The Israel of the New Covenant, God’s Israel 

Here are some thoughts on what Israel means in the light of the New Covenant.

When we talk about Israel, we must distinguish between the Israel of the old Mosaic covenant and the Israel of the new covenant. The old covenant was conditional: … if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways… (Deuteronomy 28:9f). If the Israelites kept the Lord’s commandments and walked in His ways, He would bless them. But if they did not do so, but abandoned Him and served other gods, they were under a curse. … verse 15 But if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, and do not keep and follow all his commandments and statutes which I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you…

Because Israel repeatedly abandoned the covenant and their God, the prophet Jeremiah spoke of a new covenant:

Jer 31:31f 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 like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke, though I was their master, says the Lord.

This biblical context is quoted in Hebrews 8:8f and 10:16f as a prophecy about the new covenant through the blood of Christ (cf. Luke 22:20).

Hebrews 8:13 states that the old covenant is obsolete: In speaking of a new covenant, he has thereby declared the former one obsolete. And what becomes old and obsolete is about to disappear.

The Epistle to the Hebrews was written to Hebrews, Jews who had come to believe in Jesus as their Messiah. They were under great pressure from their Jewish surroundings to abandon their faith, where they may even have gathered with non-Jews to worship. Sometimes this led to outright persecution with bloodshed and their exclusion from the Jewish community in society. Therefore, many were tempted to leave the gatherings with other Messiah believers and instead return to the community in the synagogue. This is how we can understand Hebrews 10:25: And let us not forsake our meetings, as some are in the habit of doing…

In this context, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews explains that the Old Covenant order is outdated and about to disappear. God has entered into a new covenant with Israel through Jesus, the Messiah.

The old covenant was flawed because people were unable to live according to it. Many Bible scholars believe that the old covenant came to a definitive end with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, when the temple was torn down, the priests were killed, and temple service ceased. Jesus had prophesied that this would happen. All genealogical records were also destroyed because they were kept in the temple. For the devout Jews of that time, the coming salvation was linked to the ability to refer to their family registers. Even the priests had to be able to invoke their family registers. This can be read about in “Jerusalem in the Times of Jesus” by Joachim Jeremias, one of the “big names” in Jewish background research in the twentieth century.

The new covenant that Jesus, the Messiah, instituted at the meal we call the Lord’s Supper or the Lord’s Meal, was made with Jesus’ Jewish disciples. (Luke 22:14f). It was a covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, as Jeremiah prophesied, and as the Epistle to the Hebrews makes clear.

Heb 8:10 No, this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after that time, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

This new covenant was instituted by Jesus at the Jewish Passover meal, before his death and resurrection. But its full impact came when the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost. This community of Spirit-filled Jewish disciples was the first Messianic congregation, but at that time they had no ambition to proclaim the kingdom of God to anyone other than their Jewish compatriots. It was only after Peter’s visit to Cornelius that they realized that God had a greater plan than they had previously understood. Previously, during the time of the old covenant, God’s focus was on the land of Israel and the Jewish people. But the Messiah King’s reign was now extended to cover the whole earth and all peoples, as Psalm 2 proclaimed: 

Ps 2:6f “I have set my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” I will proclaim the Lord’s decision, he said to me: ”You are my Son, I have begotten you today. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession.” (Quoted by Paul in Acts 13:33 and in Hebrews 1:5, 5:5 as a prophecy about Jesus’ position as the Son of God.) 

After Jesus’ resurrection, we read about how he sends his disciples to spread his kingdom to all the peoples of the earth. (Matt. 28:18f). We find the same exhortation in Acts 1:6, but in a different way: 

Acts 1:6f When they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

At this time, the disciples still seemed to hope that the coming of the Messiah would mean a national revival for Israel. A new Greater Israel like in the days of David and Solomon. Yes, the kingdom would be restored, but not in the way the disciples expected. When the Holy Spirit came, the kingdom would be spread throughout the earth to all peoples. These were the domains of the Messiah King that were promised in the second Psalm. The whole earth would be placed under Jesus’ dominion, as Jesus explains: ”All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18f) 

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul explains that this was a secret that had previously been hidden, but which has now been revealed:

Eph 3:5f In former generations it was not made known to people as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I have been appointed to serve this gospel by the gift and grace that God has given me through his mighty power. I, the least of all the saints, have received this grace to preach the gospel of the incomprehensible riches of Christ to the Gentiles and to enlighten everyone about the plan of the mystery that has been hidden from eternity in God, the Creator of all things.

