The heart of the divide in the Christian world toward Israel usually comes down to a person’s view of the Jewish people’s calling and destiny. It may masquerade as a concern for the Palestinian people, or purport to be about political issues, but often the real issue lies in whether they believe in a form of Replacement Theology or not.
The Problem with Replacement Theology
Replacement Theology, or supersessionism, is a centuries-old teaching that the Jewish people have been cursed and rejected by God because they rejected Jesus’ messianic credentials. As a result, they have been replaced by the church; the church is therefore the new Israel of God. While God’s curses may be upon the Jews, His blessings all reside on the church!
This theology provided fertile ground for centuries of antisemitic teachings in the church and sowed the seeds for the persecution of the Jewish people throughout Europe. Many scholars agree that the Holocaust could never have happened had it not been for the centuries of Christian antisemitism that were rooted in this theology.
Replacement Theology, in all its variations, implies that God’s Plan A failed, so He went to Plan B with a new people: the Christian Church. However, Ephesians 1:4–5 says that Plan A existed before the foundations of the world were laid and always included the death of Christ Jesus because that is how Gentile believers are adopted as sons (v. 5). Paul in Romans 11 affirms that the calling of the Jewish people is irrevocable (Romans 11:29). Plan A did not fail and was not annulled.
The danger is that if someone believes the Jewish people were so wicked that they lost their covenant with God, that person becomes susceptible to antisemitic lies, which can quickly take root. Proof of this connection is that often, accusations against Israel then morph into derogatory comments about Jews in general, and all is justified by repeating a Replacement Theology position. Replacement Theology opens the door to and provides fertile ground for antisemitism.
What Is the Calling of the Jewish People?
Christian Zionism, however, is a protective wall against antisemitism because it produces gratitude and respect for the Jewish people. The land of Canaan was bequeathed to them as an everlasting possession for the purposes of becoming a great nation and blessing all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:1–3). They would do this by bringing to a fallen world the redemptive gifts through which man can be saved. The apostle Paul listed those redemptive gifts in Romans 3:2 and Romans 9:4–5: the Word of God, the covenants, the law, the service of God, the promises, and Christ Jesus. The Jewish people’s work is not yet complete, and God has brought them back to the land for what may now be the final chapter of history, which is a glorious one, when the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth and nations will learn war no more (Isaiah 2, 11).
Acknowledging this special calling on the Jewish people entails a responsibility to appreciate, bless, and honor them. However, this does not mean that God loves them above all the other peoples of the world. John 3:16 declares God’s love extends to the whole world: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
God’s love for the world is why He brought into existence the nation of Israel through whom He would bring about His great plan of redemption. Their role in His plan would afford them a place of preservation and promised blessing. Unfortunately, their calling would also place them directly in the line of fire, and consequently, there would be much suffering throughout the centuries because of it. The story of the Jewish people is filled with exiles, persecutions, pogroms, expulsions, and threats of annihilation. There is no explanation for this history other than the biblical role bequeathed to them by God Himself and the evil battle against it.
Psalm 83:1–4 explains that they are in the line of fire in a war against God Himself: “O God . . . those who hate you . . . have said ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.’” God knew that the people of Israel would pay a price and their history would be full of suffering. This could explain why He promised blessings on any who would bless and help them.
Israel as a Test for the Nations
George Gilder, a venture-capitalist, proposes in his book The Israel Test that Israel presents a moral and ethical challenge to the world and therefore has become the ultimate fault line. At the root of the Israel test for the world today is the knowledge that Israel is contributing more to humanity through its scientific, technological, and economic achievements than nearly any other country in the world.
According to Gilder, Israel presents the following test to the world: What is your attitude toward people who surpass you in creating wealth or in other accomplishments? Do you aspire to their excellence, or do you seethe at it? Do you admire and celebrate exceptional achievement, or do you impugn it and seek to tear it down?
God is using Israel to test the hearts of the nations. Their future will be determined by how they respond.
In Isaiah 11, the return of the Jewish people to their homeland is described as God’s banner to the nations. God is declaring a message to the world in this miraculous return—that God’s word is true, and He is faithful to fulfill it. This is a message that Christians should rejoice in and rally behind. But the flip side of that message is a clear warning that judgment is coming, and it will be based on their failure of the “Israel test.” His word says those who oppose His people and seek to destroy them will be destroyed. It is a clear word of warning (see Jeremiah 30:11; Joel 3:1–3; Zephaniah 3:19; Zechariah 12:9).
Israel as a Test for the Church
The same test is being presented to the church. In Romans 11, the apostle Paul addresses the attitude of the Roman church toward the Jewish people. He warns believers to make sure that their attitude is humble and honors the Jewish people. He even cautions them about possible judgment by God if their attitude is not right: “Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either” (Romans 11:20–21).
This is the test that Israel presents to the church: Are we arrogant toward the Jews? Do we seek to replace them in advancing God’s will—or do we rejoice in the faithfulness of God to them and that He is fulfilling the promises He made to their fathers? Do we despise their return to their homeland because it does not fit into our Replacement Theology—or do we break into praise of God’s mighty ways as did the apostle Paul when he completed his teaching about God’s enduring plans for Israel in Romans 9–11?
A church that honors its Hebraic roots, as wild branches that are grafted into the natural olive tree (Romans 11:17), receives great strength and nourishment. Separating ourselves from the very root that supports our Christian faith brings spiritual decline and even death. Christianity has no meaning when separated from its Jewish context. This may explain the decline in certain denominations that belittle the biblical and Hebraic foundation of our faith.
May we all pass this test and approach the issue of Israel and the Jewish people with humility and honor for the spiritual root that supports the Christian faith.
What Replacement Theology Gets Wrong About God
The great scandal of Replacement Theology is its assault on the character of God and His faithfulness. The idea that God rejected the Jewish people and took away their promises, giving them to another people—the church—cannot be reconciled with Scripture. If God’s plan A failed and He had to come up with a new people to execute plan B, it brings into question His sovereignty and wisdom. What kind of God has a plan that fails?
Instead, the reading of Scripture is clear that God’s promises to Abraham were not conditional on actions by Abraham or any of his descendants. Genesis 15 reveals that the covenant was not even made with Abraham—it was as though God was making the covenant with Himself. He was the responsible party to fulfill the covenant. So to say that it failed means He failed and brings God’s character into question.
Scripture is also clear that God is a faithful God: “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19 ESV).
A powerful declaration of God’s commitment to His promises is found in Psalm 89:34: “My covenant I will not break.” And in the New Testament Timothy says: “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).
God is faithful and is fulfilling the promises He made 4,000 years ago to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That realization should bring great encouragement to all Christians that He will also fulfill His promises made to us.
Conclusion
So if ever you are in a time of discouragement or doubt, remember the return of the Jewish people to the land God promised to Abraham, exactly as foretold by the Hebrew prophets thousands of years ago. We can find hope in this amazing demonstration of the faithfulness of God.
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/David Boca
