The Church And Israel

Tonight we're on lesson number seven, Israel and the church, or the church and Israel.

Our Bible has two testaments, or really two covenants. You have the old covenant and the new covenant. And what are we to make of Israel and the church? You read the old covenant and it has so much about Israel. And then you read the new covenant, and the New Testament has so much about the church. There are various ways of understanding this, okay? Different hermeneutics, different understandings of the way that we piece together the church and Israel. And whether you know it or not, you are probably already in a bubble, so to speak, of one of those influences. For example, when I look out here tonight, we have our tables in front of us. Many of you have MacArthur study Bibles, right? That's going to be more of a dispensational outlook of how the church and Israel fits together. Likewise, many of you have what we call the Reformed study Bibles from Ligonier. They're going to be more of a covenantal view of how the church and Israel fits together, okay?

Basically, to speak very broadly, dispensationalists typically look at the church and Israel as being two totally separate and never meeting together. Covenant theology typically looks at them as being the same, or very similar in that regards.

One thing that I think you'll enjoy over the next four lessons is we're going to be looking at all this. Tonight, we're looking at Israel and the church. Next week, we're going to be looking at dispensationalism, and we'll be looking at it in all of its varieties, from classic to modified to what's called progressive dispensationalism. The following week, we're going to be looking at covenantal theology — what the Westminster Confession would say, what the 1689 Baptist would say, and even what we call Christian reconstructionism. We'll be doing that the following week. Then the last week, we'll be looking at what we call progressive covenantalism, which is basically an understanding that —

— and what I hold to — is that the church and Israel are distinct. They are different, yet they're also very similar. There's both continuity and discontinuity. I say this up front because I want you to know that this is something that, wherever you end up falling down, we are not tribalists. In other words, I'm a MacArthur person. No, I'm a Sproul person.

I'm not going to fellowship with you if you have a different study Bible than I do, or if you think differently about how the church and Israel fits together. It's not the gospel. That is very instructive. I know many of you have been to Ligonier conferences — how many of you have been? Yeah, a lot of you have, or you've seen them online. For years — this past year we lost, of course, Johnny Mac — and for years you would have Johnny Mac up there, along with Sinclair Ferguson, Michael Reeves, R.C. Sproul. You'd have ten guys up there, and all of them were covenantal, except for John MacArthur, who was dispensational. But do they take shots at each other? Do they put each other down? No, they agreed on soteriology, right? That Christ is our Savior, that He died, He was buried, and He rose again for our sins, right? We can have differences in ecclesiology as far as how we view the covenants and whatnot. But what makes us one is that we're one in Christ Jesus, the crucified, risen Savior, right? So we can learn from that. And I think you'll find these next few lessons very edifying. Also, at the end of those four lessons, we're going to take a break. It'll be halfway through our twenty-five lesson series of ecclesiology, and we're going to have a question-and-answer time along with a dessert fellowship, so we can ruminate on these things and discuss them. I think that's a very healthy thing for our body, okay? So let's begin with lesson seven, the church and Israel, Bible point number one.

The church is the great company of persons who Christ has saved — that's the first blank.

The church is the saved people of God, in whom He dwells. Christ indwells, He saves us by union with Christ, through whom He reveals God, and to whom He reveals God, and in whom He exercises spiritual dominion. That's the thesis we've been working on. That is the church. The church is God's chosen — this is the third blank — God's chosen people for salvation — that's the fourth blank — in Jesus Christ.

There's no such thing as an unregenerate member of the Lord's body, right? There's no such thing as an unregenerate church member. We are saved only in union with the Savior. The moment that we put our trust in Christ's finished work, He seals us with the Spirit. He indwells us, right? And we are one with the risen Lord, never to die again, right?

The application for number one: praise God for our inheritance in Christ. Inheritance is the blank. And I have there Ephesians 1:11. If you want to turn to Ephesians 1:11, it is a great passage — of course, pastor preached through Ephesians last year.

It's been more than a year ago when he started that. It's amazing how time flies.

Ephesians 1:11 says, "In Him" — who is Him?

Christ. In Christ, or in Him, "we also have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will." What is this inheritance? It's God Himself, right? Every Christian has God Himself — fellowship with the triune God — because God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit make Their place, Their home and dwelling within us. And we are said to be in Him. Bible point number two,

God chose Israel to be His people and a conduit. Conduit — C-O-N-D-U-I-T — a conduit. We have anybody who works with electrical work — you know what a conduit is? Yes, David knows that. He sells it at the warehouse. It is a pipe, so to speak, that wire runs through, right? A conduit is a channel — that's another way of saying it.

His people to be a conduit of blessing to all nations. When God comes to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 — we'll read here in just a minute — He says, "I've chosen you, that you and your seed would be a conduit of blessing for all nations." God promised Abraham descendants and land.

This was part of God's plan to restore a broken and ruined creation as a result of Adam's sin. When you look at the promised land, what is it? It's a place where three continents come together. It's a perfect place to launch the gospel, right? And that's what happened in the first century, right? Starting in Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, to the uttermost parts of this earth.

