Opus 2025-292: Opposite of Replacement

A friend likes to accuse me of being a believer in “replacement theology”.  At first I was like a little boy who didn’t know what the insult was about, and said “No, I’m not.”   The more I study the more I tend to say, “Maybe I am.”  Like me you may wonder what Replacement Theology is.  It seems to involve the idea that the church has replaced Israel as God’s Chosen People.  At its extreme it can evidently become quite anti-Semitic and be more focused on discrediting the Jews than lifting up the church.  

Most of us are familiar with the concept that God chose the children of Abraham to be a blessing to the world.  They were given the law.  The Messiah, Jesus, was to come from the decendents of David.  Is all that unconditional or are their some “if’s” involved?

Consider the following and realize that it is one of many places we see this.  The setting is the final dedication of the Temple and God is addressing Solomon.

2 Chronicles 7:16-20 (KJV) 16 For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. 17 And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statutes and my judgments; 18 Then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel. 19 But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; 20 Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.

Here you have double sets of if/then.  The first was a conditional promise to Solomon for the same covenant that had been offered to David.  The second is the clear statement about what would happen if Solomon turned away from God.  It promised that they would be plucked out by the roots from God’s land if Solomon turned away.  That sounds pretty clear.  If they disobeyed God and turned other gods, they will be removed from the land.  Generally when you pluck something out it dies.  It does not come back at a later date.  What you need to add to the equation is something that most Christians don’t know:  At the end of his life, Solomon did all of the things that God forbid him from doing.

So which time was God speaking literally and which figuratively?  Is God done with Israel?  I am still in process on this.  I am sure there will be more to come.

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