Dr.
David R. Reagan is the founder of Lamb &
Lion Ministries. I’ve know Dave for years and
can testify to his love for the Word of God,
for Israel and the Jewish people, and his knowledge
of Bible prophecy. Dave recently wrote this
article showing the error of Replacement Theology
in his magazine, the Lamplighter. For more information
on Lamb & Lion Ministries, you can access
their website at www.lamblion.com/main.php.
Dave
writes: The argument (for Replacement Theology)
usually goes like this: “Since the Jews rejected
Jesus as their Messiah, God rejected them. He
poured out His wrath upon them, scattered them
all over the Earth, and transferred the promises
made to them to ‘Spiritual Israel,’ the Church.
God has no purpose left for the Jews. The re-establishment
of modern day Israel is, therefore, merely an
accident of history with no spiritual meaning.”
There
is no doubt that God poured out His wrath on
the Jewish people in the First Century in response
to their rejection of His Son, Jesus, as their
Messiah. And there is no doubt they have remained
under the discipline of God to this day. But
that does not mean they have been rejected by
God. God loves the Jewish people, even in their
rebellion. In the everlasting Abrahamic
Covenant, God told Abraham that He would bless
those who bless Israel and curse those who curse
them (Genesis 12:3). In like manner, He told
the prophet Zechariah that he who touches Israel,
“touches the apple of His eye” (Zechariah 2:8).
Isaiah proclaimed that God could never forget
Israel because He has them “inscribed on the
palms of His hands” (Isaiah 49:14-16). Jeremiah
stated that the Jewish people would exist as
a nation forever (Jeremiah 31:36). And prophet
after prophet asserted that in the end times,
a great remnant of the Jews will be saved when
they accept Jesus as their Messiah (Isaiah 10:20-22;
Jeremiah 31:1-7, 31-34; Ezekiel 6:8-10; Daniel
12:1; Hosea 2:14-20; Joel 2:31-32; Micah 7:18-20;
Zephaniah 3:12-13; and Zechariah 12:10).
“But,”
say the Replacement Theologians, “all these
promises were annulled by the Jews’ rejection
of Jesus as their Messiah.” This assertion explains
why chapters 9 through 11 of Romans have been
the most ignored and despised chapters of the
New Testament throughout Church history. Often,
these chapters are simply dismissed as an “irrelevant
parenthesis” in the book of Romans. But the
truth is that they are anything but that. In
these chapters Paul uses the Jewish people as
the quintessential example of God’s grace. Despite
their history of rebellion against God’s will,
and their continuing rebellion, Paul teaches
that God still loves them, still has a purpose
for them, and is still determined to bring a
great remnant of them to salvation in Jesus.
In
fact, Paul repudiates Replacement Theology before
he even gets to these chapters. He begins chapter
3 with two rhetorical questions: 1) Do Jews
have any advantage with God? 2) Has their unbelief
nullified the faithfulness of God? Historically
the Church has answered the first question with
a “No!” despite the fact that Romans 1:16 says
pointedly that the Gospel is God’s power of
salvation for “the Jew first.” With regard to
the second question, the Church has consistently
answered with a resounding “Yes!” arguing that
God has “washed His hands of the Jews” because
of their unbelief. But how does the Apostle
Paul answer these questions? He responds in
exactly the opposite way. He declares that
the Jews do have an advantage because “they
were entrusted with the oracles of God” (Romans
3:2). This is a reference to the fact that every
book of the Bible (yes, I would include the
Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts) was written
by a Jew. With regard to the second question
as to whether or not God has rejected the Jews,
Paul responds with great emotion, “May it
never be!” (Romans 3:4).
Paul
returns to this theme in chapters 9-11. He begins
by talking about how important the Jews have
been in God’s redemptive history, and how important
they continue to be (Romans 9:3-4):... my
brothers, those of my own race, the people of
Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs
the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving
of the law, the temple worship and the promises.
Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is
traced the human ancestry of Messiah, who is
God over all, forever praised! Note that
Paul is talking about physical Jews, not spiritual
ones, and note that he refers to the continuing
validity of God’s promises to them. In Romans
9:27 he refers to the Old Testament promise
that God will one day save a great remnant of
the Jews, specifically quoting Isaiah 10:22.
