Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum
Israelology 802
Chafer Theological Seminary
Jeremy Tiss
August 30, 2000
A View Of Israel Through The Eyes Of
Postmillennialism, Amillennialism,
Covenant Premillennialism, and Dispensationalism.
COVENANT POSTMILLENNIALISM: DEFINITION AND BASIC TENANTS
The essence of Postmillennialism: First, through the preaching of the gospel, "the world eventually will be Christianized." Second, there will be a long period of righteousness and peace (e.g., the "millennium"). Third, after all this will be the return of Christ.
THE ISRAELOLOGY OF COVENANT POSTMILLENIALISM
ISRAEL PAST
ISRAEL THE CHOSEN PEOPLE
Even though Jews received the oracles of God, it does not mean they were guaranteed spiritual salvation or that the nation could not someday be cast off. At some point, Israel was "cast off" and the blessings were extended to the Gentiles.
THE CHURCH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
The church is the people of God, and in the Old Testament the Church and Israel are the same. Since the covenant of grace allows for only one people of God, the elect, Postmillennialists cannot allow for a distinction between Israel and the Church, but must assert that God has ever had but one Church in the world.
THE LAW OF MOSES
The Law of Moses was given as a national covenant with the Hebrew people. The state of Israel and the Church were united so that to be a citizen of the state was to be a member of the Church.
THE WAY OF SALVATION
Not only is the means of salvation always by grace through faith, but the content of faith is also always the same. The content consists of the belief in the Messiah as the Savior of the world. Since the content of faith is "always the same", it follows that the Church was always the same and existed from the beginning.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Postmillennialists identify the Church with the Kingdom of God. This Israel-Church-Kingdom is the means by which the world will eventually be converted and the Millennium brought in.
ISRAEL PRESENT
ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH
The Jews had no right or basis from the Old Testament to expect that Messiah’s Kingdom would be Jewish in any way, or a kingdom of Israel. Jews have been rejected and cast off by God. The Church, the New Israel, is now the people of God. The Abrahamic covenant sign of circumcision is now applied by the Church through infant baptism.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
The visible Kingdom today is composed of all who profess the true religion, together with their children. This present form of the kingdom is temporary and destined to merge into a higher form at the second coming; it is here now in order to accomplish certain ends, such as the conquest of the world by means of the gospel.
THE LAW OF MOSES
The law is not a single unit that is either all in effect or all rendered inoperative, but only parts of the law have been rendered inoperative. Yet other parts are still in effect; how to determine which are and which are not is not totally clear, but there is a criterion though it is largely subjective. While a specific command of the law may be in effect (i.e., the Sabbath), the specific rules and regulations surrounding the command are not obligatory and may be subjectively changed.
THE STATE OF ISRAEL TODAY
The Jews have no right whatsoever to their own land and do not belong anywhere. There are no such prophecies or promises of Jews coming to possess a large part, or even all, of Palestine.
ROMANS 9:1-11:24 AND THE OLIVE TREE
Israel is no longer the people of God, yet Israel’s rejection is not total, for some Jews are elected and saved. Rather than restoration, the main purpose of Israel’s stumbling is Gentile salvation, which is based on Postmillennialism’s soteriological bias of the Abrahamic covenant (rather than doxological). According to Postmillennialist Charles Hodge, the Church is the Olive tree.
ISRAEL FUTURE
ESCHATOLOGY
Postmillennialists deny that there is to be a final restoration of Israel to the land, but that the prophetic passages concerning national Israel will be fulfilled allegorically through the church. Rushdoony provides many examples of how the actual words of Scripture are ignored and reinterpreted on the basis of Covenant Theology and the Church-equals-Israel hypothesis. However, Postmillennialist Boettner readily admits that if one reads the Bible and accepts the literal meaning of the words, then the Dispensationalist viewpoint is correct.
