New Covenant only with Israel - and not with the Church?

Summary

The New Covenant was established at the Lord's death and will not be made with Israel after His return.

Matthew 26:26-28 ²⁶ And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat; this is My body.

²⁷ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, drink all of it.

²⁸ For this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins.

Mark 14:24 And He said to them, this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many.

Luke 22:20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the New Covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.

According to the pre-tribulation doctrine, the New Covenant was not made with the church. The New Covenant will only be made in the future with Israel - after the visible return of the Lord Jesus.

Christians ‘only’ enjoy the spiritual blessings of the New Covenant.

Israel, on the other hand, would enjoy all the blessings of the New Covenant after the great tribulation and the visible return of the Lord, i.e. the spiritual blessings and the physical (earthly) blessings of the covenant.

The complete, ultimate fulfilment of the New Covenant is therefore only in the Millennial Kingdom.

(See below for quoted comments.)

Answer

1Corinthians 11:25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the New Covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.

----> The cup is now the new covenant - and not: the cup will be the new covenant (see verses above).

----> Is it possible to take the cup at the Lord's Supper and remember the blood of the covenant if the covenant has not yet been instituted and has not been made with the saints of the church - and above all concerns Israel in the future?

2Corinthians 3:6 who also made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive.

----> The saints of the church are now servants of the present New Covenant, and not servants of a future covenant that will be made with Israel.

Hebrews 9:15-18 ¹⁵ And for this reason He is the mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

¹⁶ For where there is a covenant [= testament], it is a necessity to announce the death of the one making the covenant.

¹⁷ For a covenant [= testament] is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the one who made the covenant [= testament] is alive.

¹⁸ Therefore neither was the first covenant dedicated without blood.

----> Since the death of the Lord Jesus Christ has occurred, the covenant is now valid. The covenant was instituted and inaugurated with his death - and will not only be instituted at the Second Coming.

The Greek word for ‘covenant’ also means ‘testament’.

Hebrews 10:29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled on the Son of God, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of Grace?

----> The blood of the covenant that will only be made in the future?

Hebrews 13:20-21 ²⁰ Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

²¹ make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

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COMMENTS ON THE PRE-TRIBULATION DOCTRINE OF THE NEW COVENANT

Hebrews 8:7-13 ⁷ For if that first had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

⁸ Because finding fault with them, He says: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant, and bring fulfillment to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah;

⁹ 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 did not continue in My covenant, and I did not regard 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 give My Laws into their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

¹¹ And they shall not each one teach his neighbor, and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for every one shall know Me, from the least of them to their great ones.

¹² For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will by no means remember any longer.

¹³ In that He says, New, He has made the first old. Now what is becoming worn out and growing old is ready to disappear.

Verses 8-12 are a quotation from Jeremiah 31:31-34.

William MacDonald, The Believer’s Bible Commentary (1995)

On Jeremiah 31:31-40 (quote)

… Jesus is the Mediator of the new covenant because it is through Him that its blessings are secured (Heb. 9:15). The covenant was ratified by His blood (Luke 22:20). It will not become effective for Israel as a nation until Christ’s Second Coming. In the meantime, however, individual believers enjoy some of its benefits; …

On Hebrews 8:8 (quote)

… As mentioned previously, the new covenant has to do primarily with the nation of Israel and not with the church. It will find its complete fulfillment when Christ comes back to reign over the repentant and redeemed nation. In the meantime some of the blessings of the covenant are enjoyed by all believers. Thus when the Savior passed the cup of wine to His disciples, He said, “This is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:25).

Henderson quotes the following:

And so we distinguish between the primary interpretation to Israel, and the secondary, spiritual application to the Church today. We now enjoy in the power of the Holy Spirit the blessings of the new covenant, and yet there will be still further and future manifestations for Israel according to God’s promise.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary, John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, 1983/1985
(John Walvoord was president of the Dallas Theological Seminary 1952-1986)

On Jeremiah 31:31-37 (quote)

…

How is the church related to the New Covenant? Is the New Covenant being fulfilled in the church today? Ultimately the New Covenant will find its complete fulfillment during the Millennium when Israel is restored to her God. The New Covenant was made with Israel (Jer. 31:31, 33) just as the Mosaic Covenant had been (v. 32). One key element of the New Covenant is the preservation of Israel as a nation (vv. 35–37). However, though the ultimate fulfillment of this covenant awaits the millennial reign of Christ, the church today is participating in some of the benefits of that covenant. The covenant was inaugurated at Christ’s death (Matt. 26:27–28; Luke 22:20), and the church, by her union with Christ, is sharing in many of the spiritual blessings promised to Israel (cf. Rom. 11:11–27; Eph. 2:11–22) including the New Covenant (2 Cor. 3:6; Heb. 8:6–13; 9:15; 12:22–24). But though the church’s participation in the New Covenant is real, it is not the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise. The fact that believers today enjoy the spiritual blessings of the New Covenant (forgiveness of sins and the indwelling Holy Spirit) does not mean that spiritual and physical blessings will not be realized by Israel. That still awaits the day when Israel will acknowledge her sin and turn to the Messiah for forgiveness (Zech. 12:10–13:1). Some Bible scholars, however, take a slightly different view. They see one covenant (a covenant of grace), which God will apply to Israel in the Millennium and is now applying to the church in this present age. In both views the New Covenant is made possible by the blood of Christ.

On Hebrews 8:8-12 (quote)

…

It is clear that all these benefits belong, in fact, to all the regenerate of every age since the Cross. Though the New Covenant is specifically focused on Israel (cf. house of Israel and “house of Judah” in Jer. 31:31), it is clear that Christians of the present time also stand under its blessings (cf. Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:6). This perception does not lead to an inappropriate confusion between Israel and the church. The New Covenant is God’s appointed vehicle for fulfilling the Abrahamic blessings to Israel. But the Abrahamic Covenant also promised universal blessing, so the New Covenant becomes as well God’s vehicle of salvation for believers since the Cross. To say this is not to say anything more than Jesus did when He declared that “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22). In no way should this impede the perception of the Christian church as a unique, interadvent body, closely united to Christ as His bride and significantly distinct from the nation of Israel. But inasmuch as all salvation is through the Cross of Christ, it is also through the blood of the New Covenant.

John MacArthur Study Bible 2006

On Jeremiah 31:31-34 (quote)

31:31–34 a new covenant. In contrast to the Mosaic Covenant under which Israel failed, God promised a New Covenant with a spiritual, divine dynamic by which those who know Him would participate in the blessings of salvation. The fulfillment was to individuals, yet also to Israel as a nation (v. 36; Ro 11:16–27). It is set 1) in the framework of a reestablishment in their land (e.g., chaps. 30–33 and in vv. 38–40) and 2) in the time after the ultimate difficulty (30:7). In principle, this covenant, also announced by Jesus Christ (Lk 22:20), begins to be exercised with spiritual aspects realized for Jewish and Gentile believers in the church era (1Co 11:25; Heb 8:7–13; 9:15; 10:14–17; 12:24; 13:20). It has already begun to take effect with “a remnant according to God’s gracious choice” (Ro 11:5). It will be also realized by the people of Israel in the last days, including the regathering to their ancient land, Palestine (chaps. 30–33). The streams of the Abrahamic, Davidic, and New Covenants find their confluence in the millennial kingdom ruled over by the Messiah.