Within the Bible, salvation of mankind from sin and death, the permanent solution we should all be looking for, is either finished, complete and possessed by a person, or it is a future promise and a person does not currently have salvation yet. Having looked at the terms, the offer, that God has made for those who upon belief are placed into the new creature known as the body of Christ, and having thoroughly reviewed the “when” of our salvation during the dispensation of the grace of God, we next need to properly understand when it is that a Jew, a believing member of the nation Israel, receives their salvation. When does Israel’s New Covenant salvation occur? When is it that their salvation happens? This particular topic is one of the most misunderstood and most often incorrectly taught subjects within Christendom.
The two primary passages relating to Israel’s New Covenant are found in Jeremiah 31:31-40 and Ezekiel 36:22-38. For your research purposes, I have listed below many of the passages within the Bible that speak to Israel’s New Covenant. I would encourage you to become very familiar with these passages before proceeding further within this post:
Romans 9:4-5 | Jeremiah 32:37-42 |
Ephesians 2:12 | Jeremiah 33:14-18 |
Daniel 9:24 | Ezekiel 16:58-63 |
Jeremiah 31:31-40 | Ezekiel 34:25-31 |
Ezekiel 36:22-38 | Ezekiel 37:21-28 |
Deuteronomy 30:1-8 | Hosea 2:14-23 |
Isaiah 55:1-5 | Romans 11:25-27 |
Isaiah 59:20-21 | 1 Peter 1:10 |
Isaiah 61:1–62:5 | Hebrews 8:6-13 |
Jeremiah 30:22–31:4 |
The prophet Jeremiah tells us:
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Jeremiah 31:31
Very clearly we see two major points within this one verse – a New Covenant and it being made with the house of Israel. The Church, the body of Christ, is not the house of Israel and the Church is mentioned nowhere within this passage. The colon at the end of this verse indicates that God is now going to explain more pertaining to what He just stated:
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 brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel;
Jeremiah 31:32-33(a)
The New Covenant shall replace the “Old” Covenant and the Old Covenant was only made with the nation Israel. God goes on to explain further some of the characteristics of this New Covenant:
After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jeremiah 31:33(b)
“After those days,” – recognize that from this point in Jeremiah it is still a future fulfillment.
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, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Jeremiah 31:34
This critical phrase, “I will forgive their iniquity,” is what we are looking for. When is sin eradicated for this group of believers that are being spoken about within this passage? The salvation that we are trying to identify is not protection from the Egyptian army, for example, but rather an eternal salvation that forgives sin and declares one righteous. That is the salvation we are trying to figure out. We must ask the question, when does this happen for those who are being addressed here?
As far as this verse goes, our focus is upon the three words “after those days.” This is a specification of time that means in the future. Thus, future from Jeremiah, we are going to have salvation provided in the form of the New Covenant for the nation Israel. Is that future time referring to the dispensation of the grace of God[1]? Jeremiah 31:34 actually provides us one of many clues that tell us that it does not. The clue we should be focused upon within this verse comes by way of the phrase “they shall teach no more”. Realize that Christendom is chock-full of teachers, both good and bad, that stress the fact that all human beings need to know the Lord. When one stresses to another person that they need to know the Lord, that is evangelism. This verse, Jeremiah 31:34, indicates that there will be no need for evangelism since everyone will know the Lord once the New Covenant is established. Jeremiah 31:34 and the specifications to the New Covenant found within the Old Testament actually stand in contrast to many points that the apostle Paul taught the Church, the body of Christ[2]:
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Ephesians 4:11
The terms of the New Covenant continue into the next chapter of Jeremiah:
And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
Jeremiah 32:38-40
What we are reading about here within Jeremiah 32 is fallen man’s state being restored. There is a sin problem. They need to be reconciled with God. Within this passage, we see that God will not turn away from them. That is the promise of salvation that we are looking for. He will not turn away from them and He will do them good.
Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.
