Theology 101: The amillennial claim that Satan’s binding in Rev 20:1-3 is just limited to the act of deceiving the nations doesn’t fit the severity of the language in light of its clear Enochian background of the binding and imprisoning of wicked demons. If I say, “The murderer was captured, shackled, and sent to prison so he can’t kill anymore,” nobody in their right mind would assume, “Oh, but he’s freed from jail to commit lesser crimes like theft, vandalism, and assault!” - Dr. Michael Svigel

When someone says, “The Jews rejected Jesus, so God rejected them,” this is my response:

“Many believed in His name…” — John 2:23

“Many of the people believed in Him…” — John 7:31

“As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him” — John 8:30

“Many of the Jews… believed in Him” — John 11:45

“Many even of the authorities believed in Him…” — John 12:42

Not a few. Not a fringe.

Many… Jews.

All four Gospels record the triumphal entry—roads lined with Jews openly declaring Him as Messiah:

“Hosanna!

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

— John 12:13

That’s not rejection, that’s recognition.

Then Acts:

3,000 Jews believe after Peter’s first sermon and he tells them:

“The promise is for you and your children…” — Acts 2:39

Still speaking to Israel.

Then 5,000 more:

“The number of the men came to be about five thousand” — Acts 4:4

Then it keeps growing:

“Multitudes of men and women were constantly added…” — Acts 5:14

“A great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith” — Acts 6:7

Yes, even Jewish priests.

And later:

“You see… how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed.” — Acts 21:20

Thousands.

Not rejecting, responding.

The apostles themselves were Jews, the first among the remnant of Israel to believe Jesus was the Messiah.

Paul says it plainly:

“Has God rejected His people? May it never be!

For I too am an Israelite…” — Romans 11:1

So the claim that “the Jews rejected Jesus, therefore God rejected them” is not simply wrong, it is actually built on a false premise that the Scriptures themselves do not support. It exposes the influence of imposed Gentile frameworks and familiar phrases that shape how people come to believe things about the Bible that the Bible itself does not say. This is what I call the gentile Christian matrix… until you unplug you don’t know you’re in it. You actually think you read the Bible correctly when you’re making grave errors like assigning the entire nation of Israel in Jesus’ day the blanket label of unbelief. - Stephen Holmes

"I believe we Gentiles have been very guilty concerning a large portion of God’s truth. I believe that we have cherished an arbitrary, reckless habit of interpreting 1st-Advent texts literally and 2nd-Advent texts spiritually. I believe we have not rightly understood ‘all that the prophets have spoken’ about the 2nd personal Advent of Christ any more than the Jews did about the 1st.” - JC Ryle

Anyone who can raise Himself from the dead is strong enough to also raise me up from the dead. - Bob Sorge

"There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." (Rom. 2:9)

The Jews still being the Chosen People does not mean they get off Scot-free for their sins. It just means human evil cannot cancel out an eternal, divine covenant. - Travis M. Snow

“Save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Matthew 27:40

Ahh.

Now we know what the devil was up to in the wilderness.

“If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Matthew 4:3

Jesus was already on the Calvary Road of self-denial.

Satan was desperate to get him off. - John Piper

Replacement Theology robs us of one of the most powerful apologetic arguments for the truth of the Bible. The Bible describes our current geopolitical situation in amazing detail:

• The Jewish people scattered across the earth (Leviticus 26:33; Deuteronomy 28:64). 
• The miraculous rebirth of Israel and return of the exiles (Isaiah 11:11–12; Ezekiel 36:24; 37:21–22; Amos 9:14–15). 
• The descendants of Ishmael becoming a great people warring against themselves (Genesis 16:10–12; 17:20). 
• The whole world drunk on the “luxurious living” of Babylon (Revelation 18:3, 7, 9–19). 
• The surrounding nations turning against Israel (Zechariah 12:2–3; 14:2).
• Jerusalem becoming a “cup of trembling” (Zechariah 12:2–3; Zechariah 14:2; Joel 3:1–2). 
• The nations being against the temple (Psalm 79:1; Luke 21:24; Revelation 11:1–2). 
• Many of the nation’s currently fighting Israel are even in the same geographic location of the ancient enemies of Israel (Psalm 83:1–8; Ezekiel 35:10; 36:2). 
• It even predicts the rise of those who scoff (spiritualize?) at the coming of Christ and the fulfillment of prophecies (2 Peter 3:3–4; Jude 1:17–18).

It's impossible for this to be a coincidence. It’s time for Christians to wake up and reject Replacement Theology. - Johnathon Grimwood

When I come to the cross, I want to help Him. I want to fix it. I want to help Him save me. But all I can do is sit and watch while He saves me. I bring nothing to the cross, He does everything. - Allen Hood

My teaching on Jesus' prediction of suffering from Luke 9. Notes. Audio 1. Audio 2. 

Paul the apostle (esp. 1 Cor. 15; and 2 Cor. 4:16—5:10), the author of Hebrews (esp. chs. 1—2), and the author of the Gospel of John (esp. 1:1–14) are history's most consequential metaphysicians and it isn't particularly close--the audacity to baptize and to raise Middle Platonist and Stoic metaphysics in the christological reception of the Jewish creational tradition. - Chris Kugler

I know it's hard to see all the evil hatred of Zionism, Jewish people, Israel, etc. that masquerades as something intelligible or God-honoring.