THE NATIONAL SALVATION OF ISRAEL AND ROMANS 11:23-33
While denying a national restoration of Israel, Postmillennialists have generally believed in an amalgamation of the national salvation of Israel with the elect of the Church after the Millennium. The "fullness of the Gentiles" refers to a worldwide revival in which the vast majority of Gentiles will come to Christ. However, unlike the "all Israel" of Rom. 11:26, Israel’s national salvation after this will only be partial.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ON THE ISRAELOLOGY OF COVENANT POSTMILLENNIALISM
SUMMARY
The covenant of grace, upon which Covenant Theology is based, allows for only one people of God for all time from Adam until the end, and this one group is the Church. Israel has been cast off as a nation from God’s place of experiential blessing, but they are still God’s people. The invisible Church now takes Israel’s outward form through visible churches into which the remnant of Jews may join in saving faith.
CONCLUSIONS
All Jews who believe now or in the future, including the time of the national salvation of Israel, will be part of the Church. Jews will not be restored to the land, but will be amalgamated into the Church. There will be a long time of peace and prosperity ended by a rebellion and the second coming of Christ.
COVENANT AMILLENNIALISM: DEFINITION AND BASIC TENANTS
Amillennialists do not believe in a literal Millennium, yet they do believe in a spiritual Millennium (revealed now either in the church or in heaven) before the second coming of Christ. Regarding their method of interpretation, they spiritualize Scripture, believe the Old Testament promises to Israel are fulfilled in the Church, and symbolically interpret the Millennium in Revelation 20. Amillennialist Augustine believed this spiritual Millennium would end in A.D. 650.
THE ISRAELOLOGY OF COVENANT AMILLENNIALISM
ISRAEL PAST
THE COVENANT OF GRACE
As the all-pervasive covenant, the covenant of grace is made with the elect, who become the only people of God. This system cannot allow two people of God such as Israel and the Church. There are only two dispensations: the Old and New Testaments, with the former being divided into several periods or stages in the revelation of the covenant of grace.
THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
What began with Abraham was the "institutional Church". The substance of Abraham’s faith was mostly in the spiritual (rather than physical) promises of God.
THE MOSAIC COVENANT AND THE LAW OF MOSES
Because there can be only one covenant to grace, Amillennialists insist that the covenant with Abraham and the covenant made at Sinai with Moses is essentially the same." They inconsistently and subjectively divide the law into moral, civil, and ceremonial realms, where the law is always viewed as an entire unit (law=singular in Hebrew).
THE WAY OF SALVATION
There is only one single gospel by which men are saved; the content of faith is always the same. Yet, what did one have to believe? Amillenarians believe that faith in Jesus Christ was always the means of salvation for all saints of all times. Paul nowhere says that Abraham believed that Christ would die for his sins; it does say that Abraham believed the promises of God which primarily had to do with the physical land and the seed, such as Isaac (not that the Messiah would die for his sins).
THE CHURCH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
From Adam to Moses, the Church was largely composed of "pious households" and the fathers were the priests. During the Mosaic period, the identification of Israel with the Church is complete. Yet if, indeed, "the whole nation" was the Church, did that include the unbelievers who were more often than not the majority?
ISRAEL PRESENT
THE NEW COVENANT
While only recognizing one covenant for all time (the covenant of grace), Amillennialists see that its administration has radically changed after Christ so that the Church and state are no longer united. The church is now separated from physical Israel. That means that physical Israel is no longer entitled to the blessings of the covenant, either physical or spiritual.
THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
The Abrahamic Covenant is not distinctly Jewish, God is not bound to Israel as a nation, His covenant is with the Church, and this Church is the Israel of God. As circumcision was the symbol of the Abrahamic covenant in the past, so infant baptism is now the new symbol of the Abrahamic covenant. In regard to infant baptism, the principle of sola scriptura is abandoned, and allegorization together with an argument based on silence is implemented.
THE MOSAIC COVENANT AND THE LAW OF MOSES
Holding to Mosaic law as partially binding for believers today, Covenant Amillennialists subjectively judge which commands are to be "discarded". Yet what remains and what does not is not based on any clear statement of Scripture, but on the theology already adopted (i.e. commandments which were "purely national" have been done away, in keeping that God is finished with Israel as a nation). Regarding the concept of eternity, God’s relationship with Israel was temporary. In relation to the Church, His relationship is a "literal eternalness". Since many commands in the Law of Moses are the exact opposite of the teachings of the Law of Christ, how could both possibly be binding on the New Testament believer? (i.e., meat: unclean in the Old, clean in the New.)
ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH
Covenant Amillennialism maintains that the Church is Israel, and that the Church of the Old Testament and the Church of the New Testament are basically the same (the elect of all ages). While the Church has separated from the national life of Israel, it is nevertheless still the true Israel because the Church is called the "Temple of God," "Jerusalem," and because the qahal of Israel is translated ekklesia by the classical Septuagint.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND THE CHURCH
The Kingdom of God and the Church are closely unified and barely kept distinct; the Kingdom of God is not a literal kingdom, so Christ’s office of kingship must be exercised in some other way. Since Amillennialism denies Christ any literal kingdom on earth over Israel or the world, Christ’s kingship must be "spiritual" and "His people" must refer to the elect, or the Church, and not to Israel. In Covenant Theology, the major purpose of God is soteriological, and thus even His kingship is related on a spiritual end, to the salvation of His people.
ISRAEL TODAY
Covenant Amillennialists deny that Israel today has any biblical right to the land. The "supreme need" of the persecuted Jew is the "heavenly salvation" which is found only in the Christian Church. This salvation, however, will not mold the Jew into the Church, since antagonism against the Jews in this century was hardly based on a lack of belief in the Messiahship of Jesus.
THE OLIVE TREE OF ROMANS 11
The Olive Tree represents the true Israel, and this true Israel is also the Church, which is also a theocracy. Every thought of a separate future or separate program (such as national salvation) for Jews is excluded. However, Dispensationalists believe that a total restoration of Israel to the Land does recognize a separate program, but not a separate salvation.
ISRAEL FUTURE
NO FUTURE FOR ISRAEL
Amillennialists deny both a national salvation and a national restoration of Israel; they only affirm a future for the Church. They believe the literal promises of national restoration and salvation found in the Old Testament have been allegorically negated through the "silence" of the New Testament.
ROMANS 11:25-32 AND "ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED"
Chapters nine and ten in Romans teach the promises of God did not apply to "Israel according to the flesh, but to the spiritual Israel". However, "spiritual Israel" is identified with the Church rather than with the believing Jewish remnant within Israel. If the context is truly determinative, the distinction Paul is making is between Jews who believe and Jews who do not.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS OF THE ISRAELOLOGY OF COVENANT AMILLENNIALISM
SUMMARY
All the prophecies which were intended for a literal fulfillment by Israel have already been fulfilled through the return from the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities; all others have been canceled because of unbelief. Today, there are no remaining unfulfilled promises to the Jews; all promises are spiritual and are now being fulfilled in the Church. This present age (Amillennialists’ Millennium) will terminate with the second coming, followed by an eternal state with no future Millennium in between. Thus, there will be no future national salvation or restoration of Israel.
CONCLUSIONS
Allowing no room for Israel, Amillennialism fails to take into account all that was entailed in the Jewish covenants. It combines Israel with the Church and sees the Law of Moses as binding for today. Rejecting Israel’s national salvation and restoration, Amillennialists resort to spiritualization and allegorization (more than the other two covenantal schools). God has not rejected Israel, but Amillennialists limit Israel to the elect or remnant Israel only incorporated into the Church.
COVENANT PREMILLENNIALISM: DEFINITION AND BASIC TENANTS
Covenant Premillennialism spirualizes the prophecies of the Old Testament and views the Church as the new or spiritual Israel. Although believing in an earthly literal kingdom, they view the Old Testament promises as being fulfilled in the Church. While some say the Millennium might be a thousand years or a long period of time, the basis for the Millennium can only be found in the New Testament (they reject the Old Testament Millennial promises). (i.e., Fuller Theological Seminary).
THE ISRAELOLOGY OF COVENANT PREMILLENNIALISM
ISRAEL PAST
ISRAEL THE CHOSEN PEOPLE
In the Old Testament, eschatological salvation is always pictured in terms of the national theocratic fate of the people of Israel. Discontinuity between the two testaments is recognized through the very different themes within their subject matter.
THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
There are countless prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Israel and the land of Promise which have not been fulfilled in the Christian church, and can never be fulfilled in the church. They can be fulfilled only in Israel.
