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A growing divisive issue in Evangelical churches is Replacement Theology. Many churches wrongly teach that God’s purpose and plan for the nation of Israel has been “replaced” by the Church. They do not use the words Replacement Theology. Rather, those who recognize this false teaching use the term to designate those who propagate it. This makes pinning down the false doctrine difficult.
How do we recognize this false teaching? Church leaders say the Abrahamic Covenant failed to accomplish what God intended for Israel. They teach that the Church was called, in the Great Commission of Matthew 28, to “take over” for Israel—that the Church is now “spiritual Israel.” The application of spiritual Israel to the Church is appropriated from an inaccurate interpretation of Galatians 6:16 [discussion follows]. The false teaching of Replacement Theology continues to grow in popularity, notwithstanding that Abraham’s Covenant and the Great Commission are two separate commissions given to two separate entities—Israel and the Church.
Should we avoid such issues because they are divisive? Rather, truth naturally divides because it separates true doctrine from false teaching. Our Lord revealed that His first coming would bring division [Luke 12:51]. The larger passage in Luke 12 is at the bottom of every Prophecy Chat because these commentaries are written in order to separate truth from apostate Christian teachings. When our Lord came to this earth in human flesh, He came for one purpose:
“Pilate therefore said to Him, ‘Are You a king then?’Jesus answered, ‘You say rightly that I am a king.For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’”John 18:37
We who are of the truth must teach it. It will separate us or divide us from those who do not teach truth, but “everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
THREE VERSES THAT DESTROY REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY We have come in our study of The Revelation to another interval event at the mid-point of the Tribulation. What is the spiritual condition of Israel preceding Christ’s Second Coming? If Israel is replaced, why is God measuring the worship of the nation of Israel as represented by a re-built Tribulation Temple? John is given the task of performing a measurement of the Temple to reveal the answer:
Revelation 11:1-3 “Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, ‘Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.”
Why is this short anecdote inserted into the mid-point of the Tribulation? The answer is profound. The simple act of measuring the Tribulation Temple reveals the spiritual condition of Israel and the world during the Tribulation: Israel’s spiritual condition is desolate and the Gentiles and their doomed system are still in control—FOR YET A LIMITED TIME. What does this have to do with Replacement Theology and how does it refute it?
That Israel is downtrodden does NOT mean Israel is counted out of God’s plan, as Replacement Theology claims. Rather, it confirms that although Israel plays a submissive role in the Church Age, they are restored to a central role in God’s plan in the Tribulation. Note that John is not measuring the Church—the only church in existence in the Tribulation is an apostate church called The Babylonian Harlot, Revelation 17. The Lord Himself measured the Church in the 7 Letters to the Churches in Revelation 2 and 3—and the Church Age ended with letter 7 before the Tribulation narrative began. Recall also that the Church also did not measure up. By letter 7, it was so lukewarm, it made our Lord sick [Rev. 3:16]. The true Church, a remnant converted during the Church Age, is already taken out in the Rapture. A saved remnant exists at the time of the measuring, but they exist as Tribulation believers. The Church Age begins at Pentecost [Acts 2] and ends with the Rapture [John 14:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 4:17ff; 1 Corinthians 15:51ff].
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The Church has not replaced Israel for two reasons: 1. The Church cannot finish Israel’s transgressions, which are defined in http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel%209:24&version=NIV">Daniel 9:24. 2. The Church cannot appropriate Israel’s covenant promises. God’s promise to Abraham’s descendants of a reigning Messiah King in the line of David, a Kingdom centered in Jerusalem, and national blessing for Israel will not be realized until the Millennial Kingdom.
Israel’s transgressions are not FINISHED until Christ’s return, and their promises are not FULFILLED until the earthly reign of Christ, which follows the Tribulation. This is the correct chronology of the Revelation. Israel is still on the clock and the nation is the epicenter of God’s end times plan. Israel is God’s epicenter, Jerusalem is Israel’s epicenter, and the Temple Mount where this Tribulation Temple will be built is the epicenter of Jerusalem. John’s measurement of the temple zeroes in like a bulls eye on God’s focus.
ISRAEL IS VERY MUCH CENTRAL IN GOD’S PLAN OF THE AGES. THIS IS PROVEN BY TWO TIME PERIODS YET TO BE FULFILLED: The Times of the Gentiles And The Seventieth Week of Daniel
Both of these time periods are represented in "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2011:1-3&version=NIV">Revelation 11:1-3. They overlap. The Times of the Gentiles outlines God’s perspective of non-Jewish nations—to dominate Israel until His return [Luke 21:24]. The Times of the Gentiles are not to be confused with the Church Age. Although these periods also overlap, they are not the same.
