Alone Again (Naturally)

Irish singer-songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan released his hit song "Alone Again (Naturally)" in 1972, and the brooding ballad spent a total of six weeks in the No. 1 spot of Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart.

I'm sorry, did I say "brooding ballad"? "Alone Again (Naturally)" is easily one of the saddest, most depressing songs I've ever heard in my life. In the song, the singer is contemplating suicide by throwing himself from the top of a tower after being stood up at the altar on his wedding day, then segues to the death of his parents. Ouch. (Incidentally, I'm pleased to report that according to Mr. O'Sullivan, the song is not autobiographical.)

But when I think about what is happening to Israel today in the global community, the title of this song invariably comes to mind.

OK, time out for a quick vocabulary lesson:

friend (n.) — 1 A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts. 2 A person who freely and reliably gives support or assistance out of concern for another's well-being. 3 A person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause.

Ex. "The United States is no longer a friend to Israel."

November 24, 2013. It's been years in the making, but that's the day it became official in my humble opinion.

I think I might start calling it "D-Day II" for short. That's "D" as in "deal," or the Geneva Accord that was announced on Sunday November 24, 2013. (I say "announced" because despite all the photo ops and group hugs, nothing was actually even signed.)

The deal that was recently announced from the meeting of Iran and the P5+1 nations (Russia, China, France, England, and America—the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany) is being hailed as an agreement that will provide Iran some relief from economic sanctions while curtailing their nuclear weapons program, which is in full swing and nearing full-fledged breakout capability according to most intelligence sources.

Which it did and did not, respectively.

When the smoke cleared (and the mirrors were removed), Iran walked away with no insignificant amount of relief from sanctions, and without having to take one tangible step toward dismantling their nuclear weapons program and without so much as missing a beat in their march toward a bomb.

Well, they did agree to continue talking in six months, and then to implement any agreed upon measures within one year. Thank goodness for that. But until then, Iran can carry on with their uranium enrichment activities and other phases of nuclear weapon production as if nothing had basically changed.

Because nothing basically changed.

Except, of course, for the fact that they got some desperately needed relief from those nasty economic sanctions that were actually beginning to work.

Oh, I'm sure there will be some late-night phone calls on the diplomatic hot lines and a flurry of face-saving meetings and press conferences intended to slap a smiley face on the relationship between Israel and the United States and to frantically reassure people on both sides that all is well. There will be a gush of glowing rhetoric from key players about the "unbreakable bond" between America and the Jewish state.

An unbreakable bond that has become bent, twisted, and corroded over the last few years.

An unbreakable bond that the Obama administration has reduced to little more than a smoke screen for an arrogantly misguided and biblically uninformed political agenda.

An unbreakable bond that is now irreparably broken.

Why? Well, for one thing, it was never unbreakable in the first place, and God tells us as much in His Word. The Old Testament says that in the last days Israel will be regathered in unbelief (Isa. 11:11–12 and others), and that ultimately it will stand alone against the world—a world in which there are those who seek to wipe Israel off the map, and others who seem content to stand by and let them do it. And according to prophecies given in Ezekiel 38, it appears that America will be among the latter.

Zechariah tells us that the city of Jerusalem is the vortex of this maelstrom:

One fundamental purpose of the Tribulation is so that God can finally bring Israel back into their covenant relationship with Him, and He will use the attack described in Ezekiel 38–39 to do it:

I love the way God says "all my mountains." Sorta reminds you who's calling the shots here, doesn't it?

I gave you an extended passage of Scripture because I really want you to get the flavor of what is happening. When this coalition comes against Israel in what is referred to as the battle of Gog-Magog, God Himself intervenes to save Israel from her enemies.

It's not the IDF.

It's not the UN.

And it's certainly not the U.S.

It's the GAIJ—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

God is going to re-introduce Himself to the Jews, who for the most part remain hardened in unbelief. And it's not because they are so good or because they deserve it—they're not and they don't, but because God wants to show the entire world that He is the Lord, that His name is holy, that His Word is inviolable, and that His promises are eternal.

Oh, and that He fights for Israel, the apple of His eye.

As far as pinning down the date on which America's betrayal of Israel became complete, there are other perfectly good choices—and there will no doubt be other promising candidates coming along soon enough.

Still, I think I'm gonna go with November 24, 2013.

The knife in the back, and the hand(s) that held it, were clearly on display for all the world to see.