To be a part of Israel was chiefly, though not entirely, dependent on being a descendant — descendant is the second blank — of Abraham. We have Genesis 17 for the reference. We're not going to read that tonight, but just to give you an idea: in Genesis 17, this is after God has made His covenant with Abraham. He says, "I've chosen you to be a people, and through you all the nations will be blessed." He then says, "For your people to be a part of this covenant, you have got to be circumcised," right? And so every adult male was to be circumcised. Now, if you were Abraham's seed, his son, a descendant, and you were not circumcised — guess what? You were cut off. Doesn't matter if you were Abraham's descendant. You see, that was predicated on covenantal faithfulness. Abraham had to show God his covenant faithfulness for his people to be in the covenant. Likewise, when you read in Genesis 17, you could be a foreigner, a stranger who was purchased, and if you received circumcision, guess what? You were considered part of the covenant. So you can be a Gentile and be a part of Abraham's people in Genesis 17 from the very beginning. It wasn't restricted to just his physical descendants — it was chiefly his physical descendants, but it wasn't restricted to just his physical descendants.

After delivering Israel from Egypt, God covenanted at Sinai with Israel to make Israel a holy nation. Sometimes we call that the Mosaic covenant or the Sinaitic covenant, named after Mount Sinai. And He says, "I have the people. This is the people from Abraham, but I'm going to make you a political nation." Okay?

"Israel was to live in covenant faithfulness to God, being separated" — that's the third blank — "separated to Him and bearing witness" — witness is the fourth blank — "to the nations."

God told Moses and the children at the very foot of Mount Sinai — He says, "I want you to be a holy people to Me. If you keep these commandments" — this is preceding the Ten Commandments and preceding the six hundred-some-odd laws — He says, "then you will be My people. Then you will be My nation," right? And they were constituted as a nation primarily to fulfill the Abrahamic covenant, to be a witness to the world that this is God's people. Look how He takes care of His people. You should follow Yahweh. He is the true God.

Exodus 19:5–8, let's read that together. This is where this covenant is made. And we'll be referring to this again in the next three or four studies, but I wanted to highlight that right here at the outset.

I said Genesis 19 — I'm sorry, Exodus, forgive me, Exodus.

Thank you, Jimmy, for keeping my head on straight.

Exodus 19:5–6,

"Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant" — He's calling Israel to be covenantally faithful to Him. If you obey Me and keep My covenant — "then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people, for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel." So they'd be a kingdom of priests. It would be a royal priesthood, right? Extending God's blessings to the nations, because that's what He had promised Abraham — that in you, all nations would be blessed.

The people then heard the Ten Commandments, which you'll find in Exodus 20, followed by the entire law summarized in chapters 21, 22, and 23 — these six hundred-some-odd stipulations. Then you get to chapter 24, and they ratify this covenant. In verses six, seven, and eight: "Then Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and he read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, 'All that the Lord has said, we will do and be obedient.' And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, 'This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.'" It was symbolic — if you don't obey Me, this blood that is being sprinkled on you is going to be your own blood, right? That's the way that covenants work. Was God ever going to not keep His end of the bargain? No, right? But Israel was called to covenant faithfulness with God.

Israel was commanded to fill and subdue the promised land, just as Adam was commanded to fill the world and subdue it. Adam failed in his job, right? He was supposed to make the whole earth a garden, right? Now Israel is given that charge again — to fill the promised land and subdue it, to make it theirs, right? God, later in the Davidic covenant — this would be about a thousand years after the Abrahamic covenant, or five hundred years after the Mosaic covenant — in the Davidic covenant, God promised David a royal heir. Heir is the fifth blank.

A royal heir to deliver Israel and to rule the nations. You find that in 2 Samuel 7. And that also harkens back to Psalm 2. Remember what Jesus is told in Psalm 2? He says, "You're My Son. This day I have begotten You, and You shall rule the nations," right? "Ask of Me and I'll give You all the nations" — that's what God says to Christ. And Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of that Davidic covenant, right? He is the one who rules the nations. But it all goes back to Genesis 12:1–3. Let's read this together. It's here on our handout. "Now the Lord had said to Abram, 'Get out of your country, and from your family, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.'"

From Abraham — when you read Matthew and you read his genealogy — you find that Jesus is the Son of David and the Son of Abraham, right? It's from Abraham that the whole world is blessed, in Jesus Christ.

The application for number two: praise God that He always — always is the blank — keeps His promises. "Let God be true and every man a liar," right? God doesn't change. God always keeps His promises. I have here Romans 3:3–4. I'm going to read that to you.

Romans 3:3–4: "What if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not. Indeed, let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written, 'That You may be justified in Your words and may overcome when You are judged.'" Praise God that He is a faithful, promise-keeping God, right? We always fail, right? We always break our covenants, but God never does.

Bible point number three,

there is much continuity — continuity, which means similarity, much of a continuance, if you will. That's the blank — continuity. There's much continuity between Israel and the church in their relationship to God.

