Posted on 10/26/2007 9:00:59 PM PDT by topcat54
Replacement theology has become dispensationalism's latest prophetic boogeyman. If you want to end a debate over eschatology, just charge your opponent with holding to replacement theology. What is “replacement theology,” sometimes called “supersessionism,” and why do dispensationalists accuse non-dispensationalists of holding it? Here’s a typical dispensational definition:
Replacement Theology: a theological perspective that teaches that the Jews have been rejected by God and are no longer God’s Chosen People. Those who hold to this view disavow any ethnic future for the Jewish people in connection with the biblical covenants, believing that their spiritual destiny is either to perish or become a part of the new religion that superseded Judaism (whether Christianity or Islam).1
“Replacement theology” is dispensationalism’s trump card in any debate over eschatology because it implies anti-semitism. Hal Lindsey attempted to use this card in his poorly researched and argued The Road to Holocaust.2 He wove an innovative tale implying that anyone who is not a dispensationalist carries the seeds of anti-semitism within his or her prophetic system. This would mean that every Christian prior to 1830 would have been theologically anti-semitic although not personally anti-semtic.
As Peter Leithart and I point out in The Legacy of Hatred Continues,3 it’s dispensationalists who hold to a form of replacement theology since they believe that Israel does not have any prophetic significance this side of the rapture! Prior to the rapture, in terms of dispensational logic, the Church has replaced Israel. This is unquestionably true since God’s prophetic plan for Israel has been postponed until the prophetic time clock starts ticking again at the beginning of Daniel’s 70th week which starts only after the Church is taken to heaven in the so-called rapture. Until then, God is dealing redemptively with the Church. Am I making this up? Consider the following by dispensationalist E. Schuyler English:
An intercalary4 period of history, after Christ’s death and resurrection and the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, has intervened. This is the present age, the Church age. . . . During this time God has not been dealing with Israel nationally, for they have been blinded concerning God’s mercy in Christ. . . . However, God will again deal with Israel as a nation. This will be in Daniel’s seventieth week, a seven-year period yet to come.5
According to English and every other dispensationalist, the Church has replaced Israel until the rapture. The unfulfilled promises made to Israel are not fulfilled until after the Church is taken off the earth. Thomas Ice, one of dispensationalism’s rising stars, admits that the Church replaces Israel this side of the rapture: “We dispensationalists believe that the church has superseded Israel during the current church age, but God has a future time in which He will restore national Israel ‘as the institution for the administration of divine blessings to the world.’”6
Dispensationalists claim that their particular brand of eschatology is the only prophetic system that gives Israel her proper place in redemptive history. This is an odd thing to argue since two-thirds of the Jews will be slaughtered during the post-rapture tribulation, and the world will be nearly destroyed. Charles Ryrie writes in his book The Best is Yet to Come that during this post-rapture period Israel will undergo “the worst bloodbath in Jewish history.”7 The book’s title doesn’t seem to very appropriate considering that during this period of time most of the Jews will die! John Walvoord follows a similar line of argument: “Israel is destined to have a particular time of suffering which will eclipse any thing that it has known in the past. . . . [T]he people of Israel . . . are placing themselves within the vortex of this future whirlwind which will destroy the majority of those living in the land of Palestine.”8 Arnold Fruchtenbaum states that during the Great Tribulation “Israel will suffer tremendous persecution (Matthew 24:15–28; Revelation 12:1–17). As a result of this persecution of the Jewish people, two-thirds are going to be killed.”9
During the time when Israel seems to be at peace with the world, she is really under the domination of the antichrist who will turn on her at the mid-point in the seven-year period. Israel waits more than 2000 years for the promises finally to be fulfilled, and before it happens, two-thirds of them are wiped out. Those who are charged with holding a “replacement theology viewpoint” believe in no inevitable future Jewish bloodbath. In fact, we believe that the Jews will inevitably embrace Jesus as the Messiah this side of the Second Coming. The fulfillment of Zechariah 13:8 is a past event. It may have had its fulfillment in the events leading up to and including the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Contrary to dispensationalism’s interpretation of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus' disciples warned the Jewish nation for nearly forty years about the impending judgment (Matt. 3:7; 21:42–46; 22:1–14; 24:15–22). Those who believed Jesus’ words of warning were delivered “from the wrath to come” (1 Thess. 1:10). Those who continued to reject Jesus as the promised Messiah, even though they had been warned for a generation (Matt. 24:34), “wrath has come upon them to the utmost” (1 Thess. 2:16; cf. 1 Thess. 5:1–11; 2 Pet. 3:10–13).
Before critics of replacement theology throw stones, they need to take a look at their own prophetic system and see its many lapses in theology and logic.
Read Part Two of this article...
2. Hal Lindsey, The Road to Holocaust (New York: Bantam Books, 1989). The address for Bantam Books is 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York.
