This may not be your momma’s AC/DC playlist, but for those sorting through tough theological ideas, this is music to the mind and soul. The Dispensational approach to understanding the role of the New Covenant (NC) in the plan of God is so very important. The relationship of the NC to Israel and the Church is a watershed doctrine in the gospel of God.
THE NEW COVENANT/DISPENSATIONAL CLARIFICATION (NC/DC) PLAYLIST #1
- The LORD established the New Covenant (NC) with Israel who had broken the Old Covenant (OC). The NC was consequent to the failure of Israel under the OC. The broken OC is the reason for the giving of the NC and an important distinction sometimes overlooked in NC discussions.
- The NC is about the reinstatement of national Israel to the place of blessing and prominence in the plan of God. The specific ‘spiritual blessings’ enumerated in the NC are relevant only to Israel at the time of their entrance into the Messianic Kingdom at the Second Coming of Christ and His return to earth.
- The Gentile nations were never a party to the OC. The statement of the OC does not place gentiles into a contractual arrangement to the OC. The same holds true for the NC. Neither the original Jeremiah 31statement of the NC or subsequent NC recordings makes anyone other than national Israel a recipient of the blessings as outlined in the NC.
The broken OC called for the removal of the people of Israel from the land of Israel and their displacement among the Gentile nations of the world. The restoration of the people of Israel to the land of Israel is a necessary step in the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom upon the earth and central to God’s redemptive program for Israel and the world. The NC is the instrument whereby national Israel is returned to the LORD to fulfill the promises and the prophecies associated with the Messianic Kingdom to be established at the Second Coming of Christ.
The Messiah-Shepherd analogies in Zechariah portray the reestablishment of Israel and their return to the land of Israel as a redemptive event. For example: “I [the Messiah] will whistle [call His sheep] and gather them in, for I have redeemed them [through the blood of the NC]…. Though I scattered them among the nations, yet in far countries they shall remember me, and with their children, they shall live and return” (Zechariah 10:8-9
).
The world awaits the reinstatement of Israel through the provisions set forth under the NC to a position of blessing and prominence in the Messianic Kingdom. It will be in the Messianic Kingdom that the world will realize in full measure the promises made to Abrahamic, Isaac, and Jacob. “If their (national Israel) trespass [failure under the OC and refusal to come to terms with the LORD through the NC] means riches for the Gentiles, how much more [riches] will their fullness [restoration through the NC] mean!”
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