This deal gives the Iranian regime their biggest diplomatic victory in modern memory. And even though it provides Iran much-needed relief from economic sanctions and contains little more than high-sounding hot air that ultimately doesn't require Iran to lift a finger to slow down its efforts to produce a nuclear weapon, what it really gives Iran is what it desperately wants even more than relief from sanctions:

Time.

It gives Iran the time it needs to complete work on a nuclear weapon without having to worry too awfully much about the threat of a military strike from the United States, or about the United States giving the Israelis approval for and/or assistance with a military strike.

Of course, the only thing they need to worry about now is a unilateral strike by Israel, but that's another issue.

Worked out in secret in the months preceding the Geneva talks (behind Israel's back) and agreed to in spite of strenuous objections from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this deal leaves Israel boxed into a corner.

This deal is the final, absolute sellout of Israel and its security concerns. It ignores the fact that Iran is racing toward a nuclear weapon with the finish line clearly in sight. It ignores the fact that the Iranian regime has been and continues to be demonstrably deceptive about its nuclear intentions. And it ignores the fact that the emphatically stated purpose of said weapons is to destroy both Israel and America—the Little and Great Satans, respectively.

It is the pinnacle of naiveté on the part of America, who up until November 24, 2013, was ostensibly Israel's only friend in the international community.

Well, so much for that. From this point on, it's pretty clear:

Israel is on its own politically, diplomatically, and militarily—just like God said it would be.

And if you think Israel is becoming an international pariah now, just wait until the spring of 2014. That's when these so-called "peace talks" between the Israelis and the Palestinians will come to a head. Of course, these peace talks are the same old dog-and-pony show and are going nowhere as usual. Only the clinically insane would expect otherwise (you know, repeat the same action, expect a different result). Not even Obama expects them to succeed.

It appears that the (doomed) peace talks are intended to serve as a drum roll heralding the entrance of Sir Barack, the Knight in Shining Armor who will burst on the scene to save the day by forcing an agreement (the phrase that seems to be in vogue now is "framework agreement") down the throats of both parties, and in the process will bludgeon Israel into accepting another "deal" that forces them to relinquish sizable chunks of their own land, divide their eternal capital of Jerusalem, and threatens their very existence.

But that's a topic for another time.

What I want to do in the remainder of this article is talk a little bit about another way in which Israel is being increasingly isolated in the world today, because Israel is not just being isolated politically, diplomatically, and militarily.

Israel is also being isolated spiritually, and it's coming from the one group of people in the world who should know better: the Church.

A not-so-super doctrine

There is a doctrine that has become a mainstay not only within the Roman Catholic Church, but also a lot of mainstream Protestant churches in America and around the world today, and it has to do with the relationship between Israel and the Church. It is commonly referred to as supersessionism (that is, the Church has superseded or replaced or become pre-eminent over Israel), and it is actually not one single doctrine. Rather, it is a loose-knit collection of teachings that may be known by different names. These doctrines range from kinder, gentler variations that merely overemphasize the Church to more vehemently anti-Semitic ones that see the Holocaust as unfinished business.

But whatever name they go by, these are all pigs that feed at the same trough. And the slop these pigs are feeding on goes something like this:

The Church has replaced Israel in God's plan, and has become spiritual Israel, or the new Israel, or the true Israel, or God's Israel, etc. The Jews are no longer God's chosen people, He has no more use for them, and apparently He has revoked His covenant with them and has summarily applied it to the Church. Thus, all the promises made to Israel in the Old Testament (salvation, restoration, peace, prosperity, a kingdom, etc.) have been transferred to the Church, and most references to Israel in the New Testament really refer to the Church.

In the most extreme variants of supersessionism, the people currently living in Israel are not seen as being real ethnic Jews, but rather as impostors. But whether they are ethnic Jews or not, they are illegally occupying and building settlements on land that belongs to the Palestinians.

Sound familiar? It should, because that's the message blaring from the mainstream media on a daily basis.

The one overarching principle that unites these doctrines, however, is that in various ways and to varying degrees the Church is placed in a superior or more favored position than Israel, which is de-emphasized, marginalized, or flat out kicked to the curb. One result of this is that adherents of these doctrines tend to read the New Testament through Church-colored glasses, inserting the Church into many passages that pertain to Israel.

The bottom line is that as a result of rejecting Jesus as their prophesied Messiah and having Him crucified two thousand years ago, the Jews essentially blew it—and God rejected them and has been punishing them for it ever since. That seems reasonable, doesn't it? After all, those dirty, rotten Jews killed Jesus! Clearly the Church must be the true fulfillment of God's promises.

