Introduction
The Bible is its entirety from Genesis to Revelation is the very Spirit-breathed Word of the Living God and written by the prophets and apostles who were moved to write the scriptures by the revelation of the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16) (2 Peter 1:21). Now the whole Bible itself is a Jewish book. It was written by Jews and needs to be viewed and interpreted through the lens of a Jewish perspective rather than through the lens of a western Gentile perspective. The prophets were all Jewish, the Messiah our Lord Jesus was Jewish and so were the apostles all Jewish. From the Book of Genesis we see the LORD foretelling an age to come after this age has come to a close, where Israel as a nation will co-reign with the Messiah our Lord Jesus in His Messianic Millennial Kingdom on earth after He has returned to this earth (Isaiah 9:7) (Psalm 2).
The first century Body of Messiah was initially Jewish and the only Bible they had, including the apostles and those among the twelve who wrote the New Testament, were the Old Testament scriptures. The Jews in the time of the Lord Jesus who believed in Him as the Messiah expected Him as the Messiah to establish His kingdom on earth as was foretold in the prophets He would do. For the most part the nation of Israel, including their religious leaders, miss interpreted His first coming.
He came to save His people from their sins, not from the Romans. If the religious leaders really believed in what Moses wrote in the Torah concerning the future Messiah and had the spiritual revelation of Him through the Holy Spirit, then they would have understood and recognised who the Lord Jesus was. However, because they did not believe what Moses wrote about the Lord Jesus, they brought themselves and the nation under God’s judgement because they did not believe that the Lord Jesus was the prophesied Messiah.
At the end of this age in His Second Coming the surviving remnant of Jews still alive in the world will be saved as they look upon Him who they pierced by their sins and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, and in that day; “all Israel will be saved!” Why? Because “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable” (Zechariah 12:10-13:1) (Romans 11:25-29). While the Lord Jesus on earth focused His teaching on the spiritual reality of the kingdom of God, being a spiritual invisible kingdom created in the hearts of men and women by the power of the Holy Spirit, He did not dismiss the Old Testament prophets who foretold His literal and physical Messianic reign over Israel which would happen at His Second Coming. His Bible also was the Old Testament.
The controversial passage of scripture in the New Testament related to the Millennium in Revelation Chapter 20:1-6 has been interpreted by many western theologians, not as a literal 1,000 years, but figuratively speaking about the period of time from the cross all the way through to the Second Coming. ‘Spiritualising’ this passage of scripture was systematised by Augustine who also argued that it was not a literal 1,000 years and the Church corporately had replaced the nation of Israel as God’s people; hence, his writings became the foundation for Anti-Semitism and replacement theology arising within wider Christendom, which, in the following centuries, saw Christendom systematically persecuting and murdering the Jews as those who crucified the Lord Jesus. The Holocaust saw six million Jews murdered at the hands of the Nazis. Adolph Hitler was a Lutheran by religious affiliation and no doubt the anti-Semitic writings of Martin Luther against the Jews influenced Hitler’s thinking, especially Luther’s book; “The Jews and their Lies.” Many of the Churches in Germany supported Hitler and said nothing about his systematic murder of the Jewish people.
Once again today we see the rise of Anti-Semitism within wider Christendom and increasing in the nations of the world as we see the end of this present age rapidly approaching. Israel is centre stage in world affairs. What is happening today with Israel and with the nations of the Middle-East is of a Biblically prophetic significance as we see the very prophecies in the Bible concerning Israel being fulfilled, indicating that the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus is rapidly approaching. We may not know the day of the hour of His Second Coming, but we can most certainly discern the times and the signs leading up to it.
Israel is God’s prophetic time clock for the nations. After almost 2,000 years of exile in 1948 Israel as a nation was reborn in day, and the Jewish people are back in their land once again as foretold in the prophets. It is a rebirth that God had ordained from all of eternity and recorded in the books in heaven even before any of these days came to be (Isaiah 66:7-9) (Psalm 139:15-16).
Now the purpose of this study is not to compare the different views of the Millennium, as this topic has already been discussed at length on this website in a Bible study series titled; “The Millennium.” The purpose of this study is to show that God is a covenant keeping God, and that through four out of the five main Biblical covenants He has specifically made, are in relation to Israel as a nation beginning with His Covenant with Abraham and with his descendants after him, and that ultimately what God has purposed for Israel as a nation will be fulfilled at the end of this present age. God must be faithful to His covenants and to give Israel a King who will reign over them forever in the land God gave Abraham and his descendants to possess, and that to be an everlasting possession for the people of Israel, not a temporary one (Genesis 15:7; 17:8). That land of course today is Israel.
