As it relates to salvation: did the Church replace the Temple?
As it relates to worship of God: is the worship in the New Testament Church the only valid place where Jews and Gentiles can worship in Spirit and in Truth?
As it relates to the Old Testament priesthood: did the New Testament priesthood replace it?
As it relates to blood sacrifices: did the sacrifice of Jesus replace all animal sacrifices forever?
As it relates to the high priesthood of the law: did the high priesthood of Jesus replace that of the law?
As it relates to the Old Covenant: did the New Covenant replace it?
As it relates to Jew and Gentile Paul said there is now no difference (Rom 10:12). Must Jew and Gentile receive and believe upon Jesus Christ for salvation?
As it relates to the promises of Abraham: did many Jews forfeit these promises by rejecting Jesus, and did many Gentiles become joint heirs by receiving Christ as their Savior?
While the pre-tribbers continue to claim those who believe in replacement theology hate Jews: this is nothing but lies spread by men such as Hal Lindsey. The fact is, there is no salvation for any Jew apart from Calvary Judaism. Peter settled this in Acts 2:38-40. If any Jew wants God and wants the mercy of God, they must come to Jesus. If they do not they will die in their sins. That is something Hal Lindsey will not change by accusing those who believe this of hating Jews. In fact, we love the Jews and want them to be saved and will tell them the truth. It is men like Hal Lindsey who tell Jews they can reject Jesus, practice the law, and they will be saved by the promises of Abraham. This is a lie and Mr. Lindsey should be ashamed of himself.
___________________
The issue of replacement theology for me began back around 1972 when I first learned the dispensational pre-tribulation rapture was a hoax. Not only was the time of the rapture false, the whole purpose for a quick secret snatch was false. I can remember so well suckered into the falsehood that God the Son had to get his Bride off the scene so God the Father could turn back to his wife Israel. Yes, I was suckered. Men who knew the ropes of the pre-trib rapture doctrine were very equipped with their Scofield Bibles to impregnate minds with falsehoods. I was one of those whose mind has been tampered with. The dispensational prophecy teachers were very good at mind manipulation. They were so good at it, they could teach their nonsense and make you feel like you got a revelation from God all on your own. I was convinced that my belief in the pre-tribulation rapture was a revelation I got from God. This personalized the false doctrine in such a way I had to deny God ever gave that mess to me. And to deny God gave it to me was the same almost as me denying there was a God. The pre-trib doctrine had a grip on my mind where each time I saw something false, I had to grapple with other aspects of the rapture. And not able to reconcile all the contradictions I would relapse back into dispensational pre-trib rapture thinking.
But then all on my own I discovered Ephesias 2:14. In all my pre-trib brainwashing I had never been told that Calvary demolished the middle wall between Jews and Gentiles. In fact I had been told there would always be a separation between Jews and Gentiles. Jews would always be the chosen people of God and Gentiles were not and never could be the chosen people of God. At best, Gentiles had to accept their status as being separate from the Jews. Gentiles had to always praise, worship, look up to Jews while they considered themselves the off-scouring of the nations who would be privileged to become the bride of the Son of God if they accepted Jesus as their personal Savior.
Somewhere in all this pre-trib mess I had to deal with the falsehood of two persons of the trinity who each would have their wife/bride. I could not rationalize or accept the trinity like this. And for God the Father to have his wife Israel and God the Son to have his wife the Gentile church, was just over the top. When I asked about God the Holy Spirit and his wife, I remember someone telling me the Holy Spirit was a monk and would never have a wife. Of course this was funny and I have repeated it many times over the years.
It was at this time I learned about dual-covenant theology. That while God the Son was working out his salvation of the Gentiles by the New Covenant, God the Father was still working out the salvation of the Jews according to the Old Covenant and Daniel's 70th week. So, in the trinitarians scheme, there were two covenants in operation at the same time. At some point in all this I discovered that dual covenant theology was the antithesis of replacement theology. At first I did not label New Covenant Judaism as replacement theology. I did not use the term replacement until after I was accused of hating Jews and trying to take from them their divine right as the exclusive chosen people of God by claiming Gentiles were spiritual Jews. By claiming Gentiles could be Jews by conversion according to Romans 2:29, was something dispensational pre-tribbers and law-keeping Messianic Jews hated. So, I suffered a lot of hate and continue to get hate emails over this issue.
Indeed there are several different doctrines on replacement theology. Some of them have most of the truth within them, and some are distorted to the point of antisemitism. Many who hate Jews will use replacement theology as a cover for what they believe is a legitimate reason to teach Jews are totally rejected and can never be saved. These false uses of replacement theology are the ones often used by dispensational pre-tribbers and law-keeping Jews to scream and yell and make out-landish accusations against all of us who believe in the New Testament doctrine of replacement theology.
