This leads us to the last point we will cover in this book. Who is the ‘great nation’ that was promised to Abraham, and who are the ‘kings’ and ‘priests’ who come from him? Has this promise been fulfilled or is it still awaiting fulfillment?

In a natural sense the great nation part of the promise to Abraham was fulfilled in Ishmael (Gen. 17:20). It was also fulfilled in a special natural sense in the nation of Israel. However, the NT Scriptures make it clear that this promise was not really fulfilled until Christ came. The Church is the true nation promised to Abraham, and all her children are kings and priests. Dispensationalism totally misses this truth because of its view of Israel and the Church. Dispensationalists see this ‘Church Age’ as a parenthesis between the past and future dealings of God with the physical nation of Israel. However, the New Testament Apostles tell us that the present Church Age has been God’s prophesied goal ever since Genesis 3:15.

The Covenant Theologian confuses what he calls the visible church, including believers and their children, with the Body of Christ which is purely spiritual. He makes the visible Church take the place of physical Israel on a one-on-one basis. This system merely replaces a physical nation with a physical religious organization. This is the only ground upon which one can bring the signs of the Old Covenant circumcision and the Sabbath over into the Church, and most Covenant Theologians will admit this is true.

The Body of Christ is a new entity on the earth (Eph. 2:11–21). In no sense whatsoever does this mean that the believer living prior to Christ’s coming was not just as saved and secure as we are, or that he was not saved in exactly the same way that we are today. It does mean that his personal experience, or apprehension of his experience, cannot exceed the revelation or covenant under which he lived. We cannot treat an Old Covenant believer as if he had a library full of either Reformed books or Dispensational charts. He certainly had a hope in a coming Messiah, but that hope was not realized until Calvary and Pentecost actually took place (Heb. 11:39, 40; 1 Pet. 1:10–12). However, we must add that this hope was realized when Christ came and was not postponed until a future millennium.

The Church is the ‘nation born in a day.’ She is the true ‘House of David.’ She is the Temple of the Living God and each of her members are living stones in that growing temple. God himself not only dwells in her midst, but also he literally indwells every stone. Her children, without exception, shall dwell safely in the mountain of God forever. She is Abraham’s seed because she is in Christ, and every one of her children, without a single exception, are true believers because they are all born spiritually. They are all baptized into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit of Promise and are all given the Spirit of Adoption in order that they might realize that new position. The New Covenant community that was promised in the prophets has been now established forever, and that New Covenant community is the true and final fulfillment of God’s promise to make Abraham a great nation.

If we look carefully at the argument in Hebrews 8, that chapter alone will make it impossible for us to hold the basic presuppositions of either Dispensationalism or Covenant Theology. We will clearly see in that passage a specific New Covenant replacing a specific and different Old Covenant. This makes the ‘one covenant/two administrations’ view impossible. A careful reading of verses 6, 7 and 13 of Hebrews 8 will clearly show that God has made this New Covenant with the ‘house of Israel.’ Since the context demands that this covenant is in effect right now, then the church simply must be the house of Israel in some sense. Is not this exactly what verses 8–10 are saying? Thus the Dispensational view is impossible in this chapter.

Finally, this chapter will show us that: (1) The true covenant promise to Abraham concerns salvation and not a physical land; and (2) everyone in this New Covenant is a regenerate believer, not believers and their children.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest (Heb. 8:10–11).

There is not a single unbeliever in the New Covenant nation. Every member of this redeemed nation is a king and a priest. The New Covenant community is that spiritual ‘holy nation’ that was ‘born in a day’ when the ascended King sent his personal Vicar to indwell every redeemed and adopted seed of Abraham.

The following two statements illustrate the relationship of the two covenants as they relate to each other as well as to Israel and the Church:

1. Under the Old Covenant, circumcision defined a physical nation irrespective of regeneration. Under the New Covenant, regeneration defines a spiritual nation irrespective of nationality or parentage.

2. Under the Old Covenant, perfect obedience was the only ground of receiving the blessing promised. Under the New Covenant, both the blessing and the necessary obedience are guaranteed by Christ our Surety:

(A) Christ’s life of obedience under the law earned every blessing the law covenant promised, and his dearth under the curse of that same law covenant removed every curse it threatened.

(B) The giving of the Holy Spirit to every believer as an indwelling Pedagogue guarantees obedience from the heart. From this obedience there comes more and more external conformity to Christ and his law. The legalist attempts to produce internal change with external standards and threats. His method is much easier and produces an immediate outward result. However, such a method does not change the inner man and therefore it will not last. Paul describes this very thing in Colossians 2:21–23.

The chart on the next page compares the nation of Israel with the Body of Christ. It has been very helpful to a lot of people. I am sure some readers may be able to improve on it. I suggest you glance at the chart, read the instructions below, and then go back over the chart carefully.

