Was Israel Rejected by God? Has the Christian Church succeeded Israel (Replacement Theology)? Are there two ways to salvation (dispensationalism)? What is Israel today? Why does the small Jewish part of the world's population play such a large role today? The Adventist theologian and Jew Jacques Doukhan addresses these questions in his book The Mystery of Israel in the menu.

Replacement Theology

In the first chapter he refutes Catholic replacement theology. She claims that the New Testament replaced the Old, Sunday replaced the Sabbath and the Christian Church replaced the people of Israel. This doctrine is also viewed by historians as complicit in the Holocaust. Doukhan examines various texts used in Replacement Theology (1 Samuel 8,7:1,9; Hosea 21,33:46; Matthew 27,20:11-70; XNUMX:XNUMX, among others) and explains them in their immediate context and in the light of other Bible texts. He then goes into detail about Romans XNUMX, where Paul clearly takes a stand against Replacement Theology. Finally, he examines the XNUMX-year prophecy in detail.

The dispensationalism

In the second chapter of his book, Doukhan refutes the dispensationalism that sharply separates Christianity and Judaism. He refers to Ephesians 2,12:15-3,28.29 and Galatians 70:XNUMX-XNUMX. The dispensationalists postpone the last of the XNUMX year-weeks into the end times as a seven-year tribulation with a future Antichrist as world ruler. Doukhan shows how this interpretation does violence to the biblical text. Then he goes into the texts that speak of Israel's return from exile. According to him, they were largely fulfilled before Jesus' first coming. He considers the teaching of rebuilding the temple in this sinful world to be dangerous and unbiblical. Overall, Doukhan rejects dispensationalism as an anti-Semitic theory of apartheid because the promises of the Bible apply to Jews and Christians alike.

There is only one Israel in God's eyes

Chapter three begins the second half of the book. Here the author presents his understanding of Israel's role. For him, Israel and the community are not two successive or parallel peoples of God, but one people. The early Christian community was Jewish. Jesus, the disciples and the early missionaries were Jews. Most of the Jewish people welcomed Jesus with joy, and even after Pentecost, many Jews accepted the gospel. Based on recent research, it is even likely that non-Christian Judaism was threatened in its existence.

But how did it happen that Judaism finally distanced itself from Jesus? Because the majority of Christians began to reject the law and the Sabbath, it became increasingly difficult for the Jews to accept Jesus as the Messiah. Christianity developed anti-Semitic traits. So today the Christian Church lacks the law and Judaism lacks its Messiah. The current division of Israel into Christianity and Judaism was never God's will.

The Seventh-day Adventist Mission

In chapter four, Jacques Doukhan shows that based on Revelation 14,12:3,24 and Malachi XNUMX:XNUMX, the Seventh-day Adventists are commissioned not only to unite law and gospel, but also unite the hearts of the fathers (Judaism) to the to convert hearts of children (Christianity) and vice versa. Hardly any Adventist is aware of the scope of this prophetic task. If we want to fulfill this commission, God must take away our fear of being considered Jewish or Judaizing by others. It would also require a sensitivity and an understanding that protects us from the anti-Semitic attitudes that always surface when we speak disparagingly of Judaism and see ourselves as a chosen people as opposed to Israel. As long as we do not change on this point, it will only very rarely happen that a Jew finds his Messiah through us.

The four faces of Israel

In his last chapter, Doukhan shows that Israel has many faces: First, the biblical Israel as descendants of Jacob, but into which foreigners repeatedly married or were accepted. So it was never a race in the National Socialist sense. Second, the Jewish Israel of the Jews who did not settle in Israel after the Babylonian exile and after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, the Ashkenazim in Eastern and Western Europe, and the Sephardim around the Mediterranean. Again and again non-Jews joined this Israel through marriage and conversion. This Israel has survived as keepers of God's law, custodians of the Hebrew language, liturgy and many traditions of Biblical Israel. A portion of that Israel resides today in the revived political state of Israel. But this nation is also made up of Jews from many races: European, Arab, Indian, Ethiopian, Chinese and other Jews. Third, Christian Israel, which actually made Jewish Israel known to the world even as it rejected the law. Christian Israel consists of all peoples and languages, but this includes almost no Jews, because they are mostly rejected by Christian Israel. Fourth, end-time Israel. By this Doukhan understands those Christians who have broken away from traditional Christianity, turn back to the Torah and thus unite law and messiah. This Israel is open to Christians and Jews and is intended to prepare the world for the coming kingdom of God. All of these Israelites are physical Israelites, even if they became so through spiritual or cultural connection. But they can all also become spiritual Israelites if they allow themselves to be filled with God's spirit.

Israel and Ellen White

As an appendix, Doukhan adds a few pages examining Ellen White's statements about Judaism, which some take to be anti-Semitic. He shows that in such cases Ellen White often speaks of the Jewish leadership in Jesus' day. Her statements can only be understood in the light of her overall testimony on the subject.

The book was published in English in 2004 by Review and Herald Verlag under the title The Mystery of Israel and 2007 at Advent-Verlag under the title Israel's role in salvation history appeared.

First published in German in Foundation for a free life, 3-2007