Have you ever walked into a Christian bookstore looking for End Times material, and were puzzled about the number of books on Israel? That’s probably because, either the bookstore is owned by dispensationalists —or because the bookstore simply buys what they know sells—and dispensational books sell. But there are problems with this tie-in to Christian doctrine.
The purpose of this paper is to give you a thumbnail sketch of dispensational doctrine, so that you can see the one tenet by which everything else in this doctrine hangs. If we blow that tenet up, through Scripture, then the whole doctrine collapses.
Per Wikipedia, dispensationalism is defined as “an evangelical, futurist, Biblical interpretation that understands God to have related to human beings in…“dispensations,” or periods in history…expounded in the writings of John Nelson Darby (1800-82) and the Plymouth Brethren movement, and propagated through…Scofield Reference Bibles…They hold to a pretribulation rapture…they believe that the nation of Israel is distinct from the Christian Church, and that God has yet to fulfill His promises to national Israel. These promises include…a millennial kingdom and a Third Temple where Christ, upon His return, will rule the world from Jerusalem for a thousand years…. Dispensationalists also believe that toward the end of the Tribulation, Israel as a nation will turn and embrace Jesus as their messiah right before his second coming during the Great Tribulation…the Church, though, is a "parenthesis" or temporary interlude in the progress of Israel's prophesied history.”
Sorry about the long definition of dispensationalism. Now here is their timeline of relevant events of the last days:
With no prior specific warning, the Rapture comes—i.e., when Christ comes, and all alive at the time who have had faith in Jesus will be called up by Christ to meet Him in the clouds, and onward to heaven. That means, they say, that those who are left after this on earth will all be unsaved, and will immediately endure seven years of tribulation and persecution by the antichrist. Then somehow (despite no saved people to start this period with), a huge evangelism effort (presumably led by 144,000 newly-saved Jews) will lead a huge number of additional Jews and newly-saved Gentiles to Christ, who will face off against the antichrist at Armageddon, when Christ comes to strike down the enemy (i.e., a third coming). That ushers in the Millennium, ruled by mostly Jews; and then after a short rebellion, there is final judgment—when the unsaved of all ages are tried and sent to the lake of fire.
You can see how their idea of a rapture, followed by the tribulation, came to be called “pre-tribulation rapture.” What you may not know is that this idea from John Darby was unheard of through the first 1800 years of the Church. Great, godly men who were taught by the apostles, had never come up with the pre-trib idea, and suddenly it appeared in the early 1830s. From the beginning of the Christian church until 1830, those who held a futurist view almost universally felt that the end times= a great tribulation, after which the saved are raptured, followed immediately by a great judgment for saved and unsaved. Supposedly we've had it backwards for those 1800 ignorant years. Their idea is, Christ comes three times, once for birth, another for the rapture, third for judgment. Scripture simply calls the final touchdown the Second Coming.
As you can see, Darby’s “pre-trib rapture” idea switches those two events—the tribulation-then-rapture he turned into a rapture-then-tribulation. Mr. Darby, despite the fact that his idea was the new one, called all other Christian churches “apostates.” He knew better, he figured.
But I’m not here to discuss the timing of the rapture and tribulation. I have written three blogs on the subject, very carefully laying it all out by clear Scripture (hint: It doesn’t agree with Mr. Darby). What I want to analyze is indicated in my italicized statements in the definition above. I’m speaking of the dispensationalist claims that (1) God has promises to still fulfill to the Jews; and (2) the Church is a “parenthesis,” or temporary interlude, in the progress of Israel’s prophesied history. You can see how that second tenet, in particular, is crucial to their whole doctrine—they believe that with the Christians raptured to heaven, the church is out of the way in earthly influence (it's been only a parenthesis, anyhow, right?), and God can resume His promises to the Jews from the Old Testament. So, he concludes, all subsequent events on earth after the rapture feature the Jews. The 144,000 Jews are massively successful evangelists, even more than Billy Graham, and the Jews rule the Millennium.
My problem with his theory is this: Scripture indicates, instead, that God has rejected Israel as a fleshly nation. Further, in the present church age, the Church—saved Gentiles and Jews--are today's “Israel,” when the Bible uses the term "Israel"for future events. After all, all Christians are spiritual sons of Abraham, Scripture says. Secondly, saved people are all one people—God doesn’t have two programs for two peoples, as dispensationalists allege. The “saints” mentioned several times in Revelation are saved Gentiles and Jews, together. The Millennium will be ruled by the saints—Jews and Gentiles. The Church is not a “parenthesis” to God; we carry the Holy Spirit, we are Jesus’ body—we represent Jesus in exercising compassion and rescue in the tribulation—we have a vital part to play in that time of great suffering and spiritual battle. I will easily prove these facts by Scripture. Scripture is so clear on this, frankly, that the only reason someone could believe dispensationalist doctrine is because either (1) the idea of God rejecting people that He once blessed is an unacceptable thought to them; (2) rejecting the Jews sounds anti-Semitic; or (3) dispensationalist thought is attractive-- it asserts that Christians “get outta town” (via Rapture) before the bad days of the tribulation comes. Getting to watch the tribulation from heaven sure sounds better than being in the thick of it.