THE CHURCH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
The church already existed in the Old Testament, and the Church was the true Israel. Israel is the Church of the Old Testament, and the Church is the true Israel of the New Testament.
ISRAEL PRESENT
ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH
The New Covenant was made with the Church (not Israel, as Dispensationalists hold). The Church is the new Israel, and the whole goal of God is soteriological in nature.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
The Kingdom of God is God’s redemptive reign; its goal is to establish God’s rule among men; the kingdom of God came in a unique way into human history with Jesus and remains a present reality through the Church. The Kingdom of God is even now overcoming evil, delivering men from the power of both evil and Satan, and will appear as an apocalyptic act at the end of the age with the second coming when Christ returns to set up His millennial rule. There is one people of God, which was Israel in the Old Testament and is now the Church.
THE LAW OF MOSES
The law of Moses has permanent validity and is still in effect, with some major modifications, and applies to the Church today as a rule of life. The major subjective modifications are in regard to the Sabbath, dietary laws, and sacrifice regulations.
ISRAEL TODAY
Because it is not "found" in the New Testament, it cannot be affirmed; therefore, the modern state of Israel is left untouched. Old Testament evidences for the modern state of Israel are insufficient in this mode of hermeneutics.
ROMANS 9-11 AND THE OLIVE TREE
Since there is only one Olive Tree, there is therefore only one people of God. Since the New Testament teaches that all believers become the children of Abraham, then that means the Church constitutes "the true spiritual Israel."
ISRAEL FUTURE
THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH
Presupposition: the Church is Israel; Israel is in the Tribulation; therefore, the Church is in the Tribulation. By saying that the Church will go through the Tribulation, it is necessary to erase distinctions between Israel and the Church in order to prove this.
THE 144,000 OF REVELATION 7 AND 14
The 144,000 represent literal Jews who will be saved during the Tribulation. Other Premillennialists view the 144,000 symbolically as the Church, dismissing the tribal account on the absence of the tribe of Dan.
THE WOMAN OF REVELATION 12
Instead of interpreting the Woman as Israel who gave birth to the Messiah, the Woman is seen as the visible or organized church with the Child as the true church. However, this requires ignoring symbols given in Genesis 37:9-10.
ROMANS 11:25-27 AND ISRAEL’S NATIONAL SALVATION
The Rapture will bring to a completion "the Gentile church," and Israel’s salvation will once again bring in a Jewish Church. Being amalgamated into the Church, Israel will experience national salvation at the second coming while the restoration will follow the second coming. Looking solely through the eyes of the New Testament, Covenant Premillennialists deny the restoration of the new temple and claim that the detailed promises in the Old Testament are rendered meaningless.
THE MESSIANIC KINGDOM
It is impossible to view the millennium as primarily Jewish in character. Although Covenant Premillennialists play down the Jewishness of the kingdom, the fact is that the reason God will bring salvation to the nation is because they are the Jewish nation, and it is with them God has a covenant.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS OF THE ISRAELOLOGY OF COVENANT PREMILLENNIALISM
SUMMARY
All Covenant Premillennialists agree that there is only one people of God. At the rejection of the Kingdom of God, Israel ceased to be the people of God, and now the Church is the people of God. The Law of Moses is still in effect, and the distinctions between Israel and the Gentiles have ceased. The timing of the Rapture is a dividing point in this school of theology.
CONCLUSIONS
Covenant Premillennialism identifies Israel with the Church. Yet, this view fails to take into account all that is entailed in the Jewish covenants, fails to see and recognize Israel’s unique entity, and shares all the same failings as the other two schools on the Law of Moses. Two new rules of hermeneutics are employed: the true meaning and the reinterpretation of the Old Testament. It believes in a national salvation of Israel, yet resorts to a great deal of allegorizing of New Testament text (because of their reluctance of basing it on the Old Testament).
DISPENSATIONALISM: DEFINITION AND BASIC TENENTS
A Dispensationalist maintains a consistent distinction between Israel and the Church. He maintains a consistent usage of a literal hermeneutic, in both the Old and New Testaments. Israel will be restored with full possession of all of the Promised Land as a saved nation and the head of all the Gentile nations. After the destruction of the present heavens and earth, a new heaven and earth will be created and followed by the Eternal State. The ultimate purpose of God is the glory of God.
