12 Israel and Her Future: 12a God's Covenants

 

Copyright © 2024 Michael A. Brown

This first chapter in the second part of this book focuses on the prophetic purposes of God for Israel and the Jewish people in the end-times, and in doing this it lays the foundation for many things that will be developed in more detail in subsequent chapters.  It will be clear from this chapter that Israel plays a significant part in end-time events.

The teaching of the word of God regarding end-time events cannot be understood or interpreted properly, if Old Testament prophetic scriptures which were given in the first place to Israel are simply ‘spiritualized,’ i.e. if they are interpreted symbolically in such a way that they have to do only with the Church, and any meaning or significance that they may have for Israel and/or the Jewish people is explained away and thereby disempowered.  In fact, to put it simply, any interpretation or scenario of end-time events is awry in what it teaches, if it does not recognise and take into account the place of God’s purposes for Israel and the Jewish people.

So this chapter focuses on two areas which are vital to understand, if the word of God is to properly inform our interpretation of end-time events.  These are (1) God’s covenants with Israel, and (2) Israel’s future prophetic history.

God’s covenants with Israel

‘I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.’ (Lev. 26:12)

God made four covenants with Israel, and these are summarised briefly below with supporting references.  These covenants have to do with the Jewish people and their relationship with God, and with their land, the city of Jerusalem, and their king.

1.     The Abrahamic covenant

The first of these covenants is called the Abrahamic covenant.  God made this covenant with Abraham, and in it he promised Abraham that he would give him a posterity, and he would also give him / them a tract of land as their own in the Middle East with defined geographical borders:

‘On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates – the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”’ (Gen. 15:18-21, and see Gen. 12:1-3,7; 13:14-17; 15:4-21; 17:1-8)

God then confirmed this covenant with Abraham’s descendants through the family line of Isaac and Jacob:

‘He remembers his covenant for ever, the word he commanded, 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.”’ (Ps. 105:8-11; cf. Gen. 26:2-5, 28:12-15)

      The special significance of this land can be seen in the fact that on several occasions God called this land his own (e.g. Lev. 25:23, Joel 3:2).  Similarly, in references to his covenant relationship with the Israelites, he repeatedly referred to them as his people and to himself as their God (e.g. Lev. 26:12).

      The Israelites came into possession of part of this land in the time of Joshua, and it expanded greatly in the time of kings David and Solomon, but at no stage did the Israelites ever possess all the land that God had promised them through the patriarchs.  Furthermore, the Old Testament narrative tells us how the land proved to be a bone of contention with the surrounding nations which, on many occasions, tried to invade Israel and take the land for themselves (cf. Ps. 83).

      However, when the Israelites fell into idolatry and wilful disobedience, they were removed from their land in a measure of national judgement.  This happened to the inhabitants of the northern kingdom in 721 BC, and then just over a hundred and twenty years later to those of the southern kingdom.  Later on, after the period of exile in Babylon, the Jews returned to their own land, beginning in 538 BC.

      A similar judgement also took place in 70 AD, when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Romans, and many Jews were taken away as captives and slaves.  In 135 AD, Jews were completely banned from the city by the Emperor Hadrian.  However, many centuries later, under the terms of the UN Partition Plan of 1947, part of their historic homeland was allocated back to the Jewish people, and many Jews began to return to the newly established state of Israel after its declaration in May 1948.

We need to recognise that this is a special land which God has reserved to himself for the purpose of working out human redemption, specifically through Jesus the Jewish Messiah and Saviour of the whole world.  It is God’s land, and at no stage has he ever annulled or abrogated his covenant with Abraham, and, although he has disciplined them many times, yet he has never rejected his ancient covenant people, the Jews.  The Abrahamic covenant is an everlasting covenant.  This land is still God’s land, and it is still covenanted to the Jewish people through his promises to the patriarchs.  As we will see in later chapters, both the land of Israel and the Jewish people are significant in end-time events.

‘The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.’ (Gen. 17:8)

‘This what the Lord says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar – the Lord Almighty is his name: “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the Lord, “will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.”  This is what the Lord says, “Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the Lord.’ (Jer. 31:35-37)

2.     The Mosaic covenant

The second of these covenants is known as the Mosaic covenant, or the Law covenant.  God made this covenant with the Jewish people as a nation through their leader Moses, and its purpose was to regulate their national life.  So it had moral, civil and religious / ritual aspects to it.  The main body of moral and civil law can be found in Exodus 20:1 – 23:33.

