Ecclesiology
Replacement Theology
Lesson XVII
The
A-millennialist and Post-millennialist ignore the distinction between Israel
and the Church. They state in their
writings that they have accepted what is called replacement theology. That is, that the Church has replaced
Romans 10:1 correct version
(1) Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is, that they might be saved.
Romans 10:1 wrong version insert the word “Church” for
the word “Israel”
(1) Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Church
is, that they might be saved.
In
order to hold their position they must spiritualize Old Testament Israel almost
out of existence. They apply the Old
Testament promised blessings to the Church.
And as a Jew has written, they are most happy to leave the promised
curses with Israel. After the
introduction in Deuteronomy 27:9-14, the curses are listed in Deuteronomy
27:15-26. The promised blessings in
Deuteronomy 28:1-14 are followed by more curses (Deuteronomy 28 from verse 15
through to 68).
I
hold a book published in 1946 entitled “God and the Jew” by William T.
Rause. He held the a-millennial viewpoint. I quote from the book:
Page
21:
In A.D. 70, “of the 1,100,000 Jews
within the city all perished except 100,000, who were taken prisoners and
scattered to the four corners of the earth.
Thus did God utterly and forever destroy the Jewish nation as He had
said he would do even before the Jews ever came into Canaan.”
Page 85: “There
will never be a national restoration of the Jews.”
Page
96: “There is as much basis for the
restoration of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Grecian, Roman Empire, as
there is for the restoration of the Nation of Israel.”
Page
99: “The terms of destruction and the
manner which this destruction was wrought, make impossible any further
restoration of the nation.”
Page
107: “The Roman Empire….destroyed the
Jewish state forever.”
Page
137: “The theory is: The Jews will be gathered back to Palestine
and they shall re-possess Jerusalem.”
This
was replacement theology in 1946! The
book was written two years too soon, for
What
has been the response by A-millennialists since 1948?
“What has taken place is nothing
but leaves.”
“There is no more significance in
Jews going back to Palestine than for an Irishman going back to Ireland.”
These
statements were made to me personally!
Some
A-millennialists have used Joshua 24:14 as a proof text that all God had
promised to Israel and the Jews had been fulfilled.
Joshua 24:14
(14) Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in
sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the
other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
The
problem with that is that all the prophetic books were written
after Joshua. Much written by them has
never yet been fulfilled.
Romans
chapter eleven, in my opinion, is an unanswerable problem for those who reject
the Nation of Israel saying it has no future in the plan of God.
Replacement
theology tries to spiritualize Israel out of existence.
Romans 11
(1) I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God
forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, [of the] tribe of
Benjamin.
(2) God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.
Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God
against Israel, saying,
(3) Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down
thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
(4) But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have
reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to [the
image] of Baal.
(5) Even so then at this present time also there is a
remnant according to the election of grace.
(6) And if by grace, then [is it] no more of works:
otherwise grace is no more grace. But if [it be] of works, then is it no more
grace: otherwise work is no more work.
(7) What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he
seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
(8) (According as it is written, God hath given them the
spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not
hear;) unto this day.
(9) And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and
a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
(10) Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see,
and bow down their back alway.
(11) I say then, Have they stumbled that they should
fall? God forbid: but [rather] through their fall salvation [is come] unto the
Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
(12) Now if the fall of them [be] the riches of the
world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more
their fulness?
(13) For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the
apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
(14) If by any means I may provoke to emulation [them
which are] my flesh, and might save some of them.
(15) For if the casting away of them [be] the reconciling
of the world, what [shall] the receiving of [them be], but life from the dead?
(16) For if the firstfruit [be] holy, the lump [is] also [holy]:
and if the root [be] holy, so [are] the branches.
(17) And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou,
being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of
the root and fatness of the olive tree;
(18) Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast,
thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
(19) Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off,
that I might be graffed in.
(20) Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and
thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
(21) For if God spared not the natural branches, [take
heed] lest he also spare not thee.
(22) Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God:
on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in [his]
goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
(23) And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief,
shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
(24) For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is
wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how
much more shall these, which be the natural [branches], be graffed into their
own olive tree?
(25) For I would not, brethren, that ye should be
ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that
blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be
come in.
(26) And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written,
There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob:
(27) For this [is] my covenant unto them, when I shall
take away their sins.