The Seventieth Week of Daniel defines the final days of God’s determined time for the Jews, which includes their misguided attempts to return to an Old Testament form of worship [Daniel 9].
The Temple Does Not “Measure Up” John is given a seemingly insignificant reed, a hollow, bamboo-like cane plant that grew in the Jordan Valley. Because of its light weight and rigidity, it was commonly used as a measuring rod [Ezekiel 40:3, 5], and the measurement is very revealing. He was told to measure the temple of God, the altar, and the worshippers. This would be the central part of the temple where the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place were located, as well as the courtyard of the bronze altar where the Jews worshipped. But John is told specifically not to measure the outer court of the Gentiles because it’s measure has already been taken of God and its spiritual condition long predicted! [See Daniel 2 for the last five Gentile empires of man, including the Tribulation Revived Roman Empire of Antichrist.] It represents The Times of the Gentiles.
John does not report his measurement findings; he does not need to do so. This temple stands in stark comparison to the Millennial Kingdom Temple that will be built by the returning Christ Himself [Zechariah 6:13] after the Tribulation. In Ezekiel 40, the prophet sees an angel of God measure the Millennial Kingdom temple, and it is perfect in every respect and equal on every side. This fact is reported again and again. Revelation 11:1-3 cuts to the chase—it is not only NOT “square,” the outer court is defiled by Gentile domination, which defiles the whole.
When Antichrist, the Satanic ruler of the one-world government of the Tribulation, enters this Tribulation Temple and places an image of himself in it for worship, the desecration of this temple is complete [Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 2 Thess. 2:3,4; Revelation 13:14, "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013:15&version=NIV">15; Matthew 24:15]. This act of supreme rebellion against God, called the abomination of desolation, is a key prophetic sign post, marking the mid-point of the Tribulation and Satan’s open defiance to God’s rule.
Although there must be a Tribulation Temple in order for these prophecies to be fulfilled by Antichrist, it is a temple built by man, and not a building ordained by God. The Jews believe they are doing God’s will to re-establish temple worship and sacrifice, but animal sacrifice is obsolete because Christ paid the ultimate price of sin with His blood. However, the Jewish nation does not understand this truth—yet.
The apostate temple worshippers, both Jew and Gentile, do not recognize Christ’s blood atonement because they do not recognize Jesus as Messiah of Israel; therefore they see Old Testament Law as a continuing requirement for righteousness. [See the fallacy of this reasoning in the book of Hebrews, especially 10:11-14.] Therefore, the Jews as a nation are yet spiritually blind and the Gentiles continue to dominate them in the time of Jewish unbelief. Paul speaks to this:
“For I do not desire, brethren [brother Jews in Christ], that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, As it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”Romans 11:25-27
National Israel is doomed to exist under the control of Gentile powers until their spiritual blindness is taken away at the return of Christ, their Messiah [Zechariah 12:10ff]. Even now, the nation of Israel is not recognized as a sovereign entity by much of the Middle East, its land is given away to its enemies, its name is removed from maps, and the history of its rebirth is miss-reported. Even so, “all Israel will be saved…”
The Outer Court Has Been Given to the Gentiles Why does God allow this temple, the epicenter of Jerusalem, to be trodden down by non-Jews? Why must Israel tolerate another three and a half years [forty-two months] of Gentile domination, the second half of the Tribulation? Because Israel’s time has not yet come—there is no Kingdom without a King. Israel must yet work out their determined time to “finish” their transgressions [Daniel 9:24], as defined in Daniel’s Seventy Weeks prophecy. Until the Tribulation, the last week of years of this determined time are finished, Israel will languish under the heel of Gentile powers. The Seventieth Week of Daniel culminates with the return of Christ [Zechariah 14:4]. When Israel is spiritually delivered, the bonds of Gentile domination are also broken and The Times of the Gentiles will end.
Desolate…UNTIL!
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again UNTIL you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” Matthew 23:37-38
The apostacy John finds in the Tribulation Temple is broken by Christ’s return. When Christ comes in the clouds and descends to the Mount of Olives opposite the Temple Mount, every living Jew will see the marks in the hands and feet of their ascending Messiah and will realize He is Jesus of Nazareth. [Zechariah 12:10ff; 14:4; Revelation 1:7; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Ezekiel 36:24-38].
