Israel with an everlasting salvation. (cf. Isa 54:1-8) Sadly, many within the Church who do not love Jerusalem will also be among those who will be ashamed of ever having hated and rejected God’s chosen people Israel.
In Isaiah 66, just before Israel’s deliverance, when they go from being a persecuted people to becoming a nation in a day, we find mention of some of Israel’s brethren who had shown hatred towards them and had rejected them in their affliction. Isaiah says:
“Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at His word: Your brethren who hated you, who cast you out for My name's sake, said, ‘let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy.’ But they shall be ashamed.” (Isa 66:5)
The “brethren” here probably has reference to Israel’s brethren the Ishmaelites who have hated and persecuted the Israelites to this very day. But certainly it would also include those within Christendom who have hated the Jews and cast them out, thinking they were doing it in the Lord’s name and for His glory, assuming that the Lord was pleased by their ill-treatment of the Jews. When the Deliverer comes out of Zion, saving all Israel, all those who have hated Israel will be greatly ashamed. Needless to say, very few who hold to Replacement theology love Israel and would wish themselves accursed from Christ for their sake as Paul did (Rom 9:3). Those who harbor hatred in their hearts towards the Jews need to ask themselves whether such hatred has God as its source, or Satan who has always hated God’s chosen people.
In verses 28 and 29 Paul explains that, although they are enemies of the gospel, they are beloved of God, because God’s gifts (referring to the land and other promises made to the fathers) and His election are irrevocable. He said:
“Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are BELOVED for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are IRREVOCABLE.” (Rom 11:28-29)
Some tend to think of God’s election in human terms. We often choose someone based upon our limited knowledge of that person. Then later after coming to know the individual better with all his flaws, we may end up rejecting him and choosing another in his place. However, in contrast to us, God inhabits eternity and elects according to His foreknowledge and omniscience. When He chose the nation of Israel their whole history was before Him, just as is the case with His election of each of us as individuals.
When He chose Israel, He chose them, knowing that they would crucify the Lord of glory. It is impossible for God to go back on His election as we often do, saying, “if I had known that they would do that, I would have never chosen them in the first place.” God chooses with full knowledge, not limited knowledge, and therefore His election is without repentance. From the beginning, before Israel even went in to take possession of the Promised Land, God revealed that He knew the course they would take throughout the entirety of their history. Nearly 1,500 years before Israel rejected their Messiah, Moses said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:
“And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you… 29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice 31 (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.” (Deut 4:27-31)
So, before even entering into the Promised Land, the Lord told them what would take place in their future. Way back then He told them that in judgment He would scatter them among the nations until the latter days. He assured them that He would never forsake them nor destroy them nor forget His covenant which He made with an oath to their fathers. His gifts and election are irrevocable.
Then, just as he did in the first three chapters of Romans, in verses 30 through 32, Paul again reminds the Gentiles that they were once equally disobedient to God. This is something that those within the Church who condemn the Jews (or any other sinner for that matter), all too easily lose sight of. We all, whether Jew or Gentile, are equally unworthy and in need of mercy. Paul says:
“For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31 EVEN SO these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.” (Rom 11:30-32)
Paul says here that even though the Gentile believers were formerly disobedient they received mercy through Israel’s transgression when Israel was set aside for judgment. He then says “even so” or “in the same manner” that the Gentiles received mercy through their disobedience, Israel will also obtain mercy in spite of her disobedience. The very nature of mercy requires disobedience. One who has never disobeyed cannot know God’s love in the form of mercy since mercy is God, in love, not giving us what we deserve. We only know God’s multidimensional love in the form of mercy through the fall and our disobedience.
Verse 32 presents an amazing truth that most have completely overlooked due to the traditional doctrine of eternal torment for all except for the few who repent and receive God’s mercy in this brief lifetime: “For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.” The limiting qualifier “them” is not in the Greek text but was added in the King James Version, giving the impression that only Israel is being referred to. However, in the context of Romans, it is referring to God shutting up absolutely “all” whether Jew or Gentile under disobedience in order to show Himself merciful to all. It is the same “all” who have sinned and come short of the glory of God – the whole “world” of humanity, including both Jews and Gentiles, who are all alike shown to be guilty before God, only to afterwards receive His mercy and be justified freely by His grace upon repenting and putting faith in Jesus (Rom 3:9,19-20,23-24).
The universal reach of God’s mercy is even more clearly stated in verse 36 where he summarizes the whole matter saying, “For of (ek, “out of”) Him and through (dia) Him and to (eis, “into”) Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” All who came out of God as to source (which includes absolutely all), exist through Him and will finally be restored or brought back into Him who is their source of being. The word “things” does not have an equivalent in Greek. Even when “all” (pas) is in the neuter form it does not necessarily refer to inanimate objects. Where “all” (pas) is clearly referring to persons, as is the emphasis here in verse 36, it is best to simply translate pas as “all.” Paul summarizes by saying that all, whether Jew or Gentile, will finally receive mercy and be reconciled unto God, resulting in Him being “all in all” in eternity (1Cor 15:28).
So, while it is true that Israel as a nation was set aside for judgment and the Jew/Gentile Church of the elect firstborn has received mercy under the New Covenant promised to the house of Israel and the house of Judah (Jer 31:31), the Church has not replaced Israel. Rather, the Gentiles have been grafted into the tree of the Abrahamic blessings in order to provoke Israel to jealousy. Then all Israel will be saved when the Deliverer comes out of Zion and takes away her sins.
