DOES THE CHURCH REPLACE ISRAEL? Part One

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https://www.etsy.com/listing/1589111068/we-stand-with-god-christian-flag-america


Do you believe God’s Word and His promises? Well, that’s a ridiculous question. Of course, I do. Okay, then answer this: When God Most High uttered the words forever, eternal, and irrevocable, did He truly mean unending? Or are these just momentary words?

 

The LORD Almighty never speaks frivolous words. He always says what He means and means what He says. Since I came to know Jesus personally and was born again of His Spirit, I have lived by one rule regarding the Bible:


God said it and I believe it.


Whether the Old Testament or New, “ALL Scripture is God-breathed…”[1] It’s the Greek word theopneustos, meaning “divinely breathed in [or out].”[2] And, ALL means ALL.

 

How amazing we are allowed to read words spoken by the King of the Universe, whose covenant, forever, and memorial name is Yahweh, I AM WHO I AM.[3] But that’s not all, believers have an anointing from the Holy One who abides in us and teaches us the meaning of the words we read. He is the Helper, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, [Greek: Parakletos] whom the Father sent in the name of Yeshua Jesus so we would not be orphans.[4]

 

We are privileged to be so loved by God, to live, move, and have our being in Him.[5] But we must be careful to listen to God’s Spirit when He speaks, present ourselves approved to God, a worker not ashamed, rightly dividing or accurately handling His word of truth.[6]

 

Why am I rehashing Christian disciplines and truths most of us already know? It’s because I’m grieved seeing the false doctrine of Replacement Theology, aka Supersessionism, rearing its ugly head again.

 

Did you happen to catch the Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz interview or see clips from it like I did? Besides the fact that Tucker was very rude, Senator Cruz was correct about Israel, even though he could not cite the Biblical reference. God did say to Abram in Genesis 12:2-3: “I will make you a great nation…bless those who bless you…curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

 

If we believe God’s Word and His promises, then we believe what He said about Abram and the great nation God brought from him – the nation of Israel. And we believe what God said about the other nations of the world, who bless or curse Israel.

 

However, some may feel like Carlson with regard to Israel, or maybe go even further in spiritualizing God’s literal forever and eternal promises to Israel as a nation. These feel God’s promises now only apply to Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus, known as the church, which they believe has replaced Israel. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth.

 

If we believe God breathed out His Word, then we must believe what He said through the prophet Jeremiah. “Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name): ‘If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the LORD, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.’ Thus says the LORD: ‘If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the LORD.’”[7]

 

Do the sun and moon still shine? Yes? Have astronomers been able to measure heaven, or have geologists searched out the foundations of the earth? No? Then why do people believe Israel has been cut off in God’s economy and replaced by the church? Remember, it was to Israel God said, “…I have loved you with an everlasting love…” not the church, even though we also take His words as our truth since God so loved the world.[8]

 

Does the nation of Israel do everything right? Does any nation? Do we? Don’t answer that. Israel is beloved by God, AND they have a role to play in His endtime scenario.

To be continued…


[1] II Timothy 3:16 NIV

[2] F. B. C., “Examine the Evidence,” written by Lucille Fern Sollenberger, B.S., M.A., Stonecroft Ministries.

[3] Exodus 3:13-15

[4] I John 2:20, 27; John 14:26; John 14:18

[5] Acts 17:28

[6] II Timothy 2:15

[7] Jeremiah 31:35-37

[8] Jeremiah 31:1-4; John 3:16

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