Davy
Well-Known Member
I had thought of this, and wondered if I need to respond to the matter? I never really explained because we all know Israel failed under the Covenant of Law. I do believe it was superseded by Christ's New Covenant.
So what I'm saying may or may not make sense to you, depending on your definitions and theological presuppositions. I believe the Covenant God gave to Israel in one sense was eternal, and in another sense was temporal. I believe the temporal Law was intended to present a progression leading to the eternal Covenant of Christ.
So when I reflect upon Israel still being under "covenant" with God, I'm not saying they are still under the Covenant of Law. I'm definitely not saying that. I've had Reform Theology all of my life, and I'm not remotely Catholic in viewing the need to participate in Christian institutions and traditions to supplement my Salvation.
So what am I saying? I'm saying that God's intention with his temporal covenant was intended to lead to the eternal covenant because the covenant He started with Israel was based on eternal promises. As I quoted to someone else, the promises were not based on work, but on faith in God.
And so, what was promised is good for anybody who believes. And that includes Abraham and his descendants, including the nation of Israel. If they began under the Covenant of Law, they could exercise faith and enter into the eternal promise that led to Christ's eternal covenant. Israel's covenant promises were and are eternal, in my opinion. Be happy to hear your thoughts on that?
More easily stated as... the Promise by Faith God first gave through Abraham was always first, before the giving of the law. Abraham believed God, and his belief was counted as righteousness. Thus the righteousness by Faith, and not of works, which is what The New Covenant is about.
Only certain ones of OT Israel believed like Abraham, and especially God's OT prophets waited for how Christ's Salvation would manifest (1 Peter 1:7-12). So did they not know? Yes, they knew, but only some of old Israel accepted the prophecy about Christ's coming.
What is little known though, is how one of the ways God uses to keep spiritual blindness upon many orthodox Jews is by having allowed Christ's enemies to creep into the positions of the priests and leaders of the people, including the scribes of Israel which were not even born of the seed of Israel. Those are blinded to the OT Scriptures about Lord Jesus, because even in Psalms 22 is written events that would happen at Christ's crucifixion 1,000 years later. Didn't the scribes and Pharisees at Jesus' 1st coming not know those Psalms 22 Scriptures? They include the event of the soldiers casting lots upon Jesus' clothing, so could they have missed that? Obviously, the faithful ones among the Jews didn't miss that, and did believe on Jesus at the cross.