(28) As concerning the gospel, [they are] enemies for
your sakes: but as touching the election, [they are] beloved for the fathers'
sakes.
(29) For the gifts and calling of God [are] without
repentance.
(30) For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet
have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
(31) Even so have these also now not believed, that through
your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
(32) For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he
might have mercy upon all.
(33) O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God! how unsearchable [are] his judgments, and his ways past
finding out!
(34) For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath
been his counsellor?
(35) Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be
recompensed unto him again?
(36) For of him, and through him, and to him, [are] all
things: to whom [be] glory for ever. Amen.
An
A-millennial exposition of the Book of Revelation also reveals their basic
error. The book, “The Overcomers”,
written by Chuck Colclasure in 1981 is an example. Sadly, James Kennedy wrote the foreword. I quote from the book:
Page
166: “We are now in the millennium.” The thousand years in the vision represent
God’s program from the first coming of Jesus Christ to His return.”
Page
198: “The 144,000…figurative
representation of the Church” , “Every
tribe of the sons of Israel; the true Israel, the Church.”
Page
200: “Revelation 11:1 - The Temple of
God – a signification of the Church. The
two witnesses: The believing church in
its role as witness to the hostile world.”
Page
205: “Revelation 20:1 - The binding of
Satan…a spiritual binding which took place at the cross. The thousand years represent this age.
Talk
about spiritualizing out of existence, this book is an example!
So
one can see that such an interpretation of Revelation 20:1-7 is saying that the
1000 years do not mean a 1000 years but rather over 2000 years, making it an
indefinite period of time. We consider
the “little season” to be an indefinite period of time, while the 1000 years is
a definite period of time. If that is
not so, the “little season” has no meaning.
As
Romans 11 is unanswerable regarding the Jewish question, so Revelation 20:1-7
is unanswerable to those who do not believe it to be what it says it is!
Revelation 20:1-7
(1) And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the
key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
(2) And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent,
which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
(3) And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him
up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till
the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a
little season.
(4) And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and
judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded
for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped
the beast, neither his image, neither had received [his] mark upon their
foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand
years.
(5) But the rest of the dead lived not again until the
thousand years were finished. This [is] the first resurrection.
(6) Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first
resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests
of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
(7) And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall
be loosed out of his prison,
Here
is what I wrote when I first read the book “The Overcomers”:
This book is basically the a-millennial
approach to the Book of Revelation.
There are many good statements but most of them could have been made in
any other book. They do not in any way
interpret or help us interpret Revelation.
There are two major views of
Scripture. The one leads to a belief in
a future, literal millennium, the other to a view of the future without a
millennium These views are basically so
contradictory that they can never be reconciled. It will take the Coming of the Lord to settle
the arguments.
As in many ways, pre-millennialism
is foolish to an a-millennialist , so a-millennialism is often seen as foolish
to a pre-millennialist. A pre-millennialist
reading this book by Colclasure can only be filled with utter amazement at some
of the conclusions. An a-millennialist
will likely appreciate the book. If a-millennialism
is correct, then the book has value. If
pre-millennialism is correct, the book has no value for there is something on
almost every page that will prove to be wrong.
The book challenges one to be more careful in handling the
Scriptures. For when one begins to
carefully study the Scriptures, one should soon learn to study the Bible
carefully. This book does not do that.
I
wrote the following in a paper given at Banff, Alberta, in February 1966.
“The Evangelical believer (there is
a new breed of Evangelicals since then) accepts Old Testament history
literally, while the Modernist claims that much of it is figurative or
spiritual. The much talked about ‘new
curriculum’ is the result of a modernistic system, which forty years ago
spiritualized Bible history to make it mystical, and now has spiritualized
Scriptures to make them mythical. And we
all see the danger of this kind of interpretation.
“Now then, what the Pre-millennialist
claims to be literal in Bible prophecy, the A-millennialist claims to be
figurative or spiritual. Thus, the
battle goes on between the Evangelical and the Modernist over interpretation of
Bible history, while the division between the Pre-millennialist and A-millennialist
continues because of the interpretation of prophecy.
