Replacement Theology?
by Rit NosotroComparative Essay or Change Over Time essay
Take a position on prophisies concerning Israel. Were promises for Israel inherited by the Christian Church? Is today's state of Israel still central to end times prophecies?
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Summary:
~ TBC Today (Newsletter #146): The Berean Call, Nov. 2004
Republished with permission.
Question: Hank Hanegraaff states that "All the promises to Israel have
already been fulfilled according to Joshua 21:43-45." Is that correct?
Answer: Absolutely not. Even a superficial reading of the passage, along with
minimal biblical knowledge and a little common sense, reveals the fallacy of
this claim by so many who believe that the church has replaced Israel! Joshua
21:43-45 simply declares that all of God's promises to Isr ael about giving
her the land of Canaan had been fulfilled. But there are hundreds of other promises
to Israel contained in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel , Daniel, et al., which were
not even given until centuries after Joshua and, therefore, could not possibly
have been fulfilled in Israel's initial conquest of Canaan. Moreover, there
were many other promises from God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob long before Joshua,
which were not and could not have been fulfilled in Joshua's day.
Consider God's promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, "In thee [and in thy seed] shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gn 12:3; 26:4; 28:14), referring to the Messiah, who came more than 1,000 years after Joshua. And what of the promises of Messiah's coming to redeem Israel and all mankind given to Israel by her prophets centuries after Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land? Surely their fulfillment was yet future in Joshua's day. Indeed, the promise of redemption through the Messiah has not yet been completely fulfilled even today, as the gospel is still going out around the world.
God gave the land of Canaan to Abraham and to his seed "for ever" (Gn 13:15) by "an everlasting covenant" (Gn 17:7, 19; 1 Chr 16:17, etc.) for "an everlasting possession" (Gn 17:8);and, by their very nature, it will ta ke eternity to fulfill those promises. These (and many others) were promises for Israel and could never apply to the church, yet that is the claim of those who, like Hank, teach that God is finished with Israel and that the Great Tribulation occurred under Nero.
Hundreds of other promises were given to Israel centuries after Joshua's day and thus could not have been fulfilled at that time: "the time of Jacob's trouble... he shall be saved out of it" (Jer 30:7); two thirds of all Jews will be killed (Zec 13:8,9);this, the worst tribulation that Israel and t he world will ever have seen, must be "shortened [or] there should no flesh be saved" (Mt 24:21,22). Moreover, God promised Israel and David that his throne would be established "for ever" (2 Sm 7:12-16) in Jerusalem, whi ch, though destroyed (Dn 9:26; Mt 24:2; Lk 21:6, etc.), would be restored (Jer 31:38-40; Ezk 37:26-28; Zec 14:11-16, etc.); clearly not fulfilled in Joshua's day, when Jerusalem didn't yet belong to Israel.
None of the many promises God made long after Joshua died regarding Jerusalem could have been fulfilled at the time of Joshua 21:43-45. Jerusalem became the subject of numerous promises to Israel, which are still being fulfilled: "the city of God...God is in the midst of her" (Ps 46: 4-5); "the joy of the whole earth...the city of the Lord of hosts...God will establish it forever" (Ps 48:1-8, etc.), "trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Lk 21:24). And what of the many prophecies that Israel would be scattered among all nations (Dt 28:64; Neh 1:8; Am 9:9 , etc.), preserved and brought back (Dt 30:3, etc.), and that "all Israel shall be saved" (Rom 11:26)? Clearly, none of these had come to pass at the time Hank says all promises were fulfilled. Many promises are still future and could not possibly apply to the church but only to Israel.
And what of Jerusalem being made a "cup of trembling unto all the people
round about when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem"
and "a burdensome stone for all people" (Zec 12:2,3)? And what of
God making the governors of Judah like "a torch of fire in a sheaf [to]
devour all the people round about" (12:6) and God bringing "all nations
against Jerusalem to battle" (14:2), the Messiah returning to rescue Isra
el (12:9,10), every Jew being supernaturally brought back to Israel with not
one left among the nations (Ezk 39:28; Mt 24:30,31)? And what of Christ establishing
His rule over the earth on David's throne, with Israel being fully restored
to sinless fellowship with Him and to her land with endless peace (Is 2:1-5;
9:6-7; Ezk 34:11-16, 23,24; 36:8-12, 15, Zec 14:9-21)? These were all fulfilled
at Joshua 21:43-45? Hardly! The astonishing claim that all of God's promises
to Israel had already be en fulfilled in Joshua's day reveals the depths of
the delusion that grips those who insist that Israel no longer has any significance
in God's purposes.
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