Appendix1: A study regarding New Covenant’s distinct connection with Israel vs the New Testament with its heirs.

What the Scripture Says about the New Covenant

1. The New Covenant is stated in every scripture that it is referenced to be for the House of Israel  (Jer 31:31; Ezek 36:22,25 Heb 8:8)
2. It is said to replace the covenant that God made with the Fathers when He brought them out of Egypt (the Mosaic Covenant, or the Law.) (Jer 31:32)
3. It Will be applied at a specific time (“in those days”) – upon Israel, and God will:
   • Put his laws in their inward parts (Jer 31:33)
     • They shall know god individually.
     • Their Iniquities will be forgiven and their sins will not be remembered (Jer 31:34)
4. This covenant made not for their sakes, but for His Names sake, which THEY (the House of Israel) profaned among the nations wherever they went. (Ezek 36:22).  It will be a sanctifying of His great name so that the nations (Gentiles during the Millenium) know He is God (Ezek 36:23).
   1. This sanctification of God’s name which was profaned among the nations by His people (Israel) will occur when He:
      • Takes them out from among the nations and brings them into their land (Ezek 36:24)
      • Sprinkles them with clean water and cleanse them from all filthilness and idols (Zech 12:10)
      • Takes away the heart of stone and gives them a heart of flesh and puts his spirit in them (Ezek 36:26)
      • Causes them to walk in his judgments and statutes to do them (Ezek 36:27)
      • Causes them to dwell in the land He gave to the fathers. (Ezek 36:28)
5. The difference between the Mosaic Covenant and the New Covenant that replaces it is that God will cause them to keep it (Ezek 36:27) so that they can dwell in the land as His people (Ezek 36:28) and keep his statutes and ordinances (Ezek 36:27)
   • This is a covenant for MORTALS who need to be able to walk in God’s “statutes and ordinances.”  In the past they were dispersed among the nations at the time of the Babylonian captivity and at the time of the Diaspora because of their failure to keep the Mosaic (first) covenant. This judgment was spelled out in the giving of that covenant in (Deut 28:15-68).
   • The subject of the book of revelation as well as the writings of the prophets concerning the final regathering of Israel for the establishing of their kingdom is the context for the New Covenant. (Too large of a topic to address here).
   • Paul refers to this In Romans 11 when he speaks of the restoration of national Israel and their salvation:  (Rom. 11:26,27)

