Here’s a very simple recipe for popular cocktail everyone seems to be ordering: one shot supersessionism, two shots replacement theology thoroughly mixed with aspirations for global domination and served with the blood of the martyrs.

“Throughout history, the law became a stumbling stone for Israel. This excessive dependence upon external righteousness remains visible even today within many religious communities. Israel’s error was not the law itself, which is holy and good, but the attempt to attain righteousness and salvation through the works of the law rather than through faith. Yet this tendency is not unique to Israel. The same principle of self-righteousness can become a stumbling stone even for those who are already within the new covenant.”

“I’m not antisemitic; I’m anti-Zionist.” We hear that disclaimer from the progressive political left, the radical alt-right, Muslim apologists, Hollywood stars, mainstream politicians, and even Christian theologians and pastors. “I’m not against Jews, it’s the political ideology of Zionism that I oppose.”

In that coming day, the LORD will cleanse the land and remove its iniquity “in a single day.” From that moment forward, there will no longer be merely a remnant within Israel, but the whole nation — “from the least to the greatest” — will know the LORD. Israel will finally be preserved in holiness as a priestly nation and become an example to all peoples during the reign of Messiah over the earth.

Do we really have two covenants in opposition and contrast, or rather one eternal covenant with different facets that progressively unfolds and renews itself in order to fulfill God’s purposes and demonstrate His faithfulness?

From the beginning, God has been telling a story of redemption. It is a story that is unfolding on the world stage. It is important that we understand this story. 

“Why would the friends of Israel suffer demonic oppression? Because the Devil never forgets who sides with the Jews.”

“The more we long for the return of the Lord, the more we will find ourselves drawn into His purposes among the nations—especially in the Middle East, the central stage of the redemptive drama.”

“Asking someone to teach the Bible without mentioning Israel is a bit like asking a professor to teach the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe without mentioning Narnia.”

“Throughout history, the descendants of Ishmael have indeed become a vast multitude—but they have not yet become a great nation in the purposes of God. That promise still awaits fulfillment before the end of this age.”

If we want to have clarity today and endurance through our remaining tomorrows, we would do well to become literate in the prophets ourselves, remembering a critical principle: The Scriptures are no ordinary texts vulnerable to the scrutiny of our own wavering criticisms; we must submit to the Scriptures. The Scriptures are under no burden to submit to us.

“The prophets foresaw both Israel’s stumbling and the salvation of the Gentiles, culminating in Israel’s restoration. Paul grasped this divine mystery: Jesus will not return until a remnant from every nation is gathered in, and this ingathering of the nations will lead to the salvation of all Israel.”

“The prophets and the apostles had access to that pain, they embraced it as their own, they felt it, and contrary to any intuition it obviously sustained them. It is counterintuitive and paradoxical indeed that pain could sustain, and build-up character. Unless that pain is the expression of undying love…”

“A cheaply won, ‘personal-escape-route-to-Cloud-Heaven’ Gospel will never be attractive to Gen Z. They want solutions that work on a global and communal scale. My generation is crying out for justice and a half-baked Gospel just won’t cut it.”

The way that the nations behave has never been an acceptable path for the Jewish people. It is a heavy calling and there is no opt-out option for the Jew.

“If the coming of Jesus had subverted or altered God’s plan for Israel, Paul would not have been suffering or consumed by unceasing sorrow for his people. Paul’s heart burned for Israel’s salvation.“

“If we lack Jerusalem, we are untethered from the ‘sure and steadfast anchor of our souls,’ the hope of the resurrection and coming restoration. And in our unmooring, we are unprepared to bear faithful witness of the Gospel of the Kingdom to those perishing without knowledge. Worse yet, the danger of a different gospel is that we may well be perishing ourselves.”