However, the weakness of this covenant was that it could not change people’s hearts, and the Israelites in Old Testament times were generally unfaithful to it.  Therefore, it was replaced by the new covenant in Christ, which brought regenerate spiritual life and a true, filial heart relationship with God by his Spirit for all who receive Jesus and become partakers in this new covenant (see below). 

Because of this new covenant in Christ, the Mosaic covenant has been rendered obsolete as a way of salvation, although the moral law certainly still stands as the revelation of God’s standard for human life (Heb. 8:13, Rom. 13:8-10).  However, religious Jews who do not yet know Jesus as their Messiah still cling in their spiritual blindness to this Mosaic covenant as their way of salvation (2 Cor. 3:14-15).

3.     The Davidic covenant

As its name suggests, God made this covenant with king David, after he had become settled in his reign over Israel.  God promised David that he would establish his kingdom through his descendants who would sit on the throne (contingent on their continued obedience to God), and also that his throne would be established forever:

‘When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.  He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.  I will be his father, and he will be my son…  Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’ (2 Sam. 7:12-14,16)

‘I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, “You shall never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.”’ (1 Ki. 8:25, 9:5; Jer. 33:17)

All commentators agree that this covenant with king David has a prophetic messianic aspect: the Messiah will one day take his place on the throne of David and reign over the people of Israel.  Among many other scriptures, the words below from Psalm 2:6-9 confirm this.  These words were used as liturgy in the coronation ceremony of the kings of Judah.  In this covenant, God saw himself as being in a filial father/son relationship with the king of Israel:

‘“I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.”  I will proclaim the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.  Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.  You will rule them with an iron sceptre; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”’ (Ps. 2:6-9; cf. Ps. 89:3-4,28-29,36-37)

As with the Abrahamic covenant, it is important to note that this Davidic covenant has never been revoked or annulled.  The Lord Jesus, the Son of David and the true Messiah of Israel, will fulfil this covenant by sitting on the throne of David in Jerusalem during his millennial kingdom, reigning over the nations:

‘Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.  He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing it and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.’ (Isa. 9:7)

Furthermore, Scripture repeatedly affirms the fact that the city of Jerusalem is the place where God’s name would dwell on earth.  It is his city.  The kings of Judah would reign from there, and God would be worshipped in the temple that would be built there (e.g. 1 Ki. 8:44,48).

4.     The new covenant in Christ

The fact that God would create a new salvific covenant with Israel was revealed through the prophet Jeremiah.  This new covenant would be made through Christ, and it would replace the old Mosaic covenant:

‘The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers…’ (Jer. 31:31-34)

The Mosaic covenant failed because it could not change people’s hearts.  However, in the new covenant, God would place his word and his Spirit in the heart of believers, who would then have love for God and a desire to follow his paths rooted deeply in their heart (cf. Ezek. 36:26-27).

One of the most common mistakes on the part of Gentile Christians (albeit an unconscious mistake), is the misconception that God made this new covenant in Christ with Gentiles.  This misconception is a fruit of ‘replacement theology’ (see chapter 14).  The fact that the body of Christ is made up predominantly of Gentile believers no doubt lends weight to this misconception.  However, God did not make this covenant with Gentiles, he made it with Israel, and this fact is brought out by the writer to the Hebrews when he quotes verbatim the above passage from Jeremiah in his epistle (see Heb. 8:8-12).  This is also affirmed by the fact that the first generation of Christians (in fact until 70 AD) was predominantly Jewish, rather than Gentile.  This new everlasting covenant in Christ, bringing forgiveness of sins, new birth and eternal life, is therefore operative today for Jews who will believe.

Gentile believers in Christ are partakers in this new covenant with Israel, and they are made into ‘one new man in Christ’ together with Jewish believers (Eph. 2:11-22).  However, they are simply shoots from a wild olive tree that have been grafted into spiritual Israel, the true olive tree of faith (Rom. 11:17-24).  God has not forgotten or forsaken his ancient covenant people, the Jews, and in the end-times he will bring many of them into this new covenant in the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

 

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