THE ISRAELOLOGY OF DISPENSATIONALISM
A. ISRAEL PAST
ISRAEL THE CHOSEN PEOPLE
Israel is an elect, sacred, and everlasting nation comprised of the seed of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. With this nation, God entered into several covenants which are secured and sealed by the act of Jehovah. The election of Israel means Israel stands alone in distinction from all other nations combined, hence, the distinction between Jews and Gentiles.
THE UNCONDITIONAL COVENANTS
Dispensationalism believes that God made four covenants with Israel which are unconditional and eternal.
THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
God specifically promises Abraham the land of Palestine, a continuous seed, and spiritual blessings. This promise was confirmed unconditionally by God walking alone through split sacrifices. The sign of the Abrahamic covenant is circumcision.
THE PALESTINIAN COVENANT
This covenant reaffirms Israel’s title deed to the promised land. The Jewish ownership of the land is unconditional and the land’s enjoyment is conditioned upon obedience.
THE DAVIDIC COVENANT
In the context of rebuilding the temple, God promises to David an eternal dynasty, an eternal throne, an eternal kingdom, and thus an eternal seed. Psalm 89 reconfirms this covenant, sighting the fact that as long as you have night and day, God’s covenant will endure.
THE NEW COVENANT
As an unconditional covenant made with both houses of Israel, the New Covenant functions as a replacement for the Mosaic law. The New Covenant promises the regeneration of Israel, the forgiveness of sin, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the Millennial temple. The law of Christ, the Messiah, is given through the New Covenant and is specifically extended to the Gentiles.
SUMMARY
The covenants can be summed up as follows: A Nation Forever, A Land Forever, A King Forever, A Throne Forever, A Kingdom Forever, A New Covenant, and Abiding Blessings. Complexity concerning the covenants disappears when Scripture is taken in its normal, grammatical, and natural meaning—Israel is not the Church now, nor is the kingdom the Church; Zion is Jerusalem and not heaven; and the throne of David is precisely what David believed it to be, an earthly institution which has never been, nor will it ever be, in heaven.
THE MOSAIC COVENANT AND THE LAW OF MOSES
Between God and Israel, the Mosaic Law (613 commandments) required sacrifices to fulfill the bindings of atonement. With the Sabbath, the Law of Moses was given to Israel, not to the Gentiles or the Church. The corporate wholeness of the law was to reveal the holiness of God as His standard, to be a way of life for the Jewish person, to provide opportunities of corporate worship, to keep the Jews a distinct people, to reveal sin, to show the utter futility of earning salvation, and to drive one to faith in God.
ISRAEL PRESENT
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
The basic meaning of "the kingdom of God" is God’s sovereign rule. This definition emphasizes the eternal aspect (heaven), but also the temple aspect (how Israel is manifested here on earth). The "kingdom of God" and "the kingdom of heaven" are one and the same.
THE UNCONDITIONAL COVENANTS AND ISRAEL’S PRESENT STATUS
Through the Abrahamic Covenant, Jews have remained a distinct people, the land remains the rightful home of Jewish people whether they are in the land or not, and every nation that has raised its hands against the Jews has fallen. The Palestinian Covenant promises a worldwide regathering that is presently subjected to persecution. The Davidic Covenant promises eternal descendants, such as seen in the nation today and the Messiah. The New Covenant promises a national salvation that will include every living Jew at a specific point in time.
ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH
Gentile believers have become debtors to and partakers with Jewish believers in the Jewish spiritual blessings, such as salvation by faith, removal of sin, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Gentile believers are called to provoke Jews to jealousy and to be witness to them.
THE LAW OF MOSES AND THE LAW OF CHRIST
Law codes are as a unit; there is no middle ground of subjective choice. The law does not end with the coming of the Messiah, but with His death the whole law has been rendered inoperative. All the commandments given by Jesus or His apostles are relevant for a New Testament believer as the Law of Christ.
