Why Does the World hate the Jews? Anti-Semitism has existed since Israel became a nation. It is insidious and ingrained in history. Over the years I’ve written articles pointing it out in various institutions and individuals, and even countries.
One of my biggest frustrations with the church is its adoption of Replacement Theology. While someone who holds to RT isn’t necessarily anti-Semitic, the view can open the door to it. RT is can also be associated with anti-Zionism. So you have people like Stephen Sizer and Gary Burge who are supersessionists and anti-Zionists.
See also Michael Rydelnik’s They Called Me Christ Killer. Charles Fienberg once said that at its root cause, anti-Semitism is satanic.
Note that in recent years, some assert they don’t hold to RT at all. There have various arguments and excuses put forward for this position. But, essentially, they see the church as New Spiritual Israel, and deny a prophetic need for a restored national Israel. This sounds like RT to me.
Proponents of a particular rapture timing premillennial view have also suggested that pretribulationists may be somewhat anti-Semitic. This is because the pretrib position has the church removed from the Tribulation, while Israel gets left behind. I intend to address this absurd charge in a later article.
Why the World Hates the Jews
The following insightful article by Michael Stallard is worth noting,
The human race will continue to live in the shadow of the Holocaust until Jesus returns to make all things right. The Holocaust, however, was neither an ending point nor beginning launch for the persecution and oppression of the Jewish people in all of history. Hitler’s Reich did not invent anti-Semitism although it honed the science of killing. The tragic trajectory of hatred of the Jews carries back into Old Testament times (Esther).[1] Its hateful path was followed by many Church Fathers in the early Church Age.[2] Replacement theology began to dominate so strongly that a vast majority of professing Christians had no place in their thoughts for the Jews in God’s positive plan for history.[3] Even the biblical turn of the Reformers could not eliminate anti-Semitism’s ugly presence in the renewed Church as Luther’s unfortunate teachings demonstrate.[4] …continue reading (video HERE)
John Calvin and Premillennialism
While the above subtitle somewhat departs from the subject of this post, I believe there’s a relationship. To correctly understand the Old Testament prophecies concerning Israel, we need to understand that they refer to the people, rather than the church. The promises concerning Israel ought to lead us to a belief in premillennialism.
But why was Calvin so opposed to it in his Institutes? Were his arguments fair? Once again Mike Stallard helps us in his article, An Analysis of John Calvin’s Criticism of Premillennialism in The Institutes.
I believe that the proper honoring of God’s revealed word should keep Israel and the church distinct. And Israel will have a prominent role in a future millennium.
Maranatha!
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