Opponents of the various species of supersessionism often refer to such teaching as replacement theology, since at their core these doctrines see the Church as replacing Israel in some way (hence terms such as spiritual Israel, and so on).

What's ironic is that there are preachers throughout America and the world who have scarcely heard of supersessionism or replacement theology who, if asked point blank, would jump up and down screaming that the Church has not replaced Israel. They would vehemently denounce the idea as heresy, and rightly so. It is heresy. "God is not done with Israel," they would shout, and rightly so. God is not done with Israel.

Yet some of those same preachers will stand in front of their congregations every Sunday morning and preach sermons in which they unwittingly read the Church into places in the New Testament that deal with Israel, and as a result teach ideas that sprout from seeds planted in the soil of supersessionism.

For example, they'll read the Church squarely into the middle of the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24–25 (which deals with Israel during the Tribulation and the Second Coming), and teach a post-tribulation Rapture. Or they will read the Church into the Parable of the 10 Virgins in Matthew 25 (which deals with Tribulation survivors, many of whom will be Jews) and teach conditional salvation (i.e., that you can somehow "run out" of the Holy Spirit).

They'll insist that the Church has not replaced Israel, yet they are still influenced to some degree by the insidious effects of this pervasive doctrine.

Some of the theological arguments involved in supersessionism—both in defending and refuting it—can become complex and rather technical, and I don't want to put you into a coma. But what I would like to do is at least give you several scriptural principles that will help you gain some understanding as to why supersessionism is a patently unbiblical doctrine.

1. The Old Testament clearly promises the perpetuity of Israel.

Many proponents of replacement theology believe the Church has become Israel (spiritual Israel, whatever) to the extent that they see the modern-day nation called "Israel" in the Middle East as not really being Israel, but as little more than a geopolitical accident that has no connection whatsoever to God's wonderful plan for the Church.

I guess Jeremiah didn't get the memo:

Well, let's see...

Sun giving its light by day: ✔

Moon giving its light by night: ✔

Ditto for the stars: ✔

Waves of the sea roaring: ✔

OK, then God's not finished with the Jews. End of conversation.

2. The Old Testament clearly teaches that Israel will be restored.

In numerous places throughout the Old Testament, God says that Israel will be dispersed among the nations of the earth for their disobedience, but that they will be regathered into their land and restored as a nation in the last days so that God can bring them back into their covenant relationship with Him.

Incidentally, Jeremiah didn't get this memo, either.

And apparently neither did Ezekiel, Amos, Zephaniah, or Zechariah.

3. The New Testament reaffirms Israel's salvation and restoration.

In many places throughout the New Testament, the fact that Israel will be saved and restored is driven home with stark clarity. Jesus Himself makes several references to this in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. For example:

Jesus is speaking after being rejected by the Jewish religious leaders as their prophesied Messiah, and clearly indicates that they will see Him again—when believing Jews implore Him to return at the Second Coming.

And He's not talking about the Church—He's obviously talking about Israel.

That ain't us: Nowhere in the entire New Testament is the Gentile Church ever referred to as "Israel." Not once. Of the 109 times the word "Israel" is used in the New Testament, it is used as a title 73 times, and almost always refers to national, ethnic Israel. But "Israel" is never used to refer to the Gentile Church.

Now, there are a few passages that refer specifically to ethnic Jews who are born-again believers (that's "spiritual Israel" if you want to use that phrase, although it is never used in the Bible). In order to realize that, however, you have to recognize who the epistle is being written to (that is, Jewish believers or Gentile believers). Be aware that failing to consider the intended audience of certain epistles is a common source of supersessionist error.

However, undoubtedly the strongest, most emphatic affirmation in the entire New Testament that God is not done with the Jews and that He has plans to save and restore Israel as a nation is found in his powerful epistle to the church at Rome, in chapters 9–11.

Paul hammers away for three full chapters about how even though Israel stumbled in disbelief, their stumbling (that is, their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah and the fact that they had Him crucified) gave the Gentiles an opportunity to be grafted into the New Covenant. Thus, salvation by faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice can come to both Jews and Gentiles as a result of the depth of God's mercy and the surety of His promises.

The result is clear. We've been grafted into their covenant. If God has revoked His covenant with Israel, then we are on shaky ground indeed.

And frankly, I don't see how Paul could have made it any clearer. After reading Romans 9–11, there is no possible way to conclude that the Gentile Church has replaced or superseded Israel in any way whatsoever unless you resort to twisting and torturing a few certain verses until they seem say something they just don't say.

But that's exactly what some people do.

