The Conclusion of the Whole Matter

The Bible shows that in the Old Testament, God chose the physical nation of Israel to be His people, to set the example for other nations to see and follow. But, as we have seen, they failed to be that exemplary nation.

Today, God is calling people from many different physical nationalities to become “spiritual Israelites” (again read Romans 2:28-29).

Now notice His promise to ancient Israel: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments, and do them. And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God” (Ezek. 36:26-28).

This will happen in the near future, beginning at Christ’s Return!

Again, let’s review Jeremiah 31:31-33: “Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they broke, although I was an husband unto them, says the LORD.

“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, says the LORD, I will put My law in their inner parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

How do we know that this has not happened yet?

Jer 31:34 provides the answer: “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

We can see that this is not happening now, in today’s world—just as we can see that the fulfilment of Isaiah 2:4 will take place during the Millennium: “And He [Christ] shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares', and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

Speaking of that future time, Christ says, “As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says the LORD; My Spirit that is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed, says the LORD, from henceforth and for ever” (Isa 59:21).

This is the hope God has given us—through the New Covenant!