3. Gary DeMar and Peter J. Leithart, The Legacy of Hatred Continues: A Response to Hal Lindsey’s The Road to Holocaust (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 1989).
4. Inserted into the calendar.
5. E. Schuyler English, A Companion to the New Scofield Reference Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972), 135.
6. Thomas Ice, “The Israel of God,” The Thomas Ice Collection: www.raptureready.com/featured/TheIsraelOfGod.html#_edn3
7. Charles C. Ryrie, The Best is Yet to Come (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1981), 86.
8. John F. Walvoord, Israel in Prophecy (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1962), 107, 113. Emphasis added.
9. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, “The Little Apocalypse of Zechariah,” The End Times Controversy: The Second Coming Under Attack, eds. Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2003), 262.
Yes and notice what the bible is saying here. Though He will come at the last day, that has not prevented Him from appearing, and every eye did not behold Him when He came. He and the Father come to believers. They manifest themselves. As we don’t build rooms onto our houses to accomodate them, it’s apparent the meaning is spiritual.
One hundred Christians 2,000 years ago.
One billion Christians today.
And yes. A Roman Catholic Christian is preferable to a heathen because the vector is positive. Just like a Jew is preferable to a heathen. Progressive sanctification of Christ's flock cannot help but improve the world in which they reside.
It's a wheat field; not a tare field. (I really like that line.)
***Do you believe that the Lord God is incapable of “coming with clouds” and in a way so that “every eye shall see Him”????***
I deny the Dispensational version of this coming, which has turned the appearance of the Lord Jesus as the coming of space aliens from Mars or something. I deny this hyper literal reading of Scripture which manufactures clouds in space and UFO’s to try and force fit Scriptures together. That is what I don’t believe.
Oh, and I deny your false dichotomy that you setup.
Believe in whatever you want. Just don’t expect thoughtful Christians to take you seriously. And, don’t even expect thoughtful Dispensationalists to take you seriously.
Do you believe that the Lord God is incapable of “coming with clouds” and in a way so that “every eye shall see Him”????
or do you believe that John was lying when he wrote the words: “Behold He cometh with clouds and every eye shall see Him” [Rev 1:7]???
Which is it???
#####
Well put. And the REPLACEMENTARIAN perspective has NO SHRED of a reasonable, logical, Biblical reply.
As we don’t build rooms onto our houses to accomodate them, it’s apparent the meaning is spiritual.
= = =
WHAT PREPOSTEROUSNESS!
I don’t have time, before class, to illustrate HOW PREPOSTEROUS it is . . . perhaps later.
SCRIPTURAL TRUTH IS NOW CONTINGENT ON WHAT WE CAN BUILD IN OUR HOUSES!
LOL!
ROTFLOL!
GTTM!
GUFFAWS TO THE EXTREME MAX!
then tears.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH . . .
And the attitude seems to be that unless God and Dispy's agree, it is God and the Dispies who are the idiots.
I'm sure God is impressed and organizing a bunch of rewrites as I type. /sar
Hyper-literal, my big toe. There's nothing hyper-literal about a straight forward, child-like reading of Scripture that takes Scripture at plain, simple face value. Rationalizing any other label onto that is short of a lot of things too impolite to say. However, I expect God will be saying quite a lot about such a practice IN HIS WAYS, IN HIS TIME.
And don't forget Acts 1:9-11, where the angel tells the disciples that Christ would return the same way He left, in a cloud.
Those angels are such kidders!
Amen!
Actually, God does bind fallen Angelic beings, 2Pe.2: 4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
Moreover, Satan isn't bound now, he is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1Pe.5:8) and the god of this world who blinds those who reject God's truth (2Cor.4:4).
He will be bound in the real Millennium (not the amillennialist fanasty one) so that Christ can rule without any deception going on.
He is released for a short time to gather those together who have rejected the rule of Christ and thee rebellion is put down by God the Father.
Then there is the Great White Throne judgement where the unbelievers and Satan and his angels are judged and tossed into the Lake of Fire forever, and then the eternal state begins.
It is all laid out very clearly in Rev.20-22.
Amen.
That is the real Millennium as described in Rev.20, with Christ ruling on the Davidic throne and heaven literally comes down to earth.
Amen.
I guess He will pick them up on the way down, like He had on the way up.
And the entire world will see Him now that we have TV!
Something that would have been impossible a hundred years ago.
I have read it. I suggest that you try reading it using a concordance and not Scofield’s notes to guide you.
I have and it says exactly what the verses say they say.
No one repented in AD70 as is depicted in Zach.12:10 and in Rev.1:7.
Moreover, it is stated that when Christ comes back he has his angels gather the elect from the 4 corners of the earth-another event that didn't happen in AD70.
In Galatians 4:21-31we are shown two women (Sarah and Hagar) who represent two cities (physical Jerusalem and heavenly Jerusalem). They are symbols representing believers in Christ and nonbelievers.
