Dispy PreMill III: 3 Considerations
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:
“If this fixed order departs
from before me, declares the Lord,
then shall the offspring of Israel cease
from being a nation before me forever.” - Jeremiah 31-35-36
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I would like to offer three points of consideration on the front end of our discussion of the Premillennial Dispensational position. Some, if not all, of these points will reoccur throughout the posts that follow. I’d like to plant some seeds early to hopefully watch them grow throughout this particular series.
I. The premillennial position is the one that you will reach if you read the Bible at face value.
…and honest amillennial and postmillennial proponents will admit as much. This is not to say that amillennialists and postmillennialists reach their conclusions without the Bible, but rather than an additional interpretive lens is required. If read in a straight-forward fashion, as you would a newspaper, the Bible teaches that God formed for Himself a specific covenant people in the nation of Israel and proceeded to make exclusive promises to that covenant people, some of which have been fulfilled and some of which have yet to be. The Bible also teaches a time of separation between the people of Israel and God in which Gentiles - those outside the specific national covenant - would be brought close, grafted in and allowed to share in both the redemptive rewards of the Messiah and the future promises of His kingdom on the earth (Isaiah 49:6, Romans 11:11-32, Ephesians 3:1-12). Ultimately, however, at its conclusion, the prophetic words of the Bible through John in the book of Revelation teach that the promises of restoration between God and His covenant people made in the Old Testament before Christ’s life and ministry will, in fact, take place.
In order to avoid the implications of these clear biblical teachings, an interpretive lens must be utilized. The Gentile Church must become Israel in some form or fashion. Some may call it “replacement,” others “fulfillment,” or “supersession,” but the fact remains that there is no clear, definitive statement anywhere in Scripture to this effect. (More on this is still to come, but the point here is simply that a basic, straight-ahead reading of Scripture does not leave one with the impression that God is finished with national, ethnic Israel.)
II. The Bible is a Jewish book written by Jewish authors about the Jewish God and His interactions with the Jewish people.
There are no Gentile prophets or apostles. The are no Gentile writers of Scripture, Old Testament or New. The Church, like the covenants and the law before it, came out of Israel. Taken simply and obviously, the Jewish people are central to the interests and work of God on the earth.
This may seem like a profoundly self-evident statement, but it is one that seems to exist without much modern consideration. Israel, as a nation and as a people, is a primary focus of the Scriptures, not the predominantly Gentile Church.
This is not to say that we Gentile believers are unimportant to God, simply that He made specific promises and commitments to that one nation that He made to no one else. It is also not to say that being ethnically Israelite or Jewish is an automatic guarantee of salvation: the Bible loudly and repeatedly insists otherwise (Romans 9:6, 2:28-29, Matthew 3:9). It is also not to say that Jews are or ever were saved by some mechanism other than grace through faith: again the Bible is resoundingly clear (Romans 4:1-25 and 10:12).
But there is one, and only one, human institution which possesses commitments from God as an institution and that institution is the nation of Israel.
III. If Israel can lose their promises, so can we.
Given the unique position the nation of Israel holds throughout Scripture, God’s commitments to them must be taken seriously. Again, the way New Testament churches and denominations predominantly comprised of Gentiles have tried to appropriate those promises for themselves is by applying an interpretive lens to the Scriptures which makes a significant portion of the Bible metaphorical while redefining Israel as the Church. In other words, the promises made throughout Scripture to national, ethnic Israel now apply to Gentile Christian believers. There is more to elaborate on this particular topic, but for now, I want to simply make the following point:
If God’s election of Israel can be superseded and they can lose their covenant and prophetic promises due to moral failure, then so can New Testament Christians. Or, to phrase it as a question, if Israel can lose God’s promises because of their sins, why can’t we?
Given that plenty (not all, but plenty) of amillennial and postmillennial believers reject the notion that God would ever go back on the promises of salvation He has made to Christians, why on earth should they ever conclude that He has gone back on the ones He made to Israel - especially when He explicitly says the opposite:
“As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” - Romans 11:28-29
Irrevocable.
This point seems to be one those promoting amillennial and postmillennial perspectives aren’t fond of making. Instead, they insist that national, ethnic Israel can still have hope for those promises, but they will only be able to access them through the Church. Once again, to reiterate, this is not an idea clearly taught anywhere in Scripture but must be inferred or presumed based on the use of an additional interpretive lens.
Now, to be clear: the Bible prophetically promises the Christianization of Israel as a nation (Zechariah 12:10-13:1, Ezekiel 39:25-29, Revelation 7:1-8, 12:1-6). In this way, Israel joins with Gentile Christians in the acknowledgement of the lordship and divinity of Jesus Christ. But the redemption of Israel as Israel is not a secondary or ancillary topic in the Bible. God’s promises to Israel will be fulfilled, and not through their transfer because of their sins to another group of people. If Israel can lose the commitments God has made to them, so can we.
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And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O LORD, became their God. - II Samuel 7:24
Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
He will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
“and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
- Romans 11:25-29