Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, – 1 Timothy 4:1-2
I want to begin here by saying from the start that, those who promote a doctrine of demons are not necessarily demonic. They might be demonic, might be demonically influenced, they are most likely deceived. The devil is the Father of Lies (John 8:44). Whenever he promotes something, teaches something, whatever he does, deception is involved. There is a “deceiving spirit” involved in the devil’s promotions and teachings. That spirit of deception allures and uses emotions and prejudices and carnality to get people off track and outside the parameters of scripture.
The devil’s objective is to pry people away from the truth of the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3-4). This is good reason to always lean on the Holy Spirit Who leads us into all truth (John 16:13). If we don’t seek the Spirit’s guidance, if we fall prey to doctrines of demons, it can sear our conscience making us insensitive and unloving, worse of all dull toward the truth of God’s word. So beware.
There’s a reason why Jesus our protecting Shepherd exhorts His disciples to be “wise as serpents.” We need to be aware of Satan’s serpentine strategies. Like the first temptation, that serpent of old is still getting us to question, “has God indeed said?” (Genesis 3:1). Jesus added and “gentle as doves,” because the temptation would be to think we know more than we do, or that we know better than God Himself (Matthew 10:16). We need to be in the Spirit, praying for His help and words of wisdom (Romans 8:26; 1 Corinthians 12;8).
The Apostle Peter exhorted his readers to “be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). There are dangerous demonic predators around us looking to eat us for lunch! Jesus sends us to the school of this world with a healthy doctrinal meal. The devil is waiting on every corner, whispering, intimidating, tempting, bullying, until he can get close enough to steal away that lunch. Hold on tight to the “word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:10).
There’s a reason why the Apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:6). Don’t allow yourself to be seduced and sedated by the siren calls of this world. Any dead fish can float downstream with the current of the world. It takes a live fish to swim against the current of popular views of the day. Stay awake! Keep your Bible close by. Have an open Bible always in one hand. Use the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God! (Ephesians 6:18). Keep your armor on! Be ready! Be prayerful; full of prayer and the Holy Spirit!
Israel is NOT PERFECT, But They Are CHOSEN
Though this teaching will point out the flaws of Replacement Theology, it should not be interpreted to mean that Israel is flawless, or that she should never be criticized. As will be explained later, Israel at this point in history, is a very secular, sinful, nation, LIKE ALL OTHER NATIONS. While we should support Israel, it doesn’t mean we cannot criticize her when she acts in immoral or unjust ways.
I would add, few other nations act as justly and compassionately as Israel does, even in war. Israel goes out of her way to warn civilians of military operations before they happen, giving a time when they are happening and where they are happening so people can evacuate. Israel feeds those displaced by conflict and even cares for those hurting as a consequence of their own poor decisions. Does any other nation do this? Israel bends over backwards to keep the peace. It is long-suffering and resistant to making war. For instance, it puts up with thousands of rocket barrages from her neighbor enemies and only strikes back when an attack is overwhelmingly barbaric and demonic such as the attack on October 7th, 2023. Does any other nation go so far to avoid civilian casualties, even putting their own soldiers at greater risk in the process? I know of no other nation that does this.
And yet the popular accusation against Israel of late is that she is a colonizer, the aggressor. Israel is hammered in the public square. Israel welcomed Palestinians across her borders to work and live only to have them use such access to gather intelligence that was used to attack Israel October 7th. Yes, there is a demonic spirit. It is an antisemitic spirit from the pit of hell that is out to destroy Israel.
Israel is not perfect, but God has chosen her for Hs purposes. They are the “nation” God has chosen, not because they were better than other nations, but because they were the least of nations. God chose them in His love (Deuteronomy 7). That is a choice of God we should respect.
Our Relationship to Israel
Like with all nations and in every circumstance, we should appraise them through the lens of the word of God. When we look at Israel today we do not see a perfect nation. We see a nation that has opened itself to immorality and other questionable practices. But I believe we should give Israel the benefit of the doubt. She is surrounded on all sides by enemies. Politically she is the only democratic nation in the Middle East. She has historically been one of the United States greatest allies. And her roots are Biblical. Yes, there is good reason to support Israel.
