“And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated
from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place
where you are-north-ward, southward, east ward, and
westward; for all the land which you see I give to your
descendants forever.”
Genesis 13:14-15

“And I will establish My covenant between Me and you
and your descendants after you in their generations, for
an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your
descendants after you. Also I give to you and your
descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger,
all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I
will be their God.”
Genesis 17:7-8

“What I protest against is, the habit of allegorizing plain
sayings of the Word of God concerning the future history
of the nation Israel, and explaining away the fullness of
their contents in order to accommodate them to the
Gentile Church. I believe the habit to be unwarranted by
anything in Scripture, and to draw after it a long train of
evil consequences.”
Bishop Ryle of Liverpool-1867

In a recent discussion with a group of people, who have taken it upon themselves to challenge biblical Christian Zionists, it was asserted that the Hebrew term here in these passages above for “descendants” is in fact “seed” in the singular. This is indeed true but they went on to state that consequently the God of the Bible had in fact made no promises of land to the descendants of Israel but rather only to the “seed” as referring to Jesus. Jesus inherits everything and the Jews have thus, by this devious theological position, been dis-invested of the promises made to them in terms of being the everlasting possessors of the land of Canaan. The fact is they have in so doing mishandled the Word of God and are thereby peddlers of deception!

The term “seed” though in the singular can also be translated as “seeds” or “descendants” because the context of the passage demands it. This is not uncommon even in the English language as we can use the term “man” which designates the singular in a way that it refers to “men”; the plural. We can therefore say, “Man cannot handle his technology” or “It appears that it is not possible for man to control his carnality.” Actually all the major and minor prophets do this by referring only to Jacob, one individual, when referring to all the people of Israel! (Micah 1:5)

Again it is the context, which demands how we interpret the Bible and every translator, of all the respected and revered versions of the Bible that we have today, translate “seed”, in the singular, as “descendants” or “seeds.” These are highly trained biblical scholars who have professional skills in dealing with Hebrew and yet, according to this group of antagonists, these scholars are mistaken. I think not! In fact I want to stress it again, there is not one translation of the Bible that translates the word seed in the singular in the two passages above as referring to anything else but the descendants (seed in the plural) of Israel.

Indeed if “seed” in these passages is to be taken only as the singular, that is as referring only to one individual, then this would make the whole history and journey of the Israelites from Egypt to the promised land absurd and it would make their own understanding of their history false because God did not in fact promise them the land of Canaan as their eternal possession. Only a fool would advocate for this position! In addition the conquest of the land would then have been a huge mistake and Joshua’s leadership in this regard should be considered unjust. This is exactly the position that an Anglican Priest took a few years ago when he declared that, “Joshua was the patron saint of ethnic cleansing.”

David the great King of Israel understood the promises that God made to Abraham to be understood as referring to all of Israel as in descendants (Psalm 105:42-45) and the Major Prophets took the same position. Israel would be judged and corrected and even exiled but she would always return to the land of her forefathers (Amos 9:14-15). God gave the land of Canaan to the people of Israel as an everlasting possession, scripture plainly says this and it no where removes this promise; no where, and this is indeed the “Achilles’ Heel” of those subscribing to Replacement Theology or “Fulfillment Theology.” They have great difficulty in rightly dividing the Bible since they routinely abuse its context and have problems with understanding terms like “everlasting!” If everlasting does in fact mean everlasting then Israel’s modern day restoration has great significance and this is precisely what they wish to deny.

For them, that God would choose the people of Israel as the means by which to bless the world (Genesis 12:1-3) is totally unacceptable and even racist. The truth is, Israel is a servant nation and was never chosen by God because she was or is better than any of the other nations; in fact God saw her as the least of all the nations (Deuteronomy 7:6-7). He chose her only to be the vehicle of world redemption (John 4:22) and thus the means by which He could amplify His voice in the world (Romans 9:1-5) and give the gift of His Son to it. For some reason people, even Christian people, hate this and wish to resist it. Martin Luther did this as do many today and they will go to any place of theological error to achieve it. For instance the same group mentioned above welcomed a contributor to their discussion who boldly asserted that when Jesus comes again He would not do so visibly, physically and literally to the Mt. of Olives on the east side of Jerusalem. No, His return is to be understood in spiritual terms only. This constitutes a total violation of scripture but this person takes this position because He knows that, if Jesus is returning to Jerusalem, He must be returning to His people who have been restored there from the nations because He said this would happen (Luke 21:24) (Matthew 23:37-39). Thus, because no biblical significance must be given to Israel’s modern day restoration, the clear teaching on His return must be denied and waffled away. When he put forth this notion not one person corrected him but rather he was thanked for his contribution!

“Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made.
He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one,
“And to your Seed,” who is Christ.”
Galatians 3:16

This quote actually comes from Genesis 22, which tells us about the binding of Isaac. According to the book of Hebrews this episode in Abraham’s life constituted a picture of Christ’s death. Isaac is taken to Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem, wood is placed on his back and he carries it to the place of his execution where he is placed on the wood and nearly sacrificed by Abraham. After God stays Abraham’s hand he assures him that He, God, will send a seed (singular) to be sacrificed as Isaac was for the sins of the world. God says, “In your seed all the families of the world will be blessed (saved)” (Genesis 22:18).

The context of this passage is indeed in the singular and thus it is a promise that Messiah would come one day and die for the sins of the world. It is His death alone that will bring redemption or salvation to the human race. This is true and the argument that Paul is making in his letter to the Galatians has nothing to do with the promises that God made to Abraham in terms of his descendants but everything to do with the fact that no one will be saved by keeping the law, which only came four hundred and thirty years after God had made the promise to Abraham of a coming saving seed, Jesus. The Law teaches us about sin or is our schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24)(Romans 3:20) but Jesus died for our sins, like Isaac foreshadowed, and is thus our Savior (Galatians 3:13). This is the context of Galatians three.

