I say
then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I am an Israelite, of
the seed of Abraham of
the tribe of Benjamin. Romans 11:1
This week I was able to open a dialogue with a young man who is a believer in Replacement Theology. R.T. is the teaching that because Israel has rejected her messiah, her place in God’s redemptive plan is finished and the Christian Church has replaced them with the church as having God’s ultimate favor and approval. There is no longer a place for Israel.
This man also
espouses the belief that there is no rapture of the Church, but it will have to
endure the horrors of the coming seven years of the Great Tribulation.
Let me speak
first to Israel being replaced. I encourage those with lingering doubts that
Israel will remain in God’s plan to read fully Chapter 11 of Paul’s epistle to
the Romans. Replacement Theology is a doctrine of men, not of Scripture.
Salvation
was given to make Israel envious (Romans 11:11). The content of Replacement
Theology can be skillfully argued and debated but the best commentary on the
Scriptures are the Scriptures themselves. The final fact always returns to the indisputable
evidence in favor of the survival of the Jewish nation and its people. Christ does not
return to rule from Washington, Paris, London, or Rome. He returns to rule from
Jerusalem, which was in Israel the last time I checked. Scripture teaches
Israel will survive if the heavenly bodies give light and the sea waves roar
(Jeremiah 31:35-36).
Secondly, is
the Church going to suffer the wrath which God is going to pour out upon an
unbelieving world during the Great Tribulation?
My friend
believes it will be so. He gives the illustration that Noah was not taken out
of the flood but had to go through it, as Lot did the destruction of Sodom.
Point taken. But Lot did not have to go through it. God did remove him and his
daughters to a place of safety in Zoar (Genesis 19:20-23), and in bringing Noah
and his family through the Great Flood He did so as he and his family were
needed to repopulate the earth (Genesis 8:15-17).
The wrath
poured out during the Great Tribulation is from God onto a world steeped in
unbelief and rejection of the sovereign rule of His Son. As cruel and as horrible
as the damage Satan will do through the anti-Christ, God’s judgment will be far
more effective in its intensity to get the attention of the earth’s population
to repent, and millions will (Revelation 7:9, & 14). But it will also be
the time God will bring Israel to repentance and salvation in her Messiah.
The rapture
of the church has been attacked by critics as the brainchild of Anglican priest
John Nelson Darby. They contrive it as an errant doctrine new within the last
200 years. They say Darby invented the rapture theory after an accident an accident due\ring his recovery from December 1826-January 1827.
However,
reading the early church fathers we find in their writings they too believed
and looked for the rapture of the church, so it was not a new teaching. Christian
speaker and author Chuck Missler often ridiculed those who taught the Church
would not be raptured but be shoved into the blowtorch of the Tribulation. To
paraphrase he said, “I cannot imagine Jesus saying to His Bride, ‘I will be
coming for you, but first I’m going to put you in a place where you’ll get
knocked around and beat up, then I’ll come get you and we’ll get married.’”
Jesus warned
us to be always on the watch that we may be able to stand before the Son of Man
in that day (Luke 21:36). He was not just speaking of the first century church
or the 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, for many of the things He
mentioned have yet to happen on the earth (Matthew Ch. 24, Luke Ch. 21). Paul
writes that God elected the Jews and loved them on account of the patriarchs
and God’s call is irrevocable (Romans 11:28). Israel will never be replaced.
The time for
the Devil is short and he knows it. He is amping up people, governments, and enemies
in the spiritual realm to defy God and destroy the human race. That is the bad
news. The good news is discovered in comparing Scripture with Scripture and
rightly dividing the word of truth finding God has not surrendered His throne
to anyone. His righteous holy plan of redemption will be done in accordance
with His will, and Satan and his angels will burn (Matthew
24:41).
The man I am
communicating with to my knowledge still believes in the deity of Christ and that
He is the only Way, Truth, and Life. What this brother has are
convictions and a difference of opinion on how things will happen. He remains a
brother-in-Christ. We agree on the doctrine of salvation and differ on how God
will accomplish the end times but agree it will get done.
I am very sure I hold some views that can be considered
somewhat skewed, and the Lord will rightly reveal eternity to us as it is and
will be. We can differ on how God does it while holding to the unalterable
doctrine of salvation only through the finished work Jesus Christ.
While there
is much going on in the world that can be confusing and misleading, we can be
aware and cautious not to be blown about with every wind of doctrine (Ephesians
4:14).
Scriptures
in both the Old and New testaments hold the knowledge and wisdom to discern the
truth. Let us follow the example of the Bereans of Acts 17:11. They were noble-minded
believers for they examined the Scriptures every day to see if what they were
being told was true. They proved by the Scriptures the Gospel first given to
the Apostle Paul by Christ Himself (Galatians 1:12). That is wisdom and gives
comfort and peace. Let us do so that we may mature and grow in its benefits.
Maranatha!
Ken