Jeremiah 32:41
Verse 41 is actually very important. In verse 41, we have a clue as to when this salvation will come. God says that He is going to put them, the nation Israel, in the land. We conclude that somehow, the land is connected to when this salvation is going to be delivered. The prophet Jeremiah speaks definitively to the characteristics of the New Covenant. Interestingly enough, the parallel passage found in Ezekiel 36 provides us even greater detail. I recognize that this is a lengthy passage, but be sure to read every word as it is critical to your understanding of the New Covenant. To assist, I will emphasize the verses that support our discussion thus far:
Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 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 ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Ezekiel 36:22-38
Throughout this parallel passage to Jeremiah 31, we have Israel and only Israel mentioned numerous times. We see that their iniquities, their sin, will be cleansed, they will be done away with. We also see clearly that the land is intricately tied to this salvation that is provided to the nation Israel. The chapter that follows emphasizes these points:
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
Ezekiel 37:21
Within Ezekiel 37, we have the Lord talking about the children of Israel again. In verse 21, He states that He will take the children of Israel from among the heathen and that He will gather them and bring them into their own land. This is the exact point that Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 have made. He will make them one nation in that land. Verse 23 emphasizes another characteristic of this national salvation:
Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 37:23
If someone does not defile themselves with anything, what does that imply? Righteousness! This is part of the salvation that was described in Chapter 2. This is the salvation that we are looking for. “I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them” – this, again, is righteousness. “So shall they be my people, and I will be their God” – reconciliation is established.
And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
Ezekiel 37:24
Walking in God’s judgments and observing His statutes is righteousness and it is the opposite of sin.
And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
Ezekiel 37:25
“And they shall dwell in the land” – a continuing emphasis upon the land being a major component of this salvation that is guaranteed to the nation Israel. Recognize that the Church, the body of Christ, as a spiritual body, has no land, no borders, no language, no government, and no common culture. These prophecies are specific to the nation Israel. The New Covenant is specific to the nation Israel. When the problem of sin and death are eradicated forever for the nation Israel, they will be in their land.
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
Ezekiel 37:26
Peace is another component of the salvation that was discussed within Chapter 2. This peace will be enforced via covenant and it, the New Covenant, will be everlasting.
Thus far, we have seen very clearly the terms of Israel’s New Covenant salvation. It is coming during a future time from the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. It happens when God puts Israel in their land, and He remembers their sin no more. Israel will be reconciled in a relationship with Him where their standing is one of righteousness, and He will not turn His back on them. This is the salvation that has been offered to the nation Israel. With this understanding, the next question we must ask is, “what are the terms that God has offered in order for the nation Israel to obtain this salvation?”
I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.
Isaiah 46:13
God will place salvation in Zion, think Jerusalem[3], for the nation Israel. We continually see a connection of salvation and the location where they need to be in order to get that salvation. The Church, the body of Christ, has no connection to an earthly location as Israel does. The point is that the terms are different between the salvation that is offered to a person, Jew or Gentile[4], living during the dispensation of the grace of God and the salvation that is offered to the nation Israel outside of the dispensation of the grace of God.
Let’s now take a look at what Jesus said to Israel during His earthly ministry[5]. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John present Jesus talking to the nation Israel. Jesus has come, He is presenting Himself as the Son of God, He is presenting Himself as Israel’s promised Messiah, and He is communicating to the nation further information concerning their New Covenant:
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Matthew 24:14
What we see in this verse is that the end shall come after a gospel is preached. Recall that a gospel message contains the terms by which an individual can be saved. We have determined that God will place salvation for Israel in Zion. God’s kingdom will come to Zion, Jerusalem, and numerous prophecies speak to that fact within the Bible. The gospel of the kingdom is the good news that the promised kingdom is coming. Why is the gospel of the kingdom good news? The answer is that it is within the kingdom where Israel receives their salvation. When we read in Matthew 24:14 “then shall the end come,” we are again provided a time marker. When does this event occur?
