Prophecy: Psalm 118:22-23

http://free.messianicbible.com/messianic-prophecies/psalm-118/

http://free.messianicbible.com/messianic-prophecies/

See Mahx Note below.

²² The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone;

²³ the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

Fulfillment:

Matthew 21:33-44

³³ "Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a wine-press in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.

³⁴ When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

³⁵ "The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.

³⁶ Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.

³⁷ Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸ "But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’

³⁹ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰ "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"

⁴¹ "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."

⁴² Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:

"‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

⁴³ "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

⁴⁴ Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed."

Mahx Note

⁴³ "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit."

This verse is used to validate replacement theology. It is used to say that Jesus prophesied that the kingdom would be taken from Israel and given to "the Church". Can this verse mean this?

We can ask you who he is addressing as "you". Whoever he is addressing as "you" corresponds to the tenants in the parable. This cannot be Israel. It is not Israel who is the tenants in the parable. Israel is the vineyard. Israel is the kingdom. Has Israel been given to the church? No one could or has ever tried to say such a thing. Rather, replacement theologians must spiritualize the meaning of the kingdom in order to formulate the their theology.

We ought to ask, who were the gardeners of Israel? It was they who would be replaced, not Israel. But the teaching is that they need not be replaced if they are themselves built to the cornerstone. The secret is that the capstone is the cornerstone. The responsibility for Israel will be taken from those who are not built to the cornerstone and given (again) to those who are built to the cornerstone, like Moshe and the prophets, who were built to the cornerstone.