“Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven”.
“…they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority”
The teaching of “replacement theology” is not new. It was stirring in the very early years of the church and it is possible that the book of Romans was written to address this issue with the climax of Paul’s argument coming in chapters 9-11 and particularly in chapter 11.
“Did God reject His people? NEVER!!!”
Romans was written to a church that had for a time been made up totally of gentile believers after all Jews had been forced out of Rome by the emperor Claudius. When Nero came to power he allowed the Jews to return, and Jewish believers had difficulty being accepted back into a church that considered their exile had been evidence that God had forsaken the Jews.
The idea that the church has replaced Israel as God’s people because of Jewish disobedience is categorically refuted by Paul in Romans. When he wrote NEVER in Romans 11, the word used was the strongest possible negative exclamation available to him in the Greek language (meganoita!).
Paul also clearly attacks the smugness of those who considered themselves as being those people who had allegedly replaced Israel in God’s affections. (“Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either”).
While Romans addresses a very early incarnation of “replacement theology” there can be no doubt that it is a belief system that refuses to go away, and it is widely held today; despite the historically unprecedented “resurrection” of a long dead nation (Israel) and its language (Hebrew) only 60 years ago.
Why should there be such contention over Israel and its continuing role in God’s purposes? Why are so many determined to dismiss Israel’s relevance despite the events of recent history in which a nation, totally dead and gone as a political entity, returned against the odds to become one of the world’s most powerful military forces; and to become a nation constantly at the centre of world attention. Has there ever been a time since 1948 when Israel, a tiny nation, has not been in the news? Would there be such a continuing obsession with a mere political entity, no matter how unlikely the renewed existence of that entity after 2000 years may seem?
In a previous post I addressed the matter of the “millennium” in Old Testament prophecies. Almost every Old Testament prophet foretold of a time when the nations would be ruled by a King from the throne of David in Zion. The issues of Israel’s continuing importance and the rule of this King are very much linked. It is therefore not surprising that “replacement theology” often goes hand in hand with “amillennialism” – a theology that denies the literal earthly reign of Christ after His return.
Israel is very much tied up with end time events and Satan knows that. He thought he could prevent fulfilment of God’s purposes by leading men to crucify Jesus – but his “victory” was short lived. Satan knows that God’s plans for THIS creation are heading towards an earthly kingdom ruled by God’s Son from the throne of David. Satan knows that the establishment of that earthly kingdom begins with him (Satan) being imprisoned and stripped of his deceptive power, and will end with him being thrown into the lake of fire. It’s not surprising that he would try to prevent the establishment of that kingdom by removing Israel. And it’s not surprising that he would cause so much confusion about the events that mark his final destruction.
I tend to think that Satan’s attempt to destroy Jesus was to prevent the establishment of the Kingdom of Israel under the rule of the Messiah. By killing the Messiah, Satan thought he could stop the kingdom. But God’s plan involved an unexpected twist. The Messiah would come twice, first as a sacrifice then secondly as King to rule over the nations from His throne in Zion.
Satan’s misunderstanding played right into God’s hands. Instead of destroying God’s plans, the death of Jesus FULFILLED them. Satan knows he can no longer prevent God’s Kingdom by destroying the King, so his attention becomes focused on the nation from which the King will rule over the earth.
By turning the church against Israel Satan is trying to kill two birds with one stone. It turns the church away from God’s purposes while trying to rid the world of Israel. The final part of that attempt will come when the beast (Antichrist) launches a massive “final solution” to rid the world of both church and Israel.
Paul made it clear that Israel has not been replaced by anyone. There are many statements in Romans 11 that should dismiss any doubt about Israel’s continued importance to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: the God of Israel.
But true to form, one of the clearest promises made specifically to Israel about its ongoing part in God’s purposes is most often quoted and applied to the church in a most inappropriate way.
“…for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable”.
Instead of applying this to Israel, it is usually applied to disobedient “Christians” who still SEEM to be displaying Spiritual gifts. Implying that disobedient Christians can’t lose what they have been given – while Israel is portrayed as having lost their inheritance because of their disobedience. What a complete twisting of the context and the intended application of that promise regarding God’s relationship with Israel!
So what are we to do with Israel? Should Christians throw unconditional support behind the current political incarnation that goes by that name? Is that what God would have us do? Or does God require that we expect the same standard of righteousness that HE demands from HIS Israel?
It is clearly the latter – and the only way they can attain that standard of righteousness is through faith in His Son, their Messiah.
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” Rom 11:25-27
(This article originally posted on my blospot site 20 October 09)
Onesimus Files 
True, but it is a bit awkward when modern Israel does things that are decidedly unChristian. We have to constantly remind ourselves that this is not yet a Christian nation. One day it will be, but until that day we can’t agree with all Israel does, while at the same time being generally very pro-Israeli.
And there is also a problem of how to treat Christian Palestinians, most of whom are very anti-Israel. They are actually far closer to us spiritually than Israelis. I once made the mistake of praising America to a former Muslim now Christian, and got a big lecture on how badly the Americans had acted for decades in the Middle East.
It must be virtually impossible for a Palestinian Christian to believe that Israel is the nation the Messiah will one day rule the world from. To them Israel is the nation that illegally took their family farm and orchard and refuses to give them back.
Israel is still a sinful secular nation and will respond to security threats in the manner of a sinful secular nation, But the rest of the world seems to hold Israel to higher expected standards than the ROTW hold themselves.
They are also a very VULNERABLE nation – small in population and surrounded on every border by many nations who have been intent on their destruction. As a secular nation their only perceived hope for security is in extreme defensive measures. As the Godly nation they will become their security will be in the Lord – but that point will only come when they realise they CAN’T secure themselves by their own strength. That even their assumed allies can’t (or won’t) deliver that security.
The Palestinians who lost their “farms and orchards” were in no worse a situation than the Jews who were driven from their farms and orchards in Arab lands.
Except many Arabs left by choice following the instructions of the Arabs nations who promised a rapid destruction of Israel and a return of the Palestinians to their farms.
Another difference is that Israel took in the Jewish refugees while the Arabs nations didn’t take in the Palestinian refugees, preferring to leave them as a stateless political thorn in Israel’s side.
Though I do agree with some things you said in your post, are you sure the people living in Israel today are the same people Paul was referring to in Romans 9, 10 and 11? (Revelation 2 9 and 3 9)
Paul was referring to the people of Israel – descendants of Abraham. Isaac and Jacob (as he was himself). Those people were promised a land, but through continued disobedience were exiled as a nation from that land. However, scripture makes it clear that they would return to that land. Scripture also makes it clear that they would not be returned because of their own merits but because of God’s name. And scripture does not end with the return to the land, it continues to show that Israel would eventually recognise their Messiah and enter the New Covenant.
The current political state of Israel is not the end of the story. It will not become the nation it is intended to be until their King is restored to His rightful place as their ruler.