Those Biblical roots in the Abrahamic Covenant come attached with blessings. “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curses you; and in your all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). This promise includes not only individual descendants of Abraham, but the covenant extends to the “great nation” that those descendants would one day become – “I will make you a great nation” (Genesis 12:2). That nation is Israel.
The blessings and cursings extend from Abraham and his individual descendants, but also to the “nation” they would become. That nation was unfaithful, was disciplined by God with a seventy-year captivity, exiled from the land, and then returned to the Land but remained a shell of itself. It wasn’t until May 14th, 1948, that Israel once again, in one day (in a prophetic fulfillment!) was reestablished as an autonomous self-governing nation.
Historically, studies have been done showing that nations and kingdoms rise and fall in a very curious way based on how they treat Israel and her people. I believe God is true to His promise to bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel. The United States of America is a good example of this.[1]
Replacement Theology
Charles Spurgeon, (1834-1892) often referred to as “The Prince of Preachers,” warned:
“I think we do not attach sufficient importance to the restoration of the Jews. We do not think enough of it. But certainly, if there is anything promised in the Bible it is this. I imagine that you cannot read the Bible without seeing clearly that there is to be an actual restoration of the children of Israel. . .. May that happy day soon come!” [2]
Fifty-six years after his death on May 14th, 1948, Israel indeed was reborn as a nation. Spurgeon must have applauded from heaven. Spurgeon must have seen the seedlings of Replacement Theology forming in the Reformed circles he fellowshipped in. He must have saw a brewing replacement view of the Church enough so that he warned to realize there is Israel and there is the Church, separate, and both part of God’s plans; one was not to replace the other.
Replacement Theology is a doctrine which teaches that Israel has been replaced by the Church in God’s prophetic plans. It teaches God is so disappointed with Israel’s rejection of Jesus, that He casts her aside and replaces her with the Church. But if God is God, and omniscient, wouldn’t He have foreseen such a rejection of Jesus by Israel? More on this later.
Even though we find God linked to Israel as “the God of Israel” 203 times in 201 verses, in this eschatological view the promises of God to Israel are transferred to the Church. This however is contrary to the nature of God Himself and the testimony of His word. It is a dangerous teaching.
Conspiring to eliminate Israel from their place in history has been a perennial issue for God’s people. The psalmist Asaph was inspired to write:
Psalm 83:4–5 (NKJV) – They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” 5 For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You:
Yes, eliminating Israel is an age-old strategy of Satan.
If we take the doctrine of Replacement Theology to its logical conclusion, it means eternal promises made by God, are not kept with those He originally promised them to. If that is the case, then not only is God’s word seen as faulty, unreliable, and unfaithful, but so is God as its Author. Such questioning of God and His words are indications of Replacement Theology being demonic. This doctrine attacks the truthfulness of God’s word and God its Author, just as we see the serpent doing in Eden at the first temptation.
Replacement Theology is aberrant because it attempts to remove Israel from the prophetic picture. To remove Israel as a nation by reasoning their disqualification because of their rejection of Jesus as their Christ-Messiah, undermines the fulfillment of God’s prophetic plans by removing an instrument God has put in place to fulfill those plans. Disqualifying Israel as a whole due to her rejections of Jesus puts an emphasis on human works to the neglect of God’s grace. I do not believe or mean to imply that Israel can be saved apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. No one comes to the Father except by Jesus (John 14:6). But I do mean to say very clearly that, although Israel did initially and continues largely to reject Jesus, the prophetic story of God is not done yet. In its final chapters Israel will once again come on the scene as a major character in the prophetic story God is writing.
Replacement Theology just doesn’t fit. When it comes to transferring God’s promises made to Israel to the Church, the result is resorting to an over reliance on an allegorical interpretation of scripture rather than the literal sense in which it was meant to be interpreted. The Land promised to Israel is allegorized away in the attempt to transfer it to the Church. The words of Old Testament prophets who were inspired to speak of God’s “everlasting” covenant with Israel, are transferred to the Church even though if we tried to do that with a will or other life document it would be illegal. There is a sense in which the Old Covenant of salvation is replaced with the New Covenant of Christ’s blood (Hebrews 9). But there is an “everlasting” covenant of Abraham which is not annullable, and which points to God’s resurrection of Israel as an instrument of His plans.
