The following is excerpted from chapter 10 (The New Covenant) of Dr. Renald Showers’ book “There Really Is a Difference: A Comparison of Covenant and Dispensational Theology”.
Concluding Considerations
It is apparent that Jesus established the New Covenant when He shed His blood on the cross
(Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; Hebrews 8:6-13; 9:15; 12:24) . The Church, which began shortly after Christ’s death
(Acts 2:1-4;11:15), has partaken of the spiritual blessings of the New Covenant. According to the Apostle Paul’s teaching in Romans 11, during the time of the Church, a remnant of liter, national Israel is being saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ. Those Israelites who make up that remnant become members of the Church through salvation. They thereby partake of the spiritual blessings of the New Covenant, as do the other members of the Church. They do not, however partake of the material and national blessings of the New Covenant, as the rest of the Church does not.
By contrast with the remnant, during the time of the Church, the majority of literal, national Israel does not become saved because of its hardened unbelief. As a result, that majority does not obtain any of the promised blessings of the New Covenant, even though it seeks many of those blessings during the present Church age. Because of their unbelief, the Israelites who make up the majority of the nation have been removed by God from the place of covenant blessings which the nation of Israel enjoyed with God in the past. This means, then, that national Israel failed to enter the New Covenant relationship with God in conjunction with Messiah’s first coming.
While the majority of national Israel remains in unbelief outside the place of covenant blessing, many Gentiles, who originally were not in that place of blessing, are being grafted into it by the grace of God through faith in Christ. These saved Gentiles are members of the Church. They are grafted into the place of covenant blessing in the sense that they partake of the spiritual blessings of the New Covenant, as do the remnant Israelite members of the Church.
In spite of the fact that believing Gentiles are grafted into the place of covenant blessing in the place of the unbelieving majority of national Israel, that does not mean that the fulfillment of the New Covenant with literal, national Israel has been nullified. Paul made it very clear that the majority of national Israel will not be removed from the place of covenant blessing forever. That removal is only temporary. When the great harvest of Gentile souls has been gathered and Messiah returns, national Israel will be saved and placed back into the place of covenant blessing
(Romans 11:23-27). As a result, at that time literal, national Israel will enter fully into the New Covenant relationship with God, and all the promises (spiritual, material, and national) of that covenant will be fulfilled completely with that nation. Thus, although national Israel failed to enter the New Covenant relationship with God in conjunction with Messiah’s first coming, t will enter that relationship in conjunction with His Second Coming.
In
Romans 11, therefore, Paul explained how the Church now partakes of the spiritual blessings of the New Covenant. The complete fulfillment of that covenant with national Israel, however, has not been and never will be nullified.
Source: Excerpt from “There Really Is A Difference: A Comparison of Covenant and Dispensational Theology” by Renald E. Showers, chapter 10, The New Covenant, pg. 109-111.
Jewish Awareness Ministries is in agreement with the biblical teachings of Dr. Renald E. Showers. They sell his book (There Really Is A Difference: A Comarison of Covenant and Dispensational Theology). Why would this ministry sell a book written by someone with whom they doctrinally disagree?
THERE REALLY IS A DIFFERENCE | Israel News | Bible Prophecies | Proclaiming Messiah | Jewish Awareness Ministries