This is the second of three.
Israel in the Future

It must be excruciating to read the Bible if one follows replacement theology. This is particularly true of the Old Testament in general and specifically Jeremiah. There are more than 50 references to the ultimate restoration of Israel in the Bible and at least 30 specific ones in Jeremiah alone.

If replacement is a novel or unknown concept for you, it is in a nut shell the teaching that  the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan for mankind. The gist of the idea is that Israel rejected God’s covenants, culminating with the rejection and execution (crucifixion) of the Messiah. It was finalized in AD 70 when God used Titus the Roman to destroy Israel and the city of Jerusalem as a judgment and indication that Israel was removed from God’s sight. (This seems to dismiss the requirement for the Messiah to be the substitute sacrifice for our sins. They actually followed God’s plan to a “T.” ‘Scuse the pun.)

Furthermore, replacement theologists ascribe the “return” prophesies in the Old Testament to the first restoration after the Children of Israel were deported to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. God brought them back to the land and the city after the 70 years, as prophesied by Jeremiah and Isaiah. (Jeremiah 29:10)  But instead of turning to God with all their hearts, they turned from Him again. Granted, they did not follow idols after their return from captivity. But that seems to be the only sin that they forsook.

A study of false prophets again highlighted the problems plaguing a replacement theology.  Jeremiah alone contains at least 30 passages, many whole chapters, that refer to the return of Israel to the land, and their place of distinction and prominence in God’s ongoing world order.

Some replacement defenders, as mentioned previously, ascribe the fulfillment of those to the return under Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel. But the requirements for a prophet are 100% percent accuracy. A 90 or even 99% accuracy rate is indicative of a false prophet. And you know what is supposed to happen to false prophets.

Some of the “details” may be imputed, such as in Jeremiah 30. This does indicate the immediate return of Israel, but the entire chapter has some allusions to more obscure items. The mention of David on the throne, particularly did not happen in the post exileic nation. They did not have any king at all.   (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2030&version=NASB) So to claim that this specific portion of the prophesy was “fulfilled” in type or figure is pretty silly.

Recall, that the prophet must be 100% accurate, so Jeremiah would seem to have a little “miss” there (and it is not a baked confection with frosting or fudge) if it does not refer to a future fulfillment. The rest of the chapter seems a stretch to be applied to the return from Babylon and its successor Persia.

The plot becomes literally untenable in Chapter 31. (Just click the > symbol in the reading link above and you are in chapter 31.) Read the whole chapter. It opens with, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” (Verse 3) An “everlasting” love cannot ever end, can it?

But keep reading. Read the whole chapter. When you get to verse 31 God declares that He will make a new covenant.... I just have to put the rest here.

33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

35 Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The Lord of hosts is His name: 36 “If this fixed order departs From before Me,” declares the Lord, “Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever.”

37 Thus says the Lord, “If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done,” declares the Lord.

Notice the three conditions. First, based on God as Creator, He declares what will happen. Second, He links the existence of Israel with the diurnal cycle of day and night. Have the days stopped following the nights? If not, God’s promise is still in effect. Finally, have the heavens been measured? Do we understand the details of the structure of the earth? (If so, why do we not predict or better yet, prevent earthquakes?)

The answer is a resounding, “NO!” So to pronounce that Israel has been abandoned is to either declare that Jeremiah, or God, made a mistake in the above statement. (Another alternative is to ignore it, but that is not tenable in a rational discussion.) I do not think that we want either Jeremiah or God to have been wrong.

And, as if to clinch the nail in the argument, check verse 40. About the rebuilt city of Jerusalem, God declares, “... it will not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.” Now if that were the city that Ezra and Nehemiah built in 440-435 BC, we have a problem. Remember Titus the Roman? AD 70 finds him destroying Jerusalem and the temple. So that prophesy absolutely was not confined to the Jerusalem that Jesus knew and loved. It has to be a future restoration. And all of the “strange” details in the earlier chapters fall into place, as the People have returned, literally, from every part of the globe.

And Chap 33 reaffirms it even more emphatically. It is almost as if the Lord knew (smile) that the replacement theology would arise and was answering it. Actually, there were already people saying that God had abandoned His People. This chapter  very strongly refutes that concept and it quite enlightening to read it. Start at v. 14 and you can see the absolute rejection of that idea. It is non-negotiable and irrevocable.

A candid appraisal seems to call for the replacement of replacement theology. Just check out your Bible and determine what it really says.