Both are called the church. In Acts 7:38, Stephen in a sermon refers to Israel in the wilderness as the congregation, or the church in the wilderness, right? Both are called a kingdom of priests and a holy nation — nation is a blank. We just read in Exodus 19 where, when Israel was constituted as a nation in the Mosaic covenant, it says you'll be a royal priesthood, right? Does that sound familiar? We've read that recently in regards to the church. You find that in 1 Peter 2:5 and 9.

Both are called the chosen people and the people of God. So chosen is the third blank. And let's look at that. Open up your Bibles to 1 Peter, chapter two.

I want to read to you verses five and then nine and ten.

"You also, as living stones" — he's talking to the church here — "being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." And down in verses nine and ten: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people." These are the exact same words that were used of Israel in the Old Testament. "That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light, who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy," right? So we see there is a continuity between Israel and the church in their relationship to God and the way that God addresses them — the way that God sees them.

Both are promised: "I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people." You find that in Leviticus 26:12. And that is identically quoted in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 6 to the Corinthian church. So both are God's people, both God walks among them, and to both God promised to be their God. Both are called to be holy and separate unto God. You find this also in 2 Corinthians 6:17. You also find this in 1 Peter 1:15–16, where he quotes "Be holy as I am holy" — he's quoting God, Yahweh, from the Old Testament. He's saying the same thing to the church, right? We're called to be holy. We're called to be separate because we are God's people. Not the people of the devil, not the people of the world, not the people of a secular nation, a politely agnostic people. No, we are the people of the living God. So our character must match His.

Both are called His sons and daughters.

To both, God says He is their Father, okay? And we see 2 Corinthians 6:18. Let me read that to you.

A little bit of Bible hopping around here, and that's good. These are great verses to highlight in your Bibles.

2 Corinthians 6 — I'm going to read verses 16 through 18. "And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God said, 'I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.'" Those are words that He said to Israel — He says now to the church. "Therefore" — and again he quotes the Old Testament — "'Come out from among them and be separate,' says the Lord, 'Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.'"

"'I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,' says Yahweh Almighty." Isn't that wonderful? God has promised to be our Father and that we are His sons, we are His daughters, if we are in Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 2:4–5: "Come to Him as a living stone, rejected indeed by men but chosen by God and precious" — that's speaking of Christ, right? We are in Christ, we're connected to Him. It says, "you also, as living stones." We derive our life from Christ, right? "Being built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Because of Jesus Christ, we are acceptable to Him in our works and in our ways.

The application for number three: are you walking in holiness — that's the first blank, holiness — and desiring His fellowship? That's the second blank. Are you walking in holiness and desiring His fellowship? Yahweh, the God of Israel, has said that we are His holy priesthood, His holy nation, and that He is our Father. Now we're His sons and His daughters.

Some of you don't know your mom or your dad.

Maybe they abandoned you at an early age, right? Some of you, your parents are in heaven — both my parents are in heaven, right? But what does God promise? He'll be a Father to the fatherless, right?

If you could know your lost loved one — in other words, if your dad or your mother was still alive and you could reconnect with them — most people would want to, at least to find out a little bit about them, right? Well, here's God. He says, "I want to be your Father."

You're My son, you're My daughter. So do we long for fellowship with Him? That's why we hunger for the Lord. That's why we come here on Wednesday nights. That's why we come on Sunday mornings. That's why we come to Bible study, right? That's why we read the word of God, because it is life. And to know God is to know Christ revealed in His word — to have life and have life abundantly. Flip over to the back.

Actually, flip back to the front. We already read 1 Peter 2:9–10, so we'll save some time there. Bible point number four: there is much continuity between Israel and the church and their mission. Mission is the blank. Israel — and I misspelled it there, you'll have to forgive me, I typed this up early this morning — Israel was called to be the conduit of God's blessings to the world. The world is the second blank. And a light — that is the third blank — to the nations — that's the fourth blank. Now we already read Genesis 12:1–3, where God tells Abraham that through you He's going to bless the entire world. But we should look over at Deuteronomy 4:6.

Deuteronomy 4:6, to show you what Israel's purpose was to be.

What their mission was to be. Yes, they are the conduit of blessing to the entire world. But also, let's not forget Deuteronomy 4:6 — part of being that conduit of blessing is to be a witness.

He says, "Therefore, be careful to observe them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'" In other words, Israel's covenant faithfulness was to be a testimony to all the nations that God loves you, and that God will accept you if you are covenantally faithful to Him, right? If you trust Him — that's what covenant faithfulness is. There is a word in the Old Testament we hear: the fear of the Lord. That's an Old Testament way of saying it's faith, it's trusting in God, right? And Israel was the model of that for the nations. And if they didn't walk that way, they weren't fulfilling their mission, right? That's the same with you and I in the church, right? If we are not following the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ, can we rightly say we love Him? Can we rightly be a light, right? Can we rightly say, "Here's God, and look how good He is, we love Him and we're following Him" — when we're not?

2 Corinthians 5:20 says, "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ." Christ has given us this mission: to be a light to the Gentiles, to be a light to the Jews, to be a light to every nation, to every tribe under the stars, right? To declare the faithfulness of God.