Those who seek to use Galatians 3:16 as a means to negate the other promises that God made to Abraham at the same time, which promises have to do with Abraham’s descendants and with the land of Canaan and are said to be everlasting, are deceptive peddlers of error. They have failed to rightly divide the Word of truth!

Malcolm Hedding.

Today, with sadness and much joy, we learned that the world’s beloved evangelist, Billy Graham, has gone home to heaven to receive his eternal reward. The greatest of which for him will be to be reunited with his beloved Ruth! Millions of people all over the world have been touched by his powerful ministry and will join him in heaven’s mansions one day. Truly he plundered hell and populated heaven with a message that was simple, true, biblically sound and life changing. In one sense he was just a preacher of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. He told the message of the cross in words that the every day man and woman in the street could easily understand and so we shall ever remember those remarkable scenes of thousands of people streaming out to the center of a football field, rugby stadium or athletics field to repent of their sins and make Jesus lord of their lives. George Beverly Shea, accompanied by a huge choir sang, “Just as I am” and those responding had tears of repentance falling from their eyes and running down their cheeks. The power of the Gospel was evident everywhere and lives were forever transformed. Billy Graham was truly a gift to the world!

I first heard him preach in 1973 when he did so in a rugby stadium in Durban South Africa. He took John 3:16 as his text and believe me the whole country came to a standstill that day as they turned on their radios to hear the man of God. Thousands responded all over the nation and were truly redeemed from the ravages of sin and filled with the joy of salvation. Billy Graham touched the nation as he did many nations all over the world. We have lost a great man of God today!

America has not only lost a wonderful man of God but a prophet and pastor. He was in every way the nation’s Pastor even speaking into the lives of successive Presidents. Indeed up until the very end he was concerned with the welfare of the nation and wept over its sin. Truly Billy Graham was the “Gatekeeper of the Nation” and his loss will be felt everywhere. We feel a bit like Isaiah for, in the year that the godly king Uzziah died, he went before the Lord in anguish and despair essentially wondering what would happen now? How would the nation survive without a godly king? God’s answer was swift and sure and it was embodied in a question, “Who will go for us and who can we send?” Isaiah then realized that the time for him to step up had come and so he responded to God’s question by saying, “Here am I send me!”

Billy Graham’s life inspires us all to stand up and be counted. We must pick up his mantle and preach the Gospel of Jesus everywhere.  It’s time for us to say, “Here am I, send me.” This is Isaiah’s message and exhortation and we will best honor Billy Graham’s life by likewise serving His Lord and Savior. Truly we thank God for the gift of Billy Graham’s life and we thank God that his ministry will continue among us by reason of his many books and stirring crusade videos!

Malcolm Hedding

The Time to Favor Zion

“But You, O Lord, shall endure forever, and the
remembrance of Your name to all generations,
You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for the
time to favor her, yes the set time, has come.”
Psalm 102: 12-13

“And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and
be led away captive into all nations. And
Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the
times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
Luke 21:24

For centuries well known Christian, preachers, leaders and teachers have written of the biblical truth that calls for a restoration of the Jewish people to the land of their forefathers and to the city of Jerusalem at the end of the age. The scriptures call this, “The time to favor Zion.” This has not happened in a corner and is not a political issue but a biblical one with political consequences; but this has always been the case when the Jews have returned to Zion. There have been those who have rejoiced in Israel’s restoration and those who have aggressively resisted it. Nehemiah knew this dynamic well and sadly, nothing has changed. This modern day return of the Jews to Canaan and to their ancient capital Jerusalem is the out flowing of God’s eternal promises made to the Jewish people through the covenant that God made with Abraham and their Fathers 4000 years ago. This covenant, much to the consternation of many, has never been annulled or adjusted a fact clearly testified to by the New Testament scriptures.

Israel’s unique place in history is redemptive and for the blessing of the whole world. She is the vehicle of world redemption and as such has given to the world a revelation of God and His word that is amazing. This revelation has made nations great and has brought to their shores the saving knowledge of a Jewish Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth (John 4:22).

Today an American President, Donald Trump, had the courage to embrace what scripture embraces when the United States of America, by his declaration, affirmed that Jerusalem is without a doubt the undivided, eternal capital of the nation of Israel. No other nation can lay claim to Zion in this way and no other nation has ever had Jerusalem as it capital. Indeed Israel’s capital city was first declared 3000 years ago when King David reigned in Jerusalem. Donald Trump’s declaration is brave, biblical and honest, and the God of the Bible will bless him for it.

One hundred years ago, almost to the day, as the Jews were lighting their Hanukah candles a fervent Christian General called Allenby liberated Jerusalem. Just a few weeks before, on the 7th of November, his nation had issued the Balfour Declaration that paved the way for the establishment of the State of Israel. Jerusalem’s liberation was certainly a sign that an amazing cycle of events would now follow, and they did. The time to favor Zion had come!

Just fifty years later, in June of 1967, the Israel Defense Force finally liberated biblical Jerusalem and brought it under Israel’s sovereignty, thus uniting the city and opening it up to all peoples of faith. On the 6th December 2017, after another fifty years, Jerusalem has finally been liberated diplomatically. That is, an American President has had the courage to keep his word and honor the truth. This is astonishing, and while many will weep and gnash their teeth today and see nothing remarkable in these events, heaven will rejoice and so will God’s people everywhere because He has kept His word to Abraham and is about to bring forth redemption in a most astonishing way. After all His Son said, “When you see these things look up because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).

Today, dear friends God’s “set time” has been fulfilled!

Malcolm Hedding

Tomorrow the United Kingdom and Israel, and many more people all around the world, will celebrate the issuing of the Balfour Declaration on the 2^nd November 1917. This declaration undoubtedly paved the way for the establishment of the modern day state of Israel in 1948 and so consequently some have called it Israel’s birth certificate. The Balfour Declaration came about because of a process, wrought by God Himself, whereby great Christian leaders of Britain, over a period of some two hundred and fifty years, had not only by their preaching brought millions into the Kingdom of God but they had also prophetically spoken of the soon coming restoration of the Jews to their ancient homeland. Their voice had reached into the very halls of British political power and consequently when Chaim Weizmann requested that Britain should look favorably upon the establishment of a Jewish homeland in what was then known as Palestine the response was positive.