These four covenants, beginning with God’s covenant with Abraham, give us the story of redemption, and clearly point to the Messianic age to come when the Messiah, after His return, will reign over the surviving nations of the world sitting on David’s throne at Jerusalem (Jeremiah 30:9). While the Messiah our Lord Jesus now reigns supreme over the whole universe in the heavens, and over every principality and power on earth, under the earth, and above the earth (Philippians 2:9-11) He is yet to reign physically from Jerusalem over Israel as their king! Both Isaiah and Micah describe the Messiah’s reign (Isaiah 2:1-5) (Micah 4:1-5). Let’s now look at these four main Biblical covenants related to the spiritual and national restoration of Israel and how they relate to the story of redemption.
1. The Abrahamic Covenant
(Genesis 12:1-3) “The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. ”
God called Abram, being his name before the LORD changed it to Abraham, left his relatives’ home town in Ur of the Chaldees where he had been a moon worshipper because God had sovereignly revealed Himself as the one who created the moon. Abram was living in the modern geographical region of Iraq and started to move towards the land of Canaan which today is the land of Israel.
God also promised Abram that He would be the founder of a great nation and God would bless him, and make his name great, and make him a blessing to others, and that whoever blessed him God would also bless, and whoever cursed him, God would also curse, and that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through him. Today we see those blessing Israel and those cursing Israel, and yet through the Jews in the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their offspring the Jewish people, would come forth the Messiah who in His first coming would bring salvation to the whole world because “Salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). Now let’s turn to Genesis Chapter 15...
(Genesis 15: 1-6) “After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. ” But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars —if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
God indeed would be Abram’s shield and very great reward, and from his own body would come a son and a great nation too numerous to number as the stars in the sky. Even though Abram and his wife Sarai physically could not have a child of their own, it would be a supernatural work of God foreshadowing of course the virgin birth of the Messiah which was also a supernatural act of God through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18,20). Abram was most likely in his eighties when the Word of God Himself, the pre-incarnate Messiah, appeared to him in a vision and promised him the child who would be called Isaac. Abram thought that his servant Eliezer would be his heir but God had other plans indeed!
The Word of the LORD Himself, the pre-incarnate Messiah before His incarnation, came to Abram again and took him outside of his tent at night to look at the constellations in the heavens and the unnumbered myriad of stars that spread across the whole night sky. Abram was told to count them, but of course this was humanly impossible, and God then said to him that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars that could not be counted. At this time Abram’s faith was ignited. He could hardly contain his delight and excitement at the prospect the LORD had revealed to Him supernaturally.
When he had left Ur of the Chaldees Abram had believed in the LORD and trusted Him to lead him to the Land God would show him. However, after the LORD had come to him and spoken again to him we are told that Abram believed the LORD. He not only had believed in the LORD and by faith trusted the LORD to guide him, but now Abram believed the LORD in what God had promised, and God credited it to him as righteousness. We are told in the New Testament that the gospel was preached to Abraham and his faith in the LORD would be the same kind of faith that would bring righteousness to both Jews and Gentiles who also exercised saving faith in the Messiah who would be a descendent of Abraham.
As Rabbi the apostle Paul wrote; “Understand, then, that those who have faith are sons of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Galatians 3:7-9). Abram would have physical and spiritual decedents as well, being Jews and Gentiles made one new man in Messiah through faith in Him for salvation (Ephesians 2:11-22). Now it’s interesting to note what the LORD said to Abram next…
(Genesis 15: 7-8) “He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
Notice that the LORD then told Abram to take the land God had given to him “to possess it.” In those times to possess a land meant that you had to rule over it. This was a very ancient practice that required Abram to have a kingdom that would need a king to rule over it. Having said this to Abram the man then responded to the LORD; “how can I know I will possess it?” The LORD then affirmed His promise through cutting a blood covenant with Abram, an unbreakable form of agreement that was practiced in those times and that was never violated or annulled. Let’s read about this. In the next verses we see how the covenant was made.
