What nation on earth exists outside the notice and care of Almighty God? The Bible says that God has plans for Edom for crying out loud, how much more should we believe that he has plans for Israel?
I have believed that from my earliest days as a Christian, as indeed has almost every other believer I’ve ever met.Īs for the idea that “God does not have specific future plans for the nation of Israel” its hard to think of anything more ridiculous than that. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Isn’t that what Paul goes on to say in the same chapter?įor in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. Jesus is the hero and focus of the Bible – not the Jewish people as a whole and all of the blessings won by Jesus are shared equally with all believing people regardless of their ethnicity, gender or class. Jesus Christ is the ultimate focus and referent for the promises of God to Israel! The promises do not land finally on a nation but on a person! The glory and climax of God’s redemptive purpose is not “Israel in the land” but “Christ on the cross”! That’s Christianity 101 the last time I checked. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. That is the precise argument that Paul is making in Galatians 3. He then shares those blessings with all people – Jew or Gentile – who put their faith and trust in him. He obeys God perfectly and keeps the law entirely and thereby unlocks all of the promises and blessings that God had said he would give. The Bible seems to teach quite clearly that Jesus IS Israel and in some sense fulfills all of the hopes and expectations for the nation. I’m not sure that I’ve ever met anyone who actually believes that “the church replaces Israel” and I’m sure I’ve never met anyone who believes that “God does not have specific future plans for the nation of Israel.” Adherents of replacement theology believe the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people, and God does not have specific future plans for the nation of Israel. Replacement theology (also known as supersessionism) essentially teaches that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan.
One of the sites I visited defines replacement theology this way: I had to look it up on the Internet, where all such truths reside, before responding. A lady that had attended our church for some time and who often forwarded me articles praising all things Jewish and Israel accused me of holding to this apparently abhorrent doctrine. I had never heard of replacement theology the first time I was accused of believing in it.
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