Question: In November, you expressed displeasure with D. James Kennedy, R.C. Sproul, and others, who ...

Question: In November, you expressed displeasure with D. James Kennedy, R.C. Sproul, and others, who teach that Israel "has no special title to land in the Middle East, having been replaced by the church." Unbelieving Israel was always cut off, whether in ancient times, Christ's day, or our own; the kingdom has always been the blessing given to another "nation" (composed of believing Jews and Gentiles)....These saints, make up that holy nation Peter calls the body of Christ. Scripture nowhere affirms that unbelieving Israel...shall receive...a millennial Canaan whose boundaries reach the Euphrates....Jeremiah:23:7-8 [7] Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; [8] But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
See All......relates to the return from Babylon...not Israel reconstituted in modern history. Moreover, this text includes...a Messianic prophecy that must be contextualized with verses 7 and 8....

Response: Literally hundreds of scriptures contradict your position. God promised Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their seed everlasting possession of a physical land on this earth with prescribed boundaries (Gn 11:31; 12:1,5,6,7; 13:15; 15:7, 18-21; 17:7,8; 26:3-5; 28:13,14; 35:9-12; 1 Chr:16:15-18 [15] Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations; [16] Even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; [17] And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, [18] Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance;
See All..., etc.). For example: "I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee...all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God" (Gn 17:7,8). No such promise of possession of a particular land on this earth was ever given to the church! Israel possessed this land for centuries. How could the church, whose inheritance is in heaven, replace physical Israel on earth?

The Israelites, with few exceptions, were always in unbelief: in Egypt, through the desert, in the land-yet God remained faithful and patient. He disciplined but never disowned them. He warned that He would cast them out of the land if they did not repent and turn to Him. He said they would be scattered to every nation, hated, persecuted, and killed like no other people, which they were and are to this day. He promised to bring Israel back into her land in the last days, which He is doing-and that she would never cease to be a nation (Jer:31:35Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:
See All...,36). None of this fits the church.

You say that Jeremiah:23:7-8 [7] Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; [8] But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
See All... refers to the return from Babylon. How can "...from all the countries whither I had driven them" mean one country, Babylon? Those living in Israel today have come there from over 100 countries in a literal fulfillment of Jeremiah:23:7-8 [7] Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; [8] But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
See All.... God said that in that day, no Jew would be left outside Israel: "I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them [among other nations] any more" (Ezk 39:28; Mt 24:31)-but only a remnant returned from Babylon.

Yes, "unbelieving Israel has no special title to the land." But Israel must return to her land in unbelief because it is there that they come to faith when the Messiah rescues His people in the midst of Armageddon (Zec:14:1-4 [1] Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. [2] For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. [3] Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. [4] And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
See All...). Every Jew alive will "look on [Him] whom they have pierced [and] there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David...for sin and for uncleanness" (Zec:12:10-13 [10] And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. [11] In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. [12] And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; [13] The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
See All...:1) and "all Israel shall be saved" (Rom:11:26And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
See All...). That did not happen at the return from Babylon!

If the church is Israel, then "All the church shall be saved" when Christians look upon the One "they have pierced." Paul was willing to go to hell if that would save Israel, his "kinsmen according to the flesh" (Rom:9:3For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
See All...). None of this describes the church!
His "prayer to God for Israel [was], that they might be saved" (Rom:10:1Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
See All...). Those in the church are not yet saved?

You say, "Israel was always cut off...the kingdom has always been the blessing given to another ‘nation' (composed of believing Jews and Gentiles)...." Was the Davidic kingdom, therefore, really the church, living for centuries in that land "from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates"? The church never was promised a land, never occupied a land, never was cast out of that land for her sin, never was promised that she would be brought back into it. The church is not Israel.