Paul even gives us an idea when God will begin the process of restoring Israel from their unbelief:

(Incidentally, allow me to point out the painfully obvious: If the Church has replaced Israel, this verse is absolute nonsense. Oh, or it must have been mistranslated! Yeah, that's it! Sigh.)

So when "the fullness of the Gentiles has come in," God will turn His attention back to Israel to restore them to their covenant relationship with Him from their current state of unbelief. That is precisely what Daniel's 70th Week—the Tribulation—is all about.

And here's a little nugget for you to gnaw on: The Greek word translated "fullness" was used in those days to refer to the full number of crew members required for a ship to set sail. Also, the word translated "come in" refers to arriving at a destination. So, what Paul is basically saying is that as soon as the last Gentile who is going to come to faith in Christ during the Age of Grace has been saved, their ship will be ready to set sail and arrive at its destination. Then, that "partial hardening" will begin to be softened as the restoration process—the Tribulation—gets underway.

I hope you realize what Paul has just done here—he's basically just drawn us a picture and labeled it "The Pre-Tribulation Rapture."

4. Several end-time prophecies clearly involve ethnic Israel.

Finally, if the Church has replaced Israel, then why are there end-time prophecies concerning the Tribulation period that undeniably involve the literal nation of Israel?

Here are several examples of prophetic passages that will find their fulfillment during Daniel's 70th Week that refer to or involve the literal nation of Israel, and which cannot logically refer to the Gentile Church:

• The abomination of desolation.

In this part of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus is describing what will kick off the Great Tribulation, or the second half of Daniel's 70th Week, and it is obviously something that only applies to the literal nation of Israel. The abomination of desolation is an event in which the Antichrist will erect an image in the holy place in the temple and people will be compelled to worship him as God. Matthew's Jewish audience knew it had happened once before nearly two centuries earlier in 167 BC, which explains Matthew's cyptic aside "let the reader understand."

That was a shadow of things to come, because it's going to happen again—and you don't have to be NASA's Rocket Scientist of the Month to see that this requires the Jewish temple to be rebuilt, which has zip to do with the Church.

Incidentally, Paul refers to the exact same event in 2 Thessalonians 2, where he is trying to calm the Thessalonians down because they thought the Tribulation had already started. Paul reminded them that they couldn't be in the Tribulation yet because the Antichrist hadn't been revealed, and the Antichrist couldn't be revealed until after the "departure" (i.e., the Rapture), and they were still here.

• Not fleeing Jerusalem on the Sabbath.

Jesus goes on to tell them a couple of verses later to pray they don't have to flee from Jerusalem during the winter or on the Sabbath—and He doesn't mean Sunday after the NFL game. He means the Jewish Shabbat—from sundown on Friday until nightfall on Saturday.

The whole point of what Jesus is saying is that it was forbidden for the Jews to make a journey of more than about 1,000 paces on the Sabbath because it was considered work. Thus, if the abomination of desolation happened to occur on the Sabbath, they wouldn't be able to flee for their lives without violating Jewish religious laws.

Personally, I believe the Holy Spirit, rather than giving us a prophetic travel advisory, is simply dropping us a big fat clue that all of this pertains strictly to the nation of Israel and not the Church—in anticipation of the false doctrine of supersessionism.

You know, the Holy Spirit authored all Scripture, and it's fascinating to see how He drops just enough clues here and there to refute every single false doctrine out there. The Holy Spirit—the third Person of the Trinity—seems to have anticipated and countered in advance every single one of man's attempts to twist or distort God's Word.

• The sealing of the 144,000 witnesses.

After the opening of the sixth seal (during the Tribulation), 144,000 Jewish witnesses are sealed by the Holy Spirit to evangelize the Jews in Israel and around the world—12,000 from each of 12 tribes, all of which are mentioned by name. I mean, how specific does Scripture need to be? How plain? How clear? How badly do you have to twist God's Word to get around the fact that these are genuine, dyed-in-the-wool Jews from the genuine, dyed-in-the-wool nation of Israel?

You wouldn't believe some of the foolishness I've seen posted by sincere but deceived people on sites like YouTube, etc. that attempt to make this out to be the Church.

These points I have mentioned barely scratch the surface of the issues related to supersessionism (replacement theology), but I hope I have at least given you a sense of how unbiblical it is to presume the Church has in some way replaced Israel.

But the thing is, it's not just unbiblical. It doesn't just twist Scripture. It leads—either directly or indirectly, innocently or maliciously—to anti-Semitism.

It leaves the Jews pretty much where they are now: twisting in the wind.