In order to identify when salvation is delivered to the nation Israel, we must look one verse before verse 14:
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Matthew 24:13
When the end comes, the kingdom will be established. Matthew chapters 24 and 25 are Jesus’ longest discussion on the end times, what is called by theologians as the Olivet Discourse. The Olivet Discourse is Jesus’ own words concerning Daniel’s 70th Week, the seven-year Tribulation period[6]. The kingdom that Israel is awaiting will be established at the end of Daniel’s 70th Week, at Christ’s Second Coming. Jesus comes to establish the kingdom and it is within the kingdom that Israel obtains its salvation. It is within the kingdom that the New Covenant is fully established. Terms are provided within the verse above. He that endures until the end will be saved. Those who endure Daniel’s 70th Week, or are martyred during those seven years, will enter the kingdom and will obtain salvation. To endure to the end is but one of the terms that are provided in order to obtain salvation during that dispensation.
Within the context of the Olivet Discourse, what is at the end? The kingdom is at the end. The end is salvation for Israel in this context. If salvation is at the end, and the end has not happened yet, then Jesus’ audience in Matthew 24 was not saved. Peter, for example, was not saved when the Olivet Discourse was delivered by our Lord.
Those listening to Jesus’ words in Matthew 24 and 25 had the promise of salvation to come. That is certainly good news. It was good news for them. The issue is that we must not take the salvation that we enjoy during our current dispensation, a salvation that is now, present, and obtained, and look upon the salvation that is promised to the nation Israel as if it is something less than what we have – as if it is something inferior or less kind of God to offer. Salvation within the Bible is always offered but two ways – one either has a finished, complete, and possessed salvation or it is a salvation that has been promised to an individual to be obtained in the future. If it is offered to individuals for a future obtaining, there are terms that come with that offer and those terms must be met.
We looked at one of the stipulations within the terms that Israel must meet – Matthew 24, they must endure to the end. We can see the same thing in Luke 18:
And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?
Luke 18:24-26
Jesus’ disciples within Luke 18 respond to our Lord with an understanding that they do not have a present salvation in that moment in time. Jesus states that it is not easy for someone to get into the kingdom of God. We have asked the question, “where is salvation for Israel” and the answer is, “in the kingdom”.
The disciples understood that salvation comes in the kingdom for a member of the nation Israel. That is why they asked “who can be saved” when He was talking about the kingdom of God coming in the future. Thus, the disciples in Jesus’ presence understood that salvation was not presently possessed. They were waiting for it to come in the future kingdom.
The apostle Peter, even after Jesus’ ascension and session, reiterates this same truth:
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Acts 2:21
Peter is quoting Joel 2:32 here on the day of Pentecost, a Jewish feast day, when he addressed the men of Judaea and all them that dwelt at Jerusalem (Acts 2:14). Whenever we find an Old Testament quote within the New Testament, it behooves us to go back and to read the passage that the Old Testament quote comes from. In Joel 2 we read the following:
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
Joel 2:32
Joel 2:32 states that whosever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered. Peter said saved – Joel said delivered – everything else is the same. Saved and delivered are synonyms in this context. We must, however, continue reading the verse. “For in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance.” Peter did not say these words when he quoted the prophet Joel in Acts 2, but the pointer back to the full context within the Old Testament exists none-the-less. What we see here matches exactly with what we have been stating thus far – salvation comes to this group of people, Israel, in the kingdom, at a future occurrence.
Even after Jesus died, even after He resurrected, even after He spent all that time with His apostles and He taught them about the prophets and the Scriptures concerning himself, and He gave them all the instructions provided within the four Gospels, Peter still teaches in Acts 2 that they are not saved. Peter is preaching a salvation message, but he is not preaching for them to receive salvation that day. He is preaching for them to endure to the end so that they can receive salvation at a future day.
This point is reiterated by the apostle Peter in Acts chapter 3:
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
Acts 3:19-21
The salvation offer that Peter is making is not a present possession offer of salvation, it is a future fulfillment offer that is being made. “That your sins may be blotted out” – that is righteousness, that is salvation. When, the next word… “When the times of refreshing shall come” – that is the kingdom – the mediatorial, earthly, millennial kingdom that has been promised to the nation Israel. It will come at Christ’s Second Coming.
