When the reformers separated from the Roman Catholic Church, they brought with them Replacement Theology. Furthermore, they built their eschatology (doctrine of future things) and ecclesiology (doctrine of the church) on the idea the church has replaced Israel in the plan of God.
If you were to remove Replacement Theology from these churches today, their entire system of eschatology would collapse. Why? Because if God has not replaced Israel (as we believe), then you must handle all the passages dealing with the Tribulation and Millennial Kingdom as being literal with a future fulfillment. Suddenly the primary justification for developing Amillennialism or Postmillennialism is eliminated.
Replacement Theology allowed the church to believe it is the fulfillment of the Messianic Kingdom. Over time, it fomented widespread hatred and violence against the Jewish people; and, unfortunately, its consequences are still with us today.
The State of Israel
The existence of the State of Israel is problematic to Replacement Theology. Yet it fits in perfectly with The Friends of Israel’s dispensational understanding of God’s plan for history. God has a different plan for Israel than for the Gentiles. God said, “I will take you [the Jewish people] from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land” (Ezek. 36:24). For us, the existence of modern Israel fits right in with what God said He would do: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land” (37:21). God is doing what He promised, and we are privileged to live to see it. Unfortunately, Replacement Theology even causes godly men to perceive Israel as the major problem in the Middle East.
• John Piper is well known as a fine teacher of God’s Word. I have tremendous respect for him. He is pastor of preaching and vision at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but holds to Replacement Theology. In March 2004 he preached about the Middle East, saying there is no place ever for hatred or violence against the Jewish people or any other people. He made it clear he rejects anti-Semitism. But in the same sermon he called Israel’s existence and borders “perhaps the most explosive factors in world terrorism and the most volatile factors in Arab-Western relations.”1 In other words, he feels modern Israel is the major reason for the terrorism we see today. I wonder, where is Islam’s share of the blame? John Piper also said, ”The promises made to Abraham, including the promise of the Land, will be inherited as an everlasting gift only by true, spiritual Israel, not disobedient, unbelieving Israel.”2
According to him, the promise of the land no longer belongs to the Jewish people; it belongs to the church, which he refers to as “true spiritual Israel.” However, it is exceedingly clear God made those promises to physical Israel, the Jewish people.
• R. C. Sproul, Jr. of Ligonier Ministries, said, ”We believe that the church is essentially Israel. We believe that the answer to, ‘What about the Jews?’ is, ‘Here we are.’”3 That’s Replacement Theology.
• Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, founded by D. James Kennedy, dislikes the Left Behind book series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins because of its eschatology. In 2002 the seminary posted an open letter on its Web site that stated, “Bad Christian theology is today attributing to secular Israel a divine mandate to conquer and hold Palestine.” It also said, “The entitlement
of any one ethnic or religious
group [referring to the Jewish
people] to territory in the Middle
East called the ‘Holy Land’ [referring
to the land of Israel] cannot be
supported by Scripture.”4 That is
Replacement Theology.
• Then there is Hank Hanegraaff,
whose radio program, The Bible
Answer Man, hails from Charlotte,
North Carolina. Mr. Hanegraaff has
a tremendous ability to memorize
and recall Scripture, but he holds to
Replacement Theology. He went so
far as to call Tim LaHaye a racist
and blasphemer (he has since toned
down his criticism) and is no friend
to The Friends of Israel because he
disagrees with us and believes the
church is Israel. Once again, this is
Replacement Theology.
Typically, people in the Replacement
camp side with the Palestinian
Arabs, who are against Israel, and
blame Israel for the troubles in the
Middle East. Perhaps most troubling
is what is taking place in
European churches today. Anti-Semitism is mushrooming, and clergy
and laypeople alike are openly
claiming the State of Israel should
never have been established. Their
fallacious rationale is that Jewish
people do not believe in Christ, so
they should be punished by being
stripped of their country.
It is not anti-Semitic to believe the
church has replaced Israel. However,
it is anti-Semitic to use Scripture to
justify contempt for the Jewish people
and to repudiate Israel’s right to
sovereignty. Historically, it has been
difficult for those in the church to
subscribe to Replacement Theology
and avoid anti-Semitism.
Today it is the Replacement churches
that are rising up against Israel and
calling for divestment and action
against the Jewish state. This has been
the historical pattern. What does God
have to say?
Thus says the LORD, who gives
the sun for a light by day, the
ordinances of the moon and the
stars for a light by night, who disturbs
the sea, and its waves roar
(The LORD of hosts is His name):
“If those ordinances depart from
before Me, says the LORD, then the
seed of Israel shall also cease from
being a nation before Me forever”
(Jer. 31:35–36).
God says that only if the sun, moon,
and stars go out of existence will Israel
also cease—not before. However, if the
sun, moon, and stars disappear, not
only would Israel cease to exist, but
the Gentiles would also.
God told Israel, “I have loved you
with an everlasting love” (v. 3) and
“He who touches you touches the
apple of His eye” (Zech. 2:8). If God so
loves Israel, it is our obligation to do
so as well.
Ezekiel 36 explains why God will
restore Israel. Here is the crux of the issue:
I scattered them among the
nations, and they were dispersed
throughout the countries; I
judged them according to their
ways and their deeds. When they
came to the nations, wherever
they went, they profaned My holy
name. . . . But I had concern for
My holy name, . . . I do not do this
for your sake, O house of Israel,
but for My holy name’s sake,
which you have profaned among
the nations wherever you went.
And I will sanctify My great
name (vv. 19–23).
God will restore Israel for His
name’s sake—for His glory. This
point differentiates what we believe
as dispensationalists from what
those in the Replacement camp
believe—those who hold to Covenant
or Reformed Theology. Reformed/Covenant Theology contends history’s
ultimate purpose is man’s salvation.
Dispensational Theology
contends the ultimate purpose is
God’s glorification. God certainly
gets glory through salvation, but the
Reformed/Covenant view places
the primary focus on humanity.
God’s glorification places it on God.
God will do what glorifies Him the
most, and He tells us restoring Israel
will sanctify His great name. He also
tells us His covenant that gives
Israel—the physical descendants of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—the land
of promise will last forever:
He is the LORD our God; His judgments
are in all the earth. He
remembers His covenant forever,
the word which He commanded,
for a thousand generations, the
covenant which He made with
Abraham, and His oath to Isaac,
and confirmed it to Jacob for a
statute, to Israel as an everlasting
covenant, saying, “To you I will
give the land of Canaan as the
allotment of your inheritance”
(Ps. 105:7–11).
God could not have made Himself
any clearer. If you have a desire
to build a relationship with people
in the Jewish community, you must
understand Replacement Theology
and the impact it has had on the
church and Jewish people who have
lived with a 2,000-year legacy of
anti-Semitism in the name of Christ.
This is what they know. Jewish people
need to know there is more than
one type of Christian and that there
are Christians today who do not
believe God is finished with the
Jewish people. He will restore them
and make them a glorious nation for
His name’s sake because He loves
them; and He is the same yesterday,
today, and forever.
E N D N O T E S
1 John Piper, “Israel, Palestine and the Middle East,”
Desiring God Resource Library, March 7, 2004
.
2 Ibid.
3 R. C. Sproul Jr., Table Talk (Spring 1999), cited in
.
4 “An Open Letter to Evangelicals and Other
Interested Parties: The People of God, the Land of
Israel, and the Impartiality of the Gospel” .
 James A. Showers is vice president and chief financial officer of The Friends of Israel.
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