(Genesis 15: 9-17) “So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” Abram brought all these to Him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.”
Once the LORD had passed through the trench of blood between the pieces of the carcases as a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch, Abram knew beyond a shadow of a doubt and with absolute certainty that God meant what He said and in effect said to Abram “If I do not keep my promises to you then I will die like these animals.” Normally in these covenants a representative from each family making the covenant with each other would walk through the trench of blood together and while standing in the blood declare to each other their vows to keep their agreement with one another on pain of death if they did not do what they had sworn as an oath to do. The blood sealed the deal! God did not require Abram to walk in the blood? Why did the LORD not require it? Because how could a sinless, pure and undefiled God of the whole universe enter into an agreement with a sinful man. Of course Abram could not walk through the blood.
However, we are told in Galatians that when the LORD cut the covenant agreement with Abram that He was cutting it with a future decedent of Abram who would be his “seed,”(singular, not “seeds” plural) one who was as perfect as God is perfect, one who was equal with God in every way and possessing all of His divine attributes, one who was not only fully God, but also fully human and qualified to represent Abram, his physical and spiritual decedents, and also on behalf of the whole world for that matter. The Messiah was the Lamb of God sacrificed to not only take away Israel’s sins but also the sins of the world (Matthew 1:21) (John 1:29) (1 John 2:1-2). He had to be a sinless man to satisfy God’s requirements for a covenant partner representing the human race on earth which was sinful from the time Adam and Eve our first parents fell into sin through disobedience. As Rabbi the apostle Paul wrote; “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).
As Rabbi the apostle Paul also wrote about this transaction that took place between Abram and the LORD; “Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be cancelled or amended. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Messiah (Galatians 3:15-16). Having said this, the covenant God made with Abraham was not only a foreshadow of salvation for his descendants, but also guaranteeing the Land of Israel to be the eternal homeland for the Jewish people, the decedents through the lineage of Isaac and Jacob, not through the lineage of Ishmael and Esau. Let’s now continue…
(Genesis 15:18-21) “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates —the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
On that day when the LORD cut the blood covenant with Abram He then gave the Land of Israel to Abram and to his decedents (plural) and marked out the boundaries of the Land. Of course it was still called the Land of Canaan but its name would be changed by the LORD to Israel through Jacob’s encounter with the Messiah many years later (Genesis 32:22-31). Jacob’s name was changed to Israel and those after that in his line of decedents would be known as Israelites who lived in the land of Israel.
God gave the Israelites the land from the Wadi of Egypt to the River Euphrates which included Gaza, Judea and Samaria (the West bank) northern, central and southern Jordan, the Golan Heights, Lebanon and a part of Syria ending at the Euphrates River and also designated Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel. During the reign of Solomon we are told that he was the ruler over all the kings from the Euphrates River even to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt (2 Chronicles 9:22–26 (NASB). However his reign did not last.
Today even though the Jews are back in their Land they still do not possess all of the territory bequeathed to them by the LORD, and only when Israel’s ultimate King the Messiah is ruling over the nation sitting on David’s throne at Jerusalem after His Second Coming, will Israel “possess their possession” and “possess the gates of their enemies” (Obadiah 1:17) (Genesis 22:7). There are three questions we need to ask. What was promised? To who were the promises made? How long were the promises good for? Let’s look at this in Genesis Chapter 17:1-8.
(Genesis 17:1-4) “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make My covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” Abram fell facedown, and God said to Him, “As for me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.”
In these verses we are told that as Abram continued walking by faith that the LORD would further confirm the covenant between Abram and Himself and greatly increase Abram’s decedents, and that he would be the father of many nations, who, like Abram, would put their faith in God that brings His righteousness. According to the New Testament this is the same righteousness that comes through faith in the Messiah, Abram’s future descendent, who would bring salvation to both to Jew and gentile (Romans 1:16-17). Now we read where the LORD changed the name of Abram to Abraham.
(Genesis 17:.5-6)” No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.”
In Abraham’s time when blood covenants were cut between two individuals it included their families as well. Their respective names would be joined together, their weapon belts exchanged and they would become one family. The words of the agreement would have been read aloud by the representative from each family standing side by side ankle deep in the blood of the slain animals. It was an oath that bound them together for all of their life. Now in light of the blood covenant the LORD had cut with Abram He joined His name to Abram and to His decedents forever, a covenant agreement never to be broken that made guaranteed the land of Israel to the Jewish people forever.
