Posted on 11/08/2023 12:11:15 PM PST by Roman_War_Criminal
Note: The following is a most relevant open letter, which is important to all within the Body of Christ to read. Our prayer is that you will read carefully and understand God’s Holy View of Israel in these end times when the Jewish people are again beginning to suffer hatred throughout the world.
Dear Brother or Sister in Christ,
If you are a member of a Catholic or mainline denominational church, you have probably been taught something called replacement theology (and perhaps you don’t even know it has that name). Replacement theology leads those who have adopted it to believe that Israel is no longer God’s people and that the modern regathering of the Jews in their historical land is theologically meaningless. Please know this is an error, and I write this letter to alert you to it so you can study God’s Word and reach your own conclusion.
Replacement theology, sometimes called supersessionism or fulfillment theology, is a doctrine stating either that the Church took Israel’s place as God’s people when Israel rejected Jesus as its Messiah or that the “old” Israel was set aside in favor of a “new” Israel, the Church, upon Jesus’s first coming. No matter how it got there, the Church is now God’s people and the beneficiary of the promises God made Israel in the Old Testament. Consequently, Jacob’s blood descendants have no unique destiny, and modern Israel’s existence has no significance. Because replacement theology is often woven into otherwise sound teachings on redemptive history, many believers aren’t even aware that it is a separate doctrine with its own name.
Nonetheless, replacement theology is enshrined in Catholic dogma and runs rampant in mainline denominations, even among those that otherwise take the Bible seriously.
Replacement theology raises troubling implications about God’s character, not the least of which are: if God revoked his promises to Israel, what keeps him from revoking them again, and does God really change not (as Malachi 3:6 says)? Many who have been taught replacement theology have not considered these implications. Perhaps you have, too, but have dismissed them out-of-hand or rationalized them away, possibly because they are too dreadful to imagine. Unfortunately, ignoring the implications does not make them go away.
Rather than addressing these (and other) broader implications, this letter will instead tackle the assumption that lies at the very heart of replacement theology: did Israel really forfeit its blessings? Did God really forsake or move past Israel? Fortunately, if you read the Bible without bias, it gives a clear answer.
One point is worth making before proceeding: I don’t have the ability or the moral duty to force you to reject replacement theology. Only the Holy Spirit can convict. All I can do is call relevant scripture to your attention and invite you to check it out yourself. That is what I will now do.
To keep this letter short and clear, I will rely only on two passages: Isaiah 6 and Romans 11. (If you are a Reformed believer, you tend to read Revelation figuratively because you have been taught that it is “apocalyptic literature.” I will, therefore, deliberately avoid Revelation’s many passages affirming Israel’s destiny, knowing that you will be unwilling to read Isaiah and Romans figuratively.) I will cite the King James Version, but any good version will do.
Isaiah 6 contains the well-known “Here I am. Send me” passage in which Isaiah volunteers to convey a message God has for his people:
“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed” (Isaiah 6:8-10).
God informs his people not only that they are hardened (deaf, blind and without understanding), and he is the one hardening them, but also that he has hardened them to delay their repenting and being healed. Note that God does not tell them why he wants a delay.
When the disciples ask Jesus why he speaks “to them” in parables in Matthew 13, he quotes this passage of Isaiah 6:
“He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive” (Matthew 13:11-14).
Paul also quotes this same passage of Isaiah 6 in Acts 28, reminding the local leaders of the Jews that they are hardened.
“And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Acts 28:24-27).
Paul then discloses the reason why God hardened Israel, delaying its repenting and being healed:
“Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it” (Acts 28:28).
According to Paul, God hardened Israel so the Gospel could be taken to the Gentiles.
However, Isaiah 6 continues after the passage quoted in both Matthew 13 and Acts 28. God has more to say to Isaiah about his people. Returning to Isaiah 6, after hearing God’s decree against his people, the prophet begs God for an answer in verse 11, and God gives it to him:
“Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate. And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in [the land] shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof” (Isaiah 6:11-13).
God promises that he will lift Israel’s partial hardening during or just after a widespread devastation. This may be a great war, even a nuclear war, given the extent and degree of damage. However, it may be a direct act of God, acting in wrath. Only he knows.
Why, then, did Jesus and Paul’s quotations from Isaiah 6 stop short of verses 11-13? The answer is that they were speaking in the First Century. Isaiah 6:11-13 would be fulfilled in the future. They were only talking about Israel’s hardened condition in those days and not about when it would someday repent. Remember, Jesus was only answering a question from his disciples as to why he was teaching in parables, and Paul was only making the case for taking the Gospel to the Gentiles.
