Replacement Theology

Ishak Natan
Feb 2019, June 2021

The relationship between Israel and the Church is fundamental to a right understanding of Scripture.

Replacement Theology is Christendom’s dominant view concerning Israel and the Church. It teaches that Israel was the Church in the Old Testament and the Church is Israel in the New Testament. It proposes that, under the new covenant all the literal promises to ethnic Jews became spiritual blessings to the Church so that the Old Testament needs to be completely reinterpreted, in a symbolic and allegorical way.

Furthermore, Replacement Theology concludes that the nation of Israel no longer exists in the mind of God and the promised kingdom is presently being established in the Church (Mat 21: 43-46). The return of Israel to the land of promise therefore has no prophetic significance and the Jews are blamed for much of the trouble in the Middle East. Antisemitism is the natural result.

Replacement Theology is held by Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Mormans, Jehovah’s Witnesses and many mainstream denominations. Some of these are openly Antisemitic and have withdrawn investment funds from companies such as Caterpillar Tractors, because they trade with Israel.

The Bible however, is emphatic that the covenant promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob apply also to their seed in perpetuity and that God will never abandon Israel. Jeremiah wrote:

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah… this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

God said that only if the sun, moon and stars ceased to shine would Israel “cease from being a nation before me for ever” (Jeremiah 31:35-36).

The Apostle Paul clearly indicated that although Israel is being chastened by the Lord during the Church age, He has not abandoned the nation and when the “fulness of the Gentiles” has come in, “all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:25-26).

Paul asks: Has God cast away His people? God forebid…God has NOT cast away His people which He foreknew (Romans 11:1-2).
Replacement Theology is a blatant denial of Scripture which says, “Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?…For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:12,15).

When Replacement Theologians state that Israel was the Church in the Old Testament it seems they are ignorant of the fact that on three occasions the New Testament specifically states that the Church was a “mystery… Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel” (Ephesians 3:4-6). See also Romans 16:25-26;
The Church consists of Jews and Gentiles who, through the Gospel have been saved, and are fellow heirs in one body. The Church was still future when Jesus was on earth for He said, “I WILL build my church…” (Matthew 16:18). Nowhere does the Bible say that Israel was the Church.

Church Age

What is God’s plan for the Jews in the end times?

The Jewish people will be regathered in unbelief from the four corners of the earth (Isaiah 11:11-12). They will once again occupy the city of Jerusalem (Zechariah 8:7-8).
All the nations of the world will come against them over the issue of the control of Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:2-3) starting with several mid-east wars in our time! Israel will be victors but sustain heavy losses. (The true Church of Christ will be removed from the Earth anytime now)

The Antichrist will come to their rescue by guaranteeing them peace and allowing them to rebuild their temple (Daniel 9:27). This false “peace” will begin the Day of The Lord and God’s judgments and wrath upon the world.

How will He bring about the salvation of a great Jewish remnant?

At the end of the first 3½ years, the Antichrist will declare himself to be God and seek to be worship, and the Jews will reject Him (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). He will then attempt to annihilate the Jews, and succeed in killing two-thirds of them during the time of “Jacobs Trouble” which is the last part 3½ years of the Great Tribulation. (Revelation 12:13-17 and Zechariah 13:8-9; Jeremiah 30:1-9)

At the end of the Tribulation, when the Jews have come to the end of themselves, they will turn to God and receive Jesus as their Messiah (Zechariah 12:10). The Jewish remnant will cry out “Baruch Haba Bashem Adonai!” meaning “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord (Mat 23:36-39)." Jesus will return at this point on that glorious day in time to triumph over Satan, and He will regather all believing Jews to Israel where He will establish them as the prime nation in the world (Deuteronomy 30:1-9). The blessings of God will flow out to the nations through the Jews during the Millennium Kingdom (Zechariah 8:22-23).

Daniel's 70th Week

Maranatha

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https://www.fairfieldchurchpca.org/israel-and-the-church/
https://amos37.com/rte/
https://int.icej.org/media/replacement-theology
https://www.heraldofhope.org.au/replacement-remnant-theology/
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