When you see the name Abraham in the Hebrew text of the Bible it incorporates the very breath of God. It was the same for Sarai Abram’s wife whose name the LORD changed from Sarai to Sarah. It was a spiritual union between God’s heavenly family and Abraham’s earthly family. As a result God would make Abraham very fruitful in that his offspring would produce nations and kings, which would not only apply to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles who would be reconciled to God through the New Covenant cut in the blood of Messiah for the salvation of the world, in that all who believe as Abraham did, whether Jew or Gentile, could be saved (Romans 1:16-17; 3:21-30; 4:16).
When any Gentile comes to a saving faith in Messiah they are spiritually grafted into “the Olive Tree,” a metaphor used for Israel in scripture. The apostles at Jerusalem came to understand this spiritual truth that had always been God’s intention (Acts 15:12-18) (Amos 9:11-12). Now we are also told about the nature of this covenant. It would be an everlasting covenant.
(Genesis 17:7-8) “I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
In these verses we are told that this covenant the LORD would establish would be an everlasting covenant between Himself and Abraham and his descendants after him, and that He would be the God of Israel. It would not be a temporary covenant. In fact the LORD also went on to say that the whole land of Canaan where Abraham was an alien would be given to him and to his decedents after him to be for them as “an everlasting possession” and that He would be their God. The whole land of Israel would be given to Abraham and to his future descendants through the line of Isaac and Jacob forever.
As the psalmist wrote; “He remembers His covenant forever, the promise He made, for a thousand generations, the covenant He made with Abraham, the oath He swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: “To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.” (Psalm 105: 8-11).
Within wider Christendom today, even among an increasing number of evangelical Christians, they are teaching that the promises made to Israel are now transferred to the Church and are ‘spiritual’ in nature because God has finished with Israel. Of course this shows an ignorance of the nature of blood covenants in the Middle-East in Biblical times and what they signified. Literal promises were made and literally fulfilled in Bible times. Now God means what He says. Why change the plain meaning of the Biblical texts in relation to God’s covenant promises to give the whole Land of Israel to the Jewish people to be for them as an everlasting possession and to set the boundaries of the Land. The fact that it is everlasting means that the promise still stands and is still active and will be fulfilled. You just have to read the prophets and this truth is clearly enunciated by them. If God cannot be depended upon to keep His promises to Israel in the Old Testament, then how can He be depended upon to keep His promises to the Church in the New Testament?
Those who are teaching that events in the Middle-East today are of no prophetic significance do not have the full Biblical revelation of the sacredness and permanency of a blood covenant cut in Bible times. In fact they are hard-pressed to ‘spiritualise’ the plain meaning of the text and have to twist the scriptures to try to make God’s literal promises to Israel somehow apply spiritually to a Gentile centred Church. In the texts we have examined so far in Genesis it is clear that God has given the Land of Israel to be the eternal homeland of the Jewish people. Scripture is clear!
Even though God has had to judge Israel in the past for their disobedience to His Word, and because of their rejection of the Messiah, does not mean He has rejected Israel. Even though they were exiled God has promised to bring them back to the Land in the latter days which happened in 1948 after almost 2,000 years of exile among the Gentile nations. Ezekiel the prophet tells us that the Jews would be gathered once again from the nations and be brought back into the Land while still in unbelief (Ezekiel 37:1-8) and that in the Land of Israel they would be spiritually restored as a nation (Ezekiel 37:9-14) and following their spiritual restoration enter into the Messianic Millennial kingdom as one nation under one king (Ezekiel 37:15-28).
The Abrahamic covenant is still in place today. God has never reneged on His covenant promises to Israel, both the spiritual and the literal promises. They are still in effect because they are eternal in nature. He always remembers His covenants! Once covenant blood has been shed the promises are binding as we will see when we look at the New Covenant cut in the blood of the Messiah our Lord Jesus. So then the Abrahamic covenant primarily has to do with the Land of Israel bequeathed by God to Israel to be for the Jewish people as “an everlasting possession.” Those today who argue this point argue with God Himself!
