Opinion Blog / Guest Columnist
God warned us long ago in the Bible: Do not believe that the church has replaced Israel!
The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), seeing the alarming rise of antisemitism and the dramatic increase in antisemitic attacks around the world, convened an emergency summit at the end of May called the Jerusalem Summit. Biblical scholars, pastors, priests, and even rabbis from the Jewish community gathered together to present the findings of their years of study on Replacement Theology and antisemitism. Their purpose was to equip believers to meet this new challenge of our time. ICEJ has recently begun publishing the presentations and panel discussions from the Summit on its website, making them available to believers and anyone wishing to gain a deeper understanding of these issues.
I noticed that Rabbi Pesach Wolicki was among the invited speakers. His presentation was scheduled for the first day of the Summit. He said that the rise of Replacement Theology had already been foretold in Scripture more than three thousand years ago, specifically in Deuteronomy chapters 28, 29, and 30. He mentioned that although he had read these chapters many times in the past, it was only recently that he suddenly gained this insight. It was then that I realized he was the author of an article I had happened to read more than two years ago—an article that has benefited me ever since.
However, my purpose here is not to discuss Wolicki's argument itself, but rather to share how his September 2023 article inspired me to gain a new understanding of Deuteronomy 29:24–28. That insight, in turn, gave me an entirely new perspective on Deuteronomy 29:29 (29:28 in the Hebrew Bible), a verse that had puzzled me for years, and enabled me to touch the heart of God.
Readers who are interested in Wolicki's presentation at the ICEJ Jerusalem Summit may watch it on the ICEJ website. Those who wish to read his September 2023 article may find it here.
The key to my new understanding of Deuteronomy 29:24–28 was a point Wolicki raised: the phrase "people will say" in Deuteronomy 29:25 refers to Christians from among the nations. I will list the text of Deuteronomy 29:24–28 below before explaining it in detail.
NET Deuteronomy 29:24–28
29:24 Then all the nations will ask, "Why has the LORD done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger all about?"
29:25 Then people will say, "Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
29:26 They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they did not know and that he did not permit them to worship.
29:27 That is why the LORD's anger erupted against this land, bringing on it all the curses written in this scroll. (Note: " in this scroll " the Hebrew text reads בַּסֵּ֥פֶר. Other English translations such as the NIV, NASB, and JPS translate it as "in the book.")
29:28 So the LORD has uprooted them from their land in anger, wrath, and great rage and has deported them to another land, as is clear today."
Wolicki points out that those among the nations who answer the question in verse 25 know that all the curses the LORD brought upon the land of Israel had already been written "in this book." He argues that apart from the rise and worldwide spread of Christianity, producing Christians who were intimately familiar with the Scriptures, who else could have offered such an explanation?
This insight was an absolute wake-up call for me!
Like him, I had read Deuteronomy chapters 28, 29, and 30 countless times. Chapter 30, in particular, is frequently cited as the prophecy concerning the return of the Jewish people and the re-founding of the nation of Israel, and I have often quoted it in my own teaching on Israel's re-establishment as a state. Yet I had never stopped to consider who these "people" were who offered the explanation, nor had I ever connected these verses with Replacement Theology.
Wolicki believes that the explanation in Deuteronomy 29:25–28 is spoken by Christians from among the nations. I completely agree. I believe that any Christian who carefully examines these verses will heartily agree.
With this layer of understanding, the true meaning of Deuteronomy 29:29 instantly became clear to me.
NET Deuteronomy 29:29
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law."
This verse has long puzzled Bible readers. Its meaning, in itself, is not difficult to understand. The secret things—meaning things that are hidden and have not yet been revealed by God—naturally belong to God; no one can presume to know, nor should anyone even try to. Likewise, the things God has revealed belong to us, because He reveals them for a purpose, which is stated right here: so that we may obey all the words of His law.
The real question is not what the verse means, but why Moses inserted it between chapters 29 and 30. It seems entirely disconnected from the themes discussed in the preceding and succeeding chapters.
However, once we recognize that the speakers in verses 25–28 are Christians, the meaning of verse 29 leaps off the page.
The explanation given by the Christians in verses 25–28 is entirely correct. Yet the Replacement Theology that has prevailed over the past two thousand years did not stop there. It expanded to claim that God has rejected the Jewish people and the covenant made with their ancestors, that the Church has replaced Israel, that Christians are the "New Israel," and that "Israel" in the Bible actually refers to the Church, etc.
Did God not know that Christians, like all people, are weak and limited, and are prone to overstep their bounds and say things they shouldn't?
Of course He knew.
That is why He immediately warns:
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God."
In other words:
"Stop! You have said enough. Do not go any further. Do not enter into the secret realm that belongs to God by speaking words God has not spoken."
Sadly, Christians did not stop. They continued to talk and went beyond what Scripture says. In time, the erroneous doctrine of Replacement Theology took shape.
But Deuteronomy 29:29 does not end with, "The secret things belong to the LORD our God." It continues:
"But those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law."
Did God include this second half merely as a literary balance to the first? Certainly not.
Since God foreknew that an erroneous Replacement Theology would arise, would He not also provide instruction to help Christians return to the truth?
Immediately afterward, in chapter 30, God explains that Israel's expulsion from the Promised Land and dispersion among the nations would not be their final destiny. There remained hope. If they repented and returned to the LORD, He would gather them from all the nations where they had been scattered, bring them back into the land their fathers possessed, and they would re-possess it (Deuteronomy 30:1–5).
For many Christians, these promises may not yet have qualified as "things revealed," because they depended upon the condition that the Jewish people first return to God. Christians could not know whether that condition would ever be fulfilled. Those who embraced Replacement Theology generally believed it never would be.
But surely the rebirth of the State of Israel in 1948 qualifies as one of those "things revealed."
Indeed, many Christians repented after the 1948 event and began to honor the Jewish people as their elder brothers.
Through the words, "those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants forever," God is, I believe, exhorting Christians:
"I have now brought the Jewish people back to the Promised Land and restored their nation. This stands before your eyes as historical fact. Israel is Israel, and the Church is the Church. The Church has not replaced Israel. Therefore, those among you who have embraced Replacement Theology should repent, turn back, and obey everything I have spoken in Scripture concerning Israel."
In my article published this February, "A Brief Look at God's Purpose for Israel as a Nation", I cited two biblical passages when addressing the question of "What has God commanded Christians regarding how they should treat Israel?" I did not mention Deuteronomy 29:29 at the time.
This was not because Deuteronomy 29:29 is of lesser importance. On the contrary, in light of today's growing antisemitism and the renewed popularity of Replacement Theology, the message conveyed by this verse is more relevant than ever. It contains an instruction from God that every Christian should know, obey, and follow.
The earlier article mentioned God's instructions to Christians only in passing, whereas the significance of Deuteronomy 29:29 cannot be adequately explained in just a few sentences. Therefore, I chose not to discuss it there.
Conclusion
More than three thousand years ago, through Deuteronomy 29:29, God warned Christians not to develop an erroneous doctrine of Replacement Theology. At the same time, He exhorts Christians today—those who have witnessed the rebirth of the State of Israel—not to embrace Replacement Theology, but instead to obey everything He has spoken in Scripture concerning Israel.
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Thanks for sharing. Blessings on your head from the Lord Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach.
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People
Charlotte, NC USA