Who Really Owns "The Holy Land"? (by Dr. Robert L. Reymond) PERMANENT NOTICE Posted by: Reformation Church | more.. 13 user comments A gigantic effort is underway today to convince the evangelical citizenry of the United States of America that the political state of Israel rightfully owns in perpetuity the so-called "Holy Land" (1) at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea by virtue of God's bequeathing it to Abraham and his descendants in the Old Testament. (1) I say "so-called" because the phrase "holy land" occurs only twice in Scripture (Psalm 78:54; Zechariah 2:12) and in both instances the word "land" must be supplied. Apart from the holy God's manifested presence in it, there is nothing holy about the "Holy Land." But wherever God manifests his presence that place is holy, as God taught Moses at the burning bush in Sinai (Exodus 3:1-6). ___________________________________________________________ "Hagee has thrown down the Dispensational gauntlet; and it is high time that covenant theologians picked it up and responded to him Biblically." __________________________________________________________ This effort is being made not so much today by the secular leadership of the state of Israel as by self-acclaimed Christian scholars and televangelists who claim to speak for over seventy million evangelical Christians. These men, including Assemblies of God preacher and televangelist John Hagee, founder and pastor of the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas;(2) Kenneth Copeland, televangelist; Paul and Matt Crouch of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN); Jack Hayford, founder and pastor of the Church on the Way in Van Nuys, California, and president of the Foursquare Gospel Church; Benny Hinn, pastor of the yet-to-be-built World Healing Center in Dallas, Texas; Rod Parsley, pastor of the World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio; Pat Robertson, founder and chief executive officer of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) and the Bible teacher on the 700 Club;(3) and Jerry Falwell, founder and pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church and founder of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, are all purveyors of that system of hermeneutics known as Dispensationalism. Apparently convinced by this propaganda effort, President Clinton, after citing the words of his desperately ill Baptist pastor to him: "If you abandon Israel, God will never forgive you," declared before the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem on October 27, 1994: "…it is God's will that Israel, the Biblical home of the people of Israel, continue forever and ever," (4) a statement that enters deeply into Biblical hermeneutics concerning the nature of the church and the kingdom of God, not to mention Biblical eschatology (note his "forever and ever"). President Clinton concluded his speech by saying: "Your journey is our journey, and America will stand with you now and always," a statement that illustrates this nation's deep involvement in both Middle East politics in general and its specific political commitment to Israel in the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict in particular in a way that cannot but affect the course of world politics for the foreseeable future. In my opinion, President Clinton's statement is bad politics based on equally bad theology. I say this because, as I shall argue in this paper, all of God's land promises to Israel in the Old Testament are to be viewed in terms of shadow, type, and prophecy,in contrast to the reality, substance, and fulfillment of which the New Testament speaks. Consequently, contrary to John Hagee who insists that "Israel has a Bible mandate to the land, a divine covenant for the land of Israel, forever…[and] Christians have a Bible mandate to be supportive of Israel," (5) I will argue that it is we Christians, as members of Christ's Messianic kingdom, who are the real heirs to the land promises of Holy Scripture, but only in their fulfilled paradisical character. Hagee terms this view "replacement theology" because, he says, it "replaces" in the economy of God the Jewish people who are, he says, "God's centerpiece" and "the apple of his eye" (Zechariah 2:8) with the church of Jesus Christ. Of course, Hagee's perception of ethnic Israel is in error, because ethnic Israel per se was never the centerpiece of God's covenant program since, according to Paul, God's promises always applied only to the true spiritual Israel (that is, elect Israel) within ethnic Israel (Romans 9:6-13); and the land promises of the Old Testament, as we will show, were always to be viewed typologically. Nevertheless, Hagee has thrown down the Dispensational gauntlet; and it is high time that covenant theologians picked it up and responded to him Biblically. This is what I propose to do now. But I offer a word of caution, and it is this: Reflect carefully upon what I say before you accept or reject it. With that caveat I will now begin with a discussion of Eden and the Abrahamic Covenant... READ THIS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT ESSAY IN ITS ENTIRETY: http://www.trinityfoundation.org/PDF/256_257.pdf Who Really Owns The "Holy Land"? is written by Dr. Robert L. Reymond, Professor Emertius, Knox Theological Seminary Linked by permission of The Trinity Review, published by The Trinity Foundation, www.trinityfoundation.org SERMON LINK: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=91206222644 Web Link:  CLICK TO FOLLOW EXTERNAL LINK • permalink | email blog | post new | printer-friendly | clone this | rss feed

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