The Role of Israel (4)

Last time, from a study of the relevant NT texts (Matt. 26:28; I Cor. 11:25; Heb. 8:8-12; 10:16-17), we saw that "Israel" and "Judah," the new covenant people in Jeremiah 31:31-34, are the NT catholic church consisting of believing Jews and Gentiles. This is simply the way the blessed Holy Spirit interprets the words which He breathed forth in Jeremiah 31.

Every time a Christian partakes of the wine at the Lord’s Supper, he is confessing that he is one of the "many" for whom Christ shed His blood, the "blood of the new testament [covenant]" (Matt. 26:28) spoken of in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Thus, whether he is a Jew or a Gentile, he is saying that he is a citizen of the "house of Israel" and the "house of Judah" (Jer. 31:31, 33). Thus even a dispensationalist Gentile, by partaking of the Lord’s table, confesses that he is a member of the new covenant community in Christ. As a Gentile, he must confess that he is an Israelite not physically but spiritually (cf. Rom. 2:28-29). Moreover, as a member of the NT church he thereby confesses that the NT church is prophesied in the OT in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Furthermore, the inspired interpretation of Jeremiah 31 in the NT gives absolutely no indication that this prophecy will be fulfilled in a later era (such as a purported earthly Jewish millennium). Just read for yourself the accounts of the Lord’s Supper in Matthew, Mark and Luke and I Corinthians 11, as well as II Corinthians 3 and Hebrews 8 and 10.

But more can be said from Hebrews, the NT book with most to say on the new covenant. Hebrews 1:2 describe the era of the incarnation and work of Christ onwards as the "last days." The coming of God’s Son (Heb. 1:2), including the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:17-18), marks the beginning of the "last days." When God proceeds to speak of the new covenant in Hebrews 8 and 10 it is in intimate connection with the work of the Messiah who brought in the "last days." Christ, "the priest forever after the order of Melchisedec" (7:21), offered up Himself as the one great sacrifice for sins (7:27) and thus became the "surety of a better testament [covenant]" (7:22), the "new covenant"(8:8-12) prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Thus the "new covenant" is a blessed reality for the NT church of believing Jews and Gentiles—spiritual "Israel" and "Judah" (Jer. 31:31, 33)—in the last days (Heb. 1:2).

The adjective "last" in the "last days" is significant. The "last days" are literally the last days which are to come before the eternal state of the new heavens and the new earth for elect men and angels and the lake of fire for reprobate men and angels. There simply are no more days to come after the last days and before the eternal state, because the "last days" are the last days. Since the new covenant is made with believing Jews and Gentiles in the "last days," there is no other era (such as the earthly Jewish millennium of dispensationalism) prior to the eternal state in which the new covenant is to be made with ethnic Israel. Next time (DV), we will consider the implications of this for understanding the context of Jeremiah 31:31-34, namely Jeremiah 30-33.