Now, let’s look at Romans 11, in which Paul answers the question his earlier chapters in Romans begged: if Christ is the answer and the law is not, what about the Jews, to whom God had given the law? Has God turned his back on Israel?
“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal” (Romans 11:1-4).
The answer is an emphatic “God forbid!” God will save an elect remnant of Israel, and God will save them by grace, not the law. To keep the Gentiles from feeling superior to the Jews, Paul goes on to say:
“I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. 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 I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. 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 11:11-15).
Then, after describing how the holy firstfruits of a lump of dough renders the whole lump holy, how a holy root can render the entire tree holy, and how branches grafted onto a holy tree become holy, even branches that had previously been cut off, Paul reveals a mystery in verse 25:
“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11:25).
Though he does not outright quote Isaiah 6:11-13, he affirms the promise God made in those verses to end Israel’s hardening. The mystery Paul reveals is that the partial hardening of Israel’s elect will end when the “fulness of the Gentiles be (has) come in.”
It is important to note that none of these passages are talking about the Church. God has never hardened the Church. He has only hardened Israel, and only temporarily, for the express purpose of taking the Gospel to the Gentiles and building a Church that encompasses all peoples, nations, and languages. This he did at Israel’s great expense, but he will resurrect and magnify Israel because of it. Consider the supreme irony: God hardened Israel to benefit the Gentiles, and so many churches have returned their thanks to Israel by teaching replacement theology.
God’s reply in Isaiah 6 and Paul’s teaching in Romans 11 raise two questions: when will this widespread devastation occur, and when will the fulness of the Gentiles come in? The Bible gives no clear answer; God wants us to depend on him alone for the timing.
However, we can be sure of this – God will restore the elect of his people Israel. That unambiguous Biblical truth, stated explicitly both to Israel in the Old Testament and the Gentiles of the Church in the New Testament, exposes replacement theology as bad doctrine. Now, it’s up to the Holy Spirit and informed believers to purge the Church of this sad error.
If replacement theology now troubles you as much as it does me, please do me a favor. Consider giving a copy of this letter to a brother or sister who has been mistaught. You will be helping them and doing a good work for God’s kingdom.
Bring it up - Tony’s pretty good on some things.
That “private interpretation” argument is a strawman Catholics use to dismiss and discredit any interpretation THEY don’t agree with.
Most of Scripture is clear enough that it does not need to be “interpreted” for someone to understand. The only reason someone would have to”interpret” it is to make it mean something it does not say.
Simply reading it and taking the plain, clear meaning is enough to get the truth out of it.
Nor are there gazillions of interpretations of Scripture. Any one verse picked at random will not have as many interpretations as there are people on this planet.
Not only that, the way Catholics pick and choose what they want to believe and how they want to interpret both Scripture and the Catechism, makes that charge against non-Catholics ludicrous. Condemning someone else for things you all do yourself is called “hypocrisy”.
And I was raised Catholic and grew up in a very heavily Catholic community, and know how fast and loose Catholics can play with their interpretations to allow themselves all kinds of liberties.
What is replacement theology / supersessionism / fulfillment theology?
https://www.gotquestions.org/replacement-theology.html
There are two separate destinies for Israel and the Church of Christ.
You can say that again.
And Francis, of all people……
I wonder how many interpretations you can make out of “You shall not murder (or steal, or lie, or commit adultery).
How hard is it to understand “When you have done it to the least of these, my brothers, you have done it to Me”?
Seriously? That needs “interpreting???
You can’t argue with Scripture brother!
Amen!
Me too, but sometimes for the sake of the lurkers engagement is required.
Mr. James and I would always defer to The Lord’s Authority Supreme.
Why doesn’t the Catholic Church do that?
This all goes back to “Ye must be born again”.
It’s hard to even get there let alone allow The Spirit of God to work this miracle.
I can only imagine the sob stories we’ll witness at The Great White Throne Judgement.
“But my interpretation and that of my priest states...”
The Five Biggest Errors of Dispensationalism
1. CHURCH AGE. Dispensationalists would have us believe that the church age is but a parenthesis in history. In other words, the church age constituted an “interruption” in the fulfilment of the kingdom promises to Israel. But, Christ was not a sidelight. That idea is an abomination and an affront to our Lord Jesus Christ. The kingdom of Christ―the New Covenant/Christian Age―is in effect now (Matthew 16:19; Colossians 1:13) and has NO END. There are dozens of passages which prove that, including: 2 Samuel 7:13; Isaiah 9:7; Ezekiel 37:26; Daniel 2:44; 4:3, 34; 7:14, 27; Luke 1:31-33; Hebrews 5:6; 2 Peter 1:11; Revelation 1:6; 5:13; 11:15. Furthermore, the New Covenant and the gospel are eternal (Hebrews 12:28; 13:20; Revelation 14:6) and has universal application (John 3:16; Romans 1:16; Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 1:21; Titus 2:11; 1 John 4:14; Revelation 5:9; 7:9).
