The question is this: Will the Lord restore a glorious kingdom to Israel during Jesus’ thousand-year reign upon the earth?
Most pastors today would answer “no” to that question. They believe God rejected the nation of Israel after the Hebrew people crucified His Son. As a result, the Father transferred his physical kingdom promises for Israel to the church, albeit in a spiritual sense.
This is replacement theology. Because these pastors believe that the church has replaced Israel in God’s prophetic program, they see no scriptural significance in the reemergence of Israel as a nation. As a result, they do not believe we live in the last days, nor do they recognize the signs of the rapidly approaching Tribulation period.
On the other side of the line stand those of us who believe that God’s covenants with Israel remain in effect to this day. We believe that Israel’s miraculous reappearance as a nation is highly significant for understanding the last days; it has opened the door for the fulfillment of a host of other biblical prophecies that we see coming to life.
I absolutely believe the latter group has the words of Scripture on their side. Once a pastor or teacher messes with God’s Word by dismissing the clear intent of prophetic passages, which is necessary to hold to any version of replacement theology, it opens the door to apostasy as others follow their lead in ignoring the clear intent of other biblical texts.
I believe it’s dangerous to hold to any view of the end times that dismisses God’s promises regarding a restored Israel in the last days.
Why am I so convinced that the Israel remains the key to unlocking biblical prophecy even though it’s unpopular to do so, even among many who claim to believe the Bible?
It’s because of . . .
THE ORIGINAL INTENT OF THE AUTHORS OF BIBLICAL PROPHECY
In order to cross the bridge to arrive at replacing Israel with the church in God’s prophetic program, one must retrofit the original intent of the authors of biblical prophecy with interpretations that would have been foreign to them at the time they wrote.
We all agree that Christ fulfilled all the prophecies for His first coming according to the authors’ intent. Since that is the case, what makes the prophecies regarding His return to earth so different? Why must we disregard the words of the text in the latter approach?
2 comments:
Love the article on replacement theology. I posted it to my Facebook page. Hopefully I'm not igniting a fire storm from my Reformed theology friends. Has anyone noticed that those who embrace five point calvinism are mostly intellectuals? I often joke with my wife they are so smart that they are actually dumb. I think this is why Jesus selected for the most part blue collar guys as his disciples and castigated the pharisees and smart guys of his day. I believe they lean on their own understanding and not on the Lord and walk in faith.
Absolutely...You should have said "intellectuals"...I have noticed its the same with covid/masks/vax - those who have a need to be perceived as "smart" vs blue-collar (who usually get whats going on)....
Always reminds me of 1 Corinthians 1:18-22
Post a Comment