Replacement theology is a gross misapprehension of the infinite grace and mercy of God who does not reject forever, nor willingly afflicts the children of men. As Jeremiah says:
“For the Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” (Lam 3:31-33)
God is a God of love and compassion who only afflicts us when necessary for our correction. The Lord will not reject Israel forever, nor will he cast off any of the “children of men” forever, for that matter. Israel’s blindness will only last until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. After this, the Deliverer will come from Zion to save Israel and reign from Jerusalem over all the nations of the earth. As we shall see in the next blog, there are numerous irrevocable promises to Israel as a nation which have yet to be fulfilled in the end of days.
[1] The English words “them” and “things” are not in the Greek texts obscure the truth of the final restoration of all, both Jew and Gentile.
- Published on
by George Sidney Hurd
The earliest Church Fathers, even though they lived after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., were uniformly Premillennial and therefore anticipated that Christ would save and restore Israel as a nation and reign for 1,000 years from Jerusalem upon the throne of David at His Second Coming. I demonstrate this, citing numerous Fathers in my article, Premillennial Futurism - The Belief of the Early Church. However, as early as the late second century, some Church Fathers began to deny that there would be any future for Israel. They began to spiritualize the Millennium, applying it to the present age and replacing Israel with the Church. As time progressed, some of the Fathers like John Chrysostom (344 – 407 A.D.) waxed eloquent in expressing their contempt for the Jews. Chrysostom said:
“Many, I know, respect the Jews and think that their present way of life is a venerable one. This is why I hasten to uproot and tear out this deadly opinion… The synagogue is not only a brothel and a theater; it also is a den of robbers and a lodging for wild beasts… But when God forsakes a people, what hope of salvation is left? When God forsakes a place, that place becomes a dwelling of demons.”
By the third century even Origin, who taught that every rational being will ultimately be restored to God whether in heaven or on earth,[2] did not allow for the possibility that the Jews should ever be restored as a nation. He said:
“We may assert in utter confidence that the Jews will not return to their earlier situation, for they have committed the most abominable of crimes in forming this conspiracy against the Savior of the human race…hence the city where Jesus suffered was necessarily destroyed, the Jewish nation was driven from its country, and another people was called by God to the blessed election.”
According to these and other Church Fathers, God has utterly rejected Israel as a nation and the Church has once-and-for-all replaced Israel as the people of God. This doctrine has become known as Replacement Theology or Supersessionism. However, as I hope to demonstrate in the following pages, this was not what Jesus and His Apostles taught. After Jesus presented Himself to Israel as their King and Messiah and was rejected by them, He told them that their house would be left desolate - but not forever. He made it clear that the desolation would only last “until” a certain condition was met. He said: “you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" (Matt 23:39). He said that they would be scattered among the nations, however not forever, but only until such a time as they welcome Him as their Messiah and King. He also said:
“And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Lk 21:24)
As with all God’s judgments, His judgment against His people Israel is temporal, only lasting “until…”, and culminating in restoration - not eternal rejection (Lam 3:31-33). And considering the question Jesus’ disciples asked Him on the Mount of Olives just before He ascended, it seems apparent that they understood the irrevocability of God’s promises to Israel better than most theologians have throughout Church history. They asked Jesus if He would restore Israel at that time (Acts 1:6). If God had permanently rejected Israel as a nation, certainly Jesus would have corrected them, saying that Israel had been permanently rejected and would be replaced by the Church. But He simply said: "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7). Implied in His reply is the assumption that, in the Father’s time, Israel will indeed be restored as a nation.
The Lord later revealed to Paul that Israel had by no means been cast off, nor had they stumbled so as to fall (Rom 11:1,11). To him was revealed the mystery that the present partial hardening of Israel is only “until” the fullness of the Gentiles comes into the fold. Once the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled and God has called unto Himself His elect firstfruits from among the Gentiles, then all Israel will be saved when the Deliverer (Christ) comes out of Zion, removing all ungodliness from Jacob (Israel), taking away their sins (Rom 11:25-27).
The earliest Church Fathers - in agreement with the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, were Premillennialists and therefore believed that Christ would reign from Jerusalem over the restored twelve tribes of Israel and that the nations of the earth would come to worship in Zion. Indeed, just before going to the cross and knowing that Israel had rejected Him and would soon demand His crucifixion, Jesus made it clear that, in spite of their betrayal, Israel still had a future when He said to His disciples: “I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Lk 22:29-30). This promise to His disciples was given after He had told the chief priests and the elders that the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to another people (Matt 21:43).
The Early Fathers understood from Scriptures like these that, in spite of Israel’s transgression and ensuing judgment, God’s mercy never comes to an end and therefore His unconditional promises concerning the final restoration of the twelve tribes as one nation in their own land were irrevocable. Tertullian (160 to 225 AD) says of national Israel:
“Christ promises to the Jews their primitive condition with the recovery of their country, and after this life's course is over repose in Hades in Abraham's bosom. Oh, most excellent God, when He restores in amnesty what He took away in wrath! Oh, what a God is yours, who both wounds and heals, creates evil and makes peace! Oh, what a God that is merciful even down to Hades!” [3]
The universality of the Premillennial hope among the Early Church Fathers is attested to by the great Church Historian, Phillip Schaff, in spite of the fact that he was not himself premillennial in his eschatology. He says:
“The most striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene age is…the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgment. It was indeed not the doctrine of the church embodied in any creed or form of devotion, but a widely current opinion of distinguished teachers, such as Barnabas (died AD 61), Papias (died AD 100), Justin Martyr (AD 100 – 165), Irenaeus (AD 130 – 202), Tertullian (AD 160 – 225), Methodius (died AD 311), and Lactantius (AD 250 – 325); while Caius (third century AD) , Origen (AD 184 – 253), Dionysius the Great (died AD 264), Eusebius (AD 265 – 340) as afterwards Jerome (AD 347 – 420) and Augustin (AD 354 – 430) opposed it….” [4]
However, with the introduction of the spiritual/allegorical approach to the Scriptures, borrowed from the Greek philosophers in the third and fourth centuries by Origin and other Christian scholars, came a departure from the hope for the Premillennial return of Christ to set up His kingdom on earth. The allegorical hermeneutic allowed for creativity in the interpretation of the Scriptures which gave rise to Amillennialism which denied any literal Millennium and Postmillennialism which taught that the millennial kingdom was now. Consequentially, all of the prophecies concerning Israel’s future kingdom were likewise allegorized in such a way as to make them apply to the Church, which, according to them, is presently reigning with Christ on the earth in the place of Israel who has been permanently rejected by God.