“The problem merges when one sees
clearly that much Bible History is actually fulfilled prophecy. Here let us illustrate:
The birth of John was first in
prophecy but is now history. The birth
of Jesus was first in prophecy but is also now history. In Genesis, God told Abraham about the
captivity of his seed. This prophecy is
actually fulfilled in the history found in Exodus. Therefore, in the main, much Bible history is
actually fulfilled prophecy by literal fulfillment too!
“One must accept the fact that the
first advent of Christ was predicted in detail.
We are told where Christ would come from, where he would be born, how he
would be born, when he would be born and also told what would happen to him
after he was born. All details fulfilled
to the very letter.
“The same Old Testament Scriptures
that foretold the details of Christ’s first advent, foretells details of the
second. Both advents are predicted by
the same prophets, at the same time, and often in the same context. None can deny that these prophecies of the
first advent were literally fulfilled, so how can we allow another kind of
fulfillment for second advent prophecies?
And that is what the A-millennialist admits he must do.
“Here we quote from A.T.
Allis: ‘The Old Testament prophecies if
literally interpreted cannot be regarded as having been fulfilled or as being
capable of fulfillment in this present age’.
Then he goes on to explain that unfulfilled prophecies must not be taken
literally.
“Interpreting Scripture, the
Modernist is forced to divide Bible history into two sections. First the factual, that part which must be
accepted as literal because proven by other history, and secondly the
fictional, that is, that part that can only be proven by the Bible itself. By way of example: Adam, Noah and the flood.
“On the other hand, the A-millennialist
must divide Bible prophecy into two sections.
First the factual, the literal, that which cannot be otherwise because
already fulfilled, and secondly, the figurative or spiritualized. A process which finally changes the meaning
of words.
“This process of spiritualizing
increases the problem, because it is a process which gives old words new
meaning. We are really seeing the fruit
of this today. Modernists are using
terms which to them do not mean what is meant ordinarily. This is the advance of the “New theology” and
the New morality” and the “New curriculum”, and it has very serious
ramifications. In this regard no word
has been more abused than the word “spiritual” when applied to interpretation
of Scripture.
“We must guard against a system
that spiritualizes away Bible history or prophecy. Prophecy and history may reverently be
spiritualized but never at the expense of doing away with the literal. By way of example: Adam is named in Genesis 2:19, Romans
“The same must be applied to the
term “Israel”. In the Old Testament
Israel certainly never applies to any but to Jacob’s descendants and to apply
it to any other in the New Testament is only possible if one alters the
meaning. This is what is done by
spiritualizing prophecy.
“The distinction between Israel and
the Church must always be remembered to show the real division between the Pre-millennial
and A-millennial teaching. The Pre-millenialist
believes that Israel is not the Church.
“We argue that God is only through
with Israel as a nation if the nation of Israel ceases to be a nation before
Him, as she was in the Old Testament days, and becomes spiritualized to be the
Church. And when we do this we have
taken an Old Testament word and given it a new meaning. Not merely a spiritual meaning, but a spiritualized
new meaning, and this we cannot accept.
“We conclude that if God is through
with Israel as a nation and if the Church is the completion of God’s plan on
earth, which is the claim of the A-millennialist, then there is no need and no
place for a millennium.
“But before such a conclusion we do
well to consider these questions: Why
are the Israelites still with us? Why
did the persecutions of the Jewish people not end with the nation, if it ended
in A.D. 70? Why are these people still
so different after two thousand years of unimportant history? And last but not least, how does one account
for the fact that the historic Jewish nation of the Old Testament, after 2500
years, is now actually, literally and visibly back in their same land?
“All these arguments together,
prove that a literal interpretation of Bible prophecy is justifiable. And that such an interpretation demands a
literal one thousand year reign of
Jesus Christ on this earth. We
believe the Bible clearly teaches a visible, literal return of Jesus Christ to
this earth for such a Millennial Reign.”
Now
after 40 years, not one word of what was written in 1966 needs to be
altered. Jews are still news. And we have found no Biblical or logical
reason to change this view. The sad fact
is more and more are turning away from pre-millennialism and more and more are
removing the study of prophecy from their preaching and teaching. But are we not warned in Scripture that, in
the last days, men will turn from the truth and be turned to fables?
2 Timothy 4:3-4
(3) For the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears;
(4) And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth,
and shall be turned unto fables.
We
believe we are seeing this take place all around us.