“Keep your eyes on Israel,” the Arminians and Dispensationalists say, but they are wrong
With the recent unjustified terrorist attack on Israel, I have seen intense dialog on social media. Some are clearly pro-Hamas, some Palestine, others are pro-Israel. I am also seeing Arminian pastors telling others “Keep your eyes on Israel,” as they wrongfully “prophesy” the events as they unfold. Consequently, I have been asked to clarify my position on Israel.
Though I support Israel the Nation and their Jewish people over the Muslims and Hamas, and todays nation of Israel is an important political ally to the U.S.A., I do not Theologically support the same Israel that Arminians and Dispensationalists support. They have a wrong view of Israel in the Bible.
More accurately, in Scripture, Israel often refers to Christ and His church rather than the nation, or the geo-political Israel we hear about on the news today.
In other words, to be Biblically correct, the Lord saves and delivers His elect out of Egypt onto the true Israel the Church. When the Scriptures speak of the ‘chosen people’ of “Israel,” it is often speaking of those whom the Lord chose as His elect (the Church).
Though I do not believe in replacement theology. As a Reformed Calvinistic covenant theologian, I am more pro-Christ and pro-Israel ‘the church’ than I am today’s geo-political Israel. Therefore, I will keep my eyes on Christ, as I await my death, or His Second Coming, whichever one comes first.
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:1-2
For two excellent articles on a Biblical relationship between Israel and the Church, read The Church and Israel in the New Testament, by Keith Mathison. And Does God Bless Those Who Bless Israel, by Robert Rothwell.
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Bill Rhetts
An ordinary sinner saved by an Extraordinary Savior. Radically saved, and radically changed, by a Radical God. For more details, see the above 'About me' tab.
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#Marcionism, is a heresy that has been going on since the second century. And this view is still held by many dispensationalists thru their #dispensationalism today.
“In some regards, Marcionism initiated the question of the inclusion or exclusion of certain books. The heretical leader Marcion (AD 160), who considered the Hebrew God to be barbaric, acknowledged as canonical only a variant of the Gospel of Luke and 10 of Paul’s letters. This drastic move in some ways forced the Church to become fully conscious of its inheritance of apostolic teachings and writings, and to clarify its view on the Jewish Scriptures. At this point, the Church essentially agreed to keep the Old Testament as part of Christian sacred readings.
For further details on Marcion and why the early church deemed him heretical, see these articles: Marcion; Gospel of Marcion.”
(Sylvie T. Raquel, “Canon, New Testament,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).)