2. The Mosaic Covenant
Now God said to Israel through Moses that they would possess the Land if they were obedient but that God would drive them out of the land if they were disobedient. However, God also said because of His covenant with Abraham, sealed in blood, He was going to keep His Word to them as a nation and restore them to Himself because His call and gifts are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). We see this spoken of in Ezekiel Chapter 36. We see their dispersion among the nations (Vss. 16-21). Then we see their regathering and their spiritual and national restoration (Vss. 22-38). God will do this not for Israel’s sake but for His own holy name and because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants the people of Israel.
Through the Mosaic covenant the LORD laid out the rules the laws and the stipulations for the fulfilment of the Abrahamic covenant to have its full effect. Once in the Land of Israel the requirements of the Law were to be lived out in the daily lives of the Israelites if they were to stay in the land. We see the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience laid out in Deuteronomy Chapter 28. It is interesting also to note that the curses outweigh the blessings because sin and disobedience are very serious offences in God’s sight. Any form of rebellion against the LORD is an act of witchcraft (1 Samuel 15:23).
Now 430 years after the Abrahamic Covenant the LORD made a further covenant on Mt Sinai through Moses. It was very much a conditional covenant as we have already mentioned from Deuteronomy Chapter 28, an agreement between two parties filled with “ifs” and “buts.” God was saying to the people of Israel through this covenant “If you do this, I will do that, however if you do not do this, I will not do that.” The Abrahamic Covenant was an unconditional Covenant concerning the possession of the land, whereas the Mosaic Covenant was a conditional one where obedience was needed in the Land for the nation to take root in it, and that disobedience would result in judgement and exile for most of the people from the land. It was a legal document such as we would see in a court of law. In the Abrahamic Covenant we see God repeatedly saying; “I will,” “I will” and in this God was taking the initiative to guide and to look after Abraham. However, in the Mosaic Covenant we see God saying “If you do this I will do that.”
(Deuteronomy 4:1-2) “Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.”
The Mosaic Covenant contained the regulations and the requirements needed to possess the land and to fulfil the Abrahamic Covenant. God was saying “If you want to possess the land forever then you will have to obey Me. I will be your God and allow you to live in the land.” The Mosaic Covenant reiterated Israel’s connection to the Land which they were to possess. Added to this God warned them not to add anything to or to take anything from His Word but to obey it. This covenant was made with Israel as a nation and had to be worked out in the land given to them from the Wadi of Egypt to the River Euphrates and everything in between the two locations. This covenant was made with Israel as a people collectively living in the land. The Abrahamic covenant was in reality not only made with Abraham concerning the land of Israel, but also with the Messiah existing in eternity who centuries later would become a flesh and blood human and walk the walkway of blood at the cross on behalf of Abraham, his descendants the Jewish nation and for humanity.
Time and time again Israel violated the laws and commandments of God and was finally exiled from the Land and very few Jews remained. In 722 the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel including its capital at Samaria and an exile of the Jews occurred. Then in 586BC the Babylonians conquered the Southern Kingdom of Judah including its capital Jerusalem and destroyed the first temple and another exile of the Jews occurred. In 70AD the City of Jerusalem was ransacked by the Romans and the second temple destroyed and again another exile for the Jews occurred. The last and final exile of the Jews came after the rebellion led by Bar Kokhba, a Jewish military leader in Judea who initiated the rebellion against the Roman Empire in 132 AD which was put down by the Romans. This was the last of the Jewish wars with Rome and the final exile of the Jews came.
Having said this in 1948 Israel was reborn as a nation because God has never reneged on His covenant made with Abraham that is still in force today where the Jews are concerned and the land of Israel. They are back in the land after almost 2,000 years of exile. God has brought them back. As yet they still have to face the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. The nation will never be entirely removed from the land again in the partial exile that is still to come when half of the city of Jerusalem will be taken into exile while the other half remain in the city, however, the LORD will go forth to fight for Israel (Zechariah 14:1-5). Finally let’s look further concerning the Mosaic Covenant.
(Deuteronomy 4:26-27, 30-31) “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you… When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice. For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.”
In summing up the Mosaic Covenant after a season of exile, having been driven out of the land, God would remember His promise to Abraham, Isaac and to Jacob. God does not forget His promises. He would bring them back to the land and re-establish them as a nation which happened in 1948. God is going to fully restore Israel spiritually and nationally at the end of this present age when Jews from every Gentile nation will come home to Israel to live in the Messianic Kingdom.