There are of course some Christians, who will not be celebrating tomorrow because they have fallen victim to the theological error of Replacement Theology. They see absolutely no biblical significance in the Balfour Declaration and the restoration of Israel and in fact greatly lament these things. In this they are certainly allies with all those who seek to dismantle the Jewish State. For them the great Christian leaders, who paved the way for this declaration to be issued, were deceived! In this regard they are speaking about:

• John and Charles Wesley
• Bishop Ryle
• Charles Haddon Spurgeon
• Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Now just think of it: These four mighty preachers, who led multiple thousands to Christ and who greatly impacted all the corners of the world, were in fact given to deception when they proclaimed the biblical truth of Israel’s coming national restoration! I think not. They knew full well that God is faithful to His promises made to the Jewish people in the Abrahamic Covenant, which promises He has never altered or reneged on, and that when He said the land of Canaan would be given to the Jews as an everlasting possession He meant it (Genesis 17:7-8). These “nay sayers” assert that Israel’s many sins have disinherited her of these promises and now they are a forsaken people as regards their national destiny. They are wrong, indeed very wrong because the Prophet Jeremiah states:

“For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by His God, the Lord of hosts, though their land was filled with sin. -Jeremiah 51:5

The God of the Bible has corrected and judged His people Israel but He has never forsaken them and withdrawn His promises to them. He will honor all that He has said in His word and the Balfour Declaration is evidence of this. The God of the Bible acts in history through godly men that will pursue His purpose for their generation (Acts 13:36) and this is precisely why the Balfour Declaration was forthcoming. We rightly then rejoice in it for herein we do see the goodness and faithfulness of God. May God be praised!

Malcolm Hedding.

                        “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak to

                         the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month,

                         on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath

                         rest, a memorial of blowing trumpets, a holy convo-

                         cation.”

                                                                        Leviticus 23:23-24

                        “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of

                         Christ, that each one may receive the things done in

                         the body, according to what he has done, whether

                         good or bad.”

                                                                        2 Corinthians 5:10

Rosh Hashanah, the head of the year, is the Jewish New Year and as such is a proscribed biblical celebration. It is also known as the Feast of Trumpets because it constitutes a clarion call to the believers to take stock of their lives always remembering that God Himself is weighing them in His scales to determine how pleasing they are to Him. If we live for Him, in all that we say and do (1 Corinthians 10:31), we shall have a sweet year and so at this annual celebration apples and honey are eaten in the hope that we will all have a good inscription or assessment. Paul echoed the same sentiments when he stated that we should make it our constant aim to be pleasing unto the Lord (Colossians 1:10) (Hebrews 13:20-21).

There is no doubt that believers who are not pleasing to the Lord have limitations put on their lives and actions. For instance Paul says that if we live lives that are not clean and holy and consistent with what Jesus did for us on the cross and then, we take Communion without making the appropriate corrections, we can bring weakness, sickness and even death to our lives (1 Corinthians 11:23-31)! We are thus called upon to carefully examine or judge ourselves before sharing in the Lord’s Supper. This is the meaning and message of Rosh Hashanah and we would do well to embrace it. Of course this is not about works in terms of salvation but about the love for Christ that should flow out of our lives because of His death, burial and resurrection on our behalf. Jesus Himself stated that He cannot endure lukewarm Christians and that those Christians who are in this state should make some hard decisions (Revelation 3:16). Repentance is the only remedy!

Rosh Hashanah is therefore followed by the Ten Days of Awe wherein the believer should embrace with joy the blessedness of repentance. That is, godly repentance that truly and joyfully turns him away from everything that displeases God in his life (2 Corinthians 7:10). Paul writes in his Ephesian letter that Christ followers should awaken from their spiritual sleep and eagerly embrace the blessings of God (Ephesians 5:13-15). We should all heed these exhortations because it is so easy to slip into a spiritual routine that can make us deaf to the voice and presence of God.

Rosh Hashanah is therefore also a picture of that great final Day of Judgment that awaits all of us for we shall all stand before God one day to give an account of our lives (Romans 14:10-12). On that Day we shall not be able to hide anything or make any excuses since everything about us will be laid bare before Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. That Day will determine our place of standing in heaven and we should all live our lives in the light of it. Rosh Hashanah is a timely reminder of all these things and we should heed its message. May you have a good inscription!

Shana Tova,

Malcolm Hedding

                           Dismantling Replacement Theology One Step At A  Time

                        “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars

                         in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land

                         I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.”

                                                                        Exodus 32:13

                        “The characteristics of Bishop Ryle’s method and style

                         are obvious. He is pre-eminently and always scriptural

                         and expository. He never starts with a theory into which

                         he tries to fit various scriptures. He always starts with

                         the Word and expounds it. It is exposition at its very

                         best and highest. It is always clear and logical and invar-

                         iably leads to a clear enunciation of doctrine. It is strong

                         virile and entirely free from the sentimentality that is

                         often described as ‘devotional.”

