Sure it can. There was no Old Covenant at the time God gave the "proto evangel". The land became part of the Old Covenant. The proto evangel is the promise of Christ.
Well...I'm gonna refute them with scripture:
* Jesus came to bring the New Covenant which was promised at Jeremiah 31. Try reading Hebrews 8:7-13. This is the foreknowledge of God at work. He told Moses at Deuteronomy 31:14-18 Israel would break the Old Covenant...and they did.
* Adam and Eve were all there was...there were no kingdoms then...just Adam and Eve.
* The Abrahamic Covenant is fully discussed in Romans 4 by Paul...so you're flat wrong on that. The Davidic Covenant is the promise of Christ...why do you think Matthew's Gospel starts out "The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham"?
* The "spiritual rule" is errant theology...Jesus knew Abraham...He said clearly "Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he was glad"...how do you think that happened?
* The grace component was waaaay before the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants. Remember this..."But Noah found GRACE in the eyes of the Lord"? Furthermore how did anything but God's grace save Adam and Eve? Adam is called the "son of God". Clearly, he's right there in Christ genealogy. Do you trust your theology or scripture Jerry? Everyone who has been saved, and will be saved were in Christ before the foundation of the world.
*The land promise ended with the Old Covenant...and there is no land promise in the New Covenant.
This too can be refuted with scripture:
Jesus didn't have to do that...remember what John said at John 1:11-13? Read that..and understand the New Covenant came so that "to as many as received Him, He gave them THE RIGHT to become children of God"!!! It is through Israel rejection of Christ, that the New Covenant came...more of God's foreknowledge.
No need to refute that Jerry. The point of Hebrews 9 is the superiority of Christ and the New Covenant, over the Old Covenant. Try reading all of it.
After Adam and Eve sinned everyone ever born of them was lost Jerry. Furthermore, if you read Exodus 12:43-50, you'd know Gentiles became Jews all the time. Ever read about the many Gentiles became Jews in Esther 8:17 Jerry? They did it by obeying Exodus 12:43-50!!!
This is Jeremiah 11:9-10
9 Then the Lord said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”
This is Jeremiah 31:31-32
31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.
You say they were backslidden...BUT...God says they broke the covenant...and Jesus institutes a New Covenant. This is Matthew 26:26-28:
26 While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”
27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you;
28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.
You're wrong on this Jerry.
I think I made that point already.
One more time Jerry...at Jeremiah 31:32 God cleary says Israel and Judah broke the covenant He made with their fathers...you say they were backslidden?
ebedlemech,
1. The land of the whole earth had to be restored because of Adam’s sin.
God used Israel to bring the Messiah to the world and the specific land Genesis 12-15 was promised to Israel concerning the Kingdom of Heaven reign.
At the same time the restoration of the earth will be renovated as well as the animal kingdom Isaiah 11; Joel 2, Romans 8.
2. Jesus did bring the New Covenant in at Calvary.
Jeremiah 31 and Hebrews 8-7-13 hasn’t been fulfilled yet because it is specific for Israel and their covenants concerning their place in the future millennial.
Moses did prophesy Israel would break the covenant and they did and I don’t disagree with that.
3. You are misunderstanding about kingdoms. We are talking about spiritual and physical rule of what God had given them.
In Jesus day there was the Roman kingdom but no Jewish kingdom.
Jesus had to offer the KoH millennial reign because of the promises to the nation which you have ignored.
4. Romans 4 is about salvation without works in the old and new covenants.
This was written to the church but that is not all of the Abrahamic Covenant concerning the Jews and the millennial kingdom rulership positions that differ from the church.
Before, during, and after the law men had to believe but their revelation understandings were different. This is where one must understand gradual revelation and how it unfolded.
The genealogies of Abraham and David are about fulfilling the covenants of Abraham and David; the land and the Kingdom of Heaven reign on earth. Read Luke 1 and it talks about the spiritual and physical rule.
5. Abraham was glad to see Jesus day because he knew the prophesies and Jesus was the second person in the trinity in the Old Testament.
5. Grace was before the old covenant and new covenant. There’s nothing new about that.
Just because I mentioned that grace was in those covenants doesn’t mean that I believe there wasn’t grace before their time.
Many people believe there was no grace in the law of Moses and that is not true.
6. The program with Israel didn’t end with the Old Covenant.
Romans 11: 25-29 is prophetic to all Israel will be saved for their gifts and callings are without repentance.
Obviously, you must believe in the spiritual Jew theory and that the church will take the place of Israel in the millennial kingdom at the head of nations Isaiah 2:2-4. That is a falsehood.
7. John is right because he is talking about the cross.
Hebrews 9:15 talks about he died for the sins of the first testament.
Hebrews 11:40 people before the cross were not saved to the uttermost until Calvary and this is why the testator had to die first.
8. The New Covenant is superior because it is built on better promises Hebrews 8.
9. Gentiles were proselyted into Judaism but as a whole they didn’t have covenant. Read Ephesians 2-3.
10. They broke the covenant and they were considered backsliders. Read Hosea and the other minor prophets.
They were already backslidden in Jesus because they had broken the covenant before then.
11. Matthew 26:28 is true and happened at the last supper but the new covenant wasn’t ratified until the death of the testator. So you haven’t refuted nothing according to scripture.
12. Jesus didn’t teach the New Covenant of the Death, Burial and Resurrection under the KoH and KoG message directly to the Jews during his earthly message.
If you think so then show scriptural context. Jerry kelso