Better???

[JM]

How are the promises given to Israel "better" now that we have Jesus if all the promises are done away with until the end times?

 

[Terral]

Preacher:

Preacher >> How are the promises given to Israel "better" now that we have Jesus if all the promises are done away with until the end times?

Scripture says >> “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.” Heb. 8:6+7.

The promises to Israel are in no way reserved for just the end times. The Kingdom of Israel shall be restored for ‘the thousand years’ (Rev. 20:5) that Satan is chained in the pit. Peter ties the ‘day of the Lord’ (2Pet. 3:10) to being as ‘a thousand years’ in 2Pet. 3:8. Christ tells us that Elijah must come first (Matt. 17:10) to ‘restore all things.’ Matt. 17:11. Peter agrees in Acts 3:19-21, saying of Christ,

“ . . . whom heaven must receive until the times (plural) of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.” Acts 3:21.

Peter then continues to speak about Elijah coming again:

"Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything he says to you. 'And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.' And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days.” Acts 3:22-24.

James also prophesies that God will take ‘from among the Gentiles a people for His name’ (Acts 15:14), and then,

“AFTER THESE THINGS I will return, and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen, and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it.” Acts 15:16.

God will take this Gentile dominate ‘body of Christ,’ according to 1Thes. 4:17 at the very start of the “Lord’s day” (Rev. 1:10), and when the “day of Christ” is “at hand.” 2Thes. 2:2. Paul speaks of the ‘fullness of the Gentiles’ (Rom. 11:25) coming in, and then “all Israel will be saved.” Rom. 11:26. God will then fulfill all of the promises to the Fathers during ‘the thousand years’ that follow with David as king/prince. Eze. 34:22+23. The Kingdom of Israel shall span from the river of Egypt to the EuphratesRiver (Gen. 15:18), as the greatest kingdom this earth has ever seen. This is the same Kingdom of Priests (Exodus 19:6) that the antichrist will descend upon and make desolate (Matt. 24:15), after the devil is loosed from his prison at the very end (Rev. 20:7). But, God is faithful, and He will raise the “whole house of Israel” (Eze. 37:1-12 (11)) and restore them for the New Day of Rev. 21:1+.

"My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them. They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons' sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. And the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever."' Eze. 37:24-28.

These promises of God are better, because they concern an ‘everlasting covenant’ that is ‘forever.’ Be patient, as God continues to exercise is great patience with the members of the ‘body of Christ,’ before He once again begins to gather the Bride (John 3:29) for His Son through the coming restored Kingdom of Israel.

In Christ,

Terral

 

[bebop]

Israel was promised communion with God, but it came through the law and flesh.

We now have Christ and can go to God directly. This is the best and only promise that matters which has been given.

My only hope and only desire is the heart of God. I have direct access to him 24x7 without a physical place.

For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.

 

[Terral]

Bebop:

Bebop >> Israel was promised communion with God, but it came through the law and flesh. We now have Christ and can go to God directly. This is the best and only promise that matters which has been given. My only hope and only desire is the heart of God. I have direct access to him 24x7 without a physical place. For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.

We agree. However, Preacher’s question relates to the Promises of God ‘to Israel’ from the context of the ‘end times.’ While our access to God is through Christ, as members of the body today, the coming Kingdom of Israel will see the world gaining access to God through the Levitical Priesthood. Israel shall then become the ‘kingdom of priests’ and 'holy nation' (Exodus 19:6) that Peter describes in 1Pet. 2:9.

“But you [ Israel ] are a chosen race, A royal priesthood [ Exodus 19:6 ], a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1Pet. 2:9.

My post above demonstrates that God is not finished dealing with His chosen race of this world, and that His intention is to create and ‘everlasting covenant’ with Israel that shall continue throughout eternity. As members of the body of Christ, our citizenship is in heaven. Phil. 3:20. And our lives are hidden with Christ in God already. Col. 3:1-3. Therefore, what God is doing through the ‘body of Christ’ (Eph. 4:12) and for Israel and her kingdom represent two totally different things. Shall the everlasting covenant be 'Better?' for Israel than the old one? Absolutely.

In Christ,

Terral