                                                                        Martin Lloyd-Jones

                        “I believe that the Jews shall ultimately be gathered again

                         as a separate nation, restored to their own land, and

                         converted to the faith of Christ…”

                                                                        Bishop Ryle of Liverpool

                                                                                    1816-1900

The Leaven of Error

There are certain teachings that have infiltrated the Church through the centuries, and even today are widely accepted, that have no biblical backing whatsoever. An example of this is the doctrine of infant baptism. There is not one verse in the entire Bible that validates this practice and yet it is practiced in many churches. This is just the truth and even the great Church Father Tertullian recognized this and condemned the dogma and practice as unbiblical.  In the same way the teaching of Replacement Theology, and for that matter Fulfillment Theology, is not found anywhere in the Bible. This doctrine, again widely accepted by many in the Church today, has no biblical backing whatsoever. It rests on the premise that the Abrahamic Covenant, which vouches safe Israel’s everlasting possession of the land of Canaan (Genesis 17:7-8; Genesis 13:15-18; Psalm 105:7-12), has been adjusted or abolished and consequently Israel’s modern day restoration is debunked as having no biblical credentials. There is absolutely no statement in the entire Bible, and especially in the New Testament, that supports this notion; absolutely none! And yet many in the Church believe it. (4) See footnote

Those who claim this position put forth very weak arguments that constantly take scripture out of context and thereby distort it and turn it into a pretext. This is what I call “pretextology”. In other words pretextology is that teaching that, having no biblical basis, is imposed upon scripture.

Having said this, it must be acknowledged that pretextology or replacement theology has been embraced by segments of the wider Church because it does contain an element of truth in that, as we all do, it affirms that no one can obtain salvation apart from exercising faith in Jesus’ finished work on the cross (John 14:6; Romans 1:16, Acts 4:12). It thereafter goes astray in that it seeks to undermine and deny the integrity and efficacy of the Abrahamic Covenant that bequeaths to the Jewish people the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession; even though this Covenant is in all respects everlasting and was made by God with Abraham in such a way that it was unconditional. (5) See footnote. For pretextologists then, the modern day state of Israel is nothing more than an accident of history and thus holds no biblical significance.

The Abrahamic Covenant

So then, in terms of the Abrahamic Covenant; the Bible, always in context, vouches for its efficacy and integrity. These are bound up with the character of God so that if it fails or is adjusted or abolished in any way then God’s character is brought into question. That is, He is unfaithful and unreliable! This is a very serious accusation to place at God’s door but this is an accusation that exponents of Replacement Theology constantly make. It must be remembered that, while the Abrahamic Covenant has many aspects to it, it is essentially only one Covenant and therefore if one part fails all the parts fail. The same is true of the Mosaic Covenant or Ten Commandments; if you break one you have broken them all because it is one Covenant. (James 2:10-11) The aspects or clauses of the Abrahamic Covenant may be listed as the following:

• God will make Israel a great nation,
• God will bless Israel
• God will make Israel a blessing,
• God will curse those who curse Israel,
• God will bless those who bless Israel,
• God will give the nation of Israel the land of Canaan forever and,
• God will give to the world a Savior or Seed who will save it from its sins.

(Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 17:7-8, Genesis 22:18)

New Testament Validation of the Abrahamic Covenant

So, the context of Hebrews chapter six is that of Jewish believers in Jesus who were, for whatever reason, tempted to doubt the faithfulness of God to them as expressed in the New Covenant. The writer then assures them of God’s faithfulness by holding up before them His faithfulness to the Abrahamic Covenant. In other words they can trust God to fulfill all His promises to them in the New Covenant because He has kept and will keep all His promises made to them in the Abrahamic Covenant. These promises He made unconditionally to Abraham and swore to them by His word and character. He affirmed that they were everlasting and could then not be altered or revoked (Genesis 17:7-8; Romans 11:29). This, and this alone, is the contextual argument of the chapter; an argument that the writer makes years after Israel’s rejection of Jesus’ Messianic credentials. Those discounting the promises made to Israel in the Abrahamic Covenant are actually accusing the writer of Hebrews of deception and God of lying since He has in reality abandoned crucial aspects of the Abrahamic Covenant and has in effect then not been faithful to it. This of course is not true!

“Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs

                         of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an

 oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible

                         for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have

                         fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.”

                                                                        Hebrews 6:17-18

The Galatian and Roman Letters in Context

So, the context of Galatians 3:16, as I recently pointed out in an earlier article, has to do with the conflict between Law and Grace that erupted in the early Church. Paul’s very strong argument is that 430 years before the Law was given at Sinai God promised in the Abrahamic Covenant that an individual would come (a Seed) and He would save the world from sin. In other words if He, the Seed, saves us by His finished work on the cross then the Law does not save anyone but it is our teacher to bring us to the Savior or Seed of promise (Galatians 3:24)(Romans 3:20). In context, Paul is not discussing the other aspects of the Abrahamic Covenant at all and indeed he tells us that he can appeal to the authority of this Covenant because as a whole it “cannot be annulled” (Galatians 3:17). Indeed Paul compares the Abrahamic Covenant to a human contract that is binding between two entities once it has been signed but affirms that the Abrahamic Covenant is more significant because it is bound to the character of God Himself. This is exactly what the writer of Hebrews does. But, our pretextologists contradict this by asserting, without any biblical grounds, that the other aspects of the Covenant have been annulled. Where did they get this from? From their own imaginations! They are attempting to impose a dogma on the Bible that doesn’t exist. They are pretextologists!

“Now to Abraham and his Seed (Jesus) were the promises

                         made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of

                         one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.”

                                                                        Galatians 3:16

Pretextologists further distort the meaning of Galatians 3:16 by falsely asserting from it that God in fact made no promises to the descendants of Abraham save the one that has to do with the coming of a “seed” or Messiah. In other words, they assert that 4000 years ago when God entered into a Covenant with Abraham He only promised them a Savior and nothing more! This is not only absurd but it is just plain nonsense for God did indeed also promise to the descendants (seeds) of Abraham that the land of Canaan would be their everlasting possession. A simple reading of scripture confirms it. Note: Genesis 13:14-18; Genesis 17:7-8 and Psalm 105:7-12. And, by the way, what is wrong with these people that they just cannot understand the word, “everlasting?”