Of the three reasons listed for liking dispensationalism, I can challenge two of them right away (the third will be covered in my main points below): (1) Whom God rejects depends simply on his or her reaction to His clearly-worded Scripture about redemption through Christ, and the required righteous life. Unfortunately, most people (including many who think they are Christian) don’t truly love God—their lives ignore God, except for ritual. So God, in turn, has to reject them—the truth is, most people want to run their own lives, and make themselves the god of their lives. So He has to consign most people to hell for their disobedience. Matthew 7:13-14 speaks clearly about life (heaven) and destruction (hell). Note that heaven is attained for a small minority of people. The majority go to hell:
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
(2) As to calling other beliefs about Jews "anti-Semite": I’m just following Scripture in my analysis. The Jews had a part in killing Our Lord, as you know. Consider Mark 15:12-14:
Pilate answered and said to them again, “What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?” 13 So they cried out again, “Crucify Him!” 14 Then Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, “Crucify Him!”
We’re not just talking about the Pharisees crying out their rejection of Jesus here—there weren’t enough of them to make a loud enough turmoil. Pilate felt Jesus was innocent, but was afraid that the noise and hate meant he would have a riot on his hands if he didn’t shed blood that they wanted; so that means the majority of Jews present were screaming—thus, the majority of the Jews at that time rejected Him. (Really, the only time they wanted Him as king was so He could help get Rome off their back.) So the majority of Jews were guilty. And Pilate (a Gentile) could have had a spine, too, but believed Jesus was disposable. So that makes Gentiles guilty too. Everyone’s sins doom us before a holy God who cannot stand sin. Without Christ, our Advocate, we are lost. Salvation is available—but only one way to attain it, through faith and obedience in Christ. No anti-Semitism here, folks. Same litmus test for everybody.
Now let’s get to our main point: God has rejected Israel as a fleshly nation. Scripture below will make that point forcefully. God’s Old Testament prophecy of the Jews’ unfaithfulness was in the mouths of all His prophets, as far back as Moses. Read Deuteronomy 31:16-17a:
And the LORD said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. 17 Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured.
Note that God said He would forsake them. The Jews could have repented of their unfaithfulness, and God would take them back, with His forgiving heart; but instead they kept on killing the prophets. As the prophets predicted, the Jews were, in time, captured and made slaves, but later a small ragged group returned to the land. If you felt that that little return meant God forgave the Jews—that is not the case. The few who returned were not a free people for long after the return, being taken over by Rome.
God then begins the New Testament with the same theme of rejection of Jews, starting with John the Baptist in Matthew 3:9:
…and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
(I have blogs on the subject of good fruit being crucial to salvation). John was bluntly telling the Jews that they won’t get to heaven on their genes—just being a Jew doesn’t get you there. Thus, the Jews were still failing heaven.
Jesus is even more violent with words than John, in John 8: 22-47:
So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?” 23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”…33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants 34 Jesus answered them,…37 “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, 39 They said to Him…we have one Father—God.”…42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; …44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.…47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
Note the beginning words, "the Jews said"...and note His reply: "you will die in your sins..." Calling the majority of Jews sons of the devil couldn’t be printed in America; it would be called hate speech, but it’s Scriptural. Jesus even called the Pharisees “serpents, brood of vipers” in Matthew 23:33—and asked them, “How can you escape the condemnation of hell?”
It’s true, of course, that nowadays some Jews are saved—but few. Under 1% of Christians are former Jews!
The actual rejection of the Jews is more plainly laid out elsewhere. Look at Matthew 8:8-12:
The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy…But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed… 10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! 11 And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
“Many will come from east and west” are the Gentiles; the “sons of the kingdom” are the Jews. There it is, plain as day: The mostly unsaved Jews would be cast out into outer darkness (hell). When Jesus said things like this, it was God’s miracle that He even lived for three years of ministry, they would so want to kill Him—rather than repent. More confirmation is in Matthew 21:33-43, a parable where everyone figured out the meaning:
There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard… And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers…38 But when the vinedressers saw the son (Jesus), they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard (God the Father) comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”41 They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”42 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing… 43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.
As plain as day about the kingdom of God: Taken from the Jews, given to another. God is giving the kingdom to people, from all countries, who bear the Holy Spirit’s fruit (Gal 5:22-23).
Paul also deals specifically with this rejection of the Jews, in Romans 9:30-32, written to saved Gentiles who had faith in Jesus:
What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue (the Law's) righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing the Law..., has not attained... righteousness. 32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the Law.
“Attaining to righteousness” is heaven; and “not attaining” is hell. Again, the Jews hung their belief system on the wrong hook, only trying to follow the Law—so the majority of them will be in hell for eternity.
In Galatians 3:28-29, Paul deals with two subjects at once: (1) In the New Testament, all saints are one. God doesn’t have separate programs for two groups of saints: one group who get parenthetically shunted aside, and then dealing with another group to fill an Old Testament plan. (God is no longer interested in Old Testament covenant, now—just the New covenant). (2) Saved people, the Church, in the New covenant, are God’s Israel, and sons of Abraham. Thus, Israel, as a nation, has been rejected and the majority of Jews are not spiritually sons of Abraham, a man of faith, who believed in God's promises.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Plain as day: In the New Testament (the only one to consider, since it replaces the Old covenant), saved people are sons of Abraham—saved people are now the Israel of God, not a fleshly nation which has been rejected.