The Replacement theory logically led to the open antisemitism or hatred of the Jews, reflected in the writings of so many of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers from the late third century onward. If one believes that God’s wrath against the Jews is eternal and implacable for having rejected and crucified His Son, it is inevitable that they should in like manner come to hate those whom they believe God Himself hates. History has shown that people always become like the God in whom they believe. If the Church had continued in the revelation of God as seen in Jesus Christ and throughout the Scriptures - a God of love and mercy who does not remain angry forever (Jer 3:12), then the history of the Jews would have read much differently than it does today.
The seeds of antisemitism sown by the Replacement Theology of the late Fathers produced a harvest of incomprehensible suffering for the Jewish people wherever they went. They were hunted down and killed or expelled from virtually every country they fled to following the diaspora which began after the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem and culminating in the Diaspora Revolt in 115 A D. Jesus said that this would happen, and that it would continue until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Lk 21:24). What to me is tragic is that much of this prophesied suffering has been inflicted at the hands of the predominately Gentile Church in the name of Christ!
This same diabolical hatred of the Jews was adopted and intensified by the Reformed Church under the influence of the reformer Martin Luther himself. In his booklet called, “Concerning the Jews and Their Lies” he referred to them as a venomous, miserable, blind, senseless and accursed people who were lazy thieves and robbers and a great plague to humanity. His proposed solution to the problem of the Jews was to burn their houses, schools and synagogues. He said that they should confiscate their money and possessions along with their Talmudic writings, forbidding their Rabbis to teach and compelling them to forced labor.
It should be no surprise therefore, that the Nazis often quoted Luther in order to promote their pogrom against the Jews. In Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” he said of Martin Luther that he was “a great warrior, a true statesman and a great reformer.” In 1924 Hitler spoke to thousands at a Christian gathering in Berlin. He said of Luther:
“Martin Luther has been the greatest encouragement of my life. Luther was a great man. He was a giant. With one blow he heralded the coming of the new dawn and the new age. He saw clearly that the Jews need to be destroyed, and we’re only beginning to see that we need to carry this work on… I believe that today I am acting in accordance with the will of Almighty God as I announce the most important work that Christians could undertake — and that is to be against the Jews and get rid of them once and for all.” [5]
Since most of the Christians in Germany at that time believed the Reformed doctrine that God hates the Jews and has forever rejected them as “the Christ killers,” they gave Hitler a standing ovation. While Martin Luther was greatly used of God to restore the truth of justification through faith alone, his propagation of the Replacement doctrine and its resulting antisemitism provoked one of history’s greatest tragedies. At the Nuremberg trials the Nazi leader, Julius Streicher, defended himself by saying, “I have never said anything that Martin Luther did not say.”
We as Christians need to acknowledge that the Holocaust was the evil fruit of Replacement Theology with its resultant antisemitism. Sadly, many Reformed teachers treat Premillennial Dispensational Christians who love and support Israel with the same contempt which they have shown towards the Jews. Many Gentile believers are guilty of boasting against the natural branches, thinking that now that we are called the Israel of God, we have permanently replaced national Israel (Rom 11:17-18). As I hope to demonstrate in the next blog of this series, the idea that the Church has permanently replaced Israel is based primarily upon a misunderstanding of Romans 11 where Paul actually argues the very opposite.
[1] See my book entitled “Last Days, Past or Present?” Chapter two: Premillennial Futurism – The Doctrine of the Early Church.
[2] “It is our conviction that the Word will prevail over all the intelligent creation.” Origin, Against Selsum 8.72.
[3] Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3 Irenaeus: Against Heresies Book 3 Chapter 24
[4] Schaff´s History of the Christian Church, Volume 1, chapter 12,158. Chiliasm.
[5] https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/has-the-church-replaced-israel/
The earliest Church Fathers, even though they lived after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., were uniformly Premillennial and therefore anticipated that Christ would save and restore Israel as a nation and reign for 1,000 years from Jerusalem upon the throne of David at His Second Coming. I demonstrate this, citing numerous Fathers in my article, Premillennial Futurism - The Belief of the Early Church. However, as early as the late second century, some Church Fathers began to deny that there would be any future for Israel. They began to spiritualize the Millennium, applying it to the present age and replacing Israel with the Church. As time progressed, some of the Fathers like John Chrysostom (344 – 407 A.D.) waxed eloquent in expressing their contempt for the Jews. Chrysostom said:
“Many, I know, respect the Jews and think that their present way of life is a venerable one. This is why I hasten to uproot and tear out this deadly opinion… The synagogue is not only a brothel and a theater; it also is a den of robbers and a lodging for wild beasts… But when God forsakes a people, what hope of salvation is left? When God forsakes a place, that place becomes a dwelling of demons.”