So once more, if they cannot win the contextual argument then they “cherry pick” scriptures, again out of context, in order to debunk the promises of God in the Abrahamic Covenant. It is worth noting that without any biblical authority they are the sole arbitrators as to which of the promises in the Abrahamic Covenant are in and which are out! One of these pretextologists recently wrote that Romans 4:13 is proof that God has broken His solemn undertakings in the Abrahamic Covenant because Abraham was called to be the heir of the world which, in his view, goes beyond any promises of land made to the Jews. Once again the context of Romans 4 is about the conflict between Law and Grace and has nothing to do with the other promises that God made in the same Covenant to the Jewish people. In fact the Covenant, in its original form, states that God’s purpose is indeed to reach the peoples of the world, “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).  We then agree that Abraham is the father of many nations and the “heir of the world” by the promises contained in this aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant. There is nothing new about this and we believe it but it does not remove or change any part of the original Covenant that also bequeaths to the Jewish people the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession.  However, in the context of Romans 4, this promise was made to Abraham on condition that he receive it by faith and not by the works of the Law. In other words, it was only Abraham’s believing faith that brought him into right standing with God and not the works of the Law. This is Paul’s punch line and to then suggest that he is debunking the other promises in the Covenant is again pretextology at work. Here below is the verse in question:

“For the promise that he would be the heir of

                         the world was not to Abraham or to his seed

                         through the law, but through the righteousness

                         of faith.”

                                                            Romans 4:13

The Attempt to Discredit Christian Zionists

Another weak theological position is the idea that if you believe in the integrity of the Abrahamic Covenant, including of course the promises of the land of Canaan to the Jewish people as an everlasting possession, then you are somehow undermining the Gospel and preaching the Gospel of Zionism. This is just nonsense as if it were true then some of the greatest preachers, Church leaders and evangelists of history must be guilty of this! For instance the Wesley brothers believed in the integrity and efficacy of the Abrahamic Covenant but they in no way were compromising or weak on the nature and content of the Gospel. They preached it faithfully, as do many Christian Zionists, and so they were totally committed to the truth of the Gospel that teaches us that we are only saved by faith in Jesus’ finished work on the cross. To assert otherwise, as the pretextologists frequently insinuate, is to indulge in mischief and deception. One of these pretextologists recently asserted that he was challenging biblical Christian Zionists because his only concern was that of preserving the truth and purity of the Gospel. The insinuation behind this comment is clear; that is, if you believe that the Abrahamic Covenant is still intact in all aspects, including that of a promise of land to the Jewish people then you are a preacher of a false Gospel! This is also absurd because he would then have to lay this accusation against vast segments of the Church world-wide and against great preachers like Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Jack Hayford of the Four Square Church, Derek Prince, Robert Murray McCheyne, Angus Buchan, David Pawson, Franklin Graham and Reinhard Bonnke, who, by the way, has led one hundred million people from all over the world to Christ. Once again this pretextologist routinely lifts texts out of the Bible that in context have no application whatsoever to the various aspects of the Abrahamic Covenant. By this practice he routinely seeks to nullify these aspects and thus claims that Israel’s modern day restoration is a political accident that enjoys no biblical justification. In other words he is imposing upon the text an interpretation that is nothing more than a pretext. This is the habit of all those espousing pretextology.

Paul’s Defense of the Truth

Further more, it must be underlined that Paul was not a theological innovator and he did not anywhere advocate for the adjustment or annulment of any part of the Abrahamic Covenant. Paul’s dramatic conversion on the road Damascus opened his spiritual eyes to the fact that salvation can only be received by exercising faith in Jesus’ finished work on the cross. He, a man who had dedicated his whole life to keeping the Law (Philippians 3:1-6), realized that Abraham and David were not saved by the Law but by faith in God (Romans 4). The Law could only convict of sin and nothing more (Romans 3:20). To reach the Gentile world with the Gospel he realized that he had to counter the belief that Law keeping was the way to the righteousness of God. Thus in writing the book of Romans he sets out its theme by stating that in the Gospel of Jesus alone, for Jew and Gentile, is the way to the righteousness of God (Romans 1:16-17). Actually, in almost all of his epistles he stresses this truth time and time again and to prove it he relies heavily upon that part of the Abrahamic Covenant that promises salvation in the coming of a redeeming Seed. To construe from this then that the other parts of the Abrahamic Covenant have therefore been abolished is nothing short of presumption because this is nowhere stated. In fact, when writing about the people of Israel in Romans eleven, he stated that God would indeed fulfill all his promises to them because, “The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable” (cannot be altered, taken back or changed) (Romans 11:29) and that they are beloved of God “for the sake of the Fathers” (Romans 11:28). The God of the Bible clearly has a relationship with unsaved Israel that He definitely does not have with other nations! Indeed Paul warns his readers that if they as Christians despise the Jewish branches that have been cut out of the Olive Tree because of their unbelief they will incur the displeasure of God (Romans 11:17-21). The Bible makes no statement like this concerning any other nation or people group.

The Restoration of all Things

The truth is, once making a promise God never goes back on it! In the end the Jewish people, through a process of restoration, will be grafted back into their own spiritual tree (Romans 11:24) and “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:25-26). Jesus spoke of their regathering to Jerusalem (Luke 21:24) and Zechariah states that, having been regathered to Jerusalem, they will “look upon Him who they have pierced and mourn for Him” (Zechariah 12:10-11). Ezekiel tells us that their final regathering will be in unbelief and then, once in the land of promise and of their forefathers, they will receive a new heart and a new spirit, a reference to the New Covenant, and consequently they will live in the land forever (Ezekiel 36:24-28). One pretextologist recently stated that God would not deal with an unbelieving Jewish state. He knows “not the scriptures or the power thereof” (Mark 12:24) because this is precisely what God says He will do! The Jews will come back to the land in unbelief and then the God of the Bible, who has never broken His Covenant with them, will redeem and transform them in Christ. (2) See footnote

If all of these glorious things happen to the Jewish people in the great city of Jerusalem, including the Old City, then surely it is God Himself who will bring them back and plant them again in Zion? Yes it is, and His basis alone for doing so is a Covenant that He termed to be everlasting and that He made with Abraham four thousand years ago (Genesis 13:14-18). All of Jewish history testifies to this truth, as does Israel’s modern day restoration and Paul confirms that one day the “Deliverer”, Jesus, will finally come “out of Zion” (Romans 11:25-26). This affirms that He will again arise out of and from amongst His own people in Jerusalem meaning that their embracing of Him will bring Him back a second time to the Mt. of Olives. With this Jesus Himself agrees! (Matthew 23:37-39)(3) See footnote.