Flip over to the back.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 — this is the new covenant prophesied in the Old Testament. "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with the fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them," says the Lord. "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days," says the Lord: "I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know Me,

from the least of them to the greatest of them," says the Lord, "for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more." The beauty of the new covenant is that God puts His law within our hearts, right? He gives us His Holy Spirit to help us obey Him, right? It's easy to cast stones at Israel for always being covenantally unfaithful to the Lord, but if you're not regenerate, how could you ever follow the Lord? If you don't have the Holy Spirit indwelling within you, right? Some of Israel was indeed faithful — read Hebrews 11, right? You see one faithful Israelite after another. But by and large, they were not, right? And that's what the new covenant brings. What a blessing that is.

Application for number four: what is the greatest blessing that you can share — share is the blank — with people? It's the greatest blessing that you can share with people.

Christ — exactly right. We often think, no, it's got to be financial, right? We've got to be like Oprah — everybody gets a new car, right? Then you've got to sell your car because you don't have the money to cover the taxes, right?

But that doesn't help people. It may help people a little bit, maybe get to their job and help them temporarily, but you don't have to be a lottery winner to help people, right? We have the most precious thing — it's the gospel, right? And we're to be a light to the nations. Our mission. Bible point number five: there is much discontinuity between Israel and the church.

In other words, there's much dissimilarity between Israel and the church. Israel, under the old covenant, was a mixed — mixed is the blank — a mixed congregation of believers and unbelievers. Unbelievers is the second blank.

Was Ahab an Israelite?

Yes, he was, wasn't he? He was a descendant of Abraham.

Was he a believer? No, not at all. Again, it's not your heritage, it's your covenant faithfulness, right? There were many in Israel who were indeed saved. Again, you read through the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, and you have one person after another — Moses, right? And how he forsook the pleasures of Egypt because he deemed Christ to be the greater treasure, right? One after one who expressed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So it was a mixed community. You can look at all the kings once Israel became a divided kingdom — is there ever a good king in the Northern kingdom? Not one, right?

Look at the period of the judges that preceded the kings. Israel always had unfaithfulness. In fact, they were so unfaithful that they were taken out of the land and put into exile — the Babylonian captivity, right? But there were always faithful ones, right? Jeremiah, Isaiah, right? So many of these prophets who were saying — and you had men like Elijah, who thought, "Hey, I'm the last one left. Might as well just take me home, God." And what does God say? "No, I've got seven thousand who haven't bowed the knee." There's always a remnant, right? Always a faithful remnant to God. It's not God's unfaithfulness to His promises. We are unfaithful to our covenant relationship with God. But there's always been a faithful remnant.

It was a mixed congregation of believers and unbelievers. The church, under the new covenant, only — only is the third blank — consists of believers who are regenerate — regenerate is the fourth blank — in Jesus Christ. And the difference between the church and Israel: everyone in the church by definition is regenerate. Who is the church? It's those whom Christ has saved, in whom He dwells, to whom He has revealed Himself and through whom He exercises His dominion, right? That is a regenerate person, right?

John 3:15 — Jesus told Nicodemus, who was an expert in the law — says that "whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." He's saying that if you want to have eternal life, believe in Jesus, believe in the Messiah, believe in Christ. Flip over to the back.

John 17:3 — in His high priestly prayer, He says, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." In the new covenant, He reveals Jesus Christ as the express image of God, and in Him only is there life.

The application for number five: you must be born again to see God's kingdom. When Nicodemus comes to Him, He says in John 3:3, "In order to see the kingdom of God, you must be born again." Nicodemus was thinking of a physical kingdom. He was thinking of David's throne and the temple and the palace. Jesus says to see the kingdom of God, you have got to have spiritual eyes. You have got to be born again. You have to have a heart that's been regenerated — that's what He tells him.

Bible point number six,

both Israel and the church represent the one people of God. This is continuity, okay? Even — we'll talk next week about how even progressive dispensationalists now agree that there's one people of God. Not the classical dispensationalists or the modified dispensationalists — the ones who are now teaching at Dallas Theological Seminary believe in one people of God.

Both Israel and the church represent the one people of God, which is continuity. There's continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament — that faithful, believing remnant, if you will. But they do so under different covenants. Covenants is the blank, and that is discontinuity, right? Israel was called to be a nation under the old covenant, right? Under the Mosaic or the Sinaitic covenant, right? The church was birthed in the new covenant, right? On the day of Pentecost, the body of Christ was formed at that point.

The church is not simply an extension of Israel. Rather, it is a new covenant community where God's plans of salvation — which were revealed throughout all the covenants and promises — have reached their climax. Climax is the second blank, and fulfillment in Christ. In other words, Christ being the focus of all of God's promises, He is the climax and the fulfillment of them. The church is the new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) and the new humanity (1 Corinthians 15:21–22 and Romans 5:19). Kaylee actually referenced these earlier, right? We're either dead in Adam or alive in Christ. We're either in the old humanity or we're in the new Adam, the new humanity.