By the third century even Origin, who taught that every rational being will ultimately be restored to God whether in heaven or on earth,[2] did not allow for the possibility that the Jews should ever be restored as a nation. He said:
“We may assert in utter confidence that the Jews will not return to their earlier situation, for they have committed the most abominable of crimes in forming this conspiracy against the Savior of the human race…hence the city where Jesus suffered was necessarily destroyed, the Jewish nation was driven from its country, and another people was called by God to the blessed election.”
According to these and other Church Fathers, God has utterly rejected Israel as a nation and the Church has once-and-for-all replaced Israel as the people of God. This doctrine has become known as Replacement Theology or Supersessionism. However, as I hope to demonstrate in the following pages, this was not what Jesus and His Apostles taught. After Jesus presented Himself to Israel as their King and Messiah and was rejected by them, He told them that their house would be left desolate - but not forever. He made it clear that the desolation would only last “until” a certain condition was met. He said: “you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" (Matt 23:39). He said that they would be scattered among the nations, however not forever, but only until such a time as they welcome Him as their Messiah and King. He also said:
“And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Lk 21:24)
As with all God’s judgments, His judgment against His people Israel is temporal, only lasting “until…”, and culminating in restoration - not eternal rejection (Lam 3:31-33). And considering the question Jesus’ disciples asked Him on the Mount of Olives just before He ascended, it seems apparent that they understood the irrevocability of God’s promises to Israel better than most theologians have throughout Church history. They asked Jesus if He would restore Israel at that time (Acts 1:6). If God had permanently rejected Israel as a nation, certainly Jesus would have corrected them, saying that Israel had been permanently rejected and would be replaced by the Church. But He simply said: "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7). Implied in His reply is the assumption that, in the Father’s time, Israel will indeed be restored as a nation.
The Lord later revealed to Paul that Israel had by no means been cast off, nor had they stumbled so as to fall (Rom 11:1,11). To him was revealed the mystery that the present partial hardening of Israel is only “until” the fullness of the Gentiles comes into the fold. Once the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled and God has called unto Himself His elect firstfruits from among the Gentiles, then all Israel will be saved when the Deliverer (Christ) comes out of Zion, removing all ungodliness from Jacob (Israel), taking away their sins (Rom 11:25-27).
The earliest Church Fathers - in agreement with the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, were Premillennialists and therefore believed that Christ would reign from Jerusalem over the restored twelve tribes of Israel and that the nations of the earth would come to worship in Zion. Indeed, just before going to the cross and knowing that Israel had rejected Him and would soon demand His crucifixion, Jesus made it clear that, in spite of their betrayal, Israel still had a future when He said to His disciples: “I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Lk 22:29-30). This promise to His disciples was given after He had told the chief priests and the elders that the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to another people (Matt 21:43).
The Early Fathers understood from Scriptures like these that, in spite of Israel’s transgression and ensuing judgment, God’s mercy never comes to an end and therefore His unconditional promises concerning the final restoration of the twelve tribes as one nation in their own land were irrevocable. Tertullian (160 to 225 AD) says of national Israel:
“Christ promises to the Jews their primitive condition with the recovery of their country, and after this life's course is over repose in Hades in Abraham's bosom. Oh, most excellent God, when He restores in amnesty what He took away in wrath! Oh, what a God is yours, who both wounds and heals, creates evil and makes peace! Oh, what a God that is merciful even down to Hades!” [3]
The universality of the Premillennial hope among the Early Church Fathers is attested to by the great Church Historian, Phillip Schaff, in spite of the fact that he was not himself premillennial in his eschatology. He says:
“The most striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene age is…the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgment. It was indeed not the doctrine of the church embodied in any creed or form of devotion, but a widely current opinion of distinguished teachers, such as Barnabas (died AD 61), Papias (died AD 100), Justin Martyr (AD 100 – 165), Irenaeus (AD 130 – 202), Tertullian (AD 160 – 225), Methodius (died AD 311), and Lactantius (AD 250 – 325); while Caius (third century AD) , Origen (AD 184 – 253), Dionysius the Great (died AD 264), Eusebius (AD 265 – 340) as afterwards Jerome (AD 347 – 420) and Augustin (AD 354 – 430) opposed it….” [4]
However, with the introduction of the spiritual/allegorical approach to the Scriptures, borrowed from the Greek philosophers in the third and fourth centuries by Origin and other Christian scholars, came a departure from the hope for the Premillennial return of Christ to set up His kingdom on earth. The allegorical hermeneutic allowed for creativity in the interpretation of the Scriptures which gave rise to Amillennialism which denied any literal Millennium and Postmillennialism which taught that the millennial kingdom was now. Consequentially, all of the prophecies concerning Israel’s future kingdom were likewise allegorized in such a way as to make them apply to the Church, which, according to them, is presently reigning with Christ on the earth in the place of Israel who has been permanently rejected by God.
The Replacement theory logically led to the open antisemitism or hatred of the Jews, reflected in the writings of so many of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers from the late third century onward. If one believes that God’s wrath against the Jews is eternal and implacable for having rejected and crucified His Son, it is inevitable that they should in like manner come to hate those whom they believe God Himself hates. History has shown that people always become like the God in whom they believe. If the Church had continued in the revelation of God as seen in Jesus Christ and throughout the Scriptures - a God of love and mercy who does not remain angry forever (Jer 3:12), then the history of the Jews would have read much differently than it does today.