He begins chapter 11 with another rhetorical
question: “I say then, God has not rejected
His people, has He?” For 2,000 years the Catholic
Church has answered this question with a dogmatic
“Yes!” When the Reformation occurred, the resulting
Protestant churches joined in the chorus. But
Paul answers it by saying, “May it never
be... God has not rejected His people whom He
foreknew” (Romans 11:1-2). Again, he affirms
that a remnant will be saved (Romans 11:5) by
grace after “the fullness of the Gentiles
has come in” to the Church (Romans 11:25).
Then, as Paul considers the stubbornness of
his brethren in contrast to the patient, lovingkindness
of God toward them, he cries out from his heart,
“Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the
wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable
are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”
(Romans 11:33).
It is only when you understand how much God
loves the Jewish people and how determined He
is to bring a great remnant to salvation, that
you can begin to understand what is going on
in the Middle East today . The Bible clearly
reveals that the 20th Century regathering of
the Jewish people from the four corners of the
Earth back to their homeland is a supernatural
act of God that is the first step in bringing
about the salvation of a remnant (Isaiah 11:
10-12). Specifically, the Scriptures teach that
once the Jews are regathered in unbelief and
their nation is re-established, God will bring
all the nations of the Earth against them over
the issue of who is going to control Jerusalem
(Zechariah 12:2-3). The hatred of the Jews and
the opposition to their state will climax during
the last half of the Tribulation when the Antichrist
will turn against them and attempt to annihilate
them from the face of the Earth (Revelation
12:12-17). During this terrible period of three
and a half years, the Antichrist will succeed
in killing two-thirds of the Jewish people (Zechariah
13:8). That’s the bad news. But the incredibly
good news is that those remaining will be brought
to the end of themselves, and in their total
desperation, they will turn their hearts toward
God. At that moment, Jesus will appear in the
heavens, and the Jewish remnant “will look
upon Him whom they have pierced; and they will
mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only Son,
and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the
bitter weeping over a first born” (Zechariah
12:10). They will call upon the name of the
Lord (Joel 2:31-32), and they will cry out,
“Baruch Haba Bashem Adonai!” meaning,
“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the
Lord!” (Matthew 23:38-39).
When
I first started preaching about God’s love for
the Jewish people and His determination to pursue
them until a great remnant repents and accepts
His Son as their Messiah, my wife said to me,
“You make me want to be a Jew.” “No,” I responded,
“you don’t want to be a Jew because the overwhelming
odds are that if you were a Jew, you would have
a spiritual veil over your eyes (2 Corinthians
3:14), and you would refuse to acknowledge Jesus
as your Messiah.” And then I made a point to
her that I encouraged her never to forget: “Ann,
God is not doing one thing for the Jewish people
that He is not willing to do for all of us.”
Keep in mind, the Jewish people are God’s Chosen
People (Deuteronomy 7:6). That does not mean
they are saved. Rather, it means they were called
by God to be witnesses of Him (Isaiah 43:10-12).
Accordingly, when you study their history, you
can come to an understanding of what it means
to have a relationship with God. Their history
shows that when you are faithful, God blesses.
When you rebel, He disciplines. And when you
repent, He forgives and forgets and starts blessing
again (read the book of Judges).
Currently,
the Jewish people are under discipline. They
have been for two thousand years. But one day
soon their eyes will be opened to the reality
of Jesus as their Messiah. When that happens,
they will be overcome with grief, they will
be swept by repentance, and a great remnant
will be saved by grace through faith. God’s
continuing love for the Jews despite their persistent
spiritual rebellion is a great demonstration
of the meaning of grace - second only to the
Cross itself. People often say to me, “How could
God possibly be behind the worldwide regathering
of the Jewish people when they are still caught
up in unbelief? The only thing they deserve
is death.” But that is exactly the point. The
only thing any of us deserve is death. But “God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
We can thank God that those of us who have put
our faith in Jesus will never receive what we
deserve. Praise God for His amazing grace! And
praise Jesus for His willingness to suffer and
die so that we might be reconciled to the Father.