Only in union with Christ, in the new covenant, both Jews and Gentiles are made one. One is the third blank, in Christ and members of God's household. We find that in Ephesians 2:11, which we'll read in just a minute. There are not two tracks of salvation. In other words, there's not two different ways to be saved. You don't have the old covenant still being in effect alongside the new covenant. There's the new covenant — that is one way of salvation — and it's faith in Jesus Christ. Only in Christ is there salvation.

Let's read first 2 Corinthians 5:17 — it's here on the front. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new." We're no longer in Adam. We're now in Christ, right? We're part of the new humanity, created perfectly in the image of Christ. Flip over to the back. We're going to read Ephesians 2:11–19.

Speaking of the people of God in the new covenant: "Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh" — who is He speaking to? He's speaking to a Gentile congregation in Ephesus. He says, "You were once Gentiles in the flesh. Not anymore," he says. "Who were called uncircumcised by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands" — so you were called not a Jew by the Jews, those who were circumcised in the flesh by hand. "At that time you were without Christ, without the Messiah, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, from the nation of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise." The covenants of promise were the promises made to Abraham, right? That through you, all the world would be blessed, and to Moses that you'll be a holy nation, right? The Gentiles were strangers to that. "Having no hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus" — because you have trusted Christ, because you are one with Christ — "but now in Christ Jesus, you who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. You've been made acceptable. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one" — who is the both? Both Jew and Gentile are made one in the new covenant — "and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity." His body broke down those barriers. "That is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself, in Christ, one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity." There's only one way to salvation — that's through Christ crucified, right? His risen Savior. Verse 17: "And He came and preached peace to you who were far off" — He gave the gospel to people who were not part of Israel, right, who were far off — "and to those who were near. He preached the gospel to everybody, both Gentile and Jew. For through Him we both" — both Gentiles and Jews — "have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God." We are one in Jesus Christ — that's what he's saying.

Put that cover on the front.

Application for number six: is there salvation — salvation is the blank — in any other?

No, there's no other name under heaven by which men may be saved, Acts 4:12. Also John 14:6: "I am the way" —

— I'm one of the ways, right? Just a new covenant way — there are still other ways. No: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me." Amen.

Bible point number seven,

the New Testament presents Christ as a typological fulfillment of Israel. Let me stop right there — what does typological mean? The Bible, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, uses the words type and antitype. A type is something that's a biblical image ordained by God to point to another reality, a coming reality, and that coming reality would be its antitype, or fulfillment of that type. For example, in the New Testament, Peter's epistle says that the flood and Noah's ark was a type that points to baptism being the antitype. In other words, just as Noah's family was saved in the ark through judgment, through the flood, we are saved through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. We're saved through Christ's judgment, right? We are one with the Savior. Another example — 1 Corinthians 10, I think it is the first ten verses — highlights all these things about Israel: their wanderings in the wilderness, that Christ was the rock that followed them, and so forth. It says, "These things were examples for you." Now, when you read examples, you may just think, well, that's just an example. In Greek, that's typos, which means typology, right? These were types that ultimately were pointing to something far greater, right? And the New Testament presents Christ as a typological fulfillment of Israel, as He embodies their identity. This is the first blank — identity.

Now, how does He embody their identity? I have here: Son, Seed, Servant, Vine, and Jeshirun. Let me explain that. Flip over to the back.

In Exodus 4:22 — this is when Moses goes to Pharaoh and tells Pharaoh, let my people go, right? — it says, "Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord: Israel is My son, My firstborn,'" right?

Well, who is God's true Son? His true Firstborn? It's Christ. Israel is a type of Christ here. It's part of their identity. Hosea 11:1 — "When Israel was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt I called My son" — speaking of the Exodus, right? Well, look what happens in Matthew 2:15, where this is quoted. It says, "He stayed there until the death of Herod" — that's when Christ was a child and Herod was putting to death all the babies and they fled to Egypt. It says, "And he stayed there until the death of Herod. This happened so that it might be fulfilled what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, 'Out of Egypt I called My Son,'" right? So he is again equating Jesus as Israel and as a Son. Now, one thing that's interesting: Hosea was not giving a prophecy when he says "Out of Egypt I called My son." The Exodus had already happened by Hosea's time. He's just stating that God looked upon Israel as His son and brought him out of Egypt. When Matthew 2:15 says that this has been spoken by the Lord through the prophet and would be fulfilled, he's not saying prophetic fulfillment,

because that was fulfilled before — it wasn't even a prophecy. But it's typological fulfillment. Christ is the true Israel, the true Son of God.

Look at the true Seed. Galatians 3:16:

"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made." These were the promises that we read back in Genesis 12:1–3.

"He does not say 'and to seeds,' which is plural, as of many, but as of one, 'and to your Seed,' who is Christ."

He's saying that under divine superintendence of the Holy Spirit — inspiration of the Holy Spirit — the promises were made to Abraham and to Christ. Christ is the true descendant — that's what seed means — the true descendant of Abraham. He is the true Israel there.