The seeds of antisemitism sown by the Replacement Theology of the late Fathers produced a harvest of incomprehensible suffering for the Jewish people wherever they went. They were hunted down and killed or expelled from virtually every country they fled to following the diaspora which began after the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem and culminating in the Diaspora Revolt in 115 A D. Jesus said that this would happen, and that it would continue until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Lk 21:24). What to me is tragic is that much of this prophesied suffering has been inflicted at the hands of the predominately Gentile Church in the name of Christ!
This same diabolical hatred of the Jews was adopted and intensified by the Reformed Church under the influence of the reformer Martin Luther himself. In his booklet called, “Concerning the Jews and Their Lies” he referred to them as a venomous, miserable, blind, senseless and accursed people who were lazy thieves and robbers and a great plague to humanity. His proposed solution to the problem of the Jews was to burn their houses, schools and synagogues. He said that they should confiscate their money and possessions along with their Talmudic writings, forbidding their Rabbis to teach and compelling them to forced labor.
It should be no surprise therefore, that the Nazis often quoted Luther in order to promote their pogrom against the Jews. In Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” he said of Martin Luther that he was “a great warrior, a true statesman and a great reformer.” In 1924 Hitler spoke to thousands at a Christian gathering in Berlin. He said of Luther:
“Martin Luther has been the greatest encouragement of my life. Luther was a great man. He was a giant. With one blow he heralded the coming of the new dawn and the new age. He saw clearly that the Jews need to be destroyed, and we’re only beginning to see that we need to carry this work on… I believe that today I am acting in accordance with the will of Almighty God as I announce the most important work that Christians could undertake — and that is to be against the Jews and get rid of them once and for all.” [5]
Since most of the Christians in Germany at that time believed the Reformed doctrine that God hates the Jews and has forever rejected them as “the Christ killers,” they gave Hitler a standing ovation. While Martin Luther was greatly used of God to restore the truth of justification through faith alone, his propagation of the Replacement doctrine and its resulting antisemitism provoked one of history’s greatest tragedies. At the Nuremberg trials the Nazi leader, Julius Streicher, defended himself by saying, “I have never said anything that Martin Luther did not say.”
We as Christians need to acknowledge that the Holocaust was the evil fruit of Replacement Theology with its resultant antisemitism. Sadly, many Reformed teachers treat Premillennial Dispensational Christians who love and support Israel with the same contempt which they have shown towards the Jews. Many Gentile believers are guilty of boasting against the natural branches, thinking that now that we are called the Israel of God, we have permanently replaced national Israel (Rom 11:17-18). As I hope to demonstrate in the next blog of this series, the idea that the Church has permanently replaced Israel is based primarily upon a misunderstanding of Romans 11 where Paul actually argues the very opposite.
[1] See my book entitled “Last Days, Past or Present?” Chapter two: Premillennial Futurism – The Doctrine of the Early Church.
[2] “It is our conviction that the Word will prevail over all the intelligent creation.” Origin, Against Selsum 8.72.
[3] Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3 Irenaeus: Against Heresies Book 3 Chapter 24
[4] Schaff´s History of the Christian Church, Volume 1, chapter 12,158. Chiliasm.
[5] https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/has-the-church-replaced-israel/
- Published on
by George Sidney Hurd
--
The earliest Church Fathers, even though they lived after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., were uniformly Premillennial and therefore anticipated that Christ would save and restore Israel as a nation and reign for 1,000 years from Jerusalem upon the throne of David at His Second Coming.[1] However, as early as the late second century some Church Fathers began to deny that there would be any future for Israel. They began to spiritualize the Millennium, applying it to the present age and replacing Israel with the Church. As time progressed, some of the Fathers like John Chrysostom (344 – 407 A.D.) waxed eloquent in expressing their contempt for the Jews. Chrysostom said:
“Many, I know, respect the Jews and think that their present way of life is a venerable one. This is why I hasten to uproot and tear out this deadly opinion… The synagogue is not only a brothel and a theater; it also is a den of robbers and a lodging for wild beasts… But when God forsakes a people, what hope of salvation is left? When God forsakes a place, that place becomes a dwelling of demons.”
By the third century even Origin, who taught that every rational being will ultimately be restored to God whether in heaven or on earth,[2] did not allow for the possibility that the Jews should ever be restored as a nation. He said:
“We may assert in utter confidence that the Jews will not return to their earlier situation, for they have committed the most abominable of crimes in forming this conspiracy against the Savior of the human race…hence the city where Jesus suffered was necessarily destroyed, the Jewish nation was driven from its country, and another people was called by God to the blessed election.”
According to these and other Church Fathers, God has utterly rejected Israel as a nation and the Church has once-and-for-all replaced Israel as the people of God. This doctrine has become known as Replacement Theology or Supersessionism. However, as I hope to demonstrate in the following pages, this was not what Jesus and His Apostles taught. After Jesus presented Himself to Israel as their King and Messiah and was rejected by them, He told them that their house would be left desolate - but not forever. He made it clear that the desolation would only last “until” a certain condition was met. He said: “you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" (Matt 23:39). He said that they would be scattered among the nations, however, not forever but only until such a time as they welcome Him as their Messiah and King. He also said:
“And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Lk 21:24)
As with all God’s judgments, His judgment against His people Israel is temporal, only lasting “until…”, and culminating in restoration - not eternal rejection (Lam 3:31-33). And considering the question Jesus’ disciples asked Him on the Mount of Olives just before He ascended, it seems apparent that they understood the irrevocability of God’s promises to Israel better than most theologians have throughout Church history. They asked Jesus if He would restore Israel at that time (Acts 1:6). If God had permanently rejected Israel as a nation certainly Jesus would have corrected them, saying that Israel had been permanently rejected and would be replaced by the Church. But He simply said: "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7). Implied in His reply is the assumption that, in the Father’s time, Israel will indeed be restored as a nation.
