The Covenants and The Lord’s Supper (I)

Jew, Gentile, or Church

When we study the scriptures in an effort to find God�s will for our lives, we must �rightly divide the word of truth� �giving none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God.� (2 Tim. 2:15; I Cor.10: 32).� We must rightly distinguish between these three groups of people and note the distinctions in the program, order of walk and calling of God for each.

God gave the Jewish nation a special place of nearness to Himself.� From Mt. Sinai through Moses, He gave them a distinctive religion, but that religion is now fulfilled in Christ and defunct. The Lord Jesus Christ is �the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth� (Rom. 10:4). Israel is now set aside from their place of national favor because of having rejected God�s dear Son, and Jewish physical religion is set aside with the nation.

God is now taking out of all nations a people for His name and putting them into one spiritual body, the church.� But after this present church age has run its course, and the church has been caught away to be with Christ, God will again restore Israel.� See Romans, chapter eleven. In the meantime, God�s people on earth are the church�not Israel.� God has given specific commands and a specific program for His church that are quite separate and distinct from His commands, promises and program for Israel.

The Church is Not Spiritual Israel

�But,� someone will ask, �are not God�s people on earth today �spiritual Israel?�

Are we not told in Romans 2:28-29 that �he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God�?�

No, the church is not �spiritual Israel,� though the apostle Paul did write those words to the church at Rome. I can assure you, my friends, that there has been only one Jew in all history who has met the qualifications of Romans 2:28-29. That Jew is the Lord Jesus Christ who came down from heaven and was �made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law.� (Gal. 4:4-5). The context in Romans 2 shows that the �inward Jew� is A JEW who keeps the law (verses 12 through 29). Christ alone was a spiritual Jew in that sense, for He alone kept the law. He fulfilled every jot and tittle of it. (Compare Matthew 5:17-18 with Matthew 3:15.).

In Romans 3, verse 9, Paul wrote, �we have before proved both Jew and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.� When he wrote there �we have before proved,� he was referring back to the 1^st and 2^nd chapters of Romans. In chapter 1, verses 18-32, he had shown how the Gentiles came under sin, and then in chapter 2 he had pointed out the perfect standard, the law, and shown that the Jews did not keep it and were thus proven to be �under sin.� So Romans 2:28-29 is included in the portion of scripture where the Jews are shown to be sinners. Those verses stated what was required of a Jew for acceptance with God�the keeping of the law from the heart. Verse 27 of Romans 2 makes it plain that the Jews transgressed the law and were not �inward Jews.�

Galatians 3:6-9 teaches that saved people today are children of Abraham. Does this mean that all such are Israelites? No! Abraham himself was not an Israelite, and neither were his sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac had two sons: Esau and Jacob. Esau was not an Israelite, but Jacob�s name was later in his life changed to Israel. His sons were then called the children of Israel, or Israelites. Only the physical descendents of Jacob are ever called Israelites in the Bible.

Then what of the reference to �the Israel of God� found in Galatians 6:16? Does it teach that the church is Israel? That verse states, �and as many as WALK according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.� There is a contrast made here between those who WALK according to the rule: �In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature� (Gal. 6:15), and those who then WALKED as �the Israel of God.� During the book of Acts period, God continued dealing with the nation of Israel, and He gradually broke them out of their place of national favor as they rejected the preaching of the apostles. Galatians was written during the Acts period, and those who were called �the Israel of God� were doubtless the believing Jew of that day who kept right on the physical circumcision of their 8 day old boys and other physical religious observances that had been imposed on the nation. They were �new creatures in Christ� (2 Cor. 5:17) and not spiritually Jews, but they still WALKED as �the Israel of God.� See Galatians 3:28.� Paul in Romans 11:1 said, �For I am also an Israelite, of the tribe of Benjamin,� and in verse 5 of that chapter he refers to the fact that at that time (during the Acts period) there was �a remnant (of Israel) according to the election of grace.� Paul and other saved Jews still WALKED as Israelites while God continued dealing with the nation, but the time came when God discontinued His national dealing with the Jews, and since that time all believers in Christ are to WALK by the rule: �In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature��a new creature which is neither Israelitish nor Gentile.

Covenants Pertain To Israel

God made many covenants with Israel. That nation has had much advantage over the other nations of the earth. Christ said, �salvation is of the Jews� (John 4:22). Romans 3:2 tells us that �unto them (the Jews) were committed the oracles of God.� And in Romans 9:4-5 we�re told that to the Israelites �pertaineth the adoption, and the glory and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, Gold blessed forever. Amen.�

Israel is God�s adopted nation to whom and through whom He has seen fit to reveal Himself. So far as we know, a Jew wrote every book in the Bible.

We read in Romans 9:4 that to Israel �pertaineth�the covenants.� A study of the covenants God has made, and will make, with Israel gives us a clear panoramic view of His program with and for them as a nation of people. Also such a study prepares us to understand what God�s truth is on other subjects, including �the Lord�s supper.�

The Abrahamic Covenant

After the descendants of Noah had built the tower of Babel, had their tongues confounded by God and were scattered abroad upon the face of the earth, God called a man named Abram, whose name He later changed to Abraham, to leave his country and his kindred and come to a land that God would show him. God made a covenant with Abram, which contains several distinct and unconditional promises.

God promised him:

I will make of thee a great nation
I will bless thee
I will make thy name great
Thou shalt be a blessing
I will bless them that bless thee
I will curse him that curseth thee
In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed
Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates�for an everlasting possession

See Genesis 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 15:18; 17:8.

Abraham has been made a great nation; he has been blessed of God; his name is the greatest name on earth — revered by Christians, Jews, and Moslems; Abraham has been a blessing; those who bless him have been blessed; those who curse him have been cursed; and in him all nations are blessed.

Regarding the promise that in Abraham all nations shall be blessed, we read in Galatians 3:6-9, �Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they, which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying in thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.�

The promise of the coming Savior, given to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15, is repeated to Abraham in the Abrahamic covenant. We Gentiles (as to the flesh) have the blessing of salvation from sin come to us through the Abrahamic covenant. The covenant is distinctly to Abraham, was confirmed to his son Isaac (Gen. 17:19) and passed on to his grandson Jacob who became Israel, and so �pertains to Israel.� (Genesis 28:13-14.)

Concerning the promise of the Abrahamic covenant that Abraham would receive the land from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates, for an everlasting possession: this promise yet awaits fulfillment. Stephen, speaking by the Holy Spirit, said, as recorded in Acts 7:5, �He (God) gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.� So the time is still to come when Abraham and his seed will receive the Promised Land for an everlasting inheritance.