He's also called God's true Servant. In the book of Isaiah, I have listed here — you can read these on your own time —

several what are called servant songs. These are messianic songs contained in the book of Isaiah.

And they show who the Messiah would be. One of them is very familiar to you — it was referenced earlier — Isaiah 53. Again, Kaylee referenced it: "By His stripes you were healed." Speaking of what the Messiah would do.

And in the servant songs, the Servant — the Messiah — is referred to as Israel.

In other words, Israel is used as a descriptor, as an identity of the Messiah. And we can read that right here. In Isaiah 49:3–6: "And He said to me, 'You are My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.' Then I said, 'I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain. Yet surely my just reward is with the Lord, and my work with my God.' And now the Lord says, who formed Me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him." He's saying, "I was brought into this world, I became incarnate, to bring Israel back to Me. Israel bringing Israel back." The Messiah is referred to as Israel, to bring Jacob and Israel back to Him. "For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. Indeed, He says, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob'" — which is another name for Israel — "'and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.'" So Christ is the true Israel — not only in that He's the true Son of God, He's the true Seed or descendant of Abraham — He is also the true Servant of God, and He's also the true Vine.

In the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 5 gives us a beautiful parable of the vineyard. The vineyard is the vineyard that God plants, and He plants it great. And who is the vine? Israel is the vine. It says in verses one, two, and seven: "Now let me sing to my Well Beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard. My Well Beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones. He planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst and also made a wine press in it. So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes." Verse 7: "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; for righteousness, but behold, a cry for help." Israel was a fruitful vine, but instead she brought forth iniquity and injustice. We see the same typology mentioned in all the prophets — you find in Jeremiah: "Yet I planted you a noble vine, a seed of the highest quality. How then have you turned before Me into a degenerate plant of an alien vine?" He says, "You're not even Mine. You're supposed to be Mine, but you have become degenerate. You're so far from Me. You're wicked. You're not holy."

But then when we get to the New Testament, John 15:1, Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser." If you want to bear good fruit, you do it in Christ. Salvation has only ever been found in Christ Jesus — that's what Hebrews 11 points to, right? Only in Christ the Messiah.

So not only is Christ the true Israel in that He's the Son of God, not only is He the true Israel in that He's the true Seed of Abraham, He's not only the true Servant of God and the true Vine — He's also the true Yeshurun, or Jeshirun. There are about four different passages or so in the Old Testament where God uses this divine title, Jeshirun, to refer to Israel.

And it means literally "beloved," okay? It secondarily means "upright," because what does God love but that which is upright, that which is holy, right? And Deuteronomy 32:15–18 — this is the Song of Moses, one of the most famous passages in the Old Testament — "But Jeshirun" — that's another title for Israel — "grew fat and kicked." It says, "I brought you into the land flowing with milk and honey," is what precedes this. "But Israel grew fat and kicked. You grew fat, you grew thick, you are obese. Then he forsook God who made him, and scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation." That was the Rock of his salvation — Christ. "They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods. With abominations they provoked Him to anger — new gods, new arrivals that your fathers did not fear" — even ones that weren't even invented in Egypt, they picked up when they were in the land of Canaan, right? "Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, and you have forgotten the God who fathered you."

Then Isaiah 44:1–2 also uses the phrase Jeshirun. He says, "Yet hear now, O Jacob, My servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you: 'Fear not, O Jacob, My servant, and you, Jeshirun, whom I have chosen.'" So that's clearly a name ascribed by God, saying, "You're My beloved people. You're supposed to be upright. You're the ones that I love." Then when you get to Matthew 3:17, at the baptism of Christ: "And suddenly a voice from heaven saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,'"

saying, "You're Israel, You're My true Son, My true Jeshirun." Ephesians 1:3–6: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." Look at verse 6: "To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved" — in the Jeshirun, right? Christ, again, is assuming and fulfilling the identity of Israel, right? Everything that Israel is supposed to be, Christ is. So He embodies their identity. He embodies their mission. Look back at number seven — and what was their mission? But to reconcile the world, right? They were to be a light to the Gentiles, according to Isaiah. They were to be a testimony of the faithfulness of God among all the nations wherein they dwelled. Christ does that, right? He did that in His ministry, death, burial, and resurrection, to reconcile the world to God.

He is a typological fulfillment of Israel in their offices. We've talked about this when we did Christology. We actually did a week on Christ being the Prophet. We did another week on Christ being the Priest, and also how Christ is also the King, right? Those three mediatorial offices were given to be go-betweens between God and the nation of Israel. The Prophet was to declare the word of God — and who is Christ but the Word of God made flesh? The Priest was to intercede on behalf of Israel and to make sacrifice for the people. Who is Christ? He is our great High Priest, according to the book of Hebrews that we're reading. And He is the High Priest who reigns forever, right? According to the order of Melchizedek, He will never be supplanted. He's the last Priest because He's made the perfect sacrifice — His own blood. He was the Lamb of God, right? And He's the King. What did the kings do in the Old Testament? They delivered God's people from their adversaries, right? What does Jesus do? He delivers us from sin, delivers us from death, from the world, from ourselves, right?

