As we approach Jesus Second Coming, many people have come to believe dispensational theology which I will attempt to show is at odds with Jesus’ own words and the New Covenant in general. This is Part 4. You can read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 by clicking on the links.
Summary
Below are some guiding principles that have helped me arrive at my own conclusions regarding the end times, which I hold “loosely,” realizing that I certainly do not understand everything.
Principle #1: God does not relate to his people via “dispensations” but according to covenants, something that was clearly understood by the early reformers.
A decent book on this subject is The Christ of the Covenants by O. Palmer Robertson. Since the beginning God has related to his creatures via covenants from the one made in the Garden of Eden to the New Covenant inaugurated by our Lord Jesus. Each successive covenant built upon the previous ones, and all pointed to Christ, except for the Mosaic Covenant of Law, which was its own entity that would fade away after the coming of the Messiah. The New Covenant fulfills and expands all previous covenants, except for the Mosaic Covenant, which it fulfilled and abolished. This is no small matter because it influences how we view the entirety of Bible history.
Principle #2: Israel in the New Covenant is defined as all those who put their faith in Christ from every people group, including both Jews and Gentiles.
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.” 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. Romans 9:6–8 (NASB95) And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. Galatians 3:29 (NASB95)
Principle #3: The “one new man” in Christ is the focal point of God’s plan going forward.
For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, Ephesians 2:14–15 (NASB95)
Principle #4: The New Covenant is either the fulfillment and expansion of the previous covenants, or, as in the case of the Mosaic Covenant of Law, its fulfillment and abolition. The New Covenant leaves nothing undone or unfulfilled in the previous ones.
The Bible teaches that the New Covenant is a complete change from what preceded it, especially the covenant of Law under Moses. This is because the Mosaic covenant depended on our faithfulness to keep the Law for us to obtain God’s blessings. The Bible teaches that no one is able to do that; so, the Mosaic covenant brings judgment upon us instead of blessings. The New Covenant depends upon the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus, who kept the Law’s stipulations on our behalf, rather than on our own performance. It is radically different.
For finding fault with them, He says, “BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH; 9 NOT LIKE THE COVENANT WHICH I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS ON THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; FOR THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DID NOT CARE FOR THEM, SAYS THE LORD. 10 “FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS, AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. Hebrews 8:8–10 (NASB95)
If you wish to read more about the New Covenant, click here.
The New Covenant is focused on Christ, not the nation of Israel. What preceded the New Covenant can be thought of as providing us with promises and shadows or types of what was to come in Christ, but not the full revelation.
The true meaning of the previous covenants cannot be understood outside of Christ.
All the covenants before the New pointed to what Christ would accomplish through his death and resurrection. If our teaching or theology of the end times does not feature the centrality of Christ, it is false. (Ephesians 1:10) This means that whatever happens in the end times will glorify our Lord and what he accomplished on behalf of God’s elect.
Just as nothing can pass from this mortal life into immortality unless it is first transformed, all the previous covenants were transformed in Christ and find their eternal significance in him.
Everything in the Old Testament pointed to Christ (Luke 24:27), who fulfilled the types and shadows of the previous covenants.
This means that Old Testament scriptures are interpreted, explained, or expanded by New Covenant revelation.
It can never be the other way around. We do not interpret the New Testament by imposing the Old Covenant scriptures upon it. That would be going backward and away from the centrality of Christ.
Principle #5: What God revealed in Christ and is doing in the end times will fulfill what is revealed in the New Covenant.
The types and shadows of the Old can add texture and depth of meaning for us, but never restrict us to an Old Covenant understanding.
Examples of the Old Covenant Being Fulfilled or Expanded in the New
Descendants
God promised Abraham that he would have descendants and land. These descendants would become the Israelite nation, but even in Genesis, God told Abraham that we would be the father of nations, a clear hint that, through Christ, God would include people from every nation on the earth.
In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.” Romans 4:18 (NASB95)
The Jews in Jesus’ band of disciples also had a narrow view of what he came to do, thinking that it mainly pertained to their own nation. What followed Christ’s resurrection, however, revealed that the gospel would go to the nations.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19–20 (NASB95)
This was always God’s plan, period, not plan B, as the Dispensationalists claim. Isaiah revealed a conversation between Father and Son at some time immemorial.
He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Isaiah 49:6 (NASB95)
Land
The promise of land given to Abraham was understood in the Old Testament to include Canaan, extending to the borders conquered during the reigns of David and Solomon. The New Testament, however, reveals that God expanded that promise of land to include the entire recreated earth.
Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5 (NASB95)
Some argue that Matthew used the Greek word “ge” for earth, which can also be translated “land,” meaning the promised land of Israel. Interestingly, however, Jesus quoted Psalm 37:11, which uses the Hebrew world “eretz,” which is the same word used in Genesis 1:1, where the clear meaning is the entire earth. In addition, Paul adds that Abraham’s descendants would inherit the cosmos, a word that cannot be limited to Canaan.
For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world [kosmos] was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. Romans 4:13 (NASB95)
Kingship
The messianic promise God made to David that one of his descendants would reign upon the throne of Israel forever has been expanded in the New Covenant.
When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 2 Samuel 7:12–13 (NASB95)
Christ now sits at the right hand of God and will return in the clouds in glory at the right hand of power to judge the living and the dead.
But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Matthew 25:31–34 (NASB95)
Examples of the Abolition of Old Covenant Types and Shadows after Christ
Dietary Laws
Old Covenant dietary laws were abolished with the advent of the New Covenant. Jesus taught this, and the Holy Spirit later revealed this to Peter in Acts 11. Jesus makes us “clean” through the offering of his blood. We no longer need to be concerned with maintaining ceremonial purity.
And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, 19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) 20 And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. Mark 7:18–20 (NASB95)
Peter, who had been trained all his life to maintain ritual purity by avoiding “unclean” foods, had great difficulty accepting this new freedom provided by our Lord. A word to the wise: we are easily brainwashed into believing lies; so, it is difficult for us to overcome what we have previously believed, even when we are exposed to the truth.
Animal Sacrifices
Old Covenant animal sacrifices were also done away with after Christ offered himself as the Lamb of God for our sins. His perfect sacrifice eradicated the need for animals to be offered.
But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; Hebrews 10:3–5 (NASB95) Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin. Hebrews 10:18 (NASB95)
The Temple
Some forty years after the crucifixion and resurrection, the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army, just as Jesus and Daniel had predicted. Animal sacrifice ceased because the Jews no longer had a place to perform them. My personal conviction is that it would be a horrible abomination against Christ to re-institute such sacrifices. They have been abolished by God.
The Old Covenant temple was God’s habitation of sorts, although he cannot truly be contained, but now the Holy Spirit inhabits each individual believer and the church as a whole, which is the new temple of God.
you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5 (NASB95)
God destroyed the old temple because he is no longer concerned with bricks and mortar. The New Covanant temple is made of people. If the temple were rebuilt, as some believe will happen, and if animal sacrifices are re-instituted, it will not honor God the Father or the risen Lamb of God. Their time of significance has passed.
The Role of Israel in the End Times
In the Old Testament, Israel served in a couple of notable ways. First, Paul wrote that God used them to receive and safeguard the scriptures. Secondly, he used them to bring the Messiah into the world. They fulfilled both of these tasks. However, they had a less glorious role, too. They betrayed the Messiah and had him executed. As a whole, the Jewish people still reject their Messiah.
Jesus warned the Jewish leaders that the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to another – the church.
Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. Matthew 21:43 (NASB95)
Stephen indicted those in his hearing with the stinging judgment that they always resist the Holy Spirit.
You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Acts 7:51 (NASB95)
His martyrdom effectively ended the gospel being prioritized to the Jews. From then forward it went primarily to the nations, although a remnant of Jews have come to Christ over the centuries. Nothing has changed since then. The Jews by and large still reject their Messiah and resist the Holy Spirit, as do most other people in the world.
It seems to me that Jesus taught that the Jews lost their chance to accept their Messiah as a nation. He gave no indication that they would get another one, although God in his mercy may yet do something amazing with them.
Principle #6: Just as the Law faded away after Christ’s coming, and John the Baptist decreased in significance after introducing the Messiah, I believe Israel’s role diminished greatly, even faded away, after the crucifixion, and certainly after the stoning of Stephen and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
To expect God to raise up the Jewish nation to worldwide prominence in the end times is the same error the early apostles made. That was not Christ’s mission. He came to redeem the elect out of the entire earth and release creation from the bondage of sin.
Dispensationalism has influenced Christians all over the world to give uncritical allegiance to the state of Israel, which is, for the most part, completely ungodly.
It is likely that we will discover that it, like the United States, has committed many atrocities. That nation’s Moussad has likely worked against our nation. Will God yet save a significant portion of Jewish people in the land of Israel at the very end? He may. He is full of surprises and loves to show mercy. I hope that happens, but to make such a happening a central part of our eschatology is probably a mistake. I believe the Lord wants us to keep our focus on Christ and expect him to do exploits through his worldwide church in the last days. Come, Lord Jesus!
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20–21 (NASB95)
