"National Israel" was not in existence yet, Eternally Grateful. He made a covenant with Abram, and promised to make him a nation.God made a covenant with National Israel.
"National Israel" was not a party to the covenant. Wow.
Well, that's yours and Coventantee's argument. But you know... :) God did promise Abram a son (lesser)... and offspring numbering as the stars (greater), and since Isaac is, in the immediate sense, the child of the promise, and it is through Isaac that Abram's offspring are named (in the ultimate sense). Now, that might have been beyond Abram's immediate understanding, but yes, irrefutably, this pertains directly to God's purpose of election, as Paul says in Romans 9, then yes, it has everything to do with the salvation of all those whom God calls.this covenant had nothing to do with anyone's salvation
LOL! Yes it did... All the covenants God made (with Adam, Noah, Moses, David... and us) "have to do with" ~ obligate them to (lesser, immediate sense) obligate us to (greater, ultimate sense) ~ obedience.it had nothing to do with them obeying him
No, it's God's elect. Again the concepts of lesser/immediate and greater/ultimate/eternal manifestations are abundantly clear, here. This is true throughout Scripture. But dispensationalists, in their stubbornness, will not allow for that. It's heartbreaking, actually. But not salvific, so... it's okay. :) It's not disqualifying. But still heartbreaking.what you call spiritual Israel. is actually the descendants of Abraham concerning another aspect of his covenant, "in you (literally in your seed) shall all the nations be blessed.
The ultimate picture ~ again ~ is as follows:

Maybe Abraham ~ we can't say for sure ~ only saw the outer circle, but even if so, that would be consistent with Isaiah 55:8-9, that "(God's) thoughts are not (our) thoughts, neither are (our) ways (His) ways... For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are (God's) ways higher than (our) ways." But, we can still get it... :)
Ah, okay, well, if we are in Christ, which we are, then is Christ not our elder Brother? Are we not co-heirs with Him? I mean, you don't mean to, but you keep walking right into these things... :)The seed of course, and I think we agree, is Christ
See above. If you are in Christ, you are of Abraham's seed... in the eyes of God, which is really what matters.I am part of one of those nations (the united states) that God said would be blessed because of Abraham's seed...
See above. It was never a "national covenant" in the sense you are... holding onto so tightly to... :) I have to say, it is kind of ironic to me that you're seeing this covenant with Abraham as bigger than just Abraham ~ far beyond just him ~ but yet still absolutely refuse to see it in its true sense, even though both the Old Testament and the New make that abundantly clear. But so be it.I am not part of the promise given to Abraham concerning the national covenant...
They are one and the same, but one ~ concerning a "piece of property" (a funny way to put it) ~ pointing to the larger, greater reality of the other ~ the earth, actually the new heaven and new earth, which will finally, when Jesus returns, be one.Once concerned eternal life. The other concerned a peace of property.
This I agree with... :)...in neither case will God give up on the promise he made.
Well, if He does, then He breaks the covenant, which of course He will not. So, sure. In that covenant He made with Abram, normally, both parties would walk between the animal halves together, thereby both saying, "If I break this covenant, what has been done to these animals shall be done to me." But, as we both know, He put Abram into a deep sleep and walked alone between the animal halves, thereby saying, "If I break this covenant, if I am not perfectly faithful, I will surrender my life, AND, if you break this covenant, if you are not perfectly faithful, I will surrender My life." In other words, God promises to bear the consequence, death, of failure to keep the covenant if either party to the covenant, He or Abram, fails to keep it. And He has done this on Abram's ~ and ultimately our ~ behalf, because he and we have failed, in the Person of Jesus Christ. So His promise is still good, and will be brought to full fruition ~ in the greater sense, the new heaven and new earth, which contains the lesser sense.If he does, He denies himself. because He made the promise its on Him!
Grace and peace to you!