So He embodies their identity, their offices, their institutions.

In the Old Testament, the whole book of Leviticus is about these institutions. There are sacrifices that they were to make, right? Do we need to make sacrifices anymore? No, right? Christ is the Lamb of God.

What about the temple? There is no temple anymore, right? But who is the temple?

We in Christ are the temple, right? We are the church that is being built on Christ — the foundation is He's the cornerstone, the teaching of the apostles — and we are the dwelling place of God, right?

What does the Bible tell us about the Sabbath? You're going to be hearing a little bit about this this Sunday, right? Christ is our Sabbath rest, right? God rested on the Sabbath — He completed His work. Christ has rested. He's completed His work of redemption, and in Him we find rest. That's why Jesus says, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," right? Not only is He the Sabbath, but He is the fulfillment of all the feasts, and even the law. He's the embodiment of the law, right? And its Giver. And the events of Israel were all typological. I kind of referred to that in 1 Corinthians 10 earlier. But if you think about the Passover, right? Who is Christ but our Passover? The New Testament tells us that. He is Christ our Passover. All those were pointing to Christ. Christ is the climax of Israel in His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, fulfilling the old covenant and establishing the new covenant. It's the only way He could have instituted the new covenant — by faithfully fulfilling the old covenant, right? That on behalf of Israel, on behalf of us, right? For whosoever will believe in Him. Revelation 1:8:

"'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end,' says the Lord." The application for number seven,

don't chase shadows. Hold fast — hold fast is the blank. Hold fast to Christ. Don't chase shadows. Hold fast to Christ. Now I have here as a reference Colossians. Let me read this to you. Colossians 2:16–19: "So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God." Hold fast to Christ. Don't chase the shadows, okay.

Bible point number eight: the church does not replace — replace is the blank for number eight, first blank — does not replace Israel in the new covenant. The church does not replace Israel in the new covenant. We read the new covenant earlier. It was said of Christ, the Messiah, in Jeremiah 31, that He would make the new covenant with the house of Israel, right?

Who were the twelve disciples? Were they Jewish or were they Gentile?

They were Jewish, right? They were pictured and picked out to be representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel, right? They're even said to judge — in the book of Revelation — the twelve tribes of Israel. Who were the one hundred and twenty in the upper room?

Jewish, right? This is who Christ —

— Christ made His covenant, the new covenant, with the disciples in the upper room. Then the one hundred and twenty on the day of Pentecost were filled with the Spirit, right? They were all Jews. When Peter preached his fiery sermon on the day of Pentecost and three thousand came to know Christ — who were they? Jewish. The first several thousand — we don't even get to Gentiles until Acts chapter 10. So the church starts, the new covenant is made with the faithful remnant, right? So the church does not replace Israel in the new covenant. The church and Israel are related — indirectly, indirectly is the second blank.

Through participation or union with Christ, the church receives all the promises of God, as they only find their terminus in Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, "All the promises of God in Him are yes and amen."

All who are in Christ are the true circumcision. That's what Philippians 3:3 says. Who is the circumcision?

The Jews, right? So all who are in Christ — if you're in Christ, you are a true Jew. Doesn't matter if you're a Gentile, right? Because you're in Christ, who is the King of Israel, right? Who is the faithful Israelite, who is the true Israelite. So the third blank is circumcision. All who are in Christ are true Jews — that's the fourth blank. Romans 2:28–29. Let me read that to you. A lot of people hear that and say, "Well, that doesn't sound right." Read your own Bible — Romans 2:28–29.

"But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness — indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek." Jumping down to verse 11: "For there is no partiality with God." Doesn't matter if you are of a Jewish heritage or a Greek heritage. When you get to verses 28 and 29 — this is the one I want to focus on — "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly,

nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh." Doesn't matter if you can prove your heritage going back to Abraham. Doesn't matter if you're circumcised, because that doesn't make you a Jew. This is in verse 29: "But he who is a Jew, a true Jew, is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart." We even see that in the Old Testament. Yes, the Abrahamic covenant's sign was circumcision, but later on, what does God say? "Circumcise your heart," right?

"And circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men but from God." God could have chosen any sign He wanted to for ancient Israel to be His people. He chose circumcision, because that's the private part, right, that no one sees, right?

And that was symbolic, pointing forward to the circumcision of the heart that we find in the new covenant. Only God sees the heart, right? And only God can take that heart of stone and make it a heart of flesh. Only He can do that spiritual surgery to give us new life, right? So all who are in Christ are not only the true circumcision, but they're true Jews. All who are in Christ are the true children promised to Abraham. That's in Romans chapter 9. Let's look at that — verses 6 and 8.

"But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel,

nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham. But 'In Isaac your seed shall be called.'" And who was Isaac? He was the seed of promise. He's saying that just because you're a Jew and just because you are circumcised, that doesn't mean that you are a true Jew. What matters is that you are the seed of promise. Verse 8: "That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of promise are counted as the seed." So he's saying: the children of promise — how many children did Abraham have?

