There is a new doctrine, namely called the Replacement theology which purports that the Chosen Israelites are replaced by the Christian church. This means that we do not have to support the Israeli community because of their failure to acknowledge Christ as the son of God, the Messiah who died on the cross and who will reign again.
Scripture however throughout the old and new testaments commands us to pray for Israel, the chosen people and chosen nation.
The idea that the Church and Israel share identity isn't a new doctrine, and the term "Replacement Theology" is a pejorative term for the traditional Christian (and biblical) teaching on this subject. The historic teaching of Christianity isn't that the Church has replaced Israel as the People of God; the historic teaching of Christianity is that the Church is Israel, Israel is the Church--they are the same People of God. St. Paul teaches in his letters that in Christ Gentiles are wild olive branches which have been grafted onto the tree, which symbolizes Israel, just as this tree has also natural olive branches (Jews). Because Paul consistently teaches that both Jew and Gentile are made a united, whole, single People in Jesus Christ.
What is a new doctrine is Dispensationalism, which teaches that God has separate plans for Jews and Gentiles, one for Israel and one for the Church; and that Christians should support the modern state of Israel because it is fulfillment of biblical prophecy. The problem, of course, is that this entire doctrine is not only new (it didn't exist before the 19th century), it is both unbiblical and anti-biblical. The modern state of Israel is not biblical Israel, it is not fulfillment of biblical prophecy (the prophecies concerning the return of the Jewish people refer, consistently, to their return from Exile in Babylon). That isn't to say that non-believing Jews are entirely outside of God's purposes, or that non-believing Jews aren't Israel at all; as Paul looks forward to a time when all of Israel will be saved--but what that ultimately looks like isn't told to us. But this same Paul is clear that there are wild branches grafted onto the tree, and their are natural branches which were pruned off the tree.
Because in the New Testament the central identity of Israel is reified in the Person of Jesus, the Messiah. It is Jesus who redefines Himself as the Temple, "Tear down this temple and in three days I shall raise it up", which the Apostles Paul and Peter in their letters also come to apply to the Church as well, as the Church is the Body of Christ. Jesus and His Church are the Temple, we are God's Temple by our union with Christ, because Christ is the Temple of God. The things of old point, ultimately, to Jesus. Paul speaks of the "Jerusalem above" as our mother, he speaks circumcision, sabbaths, new moons, and all the things of the old Covenant God made through Moses as shadows of which Christ is the substance. St. Peter says that we are the stones which make up God's house. And so on and so forth. That is biblical teaching on these things.
We aren't looking for an earthly nation. We aren't looking for a temple made of stone. We aren't looking to sacrifices of bulls, lambs, and goats. There is already a kingdom, the kingdom of God which has come in the Person of Jesus, "The kingdom does not come with observation, no one says 'Look there it is' or "Here, it's over there', the kingdom is in your midst."; there is already a Temple, the Risen Lord Jesus and His holy Church--His Mystical Body, "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of His household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit."; there is already the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world". There is no need for a kohen gadol in the western Levant, for we have already the "great high priest" "of the order of Melchizedek."
Christians absolutely should seek to be a people who love the Jewish people, they are our spiritual cousins from Abraham our common father in the faith. We should also love
all people of
every kind. As Christians we absolutely should stand against the evil and injustice of antisemitism, and seek to correct our historic sins against the Jewish people. But none of this means a blind allegiance to a secular state in the Levant; as Christians our allegiance isn't to any earthly nation or state, our allegiance is to Jesus Christ, and in Christ we are called to be servants of all people, and to be a people of peace in whatever nation we live in and a people of peace toward all people of all nations. As the Apostle Paul has said, "Live peaceably with all, inasmuch as it is up to you."
What is unacceptable, however, is a doctrine which, fundamentally, denies what is found in Scripture, and in many cases is at its core denying the central importance of Jesus Christ, His life, death, and resurrection and all the things of God which are in His Gospel for all people, Jew and Gentile alike without favoritism or prejudice.
This doctrine I believe will cause a great chasm and schism in the body as it has already began. This is why it is crucial that we seek the Word diligently and pray for understanding and revelation. No where, and if someone can--please share, where in the Word does it state that God's chosen is or was replaced. Even looking at the last book in Revelations 7 it speaks again about the Sealed of Israel so my questions is this, what man has the power to unseal that which is already sealed by the Father?
The people of God are sealed in Christ by the promises we have in Him by the power of the Spirit through the Gospel; for all who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, and we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). The Apocalypse of St. John includes two groups, one lists the twelve tribes and the other the nations; symbolically this 144,000 represents the entirety of God's People; the Church. The Apocalypse pits two seals/marks against one another, there are those who are marked and sealed as God's, because they belong to Christ and there are those who are marked and sealed as belonging to the Beast. The most common understanding of the text is that the Beast represents ancient Roman imperial power broadly and/or the Emperor Nero more specifically; for ancient Christians suffering under Rome there was a very real issue going on, one could either say Caesar was lord, or one could say Christ was Lord. But you couldn't say both, you either belonged to Caesar or you belonged to Christ. I know that this likely is going to be shocking to a lot of people who have only grown up hearing a Dispensationalist and/or Futurist interpretation of the Apocalypse, but this isn't some new idea or new interpretation. The simple fact is that the Dispensationalist and Futurist views have never been the orthodox, mainstream position in Christianity. Dispensationalism, again, didn't even exist until the early 1800's, it was invented by John Darby, an Irish preacher and one of the founders of the Plymouth Brethren. No one before Darby ever heard any of the ideas taught by Darby, and it took a long time for his ideas to start making any traction, but by the early-mid 20th century there were a lot of people who followed Darby's doctrines, and they became even more popular only in the late 20th century with the existence of very lucrative business of selling books, music, and movies that taught the doctrine. It's never been mainstream Christian teaching, it still isn't mainstream Christian teaching, and for most Christians it remains not only a deeply flawed theological system, it is also dangerously heterodox.
-CryptoLutheran