In Replacement Theology despite the repeated statement that God isn’t finished with Israel found in Romans 9-11, the Church is wedged in and Israel squeezed out of her rightful place in God’s plans. Even though obvious signs of God using Israel in His future prophetic plans are evident, they are erased by allegorical overwriting. For instance, the 144,000 of Revelation 7 and 14, even though specifically linked to the individual tribes of Israel, are ignored or allegorized away. To eliminate Israel from God’s plans takes scripture twisting and erasing. Not a good hermeneutic to say the least.
Suffice it to say that Replacement Theology disregards the hermeneutical dictum of when the plain sense makes common sense seek no other sense. The result is a shortsighted eschatology, a diminished understanding of Christ’s promise to return, and a Dominionist kingdom now focus. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Luke 11:2). Every true Christian yearns for the establishment of God’s Kingdom and Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords on the throne in Jerusalem. But the way that Kingdom comes and how Jesus ascends to the throne are vastly different in Replacement Theology.
The Bible teaches that the world will turn on Israel and only the Second Coming of Jesus, “the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” will save them (Matthew 24:29-30). Jesus is the Great Savior of His people, the King of kings and Lord of Lords in this view. Jesus is the CENTER of this view. Replacement/Dominionist Theology on the other hand teaches that we “the Church” conquer this world paving the way for the return of Jesus. The first view focuses on Jesus. The Second view focuses on we “the Church.”[3] The second view incorporates we conquer politically. Since the work of the Holy Spirit is to testify to and glorify Jesus, I’m opting for the first view as the more Biblically accurate one (compare John 15:26; 16:14). “So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:7).
Replacement Theology focuses on establishing God’s kingdom politically and focuses more on temporal horizontal government concerns to the neglect of eternal parŏusia promises and the blessed hope of Jesus’ return (Titus 2:13). Such a view not only strikes at the nature of God and His faithfulness, but removes attention where it ought to be, on Jesus and His gracious return rather than a work’s righteousness.
What is the Biblical Proof that God Isn’t Finished with Israel?
First, give room for God’s grace. Heaven forbid we minimize the terrible dark sinful spiritually blind rejection of Jesus as their Messiah by Israel and the Jews. But the heart of God is to redeem those who reject Him. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). Israel has suffered throughout history for her rejection of Jesus. You would be hard pressed to find another people group that has suffered more than those who are Jewish. But God’s desire is that none perish and that all come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Yes, we are living in a Church Age presently, but the time is coming when Jesus will return for His Bride and remove the Church from this earth. Then Israel will once again be a central focus and instrument of God to fulfill His plans. And upon His Second Coming, Israel will look on Jesus and repent (Zechariah 12). That I believe is the prophetic plan of God.
If the unfaithfulness and spiritual dullness of Israel is the basis for believing it has been replaced by the Church, it fails to accurately consider that, humanity, Israel, and the Church have a history of unfaithfulness and spiritual dullness. All fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Church history does not paint a pretty picture. The Church has a history of Corinthian carnality. Five of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation 2-3 have profoundly serious problems according to Jesus. One of these two churches is the persecuted church, the other is described as having only a little strength. Yes, Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah, and called for His crucifixion, but it was Gentile Romans that carried out the crucifixion, and Jewish disciples who forsook Him in His time of greatest need. There’s enough blame to go around and even His early disciples doubted until they saw Him risen from the dead and were baptized with the Holy Spirit.
If we use Israel’s unfaithfulness as the basis for God permanently rejecting her, then we have missed the nature of God who says in His word, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). Such a shortsighted view of scripture is sad indeed. Yes, “If we deny Him, He also will deny us” (2 Timothy 2:12), But “He remains faithful” to His promises, to His word, to Who He is. That gives us hope. All who call on the name of the LORD will be saved. He is able to graft back into the vine those who through unbelief have been temporarily pruned off. Our view of Israel will greatly affect what we believe as a whole. We need to give room for God’s grace.