Defending the Truth

The conclusion to all of this is that there is no verse or passage of scripture that teaches that the Abrahamic Covenant has been partly or wholly abolished. This Covenant, with all its promises and undertakings, remains entirely intact and this in turn means that Israel’s modern day restoration is not a political accident but indeed evidence of God’s faithfulness to a Covenant that He made with Abraham four thousand years ago. It also means that, as a people, Israel is on a collision course with the “Seed’ (singular) of the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 22:18) or with the Prophet “like unto Moses” of the Mosaic Covenant (Deuteronomy 18:15-19). This is the promised Messiah and the One who saves apart from the Law. It is He, who by the New Covenant, died for the sins of His people Israel and for those of the world and by Whom then all the families of the earth have been, are being and will be blessed. So then, Israel’s role in redemptive history has been, and is, to birth God’s redemptive initiative and purpose into the world. She is the vehicle of world redemption or the platform upon which the God of the Bible has built His engagement with the humanity (Romans 9:1-5). Jesus underlined this truth when He said that “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22) and John the Apostle recognized this truth in the vision of the pregnant woman clothed with the sun, moon and twelve stars recorded in the twelfth chapter of the book of Revelation.

This vision given to John is a reference to Genesis 37 where Joseph has a dream wherein his mother and father are the sun and moon and he and his brothers are the twelve stars. In other words, the pregnant woman of Revelation twelve is none other than Israel; a truth confirmed by the fact that she gives birth to a “Male child” who is destined to rule the nations with a “rod of iron” (Revelation 12:1-5). This is without doubt Jesus and so most definitely the woman is not the Church but Israel. It is Israel that births God’s purpose into the world and so the woman, Israel, brought Jesus into the world and He brought the Church into existence; not the other way around.

The Ultimate Goal

The goal of Israel’s role in history is to bring forth a Bride for Christ the Messiah (Revelation 19:5-9). This Bride is the real Israel of God comprising all those, whether they be Jew or Gentile, who have exercised saving faith in Jesus’ finished work on the cross (Romans 1:16)(Galatians 5:16). These all are a part of Paul’s Olive Tree in Romans eleven and they are designated a “new man” by scripture (Ephesians 2:14-18). This under-lines the fact that all those who are a part of this Bride of Christ are freed from all prejudice and this in turn means that in this body there is no racial, gender, economic, religious or cultural discrimination (Galatians 3:26-29). It is a people freed from all hatred and prejudice and they will be married to Jesus at His second coming. Their great privilege will be to reign with Christ as joint-heirs for all eternity (Romans 8:17-17)(Revelation 3:21).

When that day dawns, as it surely will, the peculiar role of Israel in world redemption will come to an end but it will be eternally recorded because the foundations and gates of the eternal and glorious city of God, the New Jerusalem, will be inscribed with the names of the twelve Apostles and the twelve tribes of Israel; all of whom are Jewish (Revelation (Revelation 21:10-14). Above all, the city will have a great King who is none other than Jesus the Lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5) and the great Son of David (Revelation 22:16).

The Evils of Pretextology

Replacement theology or Pretextology has historically unleashed an avalanche of evil upon the Jewish people culminating in the Holocaust. Sam Clarke writes, “(The).. Application of this theology ranges from a subtle way of reading and misinterpreting Scripture to a vicious form of anti-Semitism that has been responsible for the murder of millions of Jews.” Bishop Ryle wrote, “What I protest against is, the habit of allegorizing plain sayings of the Word of God concerning the future history of the nation of Israel, and explaining away the fullness of their contents in order to accommodate them to the Gentile Church. I believe the habit to be unwarranted by anything in Scripture, and to draw after it a long train of evil consequences.”

It is no coincidence then that those Church movements that have embraced Pretextology have been most responsible for anti-Semitism through the centuries. Martin Luther, whose life and times we will again celebrate this year, subscribed to this theology and became an anti-Semite (1) See footnote. A well-known Anglican cleric aggressively pursued this theology for years and finally he went too far and the Anglican Bishop, under whom he served, accused him of anti-Semitism and placed him under discipline. Is it not interesting that those churches that have not embraced pretextology have no record of anti-Semitism? Even the apartheid government of South Africa was galvanized from this false teaching! Dutch Reformed Ministers, the most famous of which being the Rev. Dutoit, who was the architect of “Grand Apartheid” and the Rev. D. F. Malan, the first apartheid Prime Minister of South Africa, used Replacement Theology as the foundation upon which to build their ruthless ideology of racial discrimination.

Jesus said that we would know the validity and truth of certain teachings by the fruit they produced (Matthew 7:17-20) and in this case the fruit speaks so loudly that we cannot hear the preaching of those who advocate for such a misguided theology. Selah.