The message of God’s redeeming grace is built around two nations and two different covenants, but God has only one single goal. The one nation is physical (Israel) and the other nation is spiritual (the Church). The physical nation was a type of the spiritual nation, and was never meant to be an end in itself. The covenant with Israel was legal and temporary, and the covenant with the Church is gracious and everlasting. The spiritual nation and the gracious covenant have been the goal of God in redemptive history since the dawn of sin. The physical nation of Israel has no separate purpose or future independent of the Body of Christ.

Who is the ‘Great Nation’ promised to Abraham? Is it Israel or the Church?

Point of Comparison	The nation of Israel	The Body of Christ
Promise to Abraham	Same promise given to the nation of Israel	Fulfilled in the Church
“I will make of thee a Great Nation” (Gen. 12:3)	“If ye will obey...and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me…a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation... (Ex. 19:5, 6)	Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood,…ye are a chosen generation, a royal [kingly] priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;… (1 Peter 2:5, 9).
Both chosen “nations”	Isaiah 51:4	1 Peter 2:9
Kind of nation	Physical	Spiritual
Basis of citizenship	Natural birth	Spiritual Birth
Spiritual state of citizens	Saved and lost– Romans 9:6	Saved only-Hebrews 8:10, 11
Proof of citizenship	Circumcision of the flesh by human hands	Circumcision of the heart by the Holy Spirit
Both are the “seed of Abraham” by birth	Born “after the flesh” – “natural” seed only	Born “after the Spirit” – “spiritual” seed
Relationship to God	Loved, chosen, redeemed, adopted, as a physical nation among nations	Loved, chosen, redeemed, and adopted as a spiritual family
Both “redeemed”	Physically-from Egypt	Spiritually-from sin
Both “called by God”	Out of Egypt	Out of the world
Covenant foundation of nationhood	Decalogue-“Do” and live, disobey and die	Blood of Christ “Finished”-believe>
Condition of blessing	Works-Obedience	Grace-Faith
Government or rule	Whole Mosaic Economy	Whole Law of Christ
Goal-Become the true “holy nation” of God Exodus 19:4, 5	Never realized-The “if” never fulfilled	Realized by every citizen in the nation-“ye are”
Time frame of nation’s existence	Began-Exodus 24:8 Ended-Matt. 27:51	Began-Pentecost 1 Cor. 12:12, 13 Never end-Eph. 2:21-23
Conclusion	All Finished-Heb. 8	All New-Heb. 9 and 10

How to use the preceding chart.

The preceding chart is a comparison of Israel as a special chosen physical nation of God and the Church as the special chosen spiritual nation of God. The promise that Abraham would be the father of a ‘great nation’ was made in Genesis 12:3. This is a key text. The basic question concerns identifying the fulfillment of that promise.

Is the promise in Genesis 12:3 to be fulfilled in the future in a physical sense in the land of Palestine in the physical nation of Israel; or,

Is the promise in Genesis 12:3 spiritually fulfilled right now in the Church viewed as the true spiritual Israel of God?

The simple comparison of Exodus 19:4–5 and 1 Peter 2:5–11 in the preceding chart should convince us that the latter is true. The Church is right now all of the specific things that Israel never became. Israel never became the “holy nation of kings and priests” simply because she never kept the covenant that promised her that blessing. The Church is the true “holy nation of kings and priests” only because her Surety has kept the covenant and earned the blessing it promised (Heb. 7:22). The chart is based on the following biblical facts:

1. The physical nation of Israel was given the specific promise of becoming the true holy nation of God if the people would obey the covenant of law given at Mount Sinai (Ex. 34:27, 28).

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant [the tablets of stone, Exodus 34:27–29], then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people:… ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation ... (Ex. 19:5–6a).

The Scripture is clear that the terms of the Law Covenant were never met by the nation of Israel. The ‘then’ never became a reality because the ‘if’ was never fulfilled. Israel never kept that covenant, and therefore it never became the true holy nation of God. The Church, as the Body of Christ, became the true holy nation of God on the day of Pentecost (1 Peter 2: 6–9).

2. Israel, as the physical nation of God, was brought into being, as a nation or ‘body politic,’ by the Law Covenant at Sinai (Deut. 4:13). Their national existence and special relationship to God were based on their obedience to that legal covenant and all its ceremonial and civil accruements.^[1]

3. The physical nation of Israel was cast off and the special national covenant relationship was totally ended when Christ came (Matt. 21:43). The proof of this fact was the rending of the temple veil from top to bottom. The nation, the law covenant (the Tablets of Stone kept in the Ark of the Covenant) that brought the nation into being, the priesthood along with the sacrifices necessitated by the sins against that Old Covenant, all stood or fell together. It was one ball of wax.

4. The spiritual nation, the Body of Christ, was ‘born in a day’ and has become all of the very things Israel never became.

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, … ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; … (1 Pet. 2:5a, 9a).