Let me be clear here: In the New Covenant there is no special race class of Jew or Gentile when it comes to salvation availability. No Jew and no Gentile can claim they alone are the ones who can be saved. Christian salvation began among the Jews on the day of Pentecost and Gentiles were added later on in Acts 8 and 10. Salvation by Jesus Christ is open to all nations, tribes, kindreds, and tongues. No one is placed in a class position above another. We all stand equal at the foot of the Cross. We do not hold race to have any merit, our hope and confidence is in grace and not race. So, in the New Covenant, being a Jew or a Gentile is not the deciding factor of who God loves. The way I see it in Ephesians 2:14-16 there is a new man, a new creation, where there is no Jewish ethnicity or a Gentile ethnicity. It is this one new man that both Jew and Gentile must come into creation. This is the new Jew. The inward spiritual Jew. The spiritual Jew both Jews and Gentiles must become. The new Jewish man replaces the old Jew and the new man replaces the old Gentile. In the eyes of God there is then no Jew or Gentile class wars where Jews can continue to claim being the exclusive people of God and Gentiles are allowed in the back door if they will become Noahides and law-keepers.
Here there is a war: law-keepers holding on to that on the Old Covenant side of the wall, demanding Gentiles to keep the law, males be circumcised, wearing all the law ornaments, fringes, head-coverings: dietary rules and celebration of new moons, the sabbath, feast days, and other Jewish customs. Then on the other side of the Old Testament law wall are the Gentiles who believe in Jesus Christ according to Acts 2:38. So many keep the Law walls up and do not tear it down. The cut a hole in the wall to usher Gentiles back past Calvary into Old Testament religion.
I could not grasp this when I first visited a law-keeping Sabbath Apostolic church in 1970. All I heard for almost two straight hours that Saturday afternoon was "obey God and keep his Commandments." In over two hours I never heard anything about faith in Jesus Christ, faith in the finished work of Calvary, or salvation by grace. I was at that time in my life trying to find the balance of my faith. I could not then or now see that by law-keeping my faith was perfected or my faith was made better. I could not see how law-keeping added anything to Calvary. I reasoned that if my salvation was based on law-keeping and not Calvary, Jesus was was dead in vain and not needed at all. This was Paul's same conclusion in the first chapter of Galatians.
As I saw more and more lies and falsehoods in the dispensational pre-trib rapture doctrine, I began to hold a new Bible in my hands. When the Scofield and Larkin glasses came off, I was able to see the Word of God in its simplicity. I was so shocked at the enormity of the falsehood within the rapture doctrine hoax. I can remember how for days and weeks I would read my Bible every night and verses leaped out at me to show me how Jews and Gentiles were one in Christ and not two. I could see a new picture developing of the Church. It was not a Gentile bride as I had been lied to. The kingdom had not been postponed and delayed as I had been lied to. The whole lie that God the Father reserved the 70th week of Daniel off the Cross so he could use law-keeping and a rebuilt temple to get Jews and Israel back, was now exposed. The 70th week was not future it had been fulfilled. I new thing happened.
I saw the Church as Kingdom Judaism. It was a remnant Judaism. It was New Testament Judaism. The only valid existing Judaism right now. Sinai Judaism is no more. Law-keeping remnant Judaism is no more. I saw the new Israel of God under the Lordship of Jesus and he replaced the Old Testament system of law keeping with a New Covenant.
No, the Jews were not replaced as to a people, their religious system had been replaced. Their nation had been replaced. The Temple had been replaced. The Sacrifice system had been replaced. The High priesthood had been replaced. This means all Jews must be born again and come into the Kingdom of God or they would have no connection to God at all (John 3:3-5). If they rejected to come into the Kingdom they would all perish. And if they chose to remain in unbelief they would remain cut out of the olive tree as dead branches. I then saw how Gentiles replaced cut off Jews and were added in where they were cut off.
Jews today who refuse to accept the New Covenant alone for their salvation and hope will die lost. There is no salvation for them except Acts 2:38. They do not have a special deal worked out where they can remain Christ haters and still be saved. They cannot remain in antichrist doctrines of denying the Father and the Son. They cannot continue to claim Jesus Christ has not come in the flesh and be saved.
They must come into the New Testament Church.
Replacement theology is a Biblical fact.
Bishop Reckart
A Man God Loves
No comments:
Post a Comment