Thursday, April 4, 2019

Revelation 1:7 destroys Replacement Theology

https://kehilanews.com/2019/04/05/revelation-17-destroys-replacement-theology/

This post is written by a member of the Messianic community in Israel or guest contributor. The opinions and views expressed are solely those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those of Kehila News Israel.

Revelation 1:7 destroys Replacement Theology

Ron Cantor

Apr 5, 2019

Replacement theology or Supersessionism teaches that the New Covenant, through Jesus, supersedes the Old Covenant, which was made exclusively with the Jewish people. The Church is the new Israel. God’s covenant to Israel, despite being reaffirmed over and over again in the Old and New Covenant, is now null and void, according their beliefs. The Jews broke that covenant and God is finished with them forever.

Individual Jews can find salvation in Jesus, but God’s plans for Israel (as a nation) have been replaced by His plan for the church. All the promises of blessing to Israel in the Old Covenant now belong to the church.

Monkey Wrench

However, there is a little passage in the first chapter of Revelation that throws a monkey wrench into replacement theology:

“Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen. (Rev. 1:7)

These are John’s opening words to the seven churches of Asia. This was written at a time when there was much deeper unity than today. You could simply write to the Church at Ephesus and know that all believers in Ephesus would be included.

In speaking of the coming of Yeshua, John draws upon the words of the Hebrew prophets, Daniel and Zechariah. First, he quotes Daniel:

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Dan. 7:13-14)

For those who embrace replacement theology, this first reference to the Hebrew prophets is not so problematic. Even if God has rejected Israel in favor of the Church, Yeshua is still coming back in the clouds. But the second reference, in Zechariah, clearly points to Jewish people in Jerusalem recognizing Yeshua.

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look onme, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.” (Zech. 12:10)

This is extremely close to John’s words.

Every eye will see him. / They will look on me.
Even those who pierced Him. / The one they have pierced (John uses the same Greek word for pierced as he uses when quoting Zech. 12:10 in John 19:37).
And all peoples on earth will mourn because of him. / They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

All Earth or All Israel?

You might say, “But it says all the peoples on earth, not just Israel.” Maybe, but some scholars interpret the Greek differently. In Greek, it literally says, not peoples on earth, but tribes of the land.Dr. David Stern, editor of the Complete Jewish Bible translates it this way: “all the tribes of the Land will mourn him.”

He concludes, as do other scholars, that the word “Land” used here is specific to the “Land of Israel”. In Hebrew, we often refer to Israel as simply, Ha’aretz—the Land. In fact, this phrase is used even more commonly than the name Israel. If I want to ask a friend if he is in the country, it would be just as natural, if not more so, for me to say, Ata b’aretz? Are you in the Land? That would be more natural than asking if someone was in Israel.

Of course this lines up with Romans 11:26 which prophesies a national revival in Israel, “and this, all Israel will be saved,” after “the fullness of Gentiles.” (v. 25) Without going too deep in end-times prophecy, some think the fullness of Gentiles is the end of the world domination by the nations under the antichrist, while others, like me, see it as the Gospel touching every nation—something, according to Matthew 24:14, that must happen before Yeshua returns. Both theories put this massive Jewish revival just before, or even at, Yeshua’s return.

John is quoting Zechariah, saying that at the coming of Yeshua, those who pierced him in the Land of Israel will mourn over this fact and it will lead to national revival (see Zech. 13:1). Also, while it is possible that every eye around the world would supernaturally see Yeshua coming, it is a fact that the “inhabitants of Jerusalem” (Zech. 12:10a) will see Him as He returns specifically to the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:3-4) just east of the city.

At the very least, it has a double meaning, as prophecy often does, of the Jewish people seeing and receiving Him, as well as people all over the world.

John and the Hebrew Prophets

From this verse, we can conclude that John affirms the prophecies of the Hebrew prophets:

He comes in the clouds.
The people of Jerusalem will see Him.
They will mourn over their past rejection of Him.
He returns to physical, national Israel.
They receive him (as Yeshua says in Matt. 23:39 as they say “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”).

This refutes replacement theology, which has no place for the end-time revival in Israel that the prophets predicted over and over (because replacement theology has no place for Israel at all!). You would think that both the fact that Israel has been restored as a nation (as the prophets said) and that Jewish people are turning to Yeshua more and more (as the prophets said) would cause those who believe that God is finished with Israel to rethink their position. We pray that they do.

This article originally appeared on Messiah’s Mandate, April 4, 2019, and reposted with permission.