Second, God’s covenant with Abraham includes Israel as a nation. The covenant by God with Abraham speaks of not only individual descendants but of a “nation” that would come from his offspring:
Genesis 12:1-3 (NKJV) – 1 Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 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.”
A “Church” is not a nation. Israel today is a nation. Israel today is that “great nation,” at least in part, that God promised to Abraham. The patriarch Jacob’s name was changed by God to “Israel,” which means God prevails or one who struggles with God, God strives, God perseveres. The history of Israel is the account of a people who strive against God as well as strive with God. But it is a redemptive story and an illustration of how humanity, all of us, strive against God, repent, and strive with God as we follow Him. Right now, “blindness in part has happened to Israel.” This will be the case until, “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,” or until the last Gentile has accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Then God’s plans will refocus on Israel (Romans 11:25). Replacement Theology shortsightedly overlooks this plan of God.
Third, what about the Promised land? God promised Abraham and the subsequent national descendants land (Genesis 12:7; 15:18; Exodus 23:31; Numbers 34:1-6; Joshua 1:4). How could such Land be transferred to the Church? Do we just forget about the Land? Is God going to be true to His promise? Israel has arguably never fully received all the Land promised to it by God. Maybe one day soon that will actually happen. But the Church, as a church, is in no position to receive the Land spoken of by God to Abraham in His covenant with him.
It should also be mentioned here that through the prophet Joel God warned those who would divide up “My land”:
Joel 3:1–2 (NKJV) – “For behold, in those days and at that time, When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, 2I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there On account of My people, My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land.
Notice, after God has brought back the captives there will be a time when He gathers “all nations” to the “Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them. . .” Why will God judge these nations? Because “they have also divided up My land.” “MY LAND” God says. The Land belongs to God and it isn’t to be used to barter a “land for peace” deal. Beware those who would divide up God’s land; you are headed for God’s judgment!
Fourth, an everlasting permanent covenant. God speaks of His covenant with Israel in permanent terms. We see the permanence of God’s covenant with Abraham and His people in numerous places:
- God used covenant ceremony imagery of permanence – Genesis 15:7-21.
- Circumcision was a permanent irreversible sign of the covenant with God – Genesis 17.
- God stated His covenant with Abraham and his descendants was “everlasting” – Genesis 17:7. Note: The Mosaic Covenant which dealt with blessings and curses was conditional (Exodus 19:5-6).
Through the prophet Isaiah God says:
Isaiah 45:17 (NKJV) – But Israel shall be saved by the Lord With an everlasting salvation; You shall not be ashamed or disgraced Forever and ever.
Isaiah 49:15-16 (NKJV) – 15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. 16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.
It has been said that the only manmade thing in heaven will be the scars of crucifixion on Jesus’ body. But did you know God the Father has put an indelible mark on the palms of His hands? That mark is Israel that they would always be on His mind.
Through the prophet Jeremiah God says:
Jeremiah 31:31-37 (NKJV) – 31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”35 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.
Can’t get much more of a permanent statement than that. God’s covenant with Israel will last as long as there is a universe with light by day and heaven above and foundations beneath. That’s a very permanent criteria.
Fifth, God has future plans for Israel. God speaks of future permanent plans for Israel and her people. God promised the exiles He had plans for Israel, a future, and a hope:
Jeremiah 29:13–14 (NKJV) – 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.
God had a plan for Israel even though for 490 years they were idolatrous and sinful and rebelled against Him. But despite this God still had a plan for Israel.
God promised they would once be returned to their promised Land and not removed again:
Amos 9:14-15 (NKJV) – 14 I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. 15 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.
God states clearly “no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them, says the LORD your God.” “No longer,” means NO LONGER!
Sixth, Israel is a miracle nation. God speaks of a nation being birthed in a day (Isaiah 66:8). This was fulfilled on May 14th, 1948. But the Church was also birthed on the Day of Pentecost! Yes, but the Church is not a nation, Israel is a nation.