The times of refreshing had not come yet. It is still a future fulfillment. Israel is not in their promised kingdom and their salvation has not been realized as of yet. Within the Hebrew epistles of Hebrews through Revelation, the audience is the believing remnant of Israel. The believing remnant is also referred to as the Little Flock in Luke 12:32. It is the church that Jesus made reference to within Matthew 16:18, the kingdom church. The writers of the Hebrew epistles wrote to the Little Flock, those Jews that believe that Jesus was the Messiah[7]. They are the recipients of the terms of the New Covenant. They are the ones that are looking for the fulfillment of the New Covenant. They are the ones who can lose their salvation if they do not meet the terms set forth by God, as specified within the Hebrew epistles.
The most compelling reason why we know that Hebrews through Revelation was not written to or about the Church, the body of Christ, is because every time they talk about salvation, they are talking about it in the future tense. The audience that they are writing to does not have a present possession of salvation. Another clue is provided in Hebrews chapter 8:
But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when 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 when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
Hebrews 8:6-13
Hebrews 8 provides us a direct quote from Jeremiah 31:31-34, Israel’s New Covenant. This presentation of a future salvation is reiterated within the book of Hebrews. That will not surprise the person who understands that Hebrews through Revelation were written by apostles sent to the circumcision[8] and that those epistles are intended for the remnant of Israel in order to assist them through Daniel’s 70th Week. While we are in the book of Hebrews, let’s make a special note regarding chapter 11, what theologians refer to as the “Hall of Faith”:
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
Hebrews 11:39-40
Within Hebrews 11, thirty-eight verses provide us a view into the faith of many Bible heroes. From Abel to Enoch, Noah to Abraham, Isaac to Jacob, Joseph to Moses, Joshua to Rahab, and David to Samuel we read about individuals who role-modeled faith. And yet what does verse 39 tell us? They received not the promise[9]. We must take note of the fact that each of these huge Bible heroes were not saved at the time that they were alive. They had a good report of faith. God saw their faith and He was able then to count their faith as righteousness, to impart unto them salvation, but they never received it while they were alive. That is what verse 39 is stating. To not recognize that point is to indicate that one is confusing what salvation is with what the terms are for salvation.
Are we to look at this as a bad thing for someone like the apostle Peter? Peter was promised salvation. God gave him terms to follow. Anything that any man ever gets from God is grace being exercised. Man does not deserve anything. Thus, the fact that God would offer someone forgiveness of sins and eternal life, while also stating “you have to endure to the end” is gracious. Again, we cannot allow ourselves to be of the mindset that that is a bad thing. That is a gracious act from God because all deserve condemnation and death.
What makes this a confusing subject is the fact that salvation can be known, it can be something that we are assured of, within this current dispensation. What has been revealed to us is that one can have salvation now. In Hebrews 12:28 they, the Hebrews, are looking to receive a kingdom. In Hebrews 13:14[10] they are looking for a city to come. What does all this indicate? It indicates that they are waiting for their salvation to come in the future, in a kingdom, in a city.
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:5
Peter, within both of his epistles, is addressing a group of people that are being kept by the power of God through faith. We know that that is one of the terms that is required for salvation, faith unto salvation. “ready to be revealed in the last time” is future from Peter and when he wrote that. Peter is addressing a group of people that are going to get salvation through faith and they are going to get salvation in the future. Peter continues:
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1 Peter 1:7
When Peter wrote this, Jesus Christ had not returned for these people. We read further:
Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1:9
For the audience that Peter is addressing within his epistles, their faith must last until the end, when the kingdom comes, in order for them to have their souls saved. That is what this first chapter of Peter’s first epistle is stating. Verses 10 and 13 reiterate this point:
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
1 Peter 1:13
The grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ – that is a future event. The apostle Paul teaches that we have that grace now, without works and without having to endure till the end. We are not waiting for a kingdom, we have salvation now:
And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
Romans 5:11
Interestingly enough, keeping in mind that the chapters of Romans 9, 10, and 11 are speaking about the nation Israel, Paul states the exact same thing that Peter does within 1 Peter 1:
And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
Romans 11:26-27
Israel has yet to have salvation delivered. All Israel, the believing remnant, true Israel, shall be saved. Christ, the Deliverer, has not returned. His Second Coming has not occurred yet. Israel’s sins have not been taken away as of yet. When do they get their salvation according to their terms? In the future and in their promised kingdom. That has not happened yet.