Part of the Old covenant given to the Jews was the rite of circumcision; but the problem is, they felt that that ritual guaranteed their salvation. We can see in this paper that they were quite wrong in thinking a fleshly sign or their genes is all you need. There were big arguments in the New Testament where the saved Jews felt that if Gentiles wanted to be saved, they would have to get circumcised too. Paul was against any part of the old Law as a prerequisite for salvation. Salvation now all begins in Christ. See what he has to say in Galatians 6:15-16:
But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. 16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
Who is the “Israel of God?” You can see it: “New creations,” or saved people. Born again people, all saints, all one. What is the current rule, called “this rule?” It’s us saying, “the world has been crucified to me.” That means I have prayed away the love of the world so my body’s members don’t respond to its temptation, as if they’re dead. What is the meaning of “and I to the world?” That means I am ready to give my life to Christ’s mission for me, rather than chasing after the world.
I Peter 2:8-9 has a secret message: They (unsaved Jews) stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. 9 But you (saved Gentiles) are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him..
The secret message? The three phrases that Peter uses for saved people, the Gentiles, were once given by God to the Jews. But you see, they have been rejected, and the phrases are now given to the saved. By the way,the phrase "to which they...were appointed" is not a fatalistic Calvinistic phrase, that God appointed them to hell, and there's nothing they could do. They were appointed to hell after their behavior and thoughts revealed them as unsaved.
Have you ever heard about the phrase, “the fullness of the Gentiles?” It's used in Romans 11:25-26:
For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved...
As Luke 21:24ff and Revelation 11:2 will explain further, the "fulness" idea is talking about End Times, when the last of the Gentiles gets saved and Christ comes. (As I proved by Scripture in another blog, that will happen toward the end of the tribulation). But don’t get the idea, like dispensationalists do, that it means “the Gentile number for heaven is full, so let’s rapture them and start working on building up the Jewish number during the tribulation.”
And what about that last phrase, “all Israel will be saved?” This has been debated heatedly. Well, that could have two possible meanings: (1) In the End Times, when the antichrist has slaughtered millions of Jews, the remaining remnant sees the light—and loses the “blindness” which has pervaded them for centuries. Many of the remnant get saved. That would be a wonderful thing. Or it could mean (2) “All Israel” could simply mean “all saved people.” Obviously all of them are saved, by definition.
Two more thoughts: (1) Just because of the possibility that Israel gets evangelized in the End Times and a remnant all get saved does NOT justify the dispensationalists’ wild curriculum. I would hope you would agree that we have proven that the Jewish nation has been rejected, and does not have a separate, premier program in the Last Days. This Scriptural fact does a lot to destroy many of the distinctive facets of dispensationalism. And (2) I don’t care which of the two meanings above apply to “saving all Israel.” If hundreds of thousands of Jews get saved at the end, high fives for them—lots more interesting stories to share while we’re all in heaven forever. Remember, I don’t have an ax to grind against the Jews. I'm just figuring out doctrine from Scripture about being saved. God help us to study Scripture and not be rejected on that Day.
Also keep in mind, that according to dispensational thought, Christ has a second advent to do the rapture, and a third advent to rescue the tribulation saints at Armageddon. (First advent was His birth on earth). Three advents! It has never been taught that Christ has three advents. Scripture clearly indicates two.
But there are a couple other things going on with this “pre-trib” doctrine that I don’t like to see. First, what’s with this AWOL mentality among the dispensationalists? Are you saying you want to be raptured and leave your unsaved family or friends behind to suffer the tribulation alone? What’s with that? But your life is a sacrifice to God—it’s not yours. If He wants you on earth in the heat of battle against the antichrist and the devil, well, we’ll have to all just tough it out. Get used to the idea. Don’t be afraid. Fear is not of God (II Timothy 1:7).
Secondly, on the subject of rejection: I keep seeing this mentality: “God is grandpa and doesn’t reject anybody (even those who have rejected Him for thousands of years). He’s mellow and forgiving; once you accept Him, He’s yours forever no matter what you do.” I’ve got several blogs on this flawed mentality showing up in other subjects as well. Let me repeat: Remember Matthew 7:13-14: Only a minority get saved. The majority are rejected and sent to hell. As I said in another blog, some people need to read more of the Old Testament and God's anger against sin, or people need to read everything Jesus said, which included some mighty tough words about heaven and hell. God is holy and can be tough. On a side note: Don’t expect to hear all aspects of God from preachers. Mostly, you'll hear only about His love and help from most of them. Pastors everywhere are dropping the ball on this one-sided view. I don’t know why. Maybe corrupt doctrine has crept into seminary schools, or maybe they’re afraid if they make people feel down or anxious, they’ll go to another church. READ YOUR BIBLE YOURSELF. Ask the Holy Spirit—not “common taters”—for wisdom.
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