We've got your back

President Obama made a speech earlier this year in which was trying to calm Israel's nerves in regard to the Iranian nuclear threat, and uttered the now famous line:

I've got your back.

I remember thinking to myself: "Right...said the spider to the fly." It almost made me physically ill to listen to the President of the United States display the depth of his duplicity and the height of his hubris, and at that moment the thought occurred to me that nobody has Israel's back today.

But then the thought occurred to me that I was wrong. Although the Obama administration may have sold Israel down the river, there is still one major group of people in the world today that solidly supports Israel: the remnant of the Church that has not fallen into the error of replacement theology.

I mean, we're it. We're all Israel really has left at this point as far as spiritual support is concerned.

As for those in the Church who have been lured into the belief that the Church has replaced Israel, or that God is done with Israel, or that the blessings promised to Israel have been transferred to the Church, I've got bad news.

First, you're wrong.

And I've got more bad news. No good news, only bad.

Understand that God's Word contains a warning against such a belief, and so apparently this is no small matter to God. God loves the Jewish people, and Israel is the apple of His eye. That has never changed, and it never will.

So when people come along and claim the Church has replaced Israel and start calling themselves "spiritual Israel" or the "new Israel" and so forth, they are basically saying they are Jews—but they're not.

And apparently that rubs God the wrong way:

This passage in the book of Revelation was written by John around AD 95, and is part of one of seven messages from the Lord to seven actual first-century churches in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). This church, located in the town of Philadelphia, prophetically represents the faithful remnant of today's Church. And so help me...if this is not a direct warning to those who espouse the heresy of replacement theology, then I don't know what is.

Of course, it should surprise no one that people who adhere to replacement theology try to make this passage out to mean that the people who live in "Israel" today say they are Jews, but are not—they're impostors who are illegally occupying land that they have brutally usurped from the poor, oppressed Palestinians.

Palestinians, that is, who have the world knocking itself out to give them their so-called "two-state solution." But that's not what they really have in mind.

The idea that the people living in Israel are not really Jews isn't the absolute stupidest thing I've ever heard anyone say about the Bible, but it might crack the Top 10.

A parting thought

As you read the Bible, you learn a little about God's nature, and you begin to become familiar with the way He tends to do things. And one thing you learn about God from reading Scripture is that God is thorough. He tends to be absolute in His dealings with people and nations.

God doesn't leave loose ends.

Throughout the Bible, sometimes God deliberately does things in ways that leave some wiggle room. In other words, those with faith can clearly see the hand of God at work, but there is enough wiggle room for those without faith to focus on alternative explanations to support their unbelief.

After all, God demands faith, and allows those without it to remain hardened in their unbelief.

But sometimes God does something in a way that demonstrates His sovereign power and authority, with no intention of allowing it to be credited to another source. In Ezekiel 38–39, God's intervention on Israel's behalf is apparently such an act. Let's take another look at the last verse of Ezekiel 38:

Uh, so much for wiggle room.

The whole point is that God's unmistakable intervention on their behalf is exactly what will turn the hearts of His people Israel back to their God and inspire them to re-establish their covenant relationship with Him, which is apparently what will prompt them to rebuild their temple.

Now, the timing of the battle of Ezekiel 38–39 relative to the seven-year Tribulation (and relative to the Rapture) has been hotly debated among prophecy experts for a long time, and there have emerged several different schools of thought (which I won't burden you with in this article).

But the thought I'd like to leave you with concerns the relationship between the battle of Ezekiel 38–39 and the Rapture, and it is this:

If the Church were still here at the battle of Ezekiel 38–39, praying for and spiritually supporting Israel, then attention could be drawn to the Church as being a source of spiritual help for Israel in her time of distress. But it seems that God intends for Israel to have to stand alone—with nobody to turn to except their God.

In other words, it just doesn't make good scriptural sense to me that the Church would still be here to witness the battle of Gog-Magog, because I believe Israel will be isolated in every conceivable way—including spiritually.

I'm not dogmatic about this (nor should anyone else be) because things could always play out differently. But let me put it to you this way:

If someone wanted to make the argument that the Rapture had to occur prior to the battle of Ezekiel 38–39, this would be an excellent point to bring out.

I mention this because it just so happens that we clearly see the Ezekiel 38–39 scenario rapidly taking shape today, with the actors taking their places on stage and the final pieces of furniture being moved into position before the house lights go down and the curtain goes up.

At the same time, Israel has almost run out of friends. Almost.

But when the Church and this world part ways at the Rapture, Israel really will be alone again (naturally).

Greg Lauer — DEC '13

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