Revelation 21:14 and the fatal diplopia of dispensationalism

Concerning the names of the 12 apostles on the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:14, Dr. Robert Thomas (my favorite Bible professor) writes,

“It is significant that John brings together the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles here, and makes a distinction between them. . . . The mention of the twelve apostles here shows the distinctive role of the church in the new Jerusalem, just as the mention of the twelve sons of Israel (v.12) distinguishes the role of national Israel. . . . Continuity from the twelve sons of Israel to the twelve apostles is not the teaching of this passage . . . but the dual election of Israel and the church. The words clearly show that God has an eschatological role for both peoples. Beyond dispute, this description of the bride-city separates believers among Israel from believers of the church, and in a symbolic way assigns the two groups separate roles in the new creation. If the two were one merged group of believers, there would have been twenty-four gates instead of twelve or twenty-four foundations instead of twelve . . .” (Revelation 8–22, Moody, 465).

In contrast to this eternal division of two peoples of God in dispensationalism, an originalist hermeneutic would understand the names of the twelve apostles on the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:14 as a fulfillment of the Messiah’s word in Matthew 19:28 (twelve disciples judging the twelve tribes in the Messianic kingdom). Gentile followers of the Messiah are grafted into the remnant of faithful Israel (Rom 11:17) and become fellow citizens of the true commonwealth of Israel (Eph 2:11–22). Originalist hermeneutics rejects the supersessionism, replacement theology, and fulfilment theology of Constantinian Christianity, Roman Catholicism, and most Western Christianity. The Christian “church” does not replace true Israel; Gentile disciples have been grafted into the ekklesia of the Messiah (Matt 16:18).