Earlier in the same letter, Paul has spoken of how the dividing wall that separated Jews and Gentiles has now been removed (Eph. 2:11f). Here he is referring to the wall in the temple in Jerusalem that separated the Gentile court from the Jewish court. It was punishable by death for a Gentile to enter the Jewish court. Paul also explains that Messianic Jews and Messianic Gentiles are now being built together into a new temple, a dwelling place for God through the Spirit. He says to the Ephesians, who are Gentiles: 

Eph 2:19f Therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household. You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, and in him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God through the Spirit.

Paul calls this Israel, which is emerging through the new covenant in Messiah, God’s Israel in Galatians 6:15f: It does not matter whether one is circumcised or uncircumcised; what matters is being a new creation. Peace and mercy be upon those who follow this rule, and upon God’s Israel.

Circumcision was a matter of dispute among the early Christians. Some Messianic Jews believed that Gentiles had to be circumcised and follow Jewish law in order to have a place in the covenant people of Israel. Circumcision was the outward sign of being an Israelite in the old covenant. Paul argues strongly against this idea. One becomes part of the new covenant in Christ by being born again through the Spirit. The important thing is to be a new creation. In Romans 3:28f we read: 

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, also of the Gentiles, just as truly as God is one, he who declares the circumcised righteous by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

God’s intention to create a people of his own from all nations, Jews and Gentiles, in whom he will dwell, is evident in many ways in the biblical texts. It is no longer a question of two peoples, but of one people through faith in Jesus, the Messiah.

1. One flock and one shepherd. (John 10:16)
2. The true olive tree with grafted branches and cut-off branches. (Romans 11:16f)
3. A new living temple built with living stones. Jews and Gentiles are built together into a spiritual house where God will dwell. (Ephesians 2:19f)
4. A new covenant with the house of Judah and the house of Israel, which also includes Gentiles.

This is the Israel of the new covenant, God’s chosen people, Jews and Gentiles united through faith in Jesus, the Messiah.

How, then, should we understand the situation of the nation of Israel and the ethnic Jews today?

God has a wonderful plan for the Jews of today. There is a new covenant for them through Jesus the Messiah. This is their calling, what Jeremiah prophesied about. If a large number of today’s Jews accept Jesus as their Messiah and Savior, it could mean a major breakthrough for world evangelism before Jesus’ return. In Romans 11:11f, Paul hints at a great blessing that will follow when the Jews are grafted back into the true olive tree, God’s Israel. 

As for today’s secular nation of Israel, this state bears no resemblance to the theocratic nation of Israel in the Old Testament. Today’s nation of Israel has become a refuge for many Jews after 2000 years in the diaspora, where they have been subjected to brutal abuse from the countries in which they have lived. This can be seen as God’s grace towards a vulnerable people, many of whom placed their hope in the God they read about in the writings of the Old Covenant. However, a significant portion of Israel’s population appears to be secular and atheist. They are not religious Jews, but cultural Jews. 

But from the perspective of the New Testament and the New Covenant, God’s intention is to unite Messianic Jews and Messianic Gentiles in Jesus, the Messiah, into one people who will become a new living temple where God will dwell forever.

In my opinion, there are many reasons why we should support the modern nation of Israel as a home for the world’s vulnerable Jews. But this support must be given in a righteous manner. God is righteous and he loves righteousness. The Bible’s commandment to love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself applies to everyone, including Jews and Palestinians. And we should be careful not to misuse the prophecies of the Old Testament. We should read and understand the writings of the Old Testament and the prophecies of the future in the light of the New Covenant. The authors of the New Testament did so, and we should do so as well. What we sometimes overlook is that the Church was originally an entirely Jewish product, with Jewish writings and Jewish apostles. The Israel of the New Covenant, the Israel of the Messianic Covenant, is the continuation of Israel’s history, a continuation in which Gentiles have become participants through faith in Jesus, the Messiah. When we read the Old Testament prophecies about Israel’s coming glory, we should understand that they refer to Israel in the Messianic covenant, i.e., Messianic Jews and Messianic Gentiles who are joined together and grow into a holy temple in the Lord, and who in Christ are built together into a dwelling place for God through the Spirit. (Eph. 2:19-22) 

We should not allow contemporary political events to interpret the Bible for us, but rather try to understand who the biblical authors were addressing and what they wanted to convey to them. Once we understand that, we can then apply it to our own time; history repeats itself and there are many parallels.

When it comes to contemporary prophecies about Israel or other things, we should, as Paul says, “Test everything and keep what is good.” These prophecies must be tested and be consistent with what the Bible says, otherwise they do not measure up. This testing is not always easy, which is why there are many different opinions. But if we humbly seek God, there is hope that we will be able to come to unity in faith, at least on the most important issues.

(This is my understanding, but I am willing to learn from others and adjust my views if someone can convince me that I should do so.)

Tommy Lindén

(This text is translated from Swedish to English using DeepL. If you find any serious errors, please let me know and I will correct them. Thank you. tommylindensweden@gmail.com)