Malcolm Hedding

 Footnotes

• In 1543 Martin Luther published a pamphlet entitled “On Jews and Their Lies.” Europe was rife with anti-Jewish sentiment. Luther added fuel to the fire by asking the question, “What shall we do with this rejected and condemned people, the Jews?” He recommended that houses of Jews be “razed and destroyed”, and their religious books burned. This pamphlet and later his anti-Semitic writings, “Annuls of the Jews”, paved the way theologically for Hitler and the Nazis. (The Holy One of Israel by Sam Clarke)

• It is important to note that at Sinai, and through the Mosaic Covenant, God brought the Jewish people into a special relationship with Himself (Exodus 19:1-8)(Deuteronomy 26:16-19). They were thus to reflect to the nations the light that they had received. All of this was based on faith and not on Law keeping, a fact established by Deuteronomy 30:13-14 and confirmed by Paul in Romans 10:6-9. This in turn meant that they were to be a holy and royal nation and that they were to live on the land bequeathed to them as an everlasting possession in righteousness and holiness. In short only a holy people could live on a holy land! Failure to live in a reconciled relationship with God would remove from them the privilege of living on the land of Canaan but it would not remove from them the possession of it. They land would always and forever be theirs, by the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant, but their right of domicile would not. This is then the story of the Major and Minor Prophets who held the people of Israel to account for their sin and rebellion against God. The result was two exiles but there was always a promise of restoration and redemption (Obadiah 17)(Amos 9:14-15)(Deuteronomy 30:1-6).

So then, the undertakings and promises of God in the Abrahamic Covenant were unconditional but the promises and undertakings of God in the Mosaic Covenant were conditional upon Israel’s obedience and faithfulness to them. Failure to understand this makes it difficult to understand how these great Covenants are interconnected and therefore to be understood.

3. There is absolutely no doubt that for the first two centuries of the present

Church era up until the Church Father Tertullian, the only eschatological

view and teaching of the early Church was that of a coming, as they put it,

“Jewish Kingdom.”  That is, the end time events would be characterized by a

return of the Jews to the land of Canaan, their spiritual recovery, the reign of

Antichrist, the visible return of Jesus to the Mount of Olives and the ushering-

ing in of the Messianic Age.   All the early Church writers beginning with

Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna and the disciple of John the Apostle,

wrote of this. There is not one writer of this period that expounds the errors

of Pretextology  or Replacement Theology, not one!   The eschatological

commentator Peters writes:

‘Andrew, Peter, Philip, Thomas, James, John, Matthew, Aristio, John the

Presbyter-all these are cited by Papias, who according to Irenaeus,

was one of John’s hearers, and intimate with Polycarp. Now this

reference to the apostles agrees with the facts that we have proven:

that the disciples of Jesus did hold the Jewish views of the Messianic

reign in the first part of this century and that, instead of discarding

them, they linked them with the Sec. Advent. Next Clement of Rome,

who existed about A.D. 40-100, Barnabas about A.D. 40-100, Hermas

from A.D. 40-140, Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, died under Trajan,

about A.D. 50-115, Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, a disciple of the

Apostle John, who lived about A.D. 70-167 and Papias, Bishop of

Hierapolis lived between A.D. 80-163.”

On the other hand Pretextology or Replacement Theology had its beginnings

with a Church Father called Origen who, coming from the Alexandrian School

of Theology, propagated the allegorical method of interpreting the Bible and

thereby discounted the promises made to the Jewish people in the Abra-

hamic Covenant and transferred them to the Church. Augustine, A.D.185-

254, a man of great intellect, embodied these views in his famous work called

“The City of God.” This work rejected the notion of a “Jewish Kingdom” and

introduced a whole new theory about the Millennium called Amillennialism.

Dwight Pentecost writes:

“Thus Augustine made several important assertions which molded

eschatological thinking: (1) He denied that the millennium would

follow the second advent, (2) he held that the millennium would fall

in the inter-advent period, and (3) he taught that the church is the

kingdom and there would be no literal fulfillment of the promises

made to Israel….”

The views of Origen and Augustine have been adopted by many parts of the

Church until today because Martin Luther’s Reformation, consumed with

establishing the truth that we are put right with God by exercising faith alone

in Jesus’ finished work on the cross, failed to reform this misguided

teaching which contradicted that of the Apostles and early Church leaders.

Again, it is those holding to Pretextology who have, through the centuries,

despised the Jews, persecuted the Jews, exiled them, murdered them in

pogroms and crusades and gassed them in industrialized killing facilities.

It was only in 1965 that the Catholic Church finally did away with “The

Teaching of Contempt” that for centuries had echoed the words of

Augustine who stated “it was the will of God to keep a remnant of

the Jews alive in a degraded state as living witnesses of the Christian

truth.”

4. Bishop Ryle has made the following observations:

“I believe it is high time for the Church to awake out of its sleep about Old

Testament prophecy. From the time of the old Fathers, Jerome and Origen,

down to the present day, men have gone on in a pernicious habit of

“spiritualizing” the words of the Prophets, until their true meaning has been

well nigh buried. It is high time to lay aside traditional methods of interpreta-

tion, and to give up our blind obedience to the opinions of such writers as

Pool, Henry, Scott, and Clarke, upon unfulfilled prophecy. It is high time to

fall back on the good old principle that Scripture generally means what it

seems to mean…”

“It is high time for Christians to interpret unfulfilled prophecy by the light of

prophecies already fulfilled. The curses on the Jews were brought to pass

literally: -so also will be the blessings. The scattering was literal: – so also will

be the gathering. The pulling down of Zion was literal: – so also will be the

building up. The rejection of Israel was literal:-so also will be the

restoration.”

5. Indeed God made (cut) the Abrahamic Covenant in such a way with Abraham

that He alone passed through the sacrificial offerings and then He required of

Abraham that, as a demonstration of his commitment and obedience, he

should sacrifice his only son Isaac on an altar at Mt. Moriah (Genesis 15:17;

Genesis 22:1-3; Genesis 22:15-18). Abraham faithfully obeyed this require-

ment and thus, from that day forward, the Covenant would be uncondition-

ally fulfilled by God Himself; a promise that He has never faltered on. Daniel

Lee writes:

“Most modern evangelicals classify the Abrahamic Covenant

as unconditional. But the label is ambiguous. A review of the

covenant passages strongly suggests that the blessings prom-

ised to Abraham were conditioned on his obedience-making

the covenant in this sense conditional. On the other hand,

once Abraham obeyed God’s commands, the covenant became

prophetically guaranteed-and is, in this sense, unconditional.”