But you also need to remember that, ultimately, this is all by God's sovereign design. He says in Zechariah 12:2-3:

“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling...I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will severely injure themselves."

It is God Himself who is allowing the Israel Derangement Syndrome because He has a case against the nations and is leading them to judgment.

Our task is to discern the times, the Scriptures, and to choose where we stand. Do not be flabbergasted and shaken from your poise because the Scriptures are moving towards their fulfillment.

God is right on schedule. And soon, He will be "the Holy One in Israel":

"So I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel." (Ezek. 39:7)

-Travis M. Snow

Simon of Cyrene, when you carried the cross, you thought you were saving Jesus from a burden He couldn’t carry, but actually He was saving you from a burden you couldn’t carry. - Bob Sorge

The cross demonstrates that when you know you have everything, you can die with nothing. - Bob Sorge

The gospel doesn’t awaken you to who you truly are; it kills and resurrects you into a gloriously new and different identity. - Bob Sorge

In Acts 1.6 the apostles asked Jesus, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

John Calvin commented: “There are as many errors in this question as words.”

But Calvin, otherwise rightly beloved in many respects, was himself the one who erred. For Jesus did not correct or rebuke the content of their question. Rather, he said:

“It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (vv. 7-8)

He affirmed the restoration of the kingdom to Israel as an epoch that “the Father has fixed by his own authority.” Then He said essentially that it wasn’t their business to figure out its timing, but to pray, receive the power of the Spirit, and to bear faithful witness to Christ as messengers of the Gospel. -BA Purtle

There are some keys that, if You are to handle them, You must have scars in Your hands. - Bob Sorge

Learn the contours of 1st Century Jewish Apocalypticism—it is absolutely the interpretive framework of Jesus and the Apostles. Also, learn the contours of the Greek (pagan) philosophical worldview—it is the underlying interpretive framework of perhaps half of the Christian Church today. - Joel Richardson

“While the foolish virgins were going to buy oil, the bridegroom came.” Matthew 25:10

You can’t make yourself love the second coming at the second coming.

“The righteous judge will award to me a crown of righteousness on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:8

-John Piper

Theology 101: Every eschatology—whether amillennial, premillennial, or postmillennial—has death on earth during the millennial kingdom of Rev 20. Only in classic premillennialism is death reduced to a mere trickle while the world is gradually freed from its bondage to corruption. - Dr. Michael Svigel

Paul is not contradicting himself when he speaks of a remnant now and all Israel later. He is tracing the same prophetic sequence:

• Now: a remnant by grace.
• Meanwhile: a partial hardening.
• Then: a future moment when Deliverer-from-Zion removes ungodliness from Jacob.

The end result: Israel as Israel is no longer split into a segment that is faithful and a segment that is unfaithful.

Paul explains that Israel remains covenantally significant:

“for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

That is a sledgehammer against any theology that treats the prophetic promises to Israel as nullified in a way that denies the original promises as referring to Israel (all Israel—both faithful and unfaithful). Paul’s point is not merely that God saves individuals; it is that God will be faithful to His historical promises. - Joel Richardson, The Remnant Now, All Israel Then

Paul’s argument in Romans 11 is built on this prophetic structure. He affirms that at this present time there is only a remnant of believing Israelites, and a current hardening on the rest. But he also speaks of a future moment when the hardening is lifted and “all Israel will be saved.” When Paul says “all Israel,” he is not denying that it is only a remnant; he is bringing the remnant pattern to its promised climax. - Joel Richardson, The Remnant Now, All Israel Then

If Jesus truly inaugurated the new creation, wherein sin and the curse are overturned, then we foremost ought to campaign for the deposing of wicked leaders, for total social equality, for environmental restoration, etc. (as indeed many inaugurationalists have done). If our inheritance and resurrection has already begun, then where is the impetus to take up our cross in this life and endure martyrdom (Luke 9:23; 14:27)? Why should we follow in the footsteps of our Master (1 Peter 2:21), enduring hardships “while suffering unjustly” (v.19)? Why are we called to hate our lives in this age (Luke 14:26; John 12:25), laying down our lives as Jesus did (John 15:13; 1 John 3:16)? Why should we rejoice in persecution (Matt. 5:12; Acts 5:41)? What is the purpose of being the scum of the earth in this age, paraded around like those condemned to die in the arena (1 Cor. 4:9–13)? Why should we love our lives not unto death (Rev.12:11)? Why should we be those “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus. . . always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor. 4:10–11)? And why should we “share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings” (2 Cor. 1:5), being “united with him in a death like his” (Rom. 6:5), rejoicing “in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings” (1 Peter 4:13), “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Col.1:24), “becoming like him in his death” (Phil. 3:10)? Why should we sell our possessions and give to the needy (Luke 12:33; Acts 2:45), joyfully accepting the confiscation of our property (Heb. 10:34)? Why should we soberly prepare our minds for grievous trials, setting our hope fully on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:6–13)? If our inheritance has already been inaugurated, why then should we heed Paul’s radical exhortation to forsake living for this age in every area of life: 

This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none,and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.(1 Cor. 7:29–31)

John P. Harrigan, the Gospel of Christ Crucified