john_Mark
Puritan Board Freshman
This article A Response to John MacArthur on
"œDispensationalism and God´s Plan for Israel" by Steve Lehrer.
This part seems to say that MacArthur (dispensationalists?) believe the New Covenant is with Israel. If I understand this correctly it makes me question why MacArthur or one who holds this position would administer the Lord´s Supper to the church since that is for those in the New Covenant? Am I off base here?
"œDispensationalism and God´s Plan for Israel" by Steve Lehrer.
This part seems to say that MacArthur (dispensationalists?) believe the New Covenant is with Israel. If I understand this correctly it makes me question why MacArthur or one who holds this position would administer the Lord´s Supper to the church since that is for those in the New Covenant? Am I off base here?
Jeremiah 31
The prophecy concerning the new covenant that is first mentioned in Jeremiah 31 and then quoted in Hebrews 8 and 10 is one of the most striking evidences that the promises to national Israel are fulfilled in the church. In its old covenant context, Jeremiah 31:31-34 seems to be a prophecy about God´s future blessings for ethnic Israel and Judah sometime after Judah is defeated by the Babylonians:
"œThe time is coming," declares the Lord, "œWhen I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the Lord. "œThis is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "œI will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, "˜Know the Lord,´ because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest," declares the Lord. "œFor I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
If we had only Jeremiah to guide us we would have to conclude that the new covenant is all about God´s plan for ethnic Israel. But God in the New Testament Scriptures has given us an interpretation of these verses that tell us that they are fulfilled not in the nation of Israel but in the church today! This new covenant is none other than the work of Christ on the cross for His people from every tribe, nation, and tongue. Jeremiah 31 is quoted in Hebrews 10 with just such an interpretation. The book of Hebrews is addressed to believers who were once Jewish and because of severe persecution are being tempted to turn away from the sufficiency of Christ back to the old covenant with its sacrifices and ceremonies. So the author of the book of Hebrews argues for the superiority of Christ and His saving work over all that the old covenant had to offer. In Hebrews 10:11 we find the author comparing the sacrifices offered under the old covenant to the one sacrifice of Christ:
"œDay after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy."
The author is clearly talking about the sufficiency of the one sacrifice of Christ to make sinners acceptable to God. Unlike the sacrifices of the old covenant that had to be repeated endlessly and even then only served to remind people of their sin, the one sacrifice of Christ actually accomplished atonement for sins. Nothing is more central to biblical Christianity than this work of Christ on the cross to satisfy the wrath of God. But in the very next verses the author quotes from Jeremiah 31 as referring not to some future for ethnic Israel but to the sufficiency of the one sacrifice of Christ to make believers acceptable to God!
"œThe Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: "œThis is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds. Then he adds: Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin."
The author of the book of Hebrews has taken a prophecy, which in its old covenant context seems to clearly refer to a promise that God will bless ethnic Israel in the future, and has interpreted that passage to be talking about the cross. Although in its original context the new covenant seems only to apply to Israel and Judah, the application by God in the book of Hebrews is to all those who trust in Christ. In Jeremiah the promise of a new covenant seems to be for a people in the distant future, while in the Book of Hebrews the new covenant is the work of Christ and it applies to the church now.
John Macarthur challenged us: "œYou show me in that verse, in the Old Testament, which promises a kingdom to Israel, where it says that it really means the Church"”show me! Where does it say that?" It is our opinion that this meets John Macarthur´s challenge for proof that Scripture actually does say that the promises to national Israel are fulfilled in the church. But in order to arrive at this conclusion we must read Scripture properly, that is we must read the promises given in the Old Testament Scriptures through the lens of the New Testament Scriptures.