Seventh, the testimony of prophecy concerning Israel. Daniel received a prophetic word from the LORD specifically for “your people and your holy city” (Daniel 9:24). This prophecy pinpoints to the day the time of the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The prophetic word involves 490 years or seventy-seven-week periods. 483 of those “weeks” of seven years was fulfilled in the coming of Jesus. But there remains one last seven-year period according to Daniel’s prophecy. It is unreasonable that the first 483 years or 69 weeks of seven-year periods was fulfilled by Jesus pertaining to Israel, and then not the final seventieth week.
During the Tribulation or seventieth week of Daniel (Daniel 9:24-27) God will raise up 144,000 Apostle Paul like messianic Jews, from twelve tribes of Israel, who will evangelize the earth during the Tribulation (Revelation 7). They will supernaturally be protected by God during this time (Revelation 14). Why specifically mention twelve tribes of Israel unless they were actually from the twelve tribes? Why go out of the way to mention this group twice unless to emphasize God’s purpose for them during this time? Why mention these facts at all if the Church replaces Israel? Replacement Theology just doesn’t make sense.
Eighth, what about the End Times Temple? If Israel is replaced by the Church, in what sense would the Temple in Jerusalem have to be rebuilt according to Revelation 11:1-2? If Israel is replaced by the Church this reference to the Temple makes no sense. Do we just erase the Temple reference with allegory? Again, Replacement Theology doesn’t fit.
Ninth, what about Romans 9-11? The Apostle Paul devotes three entire chapters in Romans 9-11 to emphasizing God is not finished with Israel. Here are a few bullet points showing God is not finished with Israel:
- Israel is the instrument through which Messiah Jesus came (E.g., Genesis 3:15), and adoption, the glory as revealed in the tabernacle and Temple, covenants, giving of the law, service, or liturgy of God, and promises, patriarchs, and through whom Jesus came – 9:3-5.
- The promised Seed came through Israel – 9:6-13.
- God used the rejection of Jesus by Israel to then reach the Gentiles – 9:14-33.
- Israel exemplifies the futility of works righteousness – 10:1-4.
- Righteousness comes by faith – 10:5-13.
- We are still to reach out to Israel with the gospel – 10:14-21.
- “I SAY THEN, HAS GOD CAST AWAY HIS PEOPLE? CERTAINLY NOT!” – 11:1. (emphasis added) Couldn’t be clearer. GOD HASN’T CAST AWAY HIS PEOPLE.
- God has given Israel a spirit of stupor – 11:2-10.
- “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” – 11:11. Again clear statement God is not finished with them.
- “Their fullness” – 11:12. Speaks of future purpose.
- Don’t boast against the branches – 11:13-18.
- They can be grafted back in! – 11:19-24.
- “that blindness in part has happened to the Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” – 11:25. These words speak of a temporary condition that will end. God is not finished with Israel.
- “And so all Israel will be saved” – 11:26-27. ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED!
- God’s gifts and calling are irrevocable” – 11:28-32.
- God’s plans for Israel are reason to glorify Him – 11:33-36.9.
If you replace “Israel” with “the Church” in Romans 9-11, it makes no sense. Why would Paul write three chapters about how God had not cast away “the Church”? Replacement Theology just doesn’t fit.
Tenth, what about God’s omniscience? Romans 9-11 raises a profound question of God’s nature. If God is omniscient, all-knowing, would He make eternal promises to a nation and people that He knew He would later renege on”? The answer is, “God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew” (Romans 11:2).
Eleventh, what about the dry bones prophecy? People look at Israel today and point out her many flaws. They ask, “How can the secular nation of Israel today be the fulfillment of anything remotely prophetic from the Bible?” But we need to recognize an especially important contextual insight relating to Israel’s national birthing (Ezekiel 37:1-14). Based on the prophecy of Dry Bones, Israel will return to her land and be restored in stages. Ezekiel describes the rebirth of Israel as first bones, then sinews, then skin, and last breath. The “breath” (Hebrew ruah) will enter the nation at the Second Coming when Jesus returns to rescue Israel by landing on the Mount of Olives east of the walls of Jerusalem. Then God’s people, having realized by the betrayal of Antichrist that he is not their messiah, will look on Jesus and realize He is. Then the Spirit of Grace and supplication will fall on them “and all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26).