He had at least seven sons, right? Ishmael, and then he also had his sons through the concubines, right? And then of course, Isaac. Which one did God consider to be His true son? Which one is the son of promise?

Isaac, right? Isaac was the seed of promise, right? He was the one through whom God had promised — through Sarah — that His seed would come, His descendants would be, and Christ would come through the line of Isaac, right? His other sons were just as much his children, right? But they were not the children of promise, right? In other words, what matters is: do you believe in Jesus Christ? Do you have faith in Jesus Christ? Do you believe in Christ's promises? That makes you a true Israelite, okay?

Also verses 32 and 33 — let me read that from chapter 9. "Why? Because they did not seek it by faith" — speaking of the Jews — "but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. They stumbled at Christ." "As it is written, 'Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.'"

Christ is the test. If we stumble at Him, we are not true Jews.

However, if we embrace Him, if we believe He is the promised One and put our trust in Him, we are.

All who are in Christ are truly Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. This is from Galatians 3:29.

In other words, let's actually go there — that's a very important one to look at. Galatians 3:29. We already looked earlier in Galatians 3 at how Christ is Abraham's seed, singular, to whom all the promises were made. Then Paul in verse 29 says, "If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise." In other words, if you're in Christ, you're in the Seed, you become little seeds, and you become heirs according to the promise. What promises? The promises that God made to Abraham — that you will be My people, that you'll be a conduit of blessing to all the nations, right?

So the New Testament tells us that we are one in Christ Jesus, right? Not apart from them. So the church does not replace Israel — the new covenant was made for Israel and also extended to the church, and whoever is in Christ is His true seed.

Not going to read it because of time, but let me refer to it here. In the middle of Bible point number eight,

"All who are in Christ Jesus are the true children promised to Abraham."

All who are in Christ are the true partakers of the root and fatness of Israel.

Let me tell you what I mean by that. In Jeremiah chapter 11 — I have a reference here you can look up later on your own time — there is a parable given in the old covenant of Israel being the olive tree.

And they were to be fruitful to the Lord, right? Just like Israel was pictured as a vine. When you get to Romans chapter 11,

it says that there are some unbelieving branches — unbelieving Israelites who did not embrace the Messiah — they were cut off because of their unbelief. And you Gentiles were grafted in graciously. You weren't originally part of that, but you were grafted in through your faith in Christ Jesus. And he tells the church of Rome, "Don't get haughty, right? Don't get haughty at all, because they can easily be grafted back in if they will but believe, right?" And when it says that we are heirs according to the promise and that we are truly the root and fatness of Israel — that's what Romans 11:17 tells us — in other words, all of the blessings and the nourishment that come to Israel are ours in Christ because He's the true Israelite.

Because Christ is the King of Israel — we find that in John 1:49, "You are the King of Israel," right? And also in John 12, at His entry into Jerusalem, they are praising Him: "Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." And they called Jesus the very King of Israel. Because Christ is the King of Israel, all who are in Him are the Israel of God. Galatians 6:16 says that. Now some will dispute that — we'll talk about dispensationalists next week. They would say no, that appellation could not ever be referred to the church.

Study the passage and look at it in its context. He's actually warning against Judaism apart from Christ, and he's calling the church the true Israel of God, right? Not because the church has replaced Israel, but because the church is in Christ and Christ is the true Israelite.

In Christ, the church is promised that "all things are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's" — 1 Corinthians 3:21–23.

Galatians 6:15 says, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but a new creation." That's what matters. And quickly — number nine — because we've kind of gone over tonight, I'm sorry. Among believers, there are differences in interpretations of how the covenants and promises of God unfold — unfold is the first blank — and are fulfilled. That's the second blank. Some believe there are outstanding — that's the third blank — promises of God related to Israel as a people, or as a nation, or as a land.

And it's okay to have these differences. In other words, if you don't agree the same way I do, I'm not going to stop being your friend anymore. We are brothers and sisters in Christ, right?

There are also differences regarding how much continuity and discontinuity exist between Israel and the church.

Most of what I've said here tonight, I would say that most in the dispensational and covenantal camps would agree with. However, there'd be some things that the dispensationalists would say — there's always got to be discontinuity; you can't ever have the church and Israel in the same path of blessing, so to speak. And likewise, within our Reformed brothers — especially the Westminster Confession types and the 1689 — they may say, no, the church is Israel. It's always been Israel. And we can agree to disagree, right? They're my precious brothers in Christ, my precious sisters in Christ. And we can walk together, because it's not our view of ecclesiology that unites us. It's our view of soteriology — of salvation in Christ.

We will study these over the next three weeks. What unites us is that we have one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. I want to read to you Romans 15:5–6. "Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." The application is from Galatians 3:28: "You are all one in Christ Jesus." Praise God that He makes us one in Him.

Number eight's application, I'm sorry.

You are all one — oh, I'm sorry, number nine. "Present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." Colossians 1:28–29. That means complete, fulfilled in Christ Jesus.