All are welcome to post comments below. Please view our Comments Policy. If are you interested in writing for KNI, you may submit articles to admin@kehilanews.com or Apply to be a Writer.

Who will be Israel’s new Prime Minister?

https://kehilanews.com/2019/04/03/who-will-be-israels-new-prime-minister/

Who will be Israel’s new Prime Minister?

Shira Sorko-Ram

Apr 3, 2019

We are electing a prime minister on April 9. Our current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was recently indicted for bribery, fraud and breach of trust, allegedly offering favors in order to get good news coverage for himself and bad coverage for his political opponents. He is said to have received hundreds of thousands of shekels in cigars and champagne in exchange for giving friends and relatives’ business benefits. However, conviction is many months away, and not at all assured.

Netanyahu’s present coalition is made up of mainly Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox parties. These conservatives believe Judea and Samaria is promised to the Jewish people by God, and so they will not accept a Palestinian State on central Israel’s doorstep.

Unfortunately, they are also very anti-Messianic and spend much time and tax money harassing Jewish believers in their businesses and especially working to deny believers the right to immigrate to Israel. All Jews in the world have automatic rights to immigrate and receive Israeli citizenship—except those who believe in Yeshua.

The ultra-Orthodox, which now number about one million Israelis, constantly drag the Israeli economy down by extracting huge amounts of tax money in exchange for their partnership with Netanyahu’s coalition. They use the funds to pay themselves stipends, as only about 50% of Orthodox men work and the rest spend a lifetime studying rabbinical literature in their yeshivas. And their population continues to grow! Most Israelis understandably feel very negative about the Orthodox appropriating such vast sums of money.

On the other hand, Israelis admit there is no one like Netanyahu with his brilliant handling of the world outside of the country. Who doesn’t know we certainly have enemies in every direction. Yet Netanyahu has done wonders.

It would appear to me, that most likely Netanyahu’s type of corruption is unfortunately common among politicians in general here. All want good media coverage. All would like to do favors for friends, etc. But the press leans to the left, the media to the far left, so no sin of Netanyahu is left uncovered. Quite a lot of citizens are simply tired of hearing about his corruption in the media day after day.

From the party center left, we have General Benny Gantz who is well liked, well respected and fresh out of the army. In fact, Israelis have strong faith in the values and honesty of the IDF. Gantz has joined together with a well-known center left ex-journalist, Yair Lapid, to create the Blue and White party. No one knows exactly what Gantz stands for, but he is hinting that he would not be interested in creating a Palestinian state. (The “normal” Left in Israel is nowhere near the Left’s extreme dogma of the U.S. or Europe.)

The Blue and White would most likely give more religious freedom to non-Orthodox citizens – like Messianic Jews. In fact, the Orthodox hate Yair Lapid because of his anti-Orthodox stance. And believe it or not, both of these men are considered clean and honest. But Gantz as a politician is an unknown.

Meanwhile, the mountain of challenges in Israel knows no end. How to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon with which they have promised to wipe out Israel. How to deal with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, both of whose goals are to replace the State of Israel. How to deal with the rising anti-Semitism in Europe—especially France. Already 55,000 Jews have left France for Israel, and the Jewish state is preparing to receive another 200,000. How to deal with potentially difficult demands that might appear in President Trump’s Peace Plan, which has not yet been revealed.

How to stay prepared in case Hezbollah decides it’s time for another war. How to further the United States’ decision to recognize the Golan Heights and get other nations recognize them as belonging to Israel (part of Israel’s inheritance according to the Torah). How to bring more Arab and African nations to recognize Israel as a legitimate state.

Perhaps the biggest of all challenges is just what should Israel do about Judea and Samaria? Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is 82 and ill. No one knows what will happen, except that if an actual election is held in the West Bank, the chances are huge that Hamas will win as they did in Gaza. After 70 years of “no” from the Palestinians, few Israelis have the stomach to see Gaza II rise up a few miles from Tel Aviv, Haifa and inside Jerusalem. The Ben Gurion National airport would become an easy missile target.

Our focus is on the promises of God—that He will bring our Jewish people back to Himself, and give them a new heart and a new spirit. And at the right time, God will also give us back all the Land He promised us some 4,000 years ago.

The two main parties are now neck-and-neck in the polls. Lord, Your Will be done, in Israel, as it is in Heaven!

This article originally appeared in Moaz Israel Report, April 2019, and reposted with permission.

All are welcome to post comments below. Please view our Comments Policy. If are you interested in writing for KNI, you may submit articles to admin@kehilanews.com or Apply to be a Writer.