Israel and the New Covenant
The New Covenant was in existence at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, it had been in existence ever since the Messiah’s death and resurrection. One may ask, ‘ why , if the New Covenant was in existence, didn’t the Jews repent, stop rebelling and be saved? Why did God ordain that they be destroyed and scattered among the nations? Wasn’t the New Covenant supposed to take care of the Jews’ inherent stubbornness by changing their hearts? The answer is that the New Covenant was not being applied to Israel as a people. Yes, there were lots of believing Jews, but they were only a ‘remnant’ of the people of Jacob. The nation as a whole was rejecting the Gospel; instead we find, in looking at the book of Acts, that the Gospel was being offered to the Gentiles, and a great number of them were accepting it. The Christian Jews were surprised at what was happening, that Gentiles were being included in the New Covenant (Acts10;11;15). Why were the J...