That small word UNTIL means Israel is still on the clock and will be restored to the center of God’s plan in the future Tribulation. The day is coming when Israel will say “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” And so all Israel will be saved. But it will be at a cost because of Israel’s rejection of their Messiah at His first coming and their blindness in the present age. “And it shall come to pass in all the land [of Israel],” says the LORD, “that two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it: I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; and each one will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’” [Zechariah 13:8-9]
GOD IS NOT FINISHED WITH ISRAEL Especially in these latter days, the Church of Jesus Christ should be standing with Israel and praying for the salvation of the Jewish people. Today, more than ever, we need God on our side. We desperately need His blessing, and the Lord promised blessing to those who stand with Israel and curses for those who do not. Our nation stands perilously close to bringing the curse of God down upon us by betraying the trust of a nation we say we befriend [Genesis 12:3]. It is politically unwise and spiritually destructive.
To our shame, a large segment of the professing Christian Church, which should know better, spiritualizes away the literal name of Israel in the Bible under the name of Replacement Theology. It cannot be emphasized enough that such wrong teaching is not always easy to recognize because they will not call their teaching Replacement Theology or speak of “replacing” Israel. They speak in general terms of Israel’s failure to take the Gospel to the world and Israel’s inability to fulfill God’s commission. It falls to the Church, they say, to complete God’s purpose and to bring in the Kingdom “so that Christ can return.” In this way, Replacement Theology is closely aligned with another heresy—Kingdom Now or Dominion Theology [Reconstructionism]. Dominion followers believe they are the means by which Christ will establish His Kingdom on earth--not Israel, through a new generation of Apostles, Prophets and Manifest Sons of God. Israel has no part in this self-appointed plan in their view. This is the same pretentious, proud attitude the Pharisees displayed to Jesus Christ at His first coming.
When the name “Israel” is found in scripture, Replacement Theologians interpret it as “spiritual Israel” or “the Church” rather than literal Israel, God’s chosen people. This is a non-literal method of interpreting the Word of God—by spiritualizing away the true meaning of the words on the page. However, the perpetrators believe their “spiritual” license IS a literal interpretation. Wrong. If the Lord meant the Church, He would have said the Church. Israel is Israel. The Church is the Church. God has a unique plan for each but it is not the same. God is glorified in both and has separate plans for each. The Gospel of Salvation is the same—by grace through faith in Christ Jesus alone. But His plan for national Israel and the Church is separate. [Do not be confused by the fact that the Church is comprised of Jew/Gentile/Slave and Free who receive Christ – 1 Corinthians 12:13. A completed Christian Jew is a Jew who comes to Christ DURING the Church Age and is a member of the Church. However, this does not negate God’s plan for national Israel. His plan for national Israel is separate from the plan for the Church during the Church Age.
Christian denominations that espouse Replacement Theology have gone so far as to authorize boycotts of goods manufactured in the present-day nation of Israel in order to punish them for their rejection of Christ. In self-righteous pride, the Church pronounces judgment on God’s chosen people, although scripture is clear that Israel’s present blindness is used by God to bring in a remnant of the Gentiles [Romans 9 to 11]. Then, Israel’s blindness will be lifted.
CONFUSING THE KINGDOM Much confusion occurs when Christian churches speak of Abraham's covenants beginning something the Great Commission completes--as if both are the same. Does the Church recognize the unique contribution of the Law and the Prophets? Rather, the Church is APPROPRIATING God’s future plan for Israel, and is appropriating Israel’s covenant promises to themselves, by default because they believe Israel failed. They believe they are fulfilling The Great Commission by establishing the Kingdom now, even though Matthew 28:18-20 does not specify that the Church convert the world. Rather, we are commissioned to go and teach, baptize and disciple as many as will hear “of” all nations—until our individual races are run.
The church’s commission is to be a constant and on-going work with no known end date or finish line. Our races end in heaven, not on earth, and it is there we find our reward. They are INDIVIDUAL races, not corporate “Church” mandates. We are to preach the Gospel to those who will hear “of” the nations—the passage does not promise national conversions or a global revival. Our Lord also warned that many are called but only few ever receive the Gospel, showing themselves chosen by God [Matthew 20:16; 22:14].
Our Lord does not prophecy global revival or global Christianity in this age. However, He does predict a saturation of the Gospel in the earth during the Tribulation, during the worse time the earth has ever known—when a false Gentile kingdom called The Revived Roman Empire [Revelation 13; 17] and a false one-world religion ["http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2017&version=NIV">Revelation 17] will exist.
