Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Replacement Theology Refuted!

The Bible clearly teaches that the Hebrew God chose Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for a special purpose to ultimately affect all humanity.

God first revealed Himself to "the Fathers" and promised to be their God and the God of their descendants. The rest of mankind was "temporarily" left in the dark and to their own devices.

God drafted the Twelve Tribes of Israel to become His Servant Nation. Moses rejoiced in ISRAEL'S UNIQUE CREATION (Deut.4:32-34).

The Great Creator God had never chosen any other people to represent Him. He had never inducted any other nation into His international service. He had never revealed Himself and entrusted His "Instruction Manual for Mankind," His holy Law and Word, His Divine Constitution, to any other nation or people in history!

Of physical Israel, God declares: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth" (Amos 3:2), and "He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any nation; And as for His judgments, they have not known them. Praise the LORD!" (Ps. 147:19-20).

Yes, God ordained Israel to serve as His Custodian of Divine Revelation, specifically the Jews who have been entrusted with the oracles of God (Rom. 3:1-2). And please note that this was written after the Church of God was founded and Jesus had given certain authority to his apostles.

The lying proponents of "replacement theology" deny that there's any advantage to being a Jew or an Israelite. The apostle Paul, under inspiration, strongly disagrees! He wisely continues Jesus' recognition of the Jews' God-given authority: "The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do" (Matt. 23:2-3). And Moses prophesied that the Jews are to retain their God-given authority until Christ restores Israel as "One Nation Under God."

Moses didn't say that Gentiles or the Church had any right to covet or steal that responsibility from the Jews: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, UNTIL Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be" (Gen. 49:10). Jesus didn't do that at His first coming, which is why His disciples asked Him after His resurrection and just before His ascension: "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). The King of the Jews will accomplish that divine mission when He returns.

God formed Israel as His Holy Nation, instructed them as His Son, and inducted them into His Divine Service. They received a special calling to become a KINGDOM OF PRIESTS, a MODEL NATION, a LIGHT TO ALL NATIONS. God decreed Israel would be "above [not equal to] all people, And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation" (Ex. 19:5-6).

NO OTHER NATION CAN COMPARE TO GOD'S RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL AND HIS REVELATION TO THEM! (Deut. 4:5-8). Please understand that this utterly unique relationship and revelation is what made Israel great, it wasn't something inherent within them. It was a gift and a blessing they had received from God, despite themselves. It wasn't because they were any better than anybody else; it wasn't because of their race; it was because of GOD'S PURPOSE AND GRACE (Deut. 7:7-8; 9:5; Matt. 3:9; Rom. 3:23; 9:10-18).

The apostle Paul wrote to Church brethren, about their different gifts and calling (they weren't all equal): "For who makes thee to differ from another? And what do you have that you didn't receive? Now if you received it, why do you glory, as if you hadn't received it?" (1 Cor. 4:7). It is by God's design that individuals and nations should have different and distinct gifts and callings. We must respect diversity - not destroy it!

It is our Heavenly Father who directs and establishes us where we belong in His plan, whether it's in the family, Church or among the nations (Deut. 32:8). Who are we to question His wisdom or to quarrel about positions? (Isa. 45:9-10; Matt. 20:23; 1 Cor. 12:18). Jesus is the Firstborn of many brethren, the Church is the collective firstfruits of humanity, and ISRAEL IS THE FIRSTBORN OF MANY NATIONS! In fact, Isaiah 19:25 pronounces: "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance." God has dealt with those three nations more than any others on earth. That is His choice and prerogative. But for now, God has privately tutored Israel like He commands fathers to teach their sons (Deut. 6:7).

God has never referred to any other nation as His Son! Only Israel has that honor: "Thou art my Son" (Ps. 2:7), and "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt" (Hos. 11:1). We're the little boy that will show the way to the whole world, once God has subdued our sins, conquered our enemies and changed their bestial natures to befriend us (Micah 7:19-20; Isa. 11:6; Zech. 8:23).

We need to grow up and we will. Israel has been given a head-start in spiritual education, a special advantage, compared to others. We're not yet mature as a grown man but at least we're a child while others are still acting like animals! (Lev. 26:22; Rev. 13:18). Nevertheless, "I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light to the Gentiles; I am the LORD and my glory will I not give to another" (Isa. 42:6,8).

God will faithfully fulfill His purpose for calling physical Israel. He will finish what He's started with our nation! He won't offer that opportunity to any other! God promises, despite the demonic doctrine of replacement theology: "This people [Israel] have I formed for myself: they shall show forth my praise" (Isa. 43:21). Not Germany or Italy or Ethiopia! Do we believe God? Do we doubt He's capable of redeeming Israel? Replacement theology doesn't trust God and denies His saving power! It attempts to limit the Holy One of Israel!

God refers to future events as if they had already happened, since He knows He'll bring them to pass! (Rom. 4:17). Israel is the first nation that God has called out of spiritual Babylon, but they're only the first and not the last. God has called physical Israel to prepare them to serve as a CONVERTED NATION with but under His brilliant
Kingdom of God-Beings, just like the GLORIFIED CHURCH is destined to serve as immortal Priest-Kings, with but under Christ! (Rev. 3:21; 20:6).