The Lord later revealed to Paul that Israel had by no means been cast off, nor had they stumbled so as to fall (Rom 11:1,11). To him was revealed the mystery that the present partial hardening of Israel is only “until” the fullness of the Gentiles comes into the fold. Once the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled and God has called unto Himself His elect firstfruits from among the Gentiles, then all Israel will be saved when the Deliverer (Christ) comes out of Zion, removing all ungodliness from Jacob (Israel), taking away their sins (Rom 11:25-27).
The earliest Church Fathers - in agreement with the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, were Premillennialists and therefore believed that Christ would reign from Jerusalem over the restored twelve tribes of Israel and that the nations of the earth would come to worship in Zion. Indeed, just before going to the cross and knowing that Israel had rejected Him and would soon demand His crucifixion, Jesus made it clear that, in spite of their betrayal, Israel still had a future when He said to His disciples: “I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Lk 22:29-30). This promise to His disciples was given after He had told the chief priests and the elders that the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to another people (Matt 21:43).
The Early Fathers understood from Scriptures like these that, in spite of Israel’s transgression and ensuing judgment, God’s mercy never comes to an end and therefore His unconditional promises concerning the final restoration of the twelve tribes as one nation in their own land were irrevocable. Tertullian (160 to 225 AD) says of national Israel:
“Christ promises to the Jews their primitive condition with the recovery of their country, and after this life's course is over repose in Hades in Abraham's bosom. Oh, most excellent God, when He restores in amnesty what He took away in wrath! Oh, what a God is yours, who both wounds and heals, creates evil and makes peace! Oh, what a God, that is merciful even down to Hades!” [3]
The universality of the Premillennial hope among the Early Church Fathers is attested to by the great Church Historian, Phillip Schaff, in spite of the fact that he was not himself premillennial in his eschatology. He says:
“The most striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene age is…the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgment. It was indeed not the doctrine of the church embodied in any creed or form of devotion, but a widely current opinion of distinguished teachers, such as Barnabas (died AD 61), Papias (died AD 100), Justin Martyr (AD 100 – 165), Irenaeus (AD 130 – 202), Tertullian (AD 160 – 225), Methodius (died AD 311), and Lactantius (AD 250 – 325); while Caius (third century AD) , Origen (AD 184 – 253), Dionysius the Great (died AD 264), Eusebius (AD 265 – 340) as afterwards Jerome (AD 347 – 420) and Augustin (AD 354 – 430) opposed it….” [4]
However, with the introduction of the spiritual/allegorical approach to the Scriptures, borrowed from the Greek philosophers in the third and fourth centuries by Origin and other Christian scholars, came a departure from the hope for the Premillennial return of Christ to set up His kingdom on earth. The allegorical hermeneutic allowed for creativity in the interpretation of the Scriptures which gave rise to Amillennialism which denied any literal Millennium and Postmillennialism which taught that the millennial kingdom was now. Consequentially, all of the prophecies concerning Israel’s future kingdom were likewise allegorized in such a way as to make them apply to the Church, which, according to them, is presently reigning with Christ on the earth in the place of Israel who has been permanently rejected by God.
The Replacement theory logically led to the open antisemitism or hatred of the Jews, reflected in the writings of so many of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers from the late third century onward. If one believes that God’s wrath against the Jews is eternal and implacable for having rejected and crucified His Son, it is inevitable that they would in like manner come to hate those whom they believe God Himself hates. History has shown that people always become like the God in whom they believe. If the Church had continued in the revelation of God as seen in Jesus Christ and throughout the Scriptures - a God of love and mercy who does not remain angry forever (Jer 3:12), then the history of the Jews would have read much differently than it does today.
The seeds of antisemitism sown by the Replacement Theology of the late Fathers produced a harvest of incomprehensible suffering for the Jewish people wherever they went. They were hunted down and killed or expelled from virtually every country they fled to following the diaspora which began after the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus said that this would happen, and that it would continue until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Lk 21:24). What to me is tragic is that much of this prophesied suffering has been inflicted at the hands of the predominately Gentile Church in the name of Christ!
This same diabolical hatred of the Jews was adopted and intensified by the Reformed Church under the influence of the reformer Martin Luther himself. In his booklet called, “Concerning the Jews and Their Lies” he referred to them as a venomous, miserable, blind, senseless and accursed people who were lazy thieves and robbers and a great plague to humanity. His proposed solution to the problem of the Jews was to burn their houses, schools and synagogues. He said that they should confiscate their money and possessions along with their Talmudic writings, forbidding their Rabbis to teach and compelling them to forced labor.