No, one represents the Law and one represents grace.
In Rev. physical Jerusalem (the great city, Rev. 11:8) and the physical temple were destroyed.
And that destruction is in the future, it was not the one in 70AD.
Christ, the true Temple, is the victor (Rev. 19). And the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21) is where the believers in Christ will live forever.
Gee, you must have a very abridged bible.
Rev.19 says that 'the armies in heaven followed Christ down'.
Now, it is clear that your bible 'study' consists of finding what matches what your theology teaches, and simply ignoring whatever verse goes against it.
It’s actually very clear if you allow the Bible to interpret itself.
Yes, it is very clear, when you don't leave out words or attempt to change them to make them fit your view.
BTW, Zechariah 12 has the word “land” and we know that “tribes” (the word used in Matthew) refers to Israel. I don’t know why you keep missing that.
Zach.12: 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. John 19:37 Ps 22:16
Now, there were no nations in 70AD surrounding Jerusalem, there was only the Roman armies.
And they were not destroyed by the return of Christ-as will happen.
The Jews did not see Christ,whom they had pierce and mourn for him.
Now, what you have to deal with is what didn't happen, not just find the things that you think match the events in 70AD.
Rev. 1:7 says that 'all kindreds of the earth' shall wail because of him-which didn't happen in 70AD.
Context determines what word meaning is used in a translation, and clearly, the translators knew that the context demanded 'earth' and not 'land' in those verses and books.
WOW!
That is some allegory of scripture that you got going there!
No Roman Catholic could do better!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh . . . The Contrarian Preterist-REPLACEMENTARIAN-Premil-Postmil ALICE-IN-WONDERLAND-SCHOOL OF MANGLED MATRIX THEOLOGY HAS SPOKEN!
HEAR YE, HEAR YE, HEAR YE! From thenceforth . . . in the land of living mortal humans . . . unless you draw a red card in the presence of the Red Queen . . . or a Black card in the presence of the Red Queen's jokester . . . in which case an alternate universe upens up . . . and that is covered in the Appendix part C subsection 3,742.5 written in the Classic Gobbledygook of Classic REPLACEMENTARIANS . . .
But for our Sunday School class today, we must concern ourselves with PROPER PONTIFICAL PREPOSTEROUS RUBBER BIBLE DOCTRINES OF THE SACRED SECT OF REPLACEMENTARIANS et al.
Our CARDINAL DOCTRINE OF FOCUS for today is that THENCEFORTH, UNLESS YOU HAVE A ROOM DEDICATED IN YOUR HOUSE TO A PARTICULAR RUBBER BIBLE BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE, YOU CANNOT PUT ANY FAITH IN SAID PRINCIPLE.
For example, without a room built and dedicated to SALVATION, you can't depend on SALVATION by Christ's Blood or any other. Our Sacred Order of Magicsterical Prissy Pontificals decrees it. [thankfully, God disagrees--read the authentic UNRUBBERIZED Bible].
AND, UNLESS you have a room dedicated and built totally and only in honor of and in the service of BAPTISM--IMMERSION, OF COURSE--UNLESS the Red Queen is present. Or, unless Humpty Dumpty falls on his left side and cracks his left skull . . . then Baptism just has no influence on your spirituality or being buried and resurrected with Christ, whatsoever.
And, unless you have a room in your home built and dedicated totally and only to PRAYER, THEN, the prayer of any level of righteous person cannot amount to much in your home or family. Zip, nada, nothing. May as well not pray--useless without that room.
And, while I realize that REPLACEMENTARIANS think that healing went out when John ran out of ink at the end of Revelation, if not before . . . just to be certain folks get the point, the REPLACEMENTARIAN MAGICSTERICAL has decreed that without a room in your home totally and only dedicated to healing, all prayers for healing will be laughably snickered at in Heaven and avail absolutely nothing.
And, unless you have a room build in your home totally and only dedicated to DOING JUSTICE, LOVING MERCY AND WALKING HUMBLY WITH GOD--such efforts as those will bring absolutely no spiritual benefit to you or anyone else. Zip, nada, bu dong xi.
And, unless you have a room built and totally dedicated only to the use and honor of The Lord's Supper, partaking thereof will be considered a vain repetition of absolutely no spiritual benefit without the room.
And, unless you have a room built totally dedicated only to worship . . . all such efforts are a stench in God's nostrils and a clanging out of key gong in His ears.
. . .
The REPLACEMENTARIAN ALICE IN WONDERLAND SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY'S MAGICSTERICAL HAS SCREECHED. SO BE IT!
/sar
Awwww
Soooooooooooooooo touching.
...
YET AGAIN
Replacementarianism distorts reality totally out of whack.
What else is new!
Thank you for your encouragements!
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. - John 16:13
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. - I Cor 1:19
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