In the prophetic book of Zechariah the Second Coming of Jesus is predicted when He will rescue Israel who has been surrounded by the world:
Zechariah 14:3–4 (NKJV) – Then the Lord will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle. 4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south.
What a glorious scene it will be! What a wonderful rescue of God’s people! But just as glorious will be the realization of Israel that Jesus is her promised Messiah. It will all be clear to them when Jesus returns in the clouds with power and great glory:
Zechariah 12:10 (NKJV) – 10 “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.
At that point, the Holy Spirit will pour out on the Jewish people. The grace of God will drive them to their knees in repentant supplication. They will look on Jesus, and the piercings in his hands and feet and side. There will be no mistake about Who He is. And there will be no mistake about what they as a people, as a nation have done. They will feel their guilt and repent. They will look on Jesus and mourn for Him, “as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” They grieve for “Him”!
Twelfth, it’s about God’s faithfulness. God’s promise to Abraham was to make “a great nation” of him and “I will bless you and make your name great.” All three major religions hold Abraham as a pivotal figure. The Apostle Paul references Abraham as an example of faith (Romans 4 and Genesis 15:6). God promises to bless Abraham, bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him. All the families of the earth will be blessed through Abraham” (Genesis 12:1-3). But here is where it gets really interesting, profoundly interesting.
It was customary in Biblical times to seal a covenant with a ritual. Sacrificed animals would be cut in two and laid out on the ground. Then the two parties making the covenant would walk through the split sacrificed animals as a sign that they were committed to death to keep that covenant. It was a way of illustrating permanence, total commitment to keep that covenant.
In Genesis 15 we see God instruct Abraham to take a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and young pigeon. Abraham cut all of these (except for the birds) in two and laid them out on the ground. Then it says the sun went down and “a deep sleep fell on Abram.” God gives Abram a prophetic word about his descendants and the difficulties they would encounter. Then the sun went down and in the darkness “a smoking oven and a burning torch. . . passed between those pieces.” Then 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. . ..” (Genesis 15:7-18). All Abram had to do was believe (Genesis 15:6). The oven and torch were God’s chosen symbols of His covenant commitment to Abram. But most importantly IT WAS GOD ALONE WHO PASSED THROUGH THE SACRIFICES.
This covenant was anchored and based on God’s commitment and faithfulness, not Abram’s. Abram believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. But the covenant was not based on Abram’s faithfulness, or even his descendant’s faithfulness, it was based on God’s faithfulness. That same kind of commitment by God was made to the entire world in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, “that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19). What God introduced us to in the ritual of the Abrahamic covenant, He fulfilled on the cross in Christ.
How could God make such a commitment to a covenant? In His foreknowledge God had to know the waywardness Abram’s descendants would live in. God committed Himself to this covenant with Abram anyway. Why? Because God also knew that in the end, “all Israel would be saved”! God knew the end from the beginning and that end included Abram’s descendants. And that is one of the greatest reasons why Israel is not replaced by the Church. There is the Church. And there is Israel. And God has a purpose and plan that includes both.
Yes, God has a mighty and glorious role for Israel to fulfill in His prophetic plans. To replace Israel with the Church would be to undermine God’s plans by removing a key instrument through whom He intends to fulfill those plans. If God has revoked His promises from Israel, He could do the same with the Church and Christians. In many ways the Church has rebelled against God in just as severe ways as Israel has. To carve Israel out of God’s plans and replace Israel with the Church, though maybe well intentioned, is still what I believe is a demonically deceiving notion that serves the enemy of our soul well. It would be hard to imagine a more devilish attempt at undermining God’s stated plans.
Replacement Theology undermines the believers trust in God, God’s faithfulness, the wisdom of His plans, His foreknowledge, and His people’s assurance. Yes, it is a doctrine of demons, deceptive, which causes many to stray from the faith. Lord, please protect us. Holy Spirit, lead us into all truth! In Jesus’ name. Amen!
[1] See William R. Koenig’s Eye to Eye – Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel and John P. McTernan’s As America Has Done to Israel.
[2] From Spurgeon’s message “The Church of Christ.” https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/the-church-of-christ/#flipbook/
[3] This is Postmillennialism.