New Covenant Parties vs. New Testament Heirs

1. The blood of Christ IS the blood of the New Covenant for Israel: (Matthew 26:28). However, this word, “Covenant” in the Greek is also translated as Testament.
   • Christ’s death was also as the death of the testator to produce the New Testament inheritance for the Church (Heb 9:16-17). The Church was a mystery that was hidden in God until after Christ rose from the dead (Col 1:26; 1 Cor 2:7-8).
   • When Jesus celebrated the Passover, although the Apostles should have known that the New Covenant was for the nation of Israel, scripture tells us that He was also going to be the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2), including those who had no covenant relationship with God.
   • The Gentiles nations were strangers to the covenants, without hope and without God in the world (Eph 2:12). They had no “right” to expect anything from God, whereas the Jewish people had a physical connection to Abraham and because of this had expectations. Ephesians tells us that there was a mystery – that in the death and resurrection of Christ, a creative work was accomplished. Christ created on the cross a New Man, a New Entity, called the Body of Christ (Eph 1:23), or the New Man (eph 2:15;), in which there was neither Jew or Gentile but Christ would be all in all (Col 3:10-11). During the Church age, Jews and Gentiles that believe would both be baptized into this entity and put on Christ to become members of Him. They are not reckoned by God as either Jew or Gentile, but Christ Himself. They are the brethren of the Firstborn from the Dead, who are joint heirs together with Him, the Beloved Son of God! (Rom 8:17) Furthermore, we learn from Galatians that Christ is the true seed of Abraham, the inheritor of the promises God made (Gal 3:16). Former Gentile members of the Church had no relationship to Abraham. Former Jewish members of the Church were related to Abraham genetically. But in Christ, our connection to either of these groups (Jew or Gentile) is abolished, and we become one in Christ, who is not only the seed of Abraham to inherit everything God promises to Abraham, but the Son of God to whom the Father has given all that He Has (John 16:15; Heb 1:2). Galatians tells us that having been baptized into Christ, and been clothed with Christ, we are now Abraham’s seed in the sense that we are one with Christ (Gal 3:16; Gal 3:26-29). He is the only Person who has ever been qualified to inherit and enjoy all that God has, and He shares this with us as a gift!
   • Apart from Being Baptized into Christ, the Church, consisting largely of Gentiles, would have no relationship to any covenants that God made with the Seed of Abraham. (Eph 2:12; Rom 9:4).  As the Church, our only relationship to these covenants is as heirs and benefactors with Christ, the seed of Abraham. 
   • As such, what we have is not a Covenant that Christ has made with us as if we are a separate group of people, but a Testament, of which He is the mediator and we are the heirs. He distributes the inheritance that He has received to us through the New Testament Ministry. Just as in Hebrews 9 the word must be translated “Testament” rather than covenant because it is clearly speaking of inheritance with the death of the testator, it is probably best to translate the word “New Testament” in 2 Corinthians 3:6 when Paul says “We are able ministers of the New Testament”. The KJV translates it correctly, but many modern versions say “New Covenant” which adds to the confusion.
   • Christ’s blood is the blood of the New Covenant, and it is also the Blood of the New Testament. The New Covenant is for the nation of Israel that will be regathered, reconciled and reconstituted as a nation according to theit tribes during the future kingdom. The New Testament is for Christ to distribute the riches that He has received from the Father to the heirs who are members of His Body.
2. Paul’s argument in Galatians is that the Law of Moses was a covenant not made with anyone but Israel, and that this was made 400 years after the covenant which God confirmed with Abraham’s seed in Genesis 15.  Therefore the Mosaic covenant, the law, could not add conditions to or dis annul the covenant that was already in effect which secured the inheritance for God’s people (Gal 3:15-18). The law was added ALONG SIDE the promises. It is not an extension of them. Reformed calvinism makes a mistake in saying that the Mosaic covenant was just a further development of the Abrahamic covenant which secures the inheritance. If so, that makes the inheritance conditional. But Paul tells us that the Law was temporarily added for transgressions until the seed would come to whom the promises were really made (which is Christ) (Gal 3:19)
3. The argument in Hebrews that the New Covenant is going to replace the First Covenant, which is waxing old, is not to state that the Church is “under the new covenant” or a “party to it”, but that the Old Covenant’s passing was anticipated in the scripture when God promised a New Covenant to Israel (Heb 8:13)
4. The promises that God made to Abraham’s seed concerning the land are ultimately possessed by Christ on behalf of Israel (the subject of Revelation). Believing Israel has right to that land but cannot stay in it because of sin (as their history shows us). Christ takes possession of the land (as well as all the nations of the earth according to His inheritance as the Son of God/Seed of David (Psalm 2:8-9) . He will rule those nations with the rod of iron with His Co-heirs, the heavenly company of resurrected Kings and Priests who are the Church as He shares this aspect of His inhertiance with Them. He will also renew Israel and establish the New Covenant with them, Himself working in them all the conditions necessary for them to enjoy their portion in the Land during the Millenium. Israel will be exalted above the nations, but the Heavenly Church, co-heirs Christ, is exalted above the Angels and is seated with Him at the right hand of God in the heavens! (Eph 2:6; Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10; Col 1:1-3; Rev 2:26; Rev 12:5);

Justification has always been by grace through faith. However, the timing of justification impacts what group you belong to. Today, people who are justified through faith become part of the Body of Christ. Dispensationalists who take Bible prophecy literally believe that this group is completed at the time of the rapture. Then God will turn His attention to dealing with the manifestation of the Kingdom, the Davidic Throne that was promised to Christ, and the salvation and restoration of national Israel into the land. Their promises and expectations are primarily earthly, while the Church has heavenly expectations and position. This is all in God’s single administration to head up all things in Heavens and in Earth in Christ (Eph 1:10).