3. The Davidic Covenant
Recapping; The Abrahamic covenant relates to the land. The Mosaic covenant relates to the laws and commandments to be followed in the land. The Davidic Covenant deals with the king who will rule in the land. Let’s now look at this third covenant. The Davidic Covenant which God made with David was a reiteration or expansion of the Abrahamic Covenant .
(2 Samuel 11b-16) “The LORD also declares to you that the LORD will make a house for you. When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”’”
In this covenant God tells David that He will bring forth a king, being one of David’s descendants who would be Solomon, as Israel would need to have a king. This was another further expansion of the Abrahamic Covenant in that in order to possess the land the people of Israel would need to have a king. The LORD was saying prophetically “I am the king!” The ultimate and final king in David’s line destined to rule over Israel would be the LORD Himself manifested in the Messiah the Son of the Living God, who would be God manifested in a flesh and blood body, and one who would rule forever over the House of Israel.
All of the Godly kings of Israel in some way foreshadowed the ultimate King of the Jews the Messiah our Lord Jesus. In order for God in heaven to come into the flesh makes sense when you consider that God is Triune in nature. The eternal Son of God Himself proceeded and came forth from God the Father, and stepped out of heaven, and came into this world in the incarnation.
He was God manifest in flesh and equal with God, and one with God in eternity, being the third person within the Tri-Unity of the Godhead. The Messianic King would establish the throne of David forever. In the Messianic Millennial Kingdom Israel will have a king to rule over them sitting on David’s throne forever, not only reigning from Jerusalem for the Millennial Messianic Kingdom for 1,000 years, but ultimately reigning forever in the New Jerusalem that will descend from heaven to earth at the end of the Millennium . The Millennial reign of the Messiah will foreshadow the final and eternal state to come in the new heavens and earth (Isaiah 65:17-25) (Revelation 21:1-4). Ultimately Israel will possess all of the land given to them to possess, they will walk in the commandments of God as they live in the land, having the Spirit of God within them who will enable them to keep the commandments, and they will have a king to reign over them in the land forever. In that day “All Israel will be saved!” (Romans 11:25-27). Every Jew still alive on earth will be saved!
4. The New Covenant
The New Covenant established through the blood of the Messiah shed at the cross was spoken of in the Old Testament scriptures even before we get to the New Testament. Isaiah foretold this new covenant when he wrote…
(Isaiah 59:20-21) “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD. “And as for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit that is upon you, and My words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from this time forth and for evermore”.
The prophet Jeremiah also wrote about this New Covenant that God would establish with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah, not with a Gentile Church…
(Jeremiah 31:31-32) ““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, 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.
There are many Christians today, who, if asked the question, “with whom did God make the New Covenant?” they will answer; “with the Church.” However, the Bible nowhere teaches this. Jeremiah tells us that the New Covenant was made with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah, not with a gentile Church. This fact in itself tells us that the LORD has not finished with Israel. We also know that the apostles at Jerusalem realised from the prophet Amos that Gentile believers in Messiah have been spiritually grafted into Israel as was God’s eternal plan (Amos 9:11-12) (Acts 15:13-18) (Romans 11:17-18) (Ephesians 2:11-22). But how would the people of Israel be able to obey the LORD? Jeremiah continues…
(Jeremiah 31:33-34) “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbour and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Here we are told again that the New Covenant made with Israel would see God put His Spirit within them individually, as well as corporately as a people, and by the power of the Spirit be enabled to keep the commandments of God by walking in step with the Holy Spirit. The Torah would be written on the tablet of their hearts instead of written on tablets of stone. All of those Israelites who have the Spirit on the inside of them will know the LORD even from the least to the greatest, signifying that at every level of society within the Commonwealth of Israel will know the LORD personally as Abraham, Moses and David knew Him personally.
Added to all of this, their sins would be forgiven and cleansed by the blood of Messiah which was shed to guarantee that the New Covenant would work, being the everlasting Covenant for the Jews and for the Gentiles spiritually grafted by faith into the Commonwealth of Israel. Having said this does not do away with the covenant God made with Abraham concerning the Jews living in the Land of Israel to be for them an everlasting possession.
