Hi hazrus,
You responded:
I believe it says that the Law and the Israelites being the chosen ones were a shadow of the things to come, namely Christ fulfilling the Law and making all of God's promises to be a "yes".
Well, as explained, I don't believe that's the 'hidden' or 'spiritual' truth behind God's call and promise to Abraham. Now, that's not to say that there aren't some things the old covenant speaks of that are not shadows of a future truth. However, I think it important to note that there is no change between the days of the law accounted in the old covenant and the salvation we may now enjoy through the death of our Lord.
The law was never about salvation. Go ahead read through the entire old covenant and you won't find anywhere that God gives any promise of eternal life for keeping the law. What you will find in the books of the law is that God's promise to Israel was that if they would keep His commands and His law, then He would provide for and protect them in this life. So, there is no change from the old covenant to the new other than the new covenant holds out a promise of eternal life. Here's God's promise to Israel for keeping the law:
‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. ‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.
Nothing about eternal life. Of course, the new covenant does cover this issue also. It clearly tells us in plain and simple words that no one is saved by keeping the law. It is not the truth, as I understand the Scriptures, that suddenly now that Jesus has come and died that tons of stuff in the old covenant now become spiritual.
So, nothing has changed except that God has released Israel from its work of bringing to the world the knowledge of God and the way of His salvation. But, God still loves Israel. As someone else has pointed out, Zion is where Jesus will return. Israel still has a place in the as yet unrealized prophecies of the last days. God's promises still stand and until someone can show me that God has rescinded His promise, I'm thoroughly convinced that it still stands.
Many people get into this discussion because they want to figure out a way for peace in the middle east. The middle east is always in turmoil over this very promise of God. Israel holds a holy promise to the land and intends to work to keep it. The nations surrounding Israel are likewise just as serious in getting that land away from them. So, we naturally believe that if we could just prove that Israel no longer has any right to the land, then we could put them out and gain peace in the middle east. It isn't going to happen.
Anyway, I've always allowed that we all believe what we have convinced ourselves is the truth. The question, of course, that we all have to answer is: Is what I believe the truth?
God bless you.
In Christ, Ted