A CONVOLUTED “REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY”

To countless thousands of Evangelical believers, the words that send shivers up their spines and causes them to turn off their ears from listening or watching to other Bible teachers, are “Replacement Theology.” What many so called prophecy experts have succeeded in doing is to convince their audiences that to deny that the nation of Israel has no prophetic future borders on blasphemy. This is serious stuff!

We need to properly understand precisely what is meant by “Replacement Theology.” The traditional definition, at least that which many Dispensationalist believe is the correct definition, is the idea that God made many promises to Old Covenant Israel. In the Dispensational paradigm it is believed that non-Dispensationalists believe that due to Israel’s unbelief, God simply decided to remove those promises. Israel was summarily “replaced” by the church as God’s people. Her promises no longer belonged to her, but to the “Gentile” church. In the Dispensational school there is no belief that the church is the fulfillment of Israel’s promises. In fact, many Dispensationalists deny that the church in any way whatsoever is the recipient of the blessings promised to Israel! In fact, in Dispensationalism, the church was never even foretold by the Old Testament:

Prominent Dispensationalist Dwight Pentecost, in his tome, Things to Come, wrote:

The church itself was the mystery. “The fact that God was going to form Jews and Gentiles alike in one body was never revealed in the Old Testament and forms the mystery of which Paul speaks in Ephesians 3:1-7; Romans 16:25-27; Colossians 1:26-29. This whole mystery program was not revealed until after the rejection of Christ by Israel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980), 201).

This kind of quote could be multiplied many times over. But the reader can see that for the Dispensationalists, the church had/ has no place at all in God’s plans for Israel. Thus, to suggest that the church has received even a single one of the promises given to Israel is seen as a violation of God’s faithfulness to Israel, and a violation of Romans 11:28-29:

Concerning the gospel they (Israel, DKP) are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

The view that the unbelief and rejection of Israel was a failure on the part of Israel is, in the Dispensatonal paradigm, the only reason for the establishment of the church and the calling of the Gentiles. But this is not the Biblical story! From the very beginning of Israel’s history God foretold Israel’s apostasy and rebellion that would lead to her judgment and the calling of the nations. The Song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32:18-21 contains this:

Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you. “And when the Lord saw it, He spurned them, Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters. And He said: ‘I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faith. They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.

Thus, from this it can be conclusively determined that the Jewish rejection of the Kingdom offer by Christ was not unforeseen and not un-predicted. It was, in fact, always the plan! But that means that this rebellion and subsequent judgment and rejection of the nation, which led to the calling of the Gentiles, i.e. the establishment of the church, was itself ALWAYS the plan! Mark Nanos expresses it well:

We are thus prepared to recognize that for Luke the commencement of the gentile mission was based not on Israel’s rejection, but on the belief that her promised restoration had begun, with the inherent obligation to proclaim this message to all the nations (Acts 15:13-18). In other words, the Gentile mission was not the sign of the failure of Israel’s promises, it was the fulfillment of Israel’s promises, and a sure sign of her restoration!! (Mark Nanos, The Mystery in Romans, (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996, 269).

Since the last days apostasy of Israel was foreknown, and predicted, by the Lord, it is specious to suggest that the rejection of Jesus by the Jews was in any way unexpected and led to the “impossibility” for Christ to fulfill his mission to establish the church! The establishment of the church for the calling of the Gentiles into the salvation of Israel was ever and always God’s original plan!

We need to drive these points home by examining a few of the many OT prophecies of the establishment of the church.

The Church: Foretold in the OT!

The simple yet profoundly important answer to this question is unequivocally, YES! There is more than ample proof that the church was indeed foretold by the OT prophets. I will only list a few of those prophecies.

Psalms 110: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” Psalms 110 is God’s favorite Psalm! It is cited no less than 32-33 times in the NT to speak of Christ’s exaltation to the right hand of God after his ascension. I am unaware of any Dispensational writer that denies that Psalms 110 was declared to be fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost. As just one example of an abundance of Dispensational sources that could be given, John Walvoord said that Psalms 110 was fulfilled at the Ascension of Christ. (John Walvoord, Major Bible Prophecies, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991)108-109, see also p. 365).

