VCO I consider you a brother in Christ for sure but I'd like to say that the New Covenant that God said He will make with Judah and Israel does include gentiles as well, the plan is to the Jew first then to the Greek, so initially the people who partook of the Lord's supper were all Israelites and later on the gentiles were allowed to join to the fold, this is covered in multiple passages in Isaiah such as:
Isaiah 49:6
And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
Mark 10:29-31 (HCSB)
[SUP]29 [/SUP] “I assure you,” Jesus said, “there is no one who has left house, brothers or sisters, mother or father, children, or fields because of Me and the gospel,
[SUP]30 [/SUP] who will not receive 100 times more, now at this time—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and eternal life in the age to come.
[SUP]31 [/SUP] But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
I absolutely believe that verse 31 is talking about the First Covenant ending after the Church-age Covenant comes to an end. The Two Witnesses lead MANY JEWS TO RECOGNIZE JESUS IS THEIR MESSIAH, AFTER the Rapture. That means the 70th WEEK OF DANIEL will not begin until WE are called out to go to the Wedding of the Lamb. The following events may be at or near the beginning of that 70th Week of Daniel:
Revelation 11:3-13 (CSBBible)
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3 [/SUP] I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth."
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4 [/SUP] These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
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5 [/SUP] If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and consumes their enemies; if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.
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6 [/SUP] They have authority to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the days of their prophecy. They also have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every plague whenever they want.
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7 [/SUP]
When they finish their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war on them, conquer them, and kill them.
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8 [/SUP] Their dead bodies will lie in the main street of the great city, which figuratively is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
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9 [/SUP] And some of the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will view their bodies for three and a half days and not permit their bodies to be put into a tomb.
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10 [/SUP] Those who live on the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and send gifts to one another because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.
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11 [/SUP]
But after three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet. Great fear fell on those who saw them.
{Can you imagine what the TV News Reporters will say about this event?}
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12 [/SUP] Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." They went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies watched them.
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13 [/SUP] At that moment a violent earthquake took place,
a tenth of the city fell, and
seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake. The survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
{ AN UNREAL PREDICTION? THINK AGAIN: '16,000 Israelis could die in quake' - Israel - Jerusalem Post }