Hasn’t the disobedience of the Jews invalidated God’s promises to them? Absolutely not. Or, to put it in the words of the apostle Paul, “May it never be!” (Romans 11:1).
Ever since the Fourth Century, when the Church adopted Amillennialism and began to divorce itself from its Jewish heritage, the prevalent Christian view concerning the Jews has been that “God washed His hands of them” in the First Century when He poured out His wrath on Jerusalem and allowed the Jews to be dispersed worldwide. An accompanying doctrine that developed over the years is called “replacement theology.” It is the idea that God replaced the Jews with the Church, that the Church has become the “new Israel,” and that the Church has inherited all the blessings that were previously promised to the Jews. Needless to say, these ideas have served as a source of much of the anti-Semitism that has characterized the Church for the past 1600 years.
The idea that God has “washed His hands of the Jews” is thoroughly unbiblical. In Jeremiah 31:36 God says the Jewish people will continue to be “a nation before Me forever.” He emphasizes the point by saying they will continue as a special nation of people until the fixed order of the universe ceases, or until all the heavens and ocean depths have been measured (Jeremiah 31:36-37). In Isaiah 49:14-16 God uses a different metaphor to emphasize His devotion to Israel. He says that He has the nation inscribed on the palms of His hands!
There are three chapters in the New Testament that strongly emphasize the continuing love of God for the Jews. These three chapters have been despised and ignored (or spiritualized into meaninglessness) throughout much of Christian history. The chapters are Romans 9-11. In Romans 9:4 Paul writes that God still has covenants with the Jews which He promises to fulfill. He then makes it clear that the Jews who will receive the blessings are a great remnant that will be saved in the end times (Romans 9:27).
Paul even specifically addresses the question of whether or not God has rejected the Jewish people. He asks, “God has not rejected His people has He?” (Romans 11:1). For 1600 years the Church has answered this question with an unqualified, “Yes!” But Paul answers it by saying, “May it never be!... God has not rejected His people whom he foreknew” (Romans 11:1-2).
But what about their disobedience? What about their rejection of God as king of their nation and Jesus as king of their hearts? Hasn’t their disobedience nullified the promises of God? Again, Paul specifically deals with this issue. He asks, “What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?” (Romans 3:3). And again, for centuries the Church as responded, “Yes!” But not Paul. He responds by saying, “May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar” (Romans 3:4).
Paul becomes so overwhelmed by the grace of God in never giving up on the Jews, that he finally bursts forth with an ecstatic proclamation: “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).
Excerpted from:
http://www.lamblion.com/articles/articles_revelation16.php
In Jeremiah 31:36 God says the Jewish people will continue to be “a nation before Me forever.”
Which underscores my view that God’s Covenants are ETERNAL. He is ALWAYS faithful, He always holds His side, even if we stray - abd if we do, He wants us to return.
Thus, a further problem with replacement theology - you would have to throw out the entire Old Testament. Yet the Old Testament points to the New Testament, Jesus Christ.
Thank You RegulatorCountry, One thing that is still a bit of a mystery to me and may fit in. After Acts 15 Should Jewish Christians, not Gentile Christians, observe the Jewish traditions such as passover and circumcision etc. Is it God pleasing? and I do not mean the circumcision legalistic approach.
God washes his hands of all those that reject Jesus and His Body on earth, The Church. It doesn’t matter if they are Jewish, Irish, English, German, Chinese, etc. God is not a respecter of persons.
INDEED.