I read a blog yesterday written by a man whose scholarly credentials I'm sure are impressive. The Title was, ""Supercessionism, Dispensationalism, and the Present Middle East Crisis-- A Christian Stand"" His credentials on paper would by comparison render mine to the atomic weight of oxygen. He is very knowledgeable about the Bible and I find his comments to be intelligent and often thought provoking.

He opened his blog yesterday however, by saying that while he had been engaged in writing a commentary for the Book of Hebrews, that he has been, ""struck by how forcefully the book of Hebrews completely undercuts a Dispensational approach to the reading of Scripture, and while we are at it, to a blind and unconditional support of the present secular nation-state of Israel regardless of its military practices and policies. This is not to say that we do not need to be equally critical of the inhuman practices of Hamas and Hezbollah, as well. We do.""

He went on to reflect on these things and in so doing, arrive at a point where he suggests we should follow the call of God to pursue peace and holiness, showing the love of Christ to all people, precisely because Christ Himself died for all people. ""We should do our best to love everyone and be more concerned about our own Christ-likeness than other's perceived lack thereof. We should get our house in order.""

He finished his post by saying that violence should be abhorred and that we should repeatedly monitor our reactions to violent confrontation in any form in light of the example set by Jesus in Scripture, and urges us all to, ""Think on these things.""

These are good points, and I applaud his thinking in regards to violence. I have always abhorred it, especially in those rare moments in youth when I was most distastefully in a violent situation myself. I always felt I could have handled the situations better afterward. However, his remarks on Supercessionism and Dispensationalism for a while, left me nonplussed.

Supercessionism (sometimes called Covenantalism or Replacement Theology) and Dispensationalism are two diametrically opposed approaches to viewing eschatological events in the light of prophetic Scripture.

Adherents to Supercessionism believe that in the case of the prophetic future, a disobedient Israel has been replaced with the church, while Dispensationalists view God's promises to Israel as unconditional and yet to be fulfilled, holding to a more literal interpretive view.

Without going further into that, I would like to say that though I respect this man and a fair amount of what he has to say, it may be counter-productive to the cause of Christ to say that the Book of Hebrews forcefully and completely undercuts a Dispensational approach to the reading of scripture.

His remarks by implication would seem to indicate that most of the people who believe that Israel will return to God eventually and that the nation will accept Christ to a man, are given to the mistaken notion that because they as a people will be reconciled to God, that we should go ahead and grant them a 'moral pass,' believing that they can do no wrong, politically or militarily.

I know plenty of "Dispensationalists" who by no means accept every act of aggression or political censure by Israel as instantly approved of by the Almighty. I don't, and I'm sure many would largely describe me as a Dispensationalist, even if I do not.

Making general assumptions about someone who holds to a different interpretive view of end time events which does not in any way change Christology soteriologically is, in my humble opinion, a sort of obstinacy, and drawing lines in the Scriptural sand that cannot now be proven, and then going on to insist it is provable is also a bit obstinate. Most 'Dispensationalists I know could come back with probably just as many Biblically solid reasons why the Book of Hebrews forcefully undercuts Supercessionistic eschatology, but they still can't prove that what they hold to is correct until it occurs or not. God must be waited upon, because He is God.

I'm not saying we shouldn't study prophecy for ourselves. We should study prophecy like any other Scripture. We just shouldn't study it so that it can be used as a club to hammer people with. And we definitely shouldn't study it to divide Christianity into 'camps' who spend more time disagreeing about something that won't be proven this side of Heaven so that time is spent defending one's viewpoint on eschatology rather than seeking to win others to Christ.

As Christians, we should be able to disagree calmly and respectfully on those issues which divide us hermeneutically speaking, but we should also all be able to agree that the world needs Jesus, and that "... faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." It is the words of life that are most important at this point, and they will be the most important forever, second only to those words of praise and worship of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Waymaker for people to eternal life.

I've said before that I view Bible prophecy in one of two ways, fulfilled and unfulfilled. And if you, like I do, have friends in both 'camps,' and if you're interested in reading more on the subject of how loving, intelligent, but disagreeing Christians should and can get along on this subject, I think my blog post from June 27th might help.
http://ourbreadoflife.blogspot.com/2006/06/somebody-has-been-trying-to-engage-me.html

How we arrive at, and surpass prophetic fulfillment is as important or maybe more so, than the prophecies themselves. By that I mean that while prophecy is becoming fulfilled, we as believing Christians are to be as the writer said, keeping our own houses in order, and being about the work of the Lord, proclaiming Him. Whether as individuals with varying gifts we do that by showing a stranger some simple kindness, cleaning the bathrooms at our church, sharing about Jesus across the fence with our neighbor, or by shouting His name from the mountaintops is up to the Lord and we should be sensitive and obedient to His leading, together. His peace to you.