Questions for Dispensationalists, Part 2 of 4

1. If the land promise to Israel is forever and unconditional, why did God say his promises were conditional on obedience in Deuteronomy 28 (cf. Exodus 1 9:5)? How is a 2,000-year gap forever?

2. Didn’t Israel receive all the land promised to Abraham per the book of Joshua (21:43-45; 23:14-15)? Didn’t Christ fulfill all the promises of God (2 Corinthians 1:20; Galatians 3:16)?

3. If Israel and the church are separate groups, why is the gospel for everyone who believes—both Jew and Gentile? (Romans 1:16)

4. 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)

5. Don’t 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)?

6. At least some dispensationalists teach that salvation in the Old Testament was by works of the law only, while salvation in the New Testament is by grace only. Doesn’t dispensationalism wrongly divide justification by law and grace? Aren’t both law and grace (gospel) present in both the Old Testament and New Testament? Didn’t Paul in Romans 4, 5 teach that even the Old Testament saints were saved through faith? Didn’t God preach the gospel beforehand to Abraham (Galatians 3:8)? On the other hand, aren’t there plenty of statements in the New Testament about the necessity of Christians obeying the moral law (Matthew 5:19; Matthew 7:16-20; Matthew 13:36-43; Matthew 25:31-46; Romans 2:13; 3:31; James 2:10-17)?

7. When Jesus says in John 14:6 that no man comes to the Father but through Him, doesn’t Jesus mean what he says? “No man” would include Jew or Gentile, doesn’t it?

8. Do you believe that 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? When you pray for Jesus to come soon, or the supposed imminent rapture, aren’t you preaching or even asking for a near term slaughter of the Jews? Isn’t this teaching based almost entirely on one verse—Zechariah 13:8—yet the New Testament places the previous verse (13:7) squarely in the time of Christ (Mark 14:27; Hebrews 13:20)? Isn’t it clear enough that Zechariah 14:2 must refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70? Isn’t it true that there is no prediction in the book of Revelation about the annihilation of two-thirds of all Jews living in Israel by the Antichrist?

9. When it says in Romans 11:26 that “all Israel will be saved” doesn’t this have to mean, according to your doctrine, that “all Israel left after the two-thirds are slaughtered will be saved?” Isn’t the Israel of God now believers in Christ along with a remnant of the faithful of old (Luke 1:67-79; Romans 9:5-8; 11:5-24; Galatians 3:23-29; 6:14-16)?

1. Dispensationalists say that you interpret the Bible literally. (Thomas Ice said, “In order to be a dispensationalist, one has to hold to a literal approach of interpreting the Bible.) But do you do so consistently? For example, when Isaiah 55:12 describes the mountains and the hills breaking into song and the trees clapping their hands, is this to be taken this literally? When Isaiah 13:9-13 describes God shaking the earth from its place and making the stars not show their light (predicting doom on Babylon, which all scholars agree was fulfilled in the past)―wasn’t this intended to be understood non-literally via Hebraic apocalyptic language?

2. If the Bible is to be interpreted 100% literally, why are the terms like “must shortly take place,” “at hand,” “quickly,” “before some standing here taste death.” “the time is near,” etc. not read literally?

3. If “soon” means “2000 years or longer,” does that mean it was going to take Timothy 2000 years to be sent to the Philippians by Paul? (Philippians 2:19) If a “day is as a thousand years” does that mean that Christ was in the grave 3,000 years?

4. If the Bible is to be interpreted literally, why do some dispensationalists say the seven churches in Asia (Revelation 1-3) are “church ages” and not “literal” churches?

5. If you think 2 Timothy 2:15 in the KJV (“rightly dividing the word of truth) refers to dividing biblical history into different divine economies, how do other translations affect your understanding? For example, the ESV reads, “rightly handling the word of truth.”

“Righteous are You, O Lord, that I would plead my case with You;
Indeed I would discuss matters of justice with You:
Why has the way of the wicked prospered?”

In the case of Israel, the wicked did not prosper, because the Israelis became moloch worshipping pieces of garbage so God richly blessed the nations that disciplined those people.

In New Testament God made it clear they had served their purpose, bring his son and salvation to the world and tore the curtain in half.

Those people were wickedly persecuting the Bride of Christ, so in 70 AD, God used the Roman Empire to bring the final end.

Since then, there has not been any more 12 tribes any more, as there had been for 2000 years before. There never will be 12 tribes again.

Thanks for sharing your opinion.

I believe it is incorrect.

Best.

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