I was reminded once again today in my Exegesis of Zechariah class that God still has a plan for the nation of Israel. The ethnic, Jewish, descendants of Abraham are still in God's plan. Supercessionism (or replacement theology) is a faulty hermeneutic of the Scriptures. This concept is also found elsewhere in Scripture. Take these verses for example:
Jeremiah 31:33-36 33 "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 "And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." 35 Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day, And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: 36 "If this fixed order departs From before Me," declares the LORD, "Then the offspring of Israel also shall cease From being a nation before Me forever."
Read v. 36 once more:
36 "If this fixed order departs From before Me," declares the LORD, "Then the offspring of Israel also shall cease From being a nation before Me forever."
That is to say, if the fixed order of creation - the moon and the stars - departs and fails before God Almighty. It literally reads, "if these things are removed out of my presence" which can never happen. We know that God is completely omniscient and knows all things. There is nothing that can really be removed "out of his presence."
From this verse alone there is sufficient evidence to prove that the nation of Israel still exists in God's plan of human history. God is faithful. All is about God. Not the Church. Not Israel, but rather, that God's glory be put on display for all to see.
Furthermore, these verses are immediately after v.31 which talk about the "New Covenant" made with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah. This covenant is made with God to the Jewish people.
The Jewish people are still around today and they are living proof that God is a faithful God - a covenant keeping God. He is loyal to all his promises:
2 Corinthians 1:20 20 For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes; wherefore also by Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.