It should be no surprise therefore, that the Nazis often quoted Luther in order to promote their pogrom against the Jews. In Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” he said of Martin Luther that he was “a great warrior, a true statesman and a great reformer.” In 1924 Hitler spoke to thousands at a Christian gathering in Berlin. He said of Luther:
“Martin Luther has been the greatest encouragement of my life. Luther was a great man. He was a giant. With one blow he heralded the coming of the new dawn and the new age. He saw clearly that the Jews need to be destroyed, and we’re only beginning to see that we need to carry this work on… I believe that today I am acting in accordance with the will of Almighty God as I announce the most important work that Christians could undertake — and that is to be against the Jews and get rid of them once and for all.” [5]
Since most of the Christians in Germany at that time believed the Reformed doctrine that God hates the Jews and has forever rejected them as “the Christ killers” they gave Hitler a standing ovation. While Martin Luther was greatly used of God to restore the truth of justification through faith alone, his propagation of the Replacement doctrine and its resulting antisemitism provoked one of history’s greatest tragedies. At the Nuremberg trials the Nazi leader, Julius Streicher, defended himself by saying, “I have never said anything that Martin Luther did not say.”
We as Christians need to acknowledge that the Holocaust was the evil fruit of Replacement Theology with its resultant antisemitism. Sadly, many Reformed teachers treat Premillennial Dispensational Christians who love and support Israel with the same contempt which they have shown towards the Jews. Many Gentile believers are guilty of boasting against the natural branches, thinking that now that we are called the Israel of God, we have permanently replaced national Israel (Rom 11:17-18). As I hope to demonstrate in the next blog of this series, the idea that the Church has permanently replaced Israel is based primarily upon a misunderstanding of Romans 11 where Paul actually argues the very opposite.
[1] See my book entitled “Last Days, Past or Present?” Chapter two: Premillennial Futurism – The Doctrine of the Early Church.
[2] “It is our conviction that the Word will prevail over all the intelligent creation.” Origin, Against Selsum 8.72.
[3] Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3 Irenaeus: Against Heresies Book 3 Chapter 24
[4] Schaff´s History of the Christian Church, Volume 1, chapter 12,158. Chiliasm.
[5] https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/has-the-church-replaced-israel/
--
The earliest Church Fathers, even though they lived after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., were uniformly Premillennial and therefore anticipated that Christ would save and restore Israel as a nation and reign for 1,000 years from Jerusalem upon the throne of David at His Second Coming.[1] However, as early as the late second century some Church Fathers began to deny that there would be any future for Israel. They began to spiritualize the Millennium, applying it to the present age and replacing Israel with the Church. As time progressed, some of the Fathers like John Chrysostom (344 – 407 A.D.) waxed eloquent in expressing their contempt for the Jews. Chrysostom said:
“Many, I know, respect the Jews and think that their present way of life is a venerable one. This is why I hasten to uproot and tear out this deadly opinion… The synagogue is not only a brothel and a theater; it also is a den of robbers and a lodging for wild beasts… But when God forsakes a people, what hope of salvation is left? When God forsakes a place, that place becomes a dwelling of demons.”
By the third century even Origin, who taught that every rational being will ultimately be restored to God whether in heaven or on earth,[2] did not allow for the possibility that the Jews should ever be restored as a nation. He said:
“We may assert in utter confidence that the Jews will not return to their earlier situation, for they have committed the most abominable of crimes in forming this conspiracy against the Savior of the human race…hence the city where Jesus suffered was necessarily destroyed, the Jewish nation was driven from its country, and another people was called by God to the blessed election.”
According to these and other Church Fathers, God has utterly rejected Israel as a nation and the Church has once-and-for-all replaced Israel as the people of God. This doctrine has become known as Replacement Theology or Supersessionism. However, as I hope to demonstrate in the following pages, this was not what Jesus and His Apostles taught. After Jesus presented Himself to Israel as their King and Messiah and was rejected by them, He told them that their house would be left desolate - but not forever. He made it clear that the desolation would only last “until” a certain condition was met. He said: “you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" (Matt 23:39). He said that they would be scattered among the nations, however, not forever but only until such a time as they welcome Him as their Messiah and King. He also said:
“And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Lk 21:24)
As with all God’s judgments, His judgment against His people Israel is temporal, only lasting “until…”, and culminating in restoration - not eternal rejection (Lam 3:31-33). And considering the question Jesus’ disciples asked Him on the Mount of Olives just before He ascended, it seems apparent that they understood the irrevocability of God’s promises to Israel better than most theologians have throughout Church history. They asked Jesus if He would restore Israel at that time (Acts 1:6). If God had permanently rejected Israel as a nation certainly Jesus would have corrected them, saying that Israel had been permanently rejected and would be replaced by the Church. But He simply said: "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7). Implied in His reply is the assumption that, in the Father’s time, Israel will indeed be restored as a nation.
The Lord later revealed to Paul that Israel had by no means been cast off, nor had they stumbled so as to fall (Rom 11:1,11). To him was revealed the mystery that the present partial hardening of Israel is only “until” the fullness of the Gentiles comes into the fold. Once the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled and God has called unto Himself His elect firstfruits from among the Gentiles, then all Israel will be saved when the Deliverer (Christ) comes out of Zion, removing all ungodliness from Jacob (Israel), taking away their sins (Rom 11:25-27).
The earliest Church Fathers - in agreement with the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, were Premillennialists and therefore believed that Christ would reign from Jerusalem over the restored twelve tribes of Israel and that the nations of the earth would come to worship in Zion. Indeed, just before going to the cross and knowing that Israel had rejected Him and would soon demand His crucifixion, Jesus made it clear that, in spite of their betrayal, Israel still had a future when He said to His disciples: “I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Lk 22:29-30). This promise to His disciples was given after He had told the chief priests and the elders that the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to another people (Matt 21:43).