2. DUAL COVENANT THEOLOGY. Dispensationalists think that Israel will re-emerge as pre-eminent among nations; they will again be God’s people in a unique sense. But, this conception of the future was obliterated with the teachings of Paul that all distinctions between Jew and Gentile have been broken down by the gospel (Galatians 3:28). And, the Bible is clear that the promises to Israel were contingent on obedience (Deuteronomy 28). The New Testament declares that all of God’s covenant promises were fulfilled in Jesus (Luke 1:54-55, 69-75; 2 Corinthians 1:20), the ultimate offspring of Abraham (Matthew 1:1; Galatians 3:16). The Jews failed the obedience test and the Old Covenant had a finite end (Matthew 21:18-19; 23:29-39; Romans 11:11-24; Hebrews 8:13; 10:8-10; etc.) The kingdom was taken from the Jews and given to another group, namely the church (Matthew 21:33-45)―melding a remnant of faithful Jews with believers in Christ (Romans 11:1-24; Galatians 3:28). The new Israel of God is no longer fleshly, natural Israel, but rather are those who have faith in Jesus Christ (John 1:12-13; 8:31-47; Romans 2:28-29; 9:6-8; Galatians 3:6-9, 25-29; 6:14-16; 1 Peter 2:4-10; etc.).
3. MISUNDERSTANDING THE LAST DAYS/END TIMES. There are 19 specific mentions of the last days or end times in the New Testament. Without exception, the writers of the New Testament declared that THEY were living in the last days (Acts 2:14-21; 1 Corinthians 7:19-21; 10:11; Hebrews 1:1-2; 9:26; 1 Peter 1:20; 4:7; 1 John 2:18; etc.) Thus, the last days/end times marked the end of the old covenant order, not the end of time or the end of the Christian Age.
4. INSISTENCE ON ALWAYS READING THE BIBLE LITERALLY. Just some questions: Should we literally hate our mother and father so that we can be Jesus’ disciple (Luke 14:26)? If your eye causes you to sin, should you literally pluck it out (Mark 9:47)? Is it necessary to literally eat Christ’s body in order to have life (John 6:53)? Did the mountains and the hills really break into song and the trees clap their hands (Isaiah 55:12)? When God judged Babylon according to Isaiah’s prophecy, an event fulfilled in actual history in 539 BC, did the stars and sun literally stop giving their light (Isaiah 13:10) and the heavens literally tremble (Isaiah 13:13)? When God judged Edom did the sky literally roll up like a scroll (Isaiah 34:4)? Why do you insist on a literal earthly kingdom when Jesus said his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36)? Is the New Jerusalem literally a future city 1400 miles square that will hover over the Middle East like a space ship? Geeze. Especially this literal millennial stuff, if it wasn’t being taught in Christian churches, it would be considered science fiction!
5. FUTURIZING DANIEL’S 70 WEEKS. Here are things that cannot be found in the 70 weeks of Daniel 9:24-27: the Antichrist, a covenant being made with the Jews by Antichrist (then broken), a gap of 2,000 years between the 69th and 70th weeks, a post AD 70 rebuilt temple. If these things are not found in Daniel 9, dispensationalism crumbles. Daniel 9:27 is clear that the prophecy ended with the “end to sacrifice and offering” and the Abomination of Desolation (which Jesus told his first-century followers they would witness per Matthew 24:15). These things happened in real time in AD 70 when the temple was destroyed (Matthew 24:2, 34).
For more dispensationalism, go here:
https://prophecyquestions.com/category/dispensationalism
But you Preterists really think Nero created the Mark of the Beast and had the capabilities of fulfilling Revelation 13 on Chinese and Mayans back in the 60’s?
Go back home dude!
Doesn't look that way to me. Quite the contrary, in fact ... Looks to me like protestantism always defers to the God of the Bathroom Mirror.
Why doesn’t the Catholic Church do that?
Why haven't you stopped beating your wife yet?
You asked a dishonest question; it contains a falsehood as a premise.
I wonder when the 1,000 year reign of Christ happened then?
Seems like all the history I’ve ever read misses mentioning that.
