I agree 100% that the New Covenant Church is now the Israel of God and that the New Covenant was fulfilled at the Cross.
However, the kingdom was preached before the Cross.
NO, no, no. The kingdom in the Old Testament is not different from the kingdom in the New Testament since they are one and the same Covenant Israel! The kingdom preached in the Old Testament was for Israel but the only remnant is chosen while the kingdom preached in the New Testament was for Church but the only remanent is chosen. Both remanents become one and the Same in Covenant Israel under One Lord Jesus.
Zec 14:8-9
[8] And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
[9] And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
Contrary to popular interpretation, Zechariah 14 is about first coming and the establishment of Christ's kingdom at the Cross. At that time, from God's omnipresence, the living water is the Holy Spirit, from Jerusalem (symbolically Christ's body when he died), half of it went to former sea (Old Testament) and another half went to hinder sea (New Testament). There were not really two kingdoms but one kingdom under one Lord.
Eze 37:16-22
[16] Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
[17] And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
[18] And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
[19] Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
[20] And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
[21] And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
[22] And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
God did not talk about the reunion of all physical tribes of Israel on a plot of dirt in the Middle East. Judah represents the Elects first from old testament congregation, and Joseph represents the Elects from new testament congregation - the house of Israel. In other words, they are all the spiritual tribes of the tribes of Israel which the old testament congregation God used as a type of. They are all the lost sheep of the House of Israel.
Rev 7:2-4
[2] And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
[3] Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
[4] And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Not the physical or ethnic tribes of Israel of Old, but 144,000 is a spiritual represtation of tribes of the children of Israel that makes up of all Elect from Old and New Testament. One kingdom = New Jerusalem, Christ's bride.
Rev 21:10-17
[10] And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
[11] Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
[12] And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
[13] On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
[14] And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
[15] And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
[16] And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
[17] And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
Ahh... 144! The city represents the spiritual tribes of the children of Israel with twelve gates representing the old testament tribes of the children of Israel, and twelve foundations representing the new testament children of Israel. Together they are one kingdom, one nation, one congregation under One Lord Jesus Christ.
So to say that the "kingdom was preached to those before the Cross" does not mean that these people are different than the people who are saved after the Cross. It is just the kingdom representation that was taken from old and gave to the new. Only the Remanet from other testaments are saved under same message of the Kingdom.
Did the sinner on the Cross die under the New Covenant if he died a minute before Christ, or would it have to be a minute after the death of Christ.
No, that sinner was saved under the GRACE of God regardless of the covenant. He and all of old testament Saints are included in covenant confirmed by Christ. It does not limit to the New Testament. Remember the Living Water went to the former sea (old testament).
Did John the Baptist die under the New Covenant based on the words of Christ below?
Luk_16:16 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.
It does not mean there were "TWO KINGDOMS." It is about the covenant! The Law and the Prophets is a clear reference to the Old Testament. This is to say that the Mosaic Law was about to
CONCLUDE the purpose which God had intended it to serve and it would soon no longer be effective in the New Testament, or ever shall be. That is why the KINGDOM REPRESENTATIVE was taken from the old testament and gave to the New Testament under New Covenant. It does not mean that those in the Old Testament are no longer saved. Rather The old covenant was simply replaced by a better Covenant without affecting the salvation of the Old Testament Saints. Remember Christ did not come to destroy the law, but to
fulfill it on behalf of both old and new Testament Saints. Therefore, Christ's Salvation was extended to
ALL Saints under the New Covenant. So John the Baptist actually did preach the
SAME kingdom of God even if he did not know about the better covenant that was about to replace the one he was under.
As it is written:
Heb 8:5-10
[5] Who serve unto the
example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
[6] But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also
he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was
established upon better promises.
[7]
For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
[8]
For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
[9]
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
[10]
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord;
I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