The Early Fathers understood from Scriptures like these that, in spite of Israel’s transgression and ensuing judgment, God’s mercy never comes to an end and therefore His unconditional promises concerning the final restoration of the twelve tribes as one nation in their own land were irrevocable. Tertullian (160 to 225 AD) says of national Israel:
“Christ promises to the Jews their primitive condition with the recovery of their country, and after this life's course is over repose in Hades in Abraham's bosom. Oh, most excellent God, when He restores in amnesty what He took away in wrath! Oh, what a God is yours, who both wounds and heals, creates evil and makes peace! Oh, what a God, that is merciful even down to Hades!” [3]
The universality of the Premillennial hope among the Early Church Fathers is attested to by the great Church Historian, Phillip Schaff, in spite of the fact that he was not himself premillennial in his eschatology. He says:
“The most striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene age is…the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgment. It was indeed not the doctrine of the church embodied in any creed or form of devotion, but a widely current opinion of distinguished teachers, such as Barnabas (died AD 61), Papias (died AD 100), Justin Martyr (AD 100 – 165), Irenaeus (AD 130 – 202), Tertullian (AD 160 – 225), Methodius (died AD 311), and Lactantius (AD 250 – 325); while Caius (third century AD) , Origen (AD 184 – 253), Dionysius the Great (died AD 264), Eusebius (AD 265 – 340) as afterwards Jerome (AD 347 – 420) and Augustin (AD 354 – 430) opposed it….” [4]
However, with the introduction of the spiritual/allegorical approach to the Scriptures, borrowed from the Greek philosophers in the third and fourth centuries by Origin and other Christian scholars, came a departure from the hope for the Premillennial return of Christ to set up His kingdom on earth. The allegorical hermeneutic allowed for creativity in the interpretation of the Scriptures which gave rise to Amillennialism which denied any literal Millennium and Postmillennialism which taught that the millennial kingdom was now. Consequentially, all of the prophecies concerning Israel’s future kingdom were likewise allegorized in such a way as to make them apply to the Church, which, according to them, is presently reigning with Christ on the earth in the place of Israel who has been permanently rejected by God.
The Replacement theory logically led to the open antisemitism or hatred of the Jews, reflected in the writings of so many of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers from the late third century onward. If one believes that God’s wrath against the Jews is eternal and implacable for having rejected and crucified His Son, it is inevitable that they would in like manner come to hate those whom they believe God Himself hates. History has shown that people always become like the God in whom they believe. If the Church had continued in the revelation of God as seen in Jesus Christ and throughout the Scriptures - a God of love and mercy who does not remain angry forever (Jer 3:12), then the history of the Jews would have read much differently than it does today.
The seeds of antisemitism sown by the Replacement Theology of the late Fathers produced a harvest of incomprehensible suffering for the Jewish people wherever they went. They were hunted down and killed or expelled from virtually every country they fled to following the diaspora which began after the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus said that this would happen, and that it would continue until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Lk 21:24). What to me is tragic is that much of this prophesied suffering has been inflicted at the hands of the predominately Gentile Church in the name of Christ!
This same diabolical hatred of the Jews was adopted and intensified by the Reformed Church under the influence of the reformer Martin Luther himself. In his booklet called, “Concerning the Jews and Their Lies” he referred to them as a venomous, miserable, blind, senseless and accursed people who were lazy thieves and robbers and a great plague to humanity. His proposed solution to the problem of the Jews was to burn their houses, schools and synagogues. He said that they should confiscate their money and possessions along with their Talmudic writings, forbidding their Rabbis to teach and compelling them to forced labor.
It should be no surprise therefore, that the Nazis often quoted Luther in order to promote their pogrom against the Jews. In Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” he said of Martin Luther that he was “a great warrior, a true statesman and a great reformer.” In 1924 Hitler spoke to thousands at a Christian gathering in Berlin. He said of Luther:
“Martin Luther has been the greatest encouragement of my life. Luther was a great man. He was a giant. With one blow he heralded the coming of the new dawn and the new age. He saw clearly that the Jews need to be destroyed, and we’re only beginning to see that we need to carry this work on… I believe that today I am acting in accordance with the will of Almighty God as I announce the most important work that Christians could undertake — and that is to be against the Jews and get rid of them once and for all.” [5]
Since most of the Christians in Germany at that time believed the Reformed doctrine that God hates the Jews and has forever rejected them as “the Christ killers” they gave Hitler a standing ovation. While Martin Luther was greatly used of God to restore the truth of justification through faith alone, his propagation of the Replacement doctrine and its resulting antisemitism provoked one of history’s greatest tragedies. At the Nuremberg trials the Nazi leader, Julius Streicher, defended himself by saying, “I have never said anything that Martin Luther did not say.”
We as Christians need to acknowledge that the Holocaust was the evil fruit of Replacement Theology with its resultant antisemitism. Sadly, many Reformed teachers treat Premillennial Dispensational Christians who love and support Israel with the same contempt which they have shown towards the Jews. Many Gentile believers are guilty of boasting against the natural branches, thinking that now that we are called the Israel of God, we have permanently replaced national Israel (Rom 11:17-18). As I hope to demonstrate in the next blog of this series, the idea that the Church has permanently replaced Israel is based primarily upon a misunderstanding of Romans 11 where Paul actually argues the very opposite.
[1] See my book entitled “Last Days, Past or Present?” Chapter two: Premillennial Futurism – The Doctrine of the Early Church.
[2] “It is our conviction that the Word will prevail over all the intelligent creation.” Origin, Against Selsum 8.72.
[3] Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3 Irenaeus: Against Heresies Book 3 Chapter 24
[4] Schaff´s History of the Christian Church, Volume 1, chapter 12,158. Chiliasm.
[5] https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/has-the-church-replaced-israel/