On the Day of Pentecost the Spirit of God was poured out on a 120 believers in the Messiah. They were saved Jews having been born again by the Spirit living on the inside of them but now empowered by the same Spirit to walk in step with Him and to be empowered to obey the commandments of God. As the tongues of fire rested upon each of them individually their hearts were purified and their lives spiritually empowered to witness to and for the Messiah (Acts 1:8). For Israel it was a partial spiritual restoration, and on that day David’s fallen tabernacle had been restored (Acts 15:15-18) compare (Amos 9:11-12). The Lord Jesus, the King of the Jews, now had a faithful remnant of 120 which very quickly grew to 3,000 and later to 5,000 New Covenant believers in Him and they were all Jews! Of course we know that the nation of Israel by and large did not accept the Messiah or receive Him as the only way of salvation and in 70AD the Romans ransacked Jerusalem, destroyed the temple and took many of the surviving Jews into exile.
However, the LORD also said that at the end of the age Pentecost would be repeated and the remnant of Jews still alive on earth would have the law of God written on their hearts and be the means of seeing their fellow Jews and many Gentiles coming into the blessings of the New Covenant and in that day the clarion call for salvation on the day of Pentecost will be heralded again for just one more time; “And every one who calls on the LORD will be saved;” (Joel 2:18-32) (Acts 2:17-21).
It is interesting to note what Peter said on the day of Pentecost about the prophecy of Joel. In the Greek text Peter describing what was happening at Pentecost said “This is like that” which was spoken of by the prophet Joel, which in its Old Testament context was referring to the last days just before the Messiah our Lord Jesus returns. On the day of Pentecost there were no wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below. Neither was there fire and billows of smoke. The sun was not turned to darkness and the moon to blood that will occur just prior to the day of the LORD which will culminate in the Second Coming of Messiah See (Isaiah 13: 9-13) (Isaiah 24:23) (Isaiah 34:2-4) (Revelation 6:12-14).
For the Abrahamic, the Mosaic and the Davidic covenants to have their complete fulfilment for the Jewish people, Israel as a nation must be living in the land and possessing all of the territory allotted to them by the LORD. They will all have His Torah written on their hearts by the Holy Spirit empowering them to walk in His ways in the land, and have their Messiah as their ultimate king sitting on David’s throne in Jerusalem and reigning over His brethren (Jeremiah 30:8-10) (Ezekiel 37:21-28). All this will have come about because of the New Covenant cut in the blood of Messiah by which Israel’s sins were atoned for, and by which they will be cleansed from all of their sins after they have encountered the Messiah and been saved (Zechariah 12:11-13:1). In that day “All Israel will be saved!” (Romans 11:25-29).
Epilogue:
Understanding the covenants demands a literal return of the Messiah our Lord Jesus to fulfil those covenants and for the Lord Jesus to reign on David’s throne from Jerusalem, otherwise all of God’s promises related to Israel’s restoration and supremacy over the nations in the Millennial reign of the Messiah are nonsense! To say the promises are “spiritually fulfilled” is not the language of the Old Testament promises sealed in blood proving the literal restoration of Israel as a nation at the end of this present age. A nation with their own land, their own laws and with their own king who at His Second Coming will have destroyed all of His enemies arrayed against the city of Jerusalem, and having inaugurated His Millennial Messianic kingdom rule for 1,000 years of peace, and the regeneration of the whole earth, a global Garden of Eden re-created as it were like it was before the fall of man.
We must always keep in mind that the whole Bible is a Jewish book and that Israel is centre stage and the Body of Messiah spiritually grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel, and sharing in the blessings of Abraham because of the New Covenant ratified in the Messiah’s blood made with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah, and not with a Gentile Church! As for the Gentile Church they owe a great debt of gratitude to the people of Israel the Bible calls the Israelites. As Rabbi the apostle Paul wrote; “The people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Messiah, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise! Amen” (Romans 9:4-5).
Finally, let’s look at what else the LORD said through the prophet Jeremiah about the restoration of the Jewish people at the end of this present age. It is a future prophecy that is yet to be completely fulfilled…
(Jeremiah 32: 37-42) “Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul. For thus says the LORD, ‘Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them.”
At present this does not describe the conditions in Israel, neither are the Jewish people by and large reconciled with the Messiah. They are as yet to pass through the Time of Jacob’s Trouble but will be saved out of it at the end (Jeremiah 30:7). God will plant them in their land with all of His heart and with all of His soul and bring about the complete fulfilment of the Abrahamic Covenant ratified forever in the blood of Messiah in the New and everlasting covenant made with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah (Jeremiah 31:31).
