Bible Studies
In the Old Testament God brought the Law to the Jewish people through Moses (see Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). The Law was to be obeyed by Israel to the letter. This was the Old Covenant between God and His people. If the people obeyed the law god would bless them. However, it became apparent that Israel, in themselves and their humanity, could not follow the Law. This ultimately led to the destruction of Israel as a nation. Something more was needed in order for God to fulfill His desire for a people.
The real purpose of the Old Testament Law was to bring people to a realization that in their human form they were sinners who could not please God in the flesh (Romans 7:18). To those with that realization and faith Christ came to fulfill the law for them and thus made salvation available to all. Obedience was no longer by works, but by Faith in Jesus Christ. This is the New Covenant.
He said: “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people (Hebrews 10:16; Jeremiah 31:33).
“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36:26-28).
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. (Romans 11:6).
The Old Covenant was given to Israel only. The New Covenant was to the whole world (John 3:16). The new covenant was a spiritual covenant. As Paul says in Romans 2:28-29: “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God. God no longer looks on the outward appearance, Jew or Greek, but on the inward appearance, the heart. From now on the promises to physical Israel become the promises to all of mankind, Jews and Gentiles alike.
Paul goes on: What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks [Gentiles] are all under sin; as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,” (Romans 3:10-11; Psalm 14:1-3; Psalm 53:1-3).
Unfortunately, the Jews (Orthodox) still walk by the law. As John said: “He came unto his own [Israel], and his own received him not. (1 John 1:11). The Jews crucified Christ, not understanding His message of grace by faith. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (1 John 1:12-14).
“As many as received him” applies equally to Jews. “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree,” (Romans 11:17). What Paul is saying is that Israel is still the root of the Christian faith and we Gentiles are “grafted in” to that root. It doesn’t matter if a few branches were broken off (the result of Israel’s failure to accept Christ). The root remains. Israel is now on equal footing with the Gentiles; those Jews who accept Christ retain their place as the people of God, just as the Gentiles who believe become the children of God with them.
“And they [Israel] also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again… Only a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; (Romans 11:25). “For if their rejection [of Christ] is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? (v. 15). “For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? (v. 24). “Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith (v.20).
Paul was a Pharisee of Pharisees by his own admission, and persecuted the Christian Church in that day with a vengeance. Paul knew and aggressively followed the Israeli Law. After Christ met him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9), he immediately believed in the grace of Christ, contrary to the way he led his life previously. Yet in the Epistle to the Romans he defends the Jews and recognizes that, since Christ came to forgive all sin, He was also was able to forgive Israelites who believed in Him.
Now we come to the question of Israel today. As we said, a Jew is no longer saved and blessed just because he is a Jew after the flesh. Many people interpret the end-time as a dual fulfillment, one for physical Israel and another for the Gentiles. They believe that the temple described by God will be erected in physical Israel and that physical Israel will be saved due to their prior standing with God. It may be that the temple in physical Israel will be restored, but that is not what is spoken of as the true temple. We, as the Body of Christ, including Jews and Gentiles, are the real temple.
"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 2:19-22). We are the spiritual temple, and Christ will take up residence in the temple of our collective hearts.
The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; (Acts 17:4). But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, (by grace you have been saved),and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-6).
So if we are the temple of God, and not a temple built with hands as former temples, what will be the end result? “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain [the mountain of God], and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God having the glory of God.
The New Jerusalem is not a physical temple but comes from Heaven, the Spirit realm where God dwells. The “age to come”, referred to by Christ, is a merging of the two realms, the physical and the spiritual. Israel is not excluded but all who believe, including Jews, are included. Then we will all be one and one for all. As Christ said: “Pray, then, in this way…‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:9-10). So be it.
© Kenneth B. Alexander 2008
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