In fact, any “global” kingdom established of man is already doomed to destruction in Daniel 2 and will be shattered by the return of Christ. Although the spiritual kingdom of Christ represented by the indwelling Holy Spirit exists in the Church Age, it is not manifested in a literal throne until Christ ascends the throne of His father, David, in the Millennial Kingdom [Psalm 2; Psalm 110; Revelation 19-20]. That throne will sit in a Millennial Temple in Jerusalem of Israel. And Israel will be the capital of the world [href = "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2040-48&version=NIV">Ezekiel 40 to the end]. Again, it is this simple: There can be no kingdom without a king. Those who see Christ's heavenly reign as fulfilling this requirement need to read Psalm 110 and Psalm 2 carefully. God the Father says to His Son, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool." [Psalm 110:1] Although Christ reigns in heaven, Psalm 2:8 extends His reign to the earth in the Millennium, a time when He will rule over the nations and the ends of the earth, making it His possession! This is Christ's birthright. He shed His blood to redeem what He created and He will return to reign over it personally. Amen! How arrogant of the Church to believe they will set up the Kingdom. It is the LORD God the Father who sets His King on Zion of Jerusalem [Psalm 2:6].
THE TIMING OF “THE KINGDOM” I’m often told that we can disagree about prophetic interpretation as long as we are all believers. It is true that salvation is not determined by our view of eschatology [future things]; but our walk and work certainly is. When a believer’s timeline is wrong, their efforts for God are often spent in the WRONG DIRECTION. Are we servants who bury our talents in the dirt or virgins who let their oil run out because their view of the King's return is in error? [ Matthew 25:1-30] Is the church actually investing more of its time contributing to the false Kingdom of Antichrist which will exist in the Tribulation than it is in the spiritual Kingdom of Christ today? If a church believes it is contributing to the literal and manifest Kingdom of God on earth now, they are deceived. The next literal Kingdom forecast by God is the Revived Roman Empire—the last Gentile world empire ruled by Antichrist and doomed to destruction by God. [Revelation 13; 17; 18; Daniel 2] We are seeing it come together even now as plans are being made to re-establish the Roman Empire on the foundations of the Holy Roman Empire of Europe.
This apostate, false "Christian" kingdom on earth is even being promoted by evangelical churches as the only hope of the world. Rather, the return of Christ is the only hope of the world, but the eyes of much of the Church is on our own efforts rather than living in the expectant and informed IMMINENT return of Christ, first for the Church, then at the end of the Tribulation to build His own kingdom reign.
Those who are deceived are often well-meaning but miss-guided. Their hope is centered on the ability of the Church to “Christianize” the earth. If this were possible, the spiritual condition of the earth would be getting better and better, not worse and worse. However, I have heard pastors say things are getting better and better. They deceive themselves into seeing global revival rather than encroaching apostacy. This is the great divide in the Church that I have often tried to define, because it is pivotal.
Ask yourself—ask your pastor—are things getting better and better? Or, are they getting worse and worse? John MacArthur notes that things will get worse and worse BEFORE they get better, because the world condition will not get better UNTIL Christ returns.
Christ Himself said the end times would be marked by things getting worse and worse, the signs of judgment increasing in frequency and intensity, like birth pains, until there would be a terrible time such as the world has ever seen or ever will see. [Matthew 24:8; 21]
IT DOESN'T GET ANY WORSE THAN THAT.
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Time and space does not permit a complete discussion of the tenets of Replacement Theology. But this teaching is of a counterfeit revival and a miss-interpretation of Matthew 28:18-20—The Great Commission, and another verse in the New Testament, Galatians 6:16.
In Galatians, Paul speaks of “spiritual Israel,” but he is referring to the remnant of true believers who are Jews. The “and” in the passage clearly indicates that he speaks of two groups in the Church—true believers who are Gentile AND true believers who are Jewish, or spiritual Israel. Both are in the Church. But many use this one verse to say spiritual Israel refers to all Church Age true believers. They go so far as to apply this generic term to all mention of Israel, even in Old Testament verses that have a future fulfillment. In this, they appropriate Israel’s promises to the benefit of the Church.
Because Dominion Theology and Kingdom Now Theology also appropriate Israel’s kingdom when Christ reigns, these views are also guilty of Replacement Theology. Below is a link to a study of Kingdom Now Theology, also known as: Dominion, Reconstructionism, Manifest Sons of God, and The Five-Fold Ministry [Coming out of The Latter Rain].
I also recommend an article by Thomas Ice, “What Is Replacement Theology?” posted on the Pre-Trib Research Center site: What Is Replacement Theology
All who replace Israel with the Church feel justified in taking Israel’s birthright because of the Jew’s rejection of Christ at His first coming; however, the Lord in His mercy will not break His word. It is not for Israel’s sake that He will fulfill His contracts with Israel; it is for His own name’s sake [Ezekiel 36:24-32]. How fortunate we are, in our own sinfulness, that our Lord is a God of His word and always keeps His promises! There is no one worthy.
[Prophecy Chat is a weekly commentary of current events in light of Bible prophecy. Sharon L. Clemens is an evangelical, premillennial, dispensational teacher of eschatology. She can be reached for comment or questions by e-mail at farmgrove@frontier.com]
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