This is more than remarkable and powerful since the Day of Pentecost was, as virtually everyone agrees, the day when the church was officially established! Thus, if / since Psalms 110 was an OT prophecy given to Israel, and since Psalms 110 was fulfilled at the Ascension of Christ, confirmed on Pentecost, and since the church was fulfilled on Pentecost, this falsifies the claim that the church was not foretold in the OT.

Isaiah 2:2–4 

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

This is one of the definitive “last days” prophecies of the last days. Isaiah 2-4 provides us a panoramic view of the last days period, consummating in the Day of the Lord (2:19-21). On the Day of Pentecost, Peter informed his audience that they were living in the last days (Acts 2:15ff– He did not, contra many commentators, say that the last days were beginning that day)! And he cited, remember, Psalms 110 a prophecy of the enthronement of Messiah to rule and reign– a prophecy admitted by all to be fulfilled!

The NT is very clear in identifying the “house of God” as the Messianic Temple, and teaching that the promised house of God was being established (Ephesians 2:19-21; 1 Tim. 3:15f). Now, since the promise of the establishment of that “house” was nothing less than the promise of the establishment of the Messianic Temple – and thus, the kingdom – and since the NT writers, virtually all Jews, focused on the fulfillment of Israel’s promises, affirmed that those OT prophecies were being fulfilled in Christ and the church, it is undeniably evident that those OT prophecies did predict the establishment of the church. This negates one of the key pillars of the Dispensational view.

Isaiah 11:10

 “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to him shall the Gentiles seek…”

Paul explicitly applies this prophecy to Christ:

Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust” (Romans 15:12).

There could hardly be a more explicit affirmation of the fulfillment of OT promises made to Israel concerning the kingdom than Paul’s declaration that Isaiah was being fulfilled in his ministry to the Gentiles. In fact, Isaiah contains many prophecies of the last days rebellion of Israel, the subsequent establishment of the kingdom and calling of the Gentiles.

Isaiah 49:6

Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” Thus says the Lord, The Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One, To Him whom man despises, To Him whom the nation abhors, To the Servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise, Princes also shall worship, Because of the Lord who is faithful, The Holy One of Israel; And He has chosen You.” 8 Thus says the Lord: “In an acceptable time I have heard You, And in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You As a covenant to the people, To restore the earth, To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages.

God said that it would be “too small a thing” for His Messiah to restore the tribes of Jacob. It should be carefully noted that the terminology of the “tribes of Jacob” is referent to all twelve tribes. “Jacob” was the collective term for the whole house of Israel (cf. Isaiah 49:5). It was not a term used to delineate between the other tribes. If delineation was desired the names of the respective tribe or tribes would be given.

So, God promised to restore “all Israel” i.e. to restore the twelve tribes. But again, that was “too small a thing” for the Servant. He would also make him a light to the Gentiles (Hebrew, Goyim).

Sadly, there are those who make the text to say the precise opposite of what it says! The text says it was too small a thing for Messiah to save Israel. But those who claim that salvation belonged exclusively to Israel and never Gentiles, claim that all the text says is that God would indeed save only the twelve tribes. That is a distortion of the text since the text emphatically declares that the restoration / salvation of the tribes of Jacob was too small a thing for the Messiah! What does “too small a thing” mean anyway? But back to our point.

Paul, and remember that he preached nothing but the hope of Israel, wrote to the church in Corinth. And he said this:

We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).

Simply stated, the Acceptable Time, the Day of Salvation, would be the time of the salvation of Israel and the calling of the Gentiles. Paul writing to a congregation composed of both those of Israel and Gentiles, said the anticipated, predicted “Acceptable Time, the Day of Salvation” was present! This means that Isaiah 49 foretold the church. And the book of Acts verifies this.

Paul and Barnabas went into the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia. Many of the synagogue obeyed the Gospel, and there was tremendous interest in the entire city

On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed (Acts 13:44-48).