Our next look at what Scripture has to say on this subject takes us to Acts 15 and the Jerusalem Council. The apostle Peter, within Acts 15, recognizes the difference between his gospel, the gospel of the kingdom, and Paul’s gospel, the gospel of the grace of God. As previously discussed, Peter in Acts 2 and 3 preached that salvation to Israel would be delivered to them when they entered their prophesied kingdom in the future. By Acts 15, we see that Peter understood the difference between what God offered him and what God had dispensed to the apostle Paul. Peter did not know this truth in Acts 2 and 3, but he learned it later as the book of Acts progressed. It is traditionally taught in Christendom that Peter was in agreement with Paul and taught the same thing. It should instead be viewed as if a light bulb goes off above Peter’s head in that moment that he recognizes the differences in what the Lord was doing.
In Acts 15, Peter is listening to Paul and he gets it. He figures it out. The terms are different. What does Peter say:
But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
Acts 15:11
Peter states, as he is talking to the Jews there in that council, but we, the Jews, believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in our kingdom, even as they, Paul’s people, are saved now. Peter recognized the difference of the “when” of salvation and he didn’t mix the terms or confuse the subject. Peter finally understood the difference in Acts 15 and that is the last we see of him within the book of Acts.
There is a contrast between what we have now and what Israel was and is waiting for. The reason why we can have it now is very simple. God didn’t put a time requirement on it. Our faith is in how salvation works. How salvation works is information that was dispensed to only one apostle, the apostle of the gentiles[11], and not to the 12 apostles of Israel[12]. The only reason why there is a time requirement for Israel is because God stated it to be. He wrote it in the covenant as part of the terms, but we can have it now because we are not under a covenant. We, the body of Christ, do not have a contract with God. If we did, the apostle Paul would have written volumes concerning it. Our terms are faith only and it is faith in the correct gospel message[13].
Salvation in the Bible is always either finished, complete, and possessed or it is promised in the future. That is the reality of when salvation is delivered in the Bible. It is either finished, complete, and possessed and you have it, or you do not have it yet. That is why it sounds to many like one can lose their salvation because a person can lose their standing with God when they are in a covenant relationship with God. Covenants do not apply to the Christian. The Church, the body of Christ, is not under a covenant. The apostle Paul tells us who the covenants pertain to:
Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
Romans 9:4
During the dispensation of the grace of God, Salvation is offered freely, and it is offered now. It can be obtained, and it is made a present possession. A proper understanding of the future salvation offered to Israel and the immediate salvation offered to someone living during our current dispensation should only cause those who understand the difference to praise God more intensely and to rejoice at their fuller understanding of what grace is.
[1] Ephesians 3:2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
[2] See also 1 Cor 4:17; 14:19; 1 Tim 3:2; 4:11; 6:2
[3] 2 Kings 19:21; Psalm 135:21; 147:12; Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:8
[4] 1 Cor 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
[5] Romans 15:8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: (see also Rom 9:5; Lk 4:43; Gal 4:4-5; Mt 1:21; 2:2; 2:6; 5:17; 10:5-7)
[6] Daniel 9:24-27
[7] John 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
This was absolutely an excellent brilliant teaching concerning the Salvation that Israel is yet to receive in the Salvation that we have now as members of the body of Christ during the dispensation of Grace this is so misunderstood in the body of Christ many of these verses that were listed here in the profits concerning Israel the church has put the body of Christ in them the churches put the body of Christ in a covenant relationship with God this teaching clearly discerns the difference in that we as members of the body of Christ have salvation freely given to us by faith in the death burial and resurrection of Christ and it has nothing to do with covenants and also it was brought out that there is no Covenant that God made with any Gentile Nation the only Covenant God made with a nation was with Israel I was absolutely blessed and edified and encouraged in my faith and I have even deeper understanding of this Revelation in truth thank you so much for sharing this teaching and I pray God that the body of Christ would have their eyes open to this Revelation and come to the understanding of their salvation that we have in Christ the revelation of the mystery that was revealed to the Apostle Paul to us Gentiles during this dispensation of Grace