It is impossible not to see 1 Peter 2:5–9 as the word-for-word fulfillment of the promise made to Israel at Sinai in Exodus 19:5, 6. We, as the Church, are the true fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham and his seed concerning a great nation. The ekklesia of Christ is the true nation that was promised to Abraham.

5. The Church inherits the true spiritual blessings promised to Israel in the law covenant at Sinai simply because her Lord has kept the covenant for her. Christ earned every blessing the law covenant promised by being born under that covenant (Gal. 3:24–4:7), and then rendering to it the perfect obedience that it demanded (Phil. 2:5–11 and Rom. 8:1–4). This was the only way that he could earn (for us) the righteousness that was necessary to inherit the blessings that the law covenant promised. Christ also endured every curse that same law covenant threatened when he died on the cross under the judgment of God. This is biblical federal theology.

This is what Paul means in Romans 6:14 and other places when he says “…ye are not under the law [as a covenant where the blessings are earned by merit], but under grace [as a covenant where blessings have already been earned by our blessed Surety].”

The following conclusions should be obvious from the comparisons in the chart:

1. Neither Dispensationalism nor Covenant Theology understand the biblical doctrine of the Church as the Body of Christ in the redemptive purposes of God.

(A) Dispensationalism does not see the Body of Christ as the true Israel of God in fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham and his seed. This system of theology insists on different promises for Israel and for the Church.

(B) Covenant Theology does not see that the Old Covenant believer never really inherited the promises made to Abraham and his seed (Heb. 11:13, 39). That system reads the doctrine and unique experiences of the Body of Christ back into the OT Scriptures. Covenant Theology must do this because their system cannot make a clear distinction between the nation of Israel and the Body of Christ.

(C) Dispensationalism does not see that the Body of Christ is the very thing God has been working toward ever since the Fall. It does not realize that the great “days of the Messiah” prophesied by all of the OT prophets are not something to be experienced in a future earthly millennium. The very days in which we live are the days of which the prophets spoke (Acts 3:24–26). The inability of Dispensationalism to see this fact grows out of its insistence on separate purposes for Israel and the Church. That system cannot see the Church in view anywhere in the OT Scriptures. Dispensationalists are locked into that by their basic presuppositions.

(D) Covenant Theology makes the opposite mistake. It does not realize that a New Covenant believer experiences the reality of spiritual blessings and a new status that could never have been experienced before the personal advent of Christ and the personal advent of the Holy Spirit. This grows out of the insistence on making Israel to be the Church and then putting Israel and the church both under the same covenant.

2. Neither of these systems really has a true New Covenant replacing an Old Covenant where both covenants relate to the same redemptive purposes of God for his one true people. This is why Hebrews 8 does not fit either system.

(A) Dispensationalism must push the ‘New Covenant with the house of Israel’ in Hebrews 8 into a future millennium. This passage cannot refer to the present time and the Church in that system of theology.

(B) Covenant theology insists that the New Covenant in Hebrews 8 really is not a new and distinctly different covenant but merely a new administration of the same covenant that Israel was under.

3. Neither of these systems sees the true relationship of Israel and the Church. Both Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology insist on bringing the physical aspect of Israel as a nation into the New Testament either directly or indirectly.

(A) Covenant Theology finds its basic structure of the Church in the OT Scriptures and merely adds the Gentiles to what already existed. It ignores the NT Scriptures that teach a whole new thing was created and established at Pentecost on a totally new foundation (Eph. 2:14–22).

(B) Dispensationalism fails to see the Church as the true fulfillment of God’s one eternal purpose. Covenant Theology on the other hand fails to see the uniqueness and newness of the Church as the Body of Christ.

I suggest that the reader go back over the chart on pages 114 and 115 and keep asking the basic questions. “Is the Church really the goal that God has been working toward since the entrance of sin? Is she the true fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham and David? Is she the true Temple, the true House of God, and the true Holy Nation made up of Kings and Priests?”

Next, compare the two columns of specific points of comparison as they relate to the nation of Israel and the Church. If the differences are carefully noted, it seems impossible that Israel can be the Ekklesia of Christ which he purchased with his blood; and if the similarities are clearly seen, it seems impossible to miss the fact that the Ekklesia of Christ is the true Israel of God, and as such, is the fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham and repeated in all of the prophets.

It should be abundantly clear that the unconditional promise that God made to Abraham has nothing at all to do with plural ‘seeds.’ It can have nothing to do with physical Jews and Palestine or with the children of believers and their salvation. God unconditionally promised Abraham that his seed would be the Messiah. The seed promised to Abraham is Christ! God promised to save and keep all those who were chosen in Christ to be the objects of the Father’s unconditional love and grace.

There is only one really vital question: “Are you personally in Abraham’s seed and an heir with him according to the promise?” The answer has nothing at all to do with your family lineage or what religious rite or ceremonies were performed on you. It has to do with whether you are in Christ. It has to do with the power of the Holy Spirit revealing Jesus Christ to your heart in saving grace and power.

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