The New Covenant then is the expansion of the Abrahamic Covenant and the fulfilment of it. All of the covenants combined and fused together are the everlasting covenant and the story of Redemption. Gentile New Covenant believers are not “spiritually planted” in the land but spiritually grafted into the Community of Israel and share in the blessings of Abraham bequeathed to the Jews by the LORD (Romans 4:16-1722-25) (Galatians 3:13-14). Gentile New Covenant believers, having the same faith as Abraham the father of faith had, and the Father of all who believe whether Jew of Gentile, does not do away with the literal promises of God to Israel to fully restore them spiritually and nationally at the end of this age, and to have them under the rule of the Messiah King our Lord Jesus in His Millennial Messianic Kingdom to which the prophets testify will be established after the Messiah has returned to this earth.
Such terms as “Spiritual Israel” and “the new Israel” coined by those into replacement theology applying such terms to the Church, who advocate that the Church has replaced Israel, are out of line with the Word of God, the Bible, which is a Jewish book, written by Jews, and to be interpreted with a Jewish understanding and not with a Gentile understanding. When the Roman Emperor Constantine ‘Christianised’ the Roman Empire the Greek and Latin Church Fathers for the most part removed the Bible from its Jewish roots and Augustine was the father who systematised and propagated upon wider Christendom his form of replacement theology which removed the Bible from its Jewish roots, and sought to ’spiritualise’ the literal promises of God to the Jews and apply them to the Church as having replaced Israel as God’s chosen people. Augustine did this with Revelation Chapter 20:1-6 by ‘spiritualising’ the text and teaching that the 1,000 years was not literal, but a metaphor for the expanse of time from the cross to the Second Coming of Messiah. Multitudes of Bible prophecy teachers down through Church history have adopted and propagated this ‘Augustan theology’ which is in reality ‘replacement theology.’
Today God is turning His grace back towards Israel, and there are many Bible scholars who are starting to recognise that Biblically God has not finished with Israel, and that the nation is God’s prophetic time clock for all of the nations of the world. Also it needs to be said that in light of what is happening in Israel replacement theology within wider Christendom is also on the rapid rise even within many evangelical circles. However, God has said; “Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them.” In fact all of the promises of God are “Yes” and “Amen” in the Messiah (2 Corinthians 1:19-20), who Himself promised to return to Israel, and the prophet Zechariah foretold that the Messiah’s feet will once again stand on the Mount of Olives when He returns to fight Israel’s enemies that have attacked Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:1-4).
Lastly the LORD is going to fully restore Israel as a nation and bring all the Jews still living in the Gentile nations back home to live and to thrive spiritually and physically in the Messianic Millennial Kingdom…
(Ezekiel 36:22-28) “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.”
In that day under David their King, a reference to the Messiah in the lineage of David, will rule over them. Their full and complete spiritual restoration as a people corporately will occur, and in that day we are also told by Isaiah the prophet that; “In the last days the mountain (kingdom) of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains (kingdoms); it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law (the Torah) will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:2-3). You cannot ‘spiritualise’ this literal promise to the nation of Israel which affirms many other plain texts in scripture that clearly tell us that there will be a physical and spiritual restoration of Israel and that they will live securely in the land in the 1,000 year Messianic Millennial Kingdom where no one will ever make them afraid again.
As we read in the prophet Zephaniah; “The remnant of Israel will do no wrong And tell no lies, Nor will a deceitful tongue Be found in their mouths; For they will feed and lie down With no one to make them tremble.” Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; You will fear disaster no more. In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: Do not be afraid, O Zion; Do not let your hands fall limp. “The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior (the Messiah). He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy” (Zephaniah 3:13-17).
The Bible means what it says. He will fulfil all of His promises. The only way to understand Revelation 20:1-6 is to treat the 1,000 years as a literal period of time mentioned 5 times in these verses.
God is faithful to His covenants. The only option is to accept that what God promises He fulfils. If you see Gentile New Covenant believers as being spiritually grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel, and partakers of the blessings of the New Covenant made with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah, then you will have no problems accepting the literal promises of God made to Abraham’s physical descendants and the blessings of the New Covenant extended to the Gentiles. Amen!!!
