ISRAEL AND SUPERSESSIONISM
Wednesday – October 25, 2017
There is much controversy about the place of Israel in the plan of God. Since the advent of the Messiah, ratifying of the New Blood Covenant, and the rejection of Jesus (Messiah) by Judaism some say that Israel is replaced by the Church. This idea is called “supersessionism”, “replacement theology”, or “fulfillment theology”. This is blatantly false. There are currently three people groups in the earth and those are the Church, the Jew, and the Nations (non-Jews by blood) (1 Corinthians 10:32). In the beginning there was one people group however following the Day of Sin there were two, those who choose God observing the first blood covenant, what we call the Old Testament under which an observant persons sins were covered by the blood of innocent animals, and those who did not. The shedding of innocent blood to cover sin started in the Garden of Eden on the Day of Sin (Genesis 3:21). When Jesus came as the Lamb of God and confirmed and set in motion the fullness of the New Blood Covenant, called the New Testament, all peoples, Jew and Gentile alike who named Jesus as Lord and Savior formed one new people, the Church. Jew and Gentile alike can name Jesus as Lord and Savior and be a Christian, a member of the Church of God (not a denomination). There are those that say all of the Old Covenant is null and void and has passed away, we are under grace not the law. That line of thought is very wrong and is based at least in part on the following verses taken out of context.
Romans 6:14 (KJV)
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Hebrews 10:9 (KJV)
9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
If you read through Hebrews chapter eight, nine, and ten you will clearly see that the only thing passed away is the sacrifice of innocent animals which could not blot out sin but only cover. The Law, the Prophets, all the wonderful examples and instruction contained in the thirty-nine books of the Old blood Covenant have not passed away. The Sacrificial Laws having been completely fulfilled in Christ are passed away. However, even these laws although not operative remain an instructive prophetic Word concerning Messiah, the Word of God never passes away. However, none of this goes to say that the Jew no longer has a Covenant with God. Not one word of God ever passes away and the Jews can enter and be full participants in the New Blood Covenant just as the Gentiles enter. The Apostle Peter tells us that once we were not a people but now we are the people of God, what a wonderful passage.
1 Peter 2:6-10 (KJV)
6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
I suggest that each of you read, study Romans chapter eleven. This chapter talks about how the Jews have rejected God with their rejection of Jesus. Notice in verse seventeen that only “some of the branches have been broken off” which are those who rejected Christ. Pretty much this whole eleventh chapter of Romans is counseling the Church not to be haughty with the Jew for the “gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” (verse twenty-nine). In addition, they will be grafted back in as the Scripture says, “And so all Israel shall be saved” (verse twenty-six). Let me remind us all that the first or Old Covenant was available to anyone who would enter and so is the second or New Covenant. With the advent of the second Covenant many Jews accepted Jesus but in the end the majority rejected Jesus as Messiah. Salvation came by way of the Jews and was available first to the Jew and then the Gentile.
John 4:22 (KJV)
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Romans 1:16 (KJV)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Remember that the first Jew, Abraham, is the father of us all Jew and Church alike, and he was the one who by faith made the New Blood Covenant possible. On the day that The Blood Covenant was initiated with surrogate blood for all who would believe, God made Covenant with Israel (the Jew) as well.
Genesis 15:18 (KJV)
18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
Now, I would like to redirect our attention back to the map at the top of this teaching. The land which God has title deeded by Divine Promise and has been spoken by the Prophets to Israel stretches from the Mediterranean, to the Nile, to the Euphrates, to southern Turkey (norther Syria), and back to the Mediterranean. This is their promised land and they have never occupied it and I would pointedly say that neither has the Church of God occupied the Promises of God guaranteed by the New Blood Covenant. There were two prominent reasons that the children of Israel did not possess the promises of God and the same applies to the Church.
Joshua 18:1-3 (KJV)
1 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.
2 And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance.
3 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the LORD God of your fathers hath given you?
Joshua 23:10-13 (KJV)
10 One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
11 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.
12 Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:
13 Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
The children of Israel became complacent, slack, and they mixed with the world. The day is coming when they (Israel) and we (Church) will recognize and repent of our sin of slackness and the mixing of the knowledge of good and evil. In that day the Lord will be merciful and each will fully enter the promises of God. The remnant of Jews alive following the Great Tribulation that receive Messiah still has a valid deed of land and they shall possess it and dwell upon it forever. So, the Jew still has an active Covenant with God for land and when they recognize the Messiah they will be saved and possess that land in fullness. It appears that this group of Jews who recognize and receive Messiah (Jesus) at the end of the Tribulation are not part of the Church.
By: Dr. David R. Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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