An additional thought that I have had, in this regard, has to do with identity. Since the resurrection and ascension, the question of identity has been a hot one. From the time that God called Abram out of Ur and formed "the people of God", the people of God have had a semi-ethnic identity, that is, those born of the line of Abraham, have been identified as God's chosen people. And this was an accurate label, up until the resurrection.
But then things changed. As I pointed out in my previous post, during the Old Covenant, all things were physical/temporal. Because death had the final say over man, all the details of the covenant between God and his people were physical/temporal. Because man, regardless of how godly he lived, could not look forward to an eternity of blessing in the immediate presence of God, God structured the covenant around things physical. But the Old Covenant, with all of its physicality, was fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not only did he perfectly fulfill all that the covenant required (as both God and man), he also took away the power of death.
Simply stated, the physical nature of the relationship between God and man has been fulfilled and faded away. No longer do we live in a particular land, following an external, bloody sacrificial system, with physical curses for disobedience or physical blessings for obedience. We now, as followers of Jesus Christ, the new head of the New Covenant, look forward to an eternity of blessing with God. What this means, and what is the real point of this post, is that those persons who are born of the line of Abraham, no longer hold a special place in the sight of God. That Old Covenant way of thinking about things has passed away. Now, those who are the people of God, are those who have been baptized into Christ. In doing so, they have put away the physical nature of reality, they are no longer under bondage to death, they are no longer descendants of the first Adam, but are now new creatures in the second Adam, Jesus Christ.
We must think of the Jews, no longer as special because of their physical lineage, but as another people that need to be baptized into Christ. No better, no worse.
But then things changed. As I pointed out in my previous post, during the Old Covenant, all things were physical/temporal. Because death had the final say over man, all the details of the covenant between God and his people were physical/temporal. Because man, regardless of how godly he lived, could not look forward to an eternity of blessing in the immediate presence of God, God structured the covenant around things physical. But the Old Covenant, with all of its physicality, was fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not only did he perfectly fulfill all that the covenant required (as both God and man), he also took away the power of death.
Simply stated, the physical nature of the relationship between God and man has been fulfilled and faded away. No longer do we live in a particular land, following an external, bloody sacrificial system, with physical curses for disobedience or physical blessings for obedience. We now, as followers of Jesus Christ, the new head of the New Covenant, look forward to an eternity of blessing with God. What this means, and what is the real point of this post, is that those persons who are born of the line of Abraham, no longer hold a special place in the sight of God. That Old Covenant way of thinking about things has passed away. Now, those who are the people of God, are those who have been baptized into Christ. In doing so, they have put away the physical nature of reality, they are no longer under bondage to death, they are no longer descendants of the first Adam, but are now new creatures in the second Adam, Jesus Christ.
We must think of the Jews, no longer as special because of their physical lineage, but as another people that need to be baptized into Christ. No better, no worse.
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