ISRAEL WILL BE THE FIRST NATION TO RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT!(Ezek. 39:29; Isa. 44:3). Then we'll share our spiritual blessings with all mankind: "But ye [Israel] shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God; And [Israel's] seed [physical descendants] shall be known among the Gentiles, and their [literal] offspring among the people: all that see them shall [finally] ACKNOWLEDGE THEM, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed" (Isa. 61:6,9; Isa. 60:14). And at that time the tribes of Israel will acknowledge Judah for faithful service (Gen. 49:8, Zech. 8:23).

Christ will rule from Jerusalem as Israel's God-King, and yet there will also be a human prince and other mortals reigning under Him (Jer. 30:21; 33:26; Ezek. 46; Zech. 14:16). Likewise, internationally, the human nation of Israel will rule with but under the divine Kingdom-Family of God, and Zadok's physical descendants will faithfully serve in the Temple at headquarters (Ezek. 44:15).

All of the above glorifies God for his tender mercies and faithfulness to our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It reveals that "with God all things are possible." It confirms that "I would not, [Gentile] brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, UNTIL the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so, all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant with them, when I shall take away their sins; as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), FOR THE GIFTS AND CALLING OF GOD ARE IRREVOCABLE" (Rom. 11:25-29).

Those who foolishly push replacement theology are "wise in their own conceits." They have shamefully twisted the Scriptures that refer to spiritual Jews, to spiritual Jerusalem, the spiritual Temple and spiritual Israel - that generously admits repentant Gentiles into the SPIRITUAL COMMONWEALTH OF ISRAEL - to spiritualize away God's faithful promises to physical Israel! Now that they've been admitted, they jealously want to exclude Judah and usurp Israel from their rightful place in God's plan! (Rom. 11:24). Individual Israelites may fall away, converted Gentiles grafted in, but the NATION OF ISRAEL is here to stay!

"O LORD, why have made us to stray from Your ways, and hardened our heart from Your fear? Return for Your servants' sake, the tribes of Your inheritance... We are thine: thou never barest rule over them [Gentiles]; they were not called by thy name" (Isa. 63:17-19).

Some Gentiles have forgotten that God hasn't called Israel to become spiritual Gentiles, but has called everyone to become spiritual Israelites! They've forgotten that ISRAEL IS THE HOLY ROOT to which they've become attached. Paul warned them: "Boast not against the branches. But if you boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee" (Rom. 11:18).

They forget that the Church is CONVERTED ISRAEL that embraces righteous Gentiles. They've ignored the biblical principle of DUALITY. That there's the physical and there's the spiritual, and that both have their ordained place. Satan is the one who would love to spiritualize Israel away into oblivion. He wants God to break His promises to physical Israel and let them die in a spiritual holocaust!

However, God refuses to forget His physical people Israel and His holy purpose for them! "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee" (Isa. 49:14-15; Jer. 31:20).

We're supposed to ENCOURAGE ISRAEL TO REMEMBER THEIR ROOTS AND JUDAH HIS RESPONSIBILITY BEFORE GOD, not discourage them. Nevertheless, God remembers them and places His special protective seal upon 144,000 Israelites before the Day of the Lord (Rev. 7:4), and purposely names the 12 gates of the New Jerusalem after the 12 Tribes! (Rev. 21:12). This ought to prove that Israel remains first and foremost in God's Mind (Zech. 2:8). After all, salvation is to the Jew first and then to the Gentile (Acts 3:26; Rom. 1:16).

Paul addresses the nonsense of those who would belittle Israel by asking, "Has God cast away his people? GOD FORBID!" He goes on to show that God has always graciously preserved an ISRAELITE REMNANT, a "holy lump," even when He permitted the majority of Israel to go astray so that He could meanwhile recruit Gentiles (Rom. 11:1,5,16).

Those who preach the polluted propaganda of replacement theology would say physical Israel doesn't matter any more, but Paul clearly fought against such damnable lies! He also reminded his Gentile audience that it's the Israelites who were given everything from the holy Land Covenant to the Law (Rom. 9:4-5).

Those who preach Satan's lies against Israel had better read and believe and take warning! God says, despite Israel's horrible sins, "I WILL NOT CAST THEM AWAY, nor will I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God. But for their sakes I will remember the covenant of their [physical] ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD" (Lev. 26:44-45).

And with physical
Israel and Judah, God promises to enter into a new or renewed covenant: "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a NEW COVENANT with the House of Israel, and with the House of Judah" (Jer. 31:31). God also states emphatically that just as surely as the sun, moon and stars continue to shine, "If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a NATION before me forever. Thus saith the LORD: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD" (Jer. 31:35-37).

Again, God has heard the lies of those who say that He's spiritualized away His precious promises, that the TWO PHYSICAL FAMILIES OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH (and literal descendants of David and Levi) aren't important anymore, and says such blasphemers "Have despised my people, that they should be no more a NATION before them. Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; Then will I cast away the SEED of Jacob [unconverted Israel], and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be RULERS over the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them" (Jer.33:17-26).

GOD'S WORD STANDS: Those who deny it will be history! "For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed" (Malachi 3:6). God will keep His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to their physical descendants: Israel will become His model nation, His Kingdom of Priests and His light to all nations (Lk. 1:68-75). We can bet our lives on it!



Replacement Theology Refuted!

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