ISRAEL TODAY
Israel is presently being regathered in unbelief in preparation for the judgments of the tribulation. The remnant of Israel is fulfilling God’s calling as a whole today.
ROMANS 9:1—11:24 AND THE OLIVE TREE
The real problem is Israel’s temporary and partial rejection of God’s righteousness. The Olive Tree can be viewed as the place of Israel’s spiritual blessings, in which Gentile believers are partakers.
ISRAEL FUTURE
THE UNCONDITIONAL COVENANTS
God has loved the nation of Israel with an everlasting love. To Israel, His gifts and calling are without repentance, and they as a nation are to be regathered, restored, and preserved forever. The Church does not fulfill the promises of the Abrahamic, Palestinian (Land), or Davidic covenants, but they forever remain the nation of Israel’s by God’s decree.
THE RAPTURE AND THE TRIBULATION
Although tribulation does not start at the rapture, the reestablishment of the nation of Israel and Israel’s control of the Temple Mount pave the way for the covenant with the Antichrist and the tribulation temple.
THE 144,000 JEWS AND THE REMNANT OF ISRAEL
The tribulation will be a time for a worldwide revival based on the ministry of 144,000 Jewish single males. The tribulation will also break the power of the will of Israel through repentance and national regeneration, with those participating becoming the Remnant of Israel.
THE WOMAN OF REVELATION 12
With the Woman being arrayed with the sun, moon, and stars, by looking at the Old Testament (Gen. 37), this is be interpreted as the people of Israel being surrounded by Jacob, Rachel, and the twelve sons of Jacob. The Woman is not the Church, but Israel giving birth to the Messiah and the Dragon (Satan and his forces) striving to destroy the Child. Now, the Dragon turns against and begins to persecute the Woman (Israel) who produced Him because his end is near.
ROMANS 11:25-27, THE SECOND COMING AND THE NATIONAL SALVATION OF ISRAEL
The fact that Israel will be grafted back into their original tree proves that Israel’s hardening is partial and temporary, and all Jews of a set period of time will come to believe in Christ. This will occur in the last three days of the tribulation, when the Jewish leaders realize their sin of rejecting Jesus Christ, mourn for their sin, and pleading for Him to come and save them. Since two-thirds of Israel who accepted the Antichrist has already died, one third of Israel escapes his hand and becomes true believers in Christ, thus the Remnant of Israel (All Israel: Zech. 12:10-13:1, Joel 2:28-32, and Zech. 13:7-9).
THE MESSIANIC KINGDOM, ISRAEL’S REGATHERING, AND FINAL RESTORATION
The Messianic Kingdom rests on the unfulfilled promises of the Jewish covenants: the possession of the entire promised land and regathering of Israel through the Palestinian Covenant of Deut. 29-30, the literal rule through the throne of David by Jesus Christ in the Davidic covenant, and the national salvation of Israel as found in the New Covenant. Israel will be restored and reunited as the leading and foremost nation of the Millennium as seen through Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones, the division of two sticks, and the Shekinah glory of God.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS OF THE ISRAELOLOGY OF DISPENSATIONALISM
The Israelology of Dispensationalism is based on literal interpretation of Scripture and this, in turn, leads to making a consistent distinction between Israel and the Church. Thus, the study of the doctrine of Israel plays a key role in Systematic Theology. This fact is often overlooked by the majority of Dispensationalists who integrate their Israelology into their Ecclesiology and Eschatology.
SUMMARY
Israel as a nation was the object of national election which put them in a place of privilege and blessing. While this did not guarantee the salvation of every Jew, it did guarantee Israel’s survival as a distinct people as the Remnant of Israel. The saved nation will not be amalgamated into the church, but rather, the church will have a separate role in the Millennial Kingdom as co-reigners with Christ.
CONCLUSIONS
Dispensationalism needs to make a clear distinction between the physical and spiritual blessings and promises of Jewish covenants. Also, the distinction of the church and Israel is to be consistently applied in the present day. The rapture will not begin the Tribulation necessarily, yet all Israel will be saved at the end of the Tribulation before the second coming of Christ. Only a separately developed Israelology that is not amalgamated into Ecclesiology and Eschatology can resolve the issues between Israel and the Church.