BLESSINGS OR CURSES: YOU DECIDE!

There are two schools of thought among Christians, with regards to Israel, which concern me.  The first is the view that, because Israel rejected their Messiah, they are no longer the people of God.  This is called Replacement Theology; it teaches that the Church has replaced Israel as heirs to the kingdom.  It is mainly based upon John 1:11-12 which says, "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.  But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name."  There are several reasons that this teaching is incorrect.

Replacement Theology ignores the fact that Daniel's prophecy of seventy "weeks" being appointed unto Israel, has only had sixty-nine of those "weeks" fulfilled (Dan. 9:24-27).  Replacement Theology ignores the fact that Christ's First Coming literally fulfilled the prophecy contained withing the first three of the seven Feasts of Israel (Lev. 23:1-14); and His Second Coming will literally fulfill the last three Feasts of Israel (Lev. 23:23-44).  Replacement Theology fails to recognize the fourth Feast of Israel is being literally fulfilled by the Church, which is made up of "two leavened loaves":  born again Jews, and born again Gentiles (Lev. 23:15-22).  Replacement Theology completely ignores the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters of Paul's Epistle to the Romans.  These three chapters can be summed up by the following three verses: 

"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.  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:  for this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins" (Rom. 11:25-27).

The other view that concerns me has to do with the idea that the physical nation of Israel, the Jewish nation which had its "rebirth" in 1948, is not "spiritual Israel."  First of all, the earthly nation known as Israel, never was the same as "spiritual Israel."  It was a nation like other nations, just as it is today.  Paul wrote, ". . . For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:  neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called" (Rom. 9:6-7). 

The reason this view bothers me so much, is that by rejecting the physical nation of Israel as being the nation God meant when He said He would bless those who bless them and curse those who cursed them, it justifies turning our back on the nation of Israel, leaving them to defend themselves against radical Islam (Gen. 12:2-3).  There are many in our nation who believe that our support of Israel not only is siding with radical Zionists, but that it makes us the major target of radical Islam.  Their view suggests that the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon are proof of this.  My only question is, why then does radical Islam attack other nations who hate Israel?  In my opinion, it is just "the nature of the beast!"  It is the ultimate example of wanting to "cram one's religion down the throats of others." 

Our support of Israel has actually protected us from radical Islam!