(Daniel Lee-Quodlibet Journal: Volume 6 number 3, July-September 2004.

Issn: 1526-6575)

            “If the peoples of Europe in the seventh and eighth centuries,

             and on up to and including the seventeenth century, had not

             possessed a military equality with, and gradually a growing

             superiority over the Mohammedans, who invaded Europe,

             Europe would at this moment be Mohammedan and the

             Christian religion would be exterminated. Wherever the

             Mohammedans have had complete sway, wherever the

             Christians have been unable to resist them by the sword, Christ-

             ianity has ultimately disappeared…”

             Theodore Roosevelt, 26^th President of the United States of America

            “The trouble is not that Islam has been violent, it has always

             been violent. It has a consistent record of violence that goes

             back over a thousand years. If history is any guide it will go

             on being violent a thousand years from now, if the world

             continues to be plagued by its savage barbarism for that long.

             Complaining that Islam is violent, that it is abusive, totalitarian

             and rejects co-existence on equal terms is as much as complain-

             ing that the rain is wet.”

                                                            Daniel Greenfield

            “The Arab regimes are a noxious brew of theocratic tyrannies,

             military dictatorships and/or nepotistic monarchies.”

                                                            Martin Sherman

According to Islamic theology the world is divided into two parts; the House of Peace and the House of War or the Dar al Salaam and the Dar al Harb. Those living in the “House of Peace” are under Sharia Law, which is Islamic rule; they enjoy the most advanced civilization on earth and consequently live in paradise. Theirs is by far a superior religion and culture to any other and those outside of it are inferior infidels or kaffirs that by Jihad, the waging of holy war, have to be overcome and brought into submission to Islam and thereby into the magnificent House of Peace.

There is just one small problem to all of this in that that those living in the House of Peace everywhere are in revolt and consequently overwhelmed by the brutality of war and barbarism and are in fact tearing one another apart. Those that can are attempting to escape paradise by fleeing to the “Crusader West!  Martin Sherman writes, ”Across virtually the entire Arab world, from the Atlantic Ocean in the West to the Persian Gulf in the East; from the Sahara desert in the South to the upper reaches of the Euphrates in the North, naked violence engulfs entire countries-Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya. Others-like Lebanon and Egypt-are perennially on the cusp of its eruption; and in others (like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia), it lurks, simmering just below the surface, constrained only by the iron grip of police-state tyranny.” To be blunt those living in paradise quickly discovered that this meant the removal of their freedoms and human rights and their subjugation under the heel of despots, murderers and thugs who, in the name of Islam, have robbed them of their human dignity and perpetuated this never ending cycle of abuse by handing over power to their sons or “friends.”

In other words, there is no “bright shining city on a hill” in the Islamic world giving credibility to their utopian claims. The house has fallen; it is split open and thereby laid bare for all to see the truth. No wonder the Islamic block has been desperately trying to get a resolution passed in the United Nations that, if passed, will make it a crime to criticize Islam. They knew all along how bad things were and wanted to cover it all up and then the arrival of ISIS made it all quite embarrassing. Too bad that Twitter, Face Book and text messaging came along in the “nick of time” as well to reveal the truth!

And, what may we ask of the so-called moderate Islamic movement that was fêted, entertained and heavily promoted by the Obama Administration called, “The Muslim Brotherhood?” This “moderate” expression of Islam has relentlessly embarked upon a murdering rampage against the Coptic Christians of Egypt. They have burned Churches down to the ground and literally hacked the Christian worshipers in them to death. Is anyone taking notice and, more important still, is Islam really a religion of peace? If murdering Christians is what moderate Muslims are committed to doing then how can we believe that Islam is really a religion of peace? Muslims, to be sure, have some explaining to do.

Now, of course, as war and conflict engulfs the Muslim world of the Middle East it will all be blamed on Israel and in particular its top secret Shark that now swims free in the Red Sea gathering vital intelligence for the Zionist entity and on its Eagle that embarks on reconnaissance flights over the region likewise gathering sensitive information for its Israeli handlers!

The real truth is that, the peoples of the region are tired of the theocratic rule of Islam that has only kept them poor, enslaved, illiterate and subjugated even though the region enjoys fabulous oil wealth. By the way, where has all this wealth gone? The answer is simple; into the pockets of the ruling elite! Is it not incredible that Israel’s Gross Domestic Product or National Economic Output is bigger than that of most nations in the region combined? Could this have something to do with democracy and freedom? What do you think? And, while talking about Israel, one thing that has emerged by this widespread upheaval in the region is that Israel is not the real Apartheid State in the Middle East but the Arab nations are! In the House of Peace there has been no democracy, no freedom of religion, no equality under the law for minorities, no freedom of press, no equal rights for women, no independent judiciary and no freedom of speech. I grew up in a country like this, it was called South Africa!! Thank God this house also fell because a house built on oppression and human rights abuses must eventually implode. South Africa did just this just as the House of Islam is today. For sure the only “shining city on a hill” in the Middle East is Israel. Of course to concede this is definitely not politically correct. A few Arab journalists who recently did were relieved of their positions and strongly warned not to stray again into such nonsense.

It therefore appears that the truth is finally out and not because of the West or because of the European Union or the United Nations (They were far too busy passing resolutions against Israel and designating the Old City of Jerusalem an Islamic site) but because men and women, mostly young at that, on the “main street” of the Islamic world have decided that enough is enough. No one really knows how all of this will turn out but we can only hope that once the dust of this many-sided conflict in the Middle East has settled that the “house” that emerges will be a kind, compassionate and peaceful one where everyone is free and protected by a truly democratic system guarded and watched over by an independent judiciary. Actually, much like Israel. Oops, I shouldn’t have stated that. But come to think of it; Israel, having built such a house in only a few years, could be well placed to give some good advice to the Islamic world on nation building and financial prosperity. Just a thought.

Malcolm Hedding