What should not be missed is that in Corinth, in Antioch, in the regions of Galatia, Macedonia and Asia and indeed, in virtually all of the places that Paul went, those were cities of the Diaspora! Paul, when he was preaching in the synagogues in those far flung places, was preaching the message of salvation to the Diaspora just as Isaiah 49 foretold! This agrees perfectly with the apostle’s own declaration that salvation was “to the Jew first and then the Greek” (Romans 1:16). But he was not speaking exclusively to the Diaspora Israelites / Jews.

When those Jews of the Diaspora rejected the Gospel, Paul and Barnabas said to them, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.” And they reminded those Jews of what had been foretold in Isaiah 49:6: “I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:47).

We find here the outworking of: “It is too small a thing that you should restore the tribes of Jacob…I will also make you a light to the Gentiles.” Some of the Diaspora accepted, most didn’t, but then the Gospel went to the Gentiles! And the Gentiles were joyous about that because up to that time, they had been told, constantly, that they were dead. They were in darkness. They had no hope. But now, they could receive eternal life in Jesus, as the Messiah, who was offering salvation not to Israel only, but to them as well!

Our point is that as Paul went to all of those Diaspora synagogues, he converted both Jews and Gentiles and those two groups joined together to form the nascent church in those cities. And of course, it simply cannot be overlooked that Paul states repeatedly that his entire ministry was based on God’s OT promises made to Israel. Thus, the Dispensational claim that the church was never foretold in the Tanakh will not stand up to close scrutiny.

Amos 9:11–12

After the conversion of Cornelius (Acts 10) a Roman Centurion, word of that reached the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. Up to the point of Cornelius’ conversion the Jerusalem evangelistic efforts had been aimed exclusively at Jewish audiences in the Diaspora (Acts 11:19). The conversion of this Gentile was something different and radical and posed some major questions to the nascent church. They had fully supported evangelism to Diaspora Israelites, but again, the conversion of Cornelius was challenging and had to be explained!

As a result of the evangelistic outreach to the Gentiles, Peter was called on the carpet by the leaders in Jerusalem to justify his actions (Acts 11). He explained “in order” why he had violated Jewish practice of not dealing with Gentiles (Acts 10:28) and the Jerusalem church gladly accepted his explanation (Acts 11:18). But then, some Judaizers began to insist that those newly converted Gentiles had to keep the Law of Moses and be circumcised in order to be saved (Acts 15:1-3). What is commonly called “the Jerusalem Council” was convened and the apostles and prophets discussed the issue. James, brother of the Lord, stood up and gave the agreement that the Gentiles were to be accepted without submission to Torah. In his explanation he said that the calling of the Gentiles was in fulfillment of prophecy, specifically, Amos 9:9-12.

For surely I will command, And will sift the house of Israel among all nations, As grain is sifted in a sieve; Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground. 10 All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’“On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old; That they may possess the remnant of Edom, And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,” Says the Lord who does this thing.

Note that Amos foretold the salvation of the remnant of Israel- that would be, in context, the remnant of the ten tribes, who were “among all nations” (v. 9). But through that remnant being called, the Lord would ,“raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages.” This was NOT a promise to rebuild a literal temple. It was the promise of the restoration of the Davidic throne, rule, and family. And then, we find the remarkable statement that the impetus for that restoration was “That they may possess the remnant of Edom, And all the Gentiles who are called by My name.” In other words, YHVH was going to restore Israel so that “all the Gentiles” would then be called! (This is an extremely common thread in Messianic prophecy. Just as Isaiah 49 shows, Israel would be restored in Messiah and THEN, the nations, out of whom Israel had been called, would themselves be saved).

Of course, the remarkable conclusion to be drawn from James’ declaration was that James explicitly identifies the fulfillment of Amos with the establishment of the Christian community and the inclusion of Gentiles. There was not a word about God’s promises to Israel being postponed. There is not a word about a failure of God’s promises to Israel. For James– brother of Jesus– the calling of the Gentiles and the synchronous calling of Israel was proof that Israel was being restored. This is totally destructive of the Dispensational claim that the church was never foretold and that God’s promises to Israel were suspended and postponed so that God could establish the church until such time as God’s promises to Israel would be– will be– finally fulfilled. Part two will continue to show that it is Dispensationalism that teaches the worst sort of Replacement Theology. Stay tuned!