You’ve got serious issues with what I stated above in the verses I posted straight from The Bible - From God’s Mouth to His People to write in my #69.
You don’t want to address them because you know I’m right.
And if you do accept them, than you cannot accept your Roman Religion.
We, True Believers in Christ - His Bride, don’t need any authority but Jesus.
This is burdensome for you. You posit nonsense in response.
We’re done...
That’s how I feel sometimes as well. I feel like a lot of the reason I’m here is to help others.
And just who does that?
I see that pathetic accusation lobbed about all the time and have yet to see any examples of people who actually believe that or do it.
According to Preterists we’re living in the Millennium “peaceful” Kingdom.
Have you looked around to see how well life is going right now?
As a Pastor recently put it, “We must be living in the Ghetto Areas of His Kingdom if it’s come back to Earth” - responding to Preterists.
Paul would disagree.
Prophecy Questions for Dispensationalists
1. What passage of Scripture do you find that Christ will come for his saints to take them off planet earth to heaven to avoid a great tribulation?
2. What’s the difference between Israel and the church? In other words, how were Old Testament Jews saved, compared to Jews today? Do you believe that there two covenants―one for Jews and one for others?
3. If the church age was only a parenthesis, why do so many passages teach that Jesus is head of the church and reigns as King of Kings now from heaven forever (Isaiah 9:6-7; Matthew 28:18; Luke 1:33; John 5:22; Acts 7:48-50; 10:36; 1 Corinthians 15:25; 1 Timothy 6:15; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1-4; Revelation 1:5; 3:21; 11:15; 19:16)?
4. If there is to be a re-built temple with animal sacrifices and rituals, wouldn’t that be denigrating to Christ’s ONCE-FOR-ALL sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10)?
5. If we are in the New Covenant era, which Scripture says is FOREVER (Hebrews 13:20; Revelation 14:6), why would God go back to a temple system of the Old Covenant which Paul called bondage (Galatians 4)?
6. If the land promise to Israel is forever and unconditional, why did God say it was conditional in Deuteronomy 28?
7. Wasn’t the kingdom taken from the Jews (Matthew 21:33-45) and given to another group, the “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:15-16)―those individuals, either Jew or Gentile, who believe (Matthew 3:7-12; 22:1-8; 23:29-24:2; Romans 2:28-29; 10:1-4; 11:17-21; Galatians 3:28-29, 4:24-31; Hebrews 8:13; 12:22-29)?
8. If God has two different plans for Jews and Gentiles, why does Paul say there isn’t any longer a distinction (Romans 10:12; Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11)?
9. Don’t all the New Testament texts comparing Israel to a fig tree (ref. Jeremiah 24) point to Israel/Jerusalem’s destruction rather than its restoration (Matthew 21:19; Luke 13:6-9; 21:29-32)?
10. Do you believe two-thirds of the Jews will be slaughtered in a Holocaust II (John Walvoord’s book Israel in Prophecy)? If so, how can you call yourself pro-Israel? Isn’t this teaching based on one verse―Zechariah 13:8―yet the New Testament places the previous verse (13:7) squarely in the time of Christ (Mark 14:12; Hebrews 13:20)? Isn’t it clear enough that Zechariah 14:2 must refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70?
11. If the Bible is to be interpreted 100% literally, why are terms like “must shortly take place,” “soon,” “near,” “at hand” not read literally?
12. Where in the Bible do we find the words “seven-year tribulation?”
13. If the Great Tribulation was to was to be global, why did Jesus say to his followers that they could avoid it by fleeing to the mountains (Matthew 24:16)?
14. Is there a single verse that explicitly teaches that the antichrist with make a covenant with the Jews and then break it?
15. Didn’t John teach that the antichrist was already in the world when he was writing (1 John 4:4)?
16. Doesn’t the New Testament explain that while the physical temple was about to be destroyed (Matthew 24:2; 34), it was being replaced by the church with Christ as the cornerstone and Christians as the living stones (Ephesians 2:20-22; 1 Peter 2:4-8; Revelation 21:22)?
17. Doesn’t every mention of the last days/end times in the New Testament refer to the first century (Matthew 24:3, 14, 34; Acts 2:14-20; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; 10:11; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Hebrews 1:2; 9:26; James 5:3-9; 1 Peter 1:5, 20; 4:7; 2 Peter 3:3; 1 John 2:18; Jude 18).
Here are MORE Questions for Dispensationalists?
https://prophecyquestions.com/2014/01/10/prophecy-questions-specifically-for-dispensationalists
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