Intro to the End Times is a series walking through some of the key themes of the story of Jesus’ return from a historic premillennial perspective, with special focus on knowing the heart of Jesus as we partner with God through the most dramatic chapter of human history.
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As I’ve mentioned before, one of God’s primary objectives of the end time storyline is the fulfillment of His promises to Israel. The entire story of the Bible is Israel-centric; the rest of us as Gentiles get the privilege to be included, but we must never forget that we are in a Jewish story.
Unfulfilled Covenant
The Jewish story starts with God’s covenant with Abraham, which is a major cornerstone of the gospel (Gal. 3:8). The Abrahamic covenant has three specific and far-reaching promises that have not yet been fulfilled, and ultimately cannot be fully fulfilled until Jesus comes.
“Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'”
(Genesis 12:1-3)
I used to think that these promises had been already fulfilled. Land- the nation of Israel happened. Descendants- there sure are plenty of Jews. Blessing- Jesus came! And yes, those are all significant measures of fulfillment, but the full extent of what God had in His heart can only be fulfilled when Jesus returns.
- Land
Abraham and his descendants will permanently inherit the full extent of the promised land as an “everlasting possession” (Ge. 15:18-21, 17:8). This space is far larger than Israel currently occupies (map here). Currently, 47% of Jews worldwide live in Israel. The prophets foretold of a future time that they would dwell in the land securely, without fear of attack (Isa. 32:18). The problem is, they can’t unless they are walking in righteous relationship with God. He warned them of exile when He gave the law to Moses (Lev. 26:27-33). Until the people are completely righteous, they can’t fully possess their inheritance forever (Isa. 32:17-18, 60:21). - Descendants
God not only promises Abraham lots of descendants, but that the nation as well as Abraham’s name would be “great” (Ge. 12:2). The prophets describe a day when Jerusalem will be a praise in the earth and everyone will be in awe at the glory of God that clearly rests on her (Isa. 61:9, 62:1-7). This hasn’t happened yet, and we have the same problem here as with the land. They cannot be “great” until they are righteous (Pr. 14:34). - Blessing to the Nations
Jesus’ birth through the line of David was a big part of this fulfillment, but the day of full salvation/blessing/restoration for the nations hasn’t yet dawned. When Jesus establishes His kingdom on earth as the Jewish King ruling from Jerusalem, the nations of the earth will be more blessed than they ever dreamed possible!
Remarkably, God in His wisdom has tied these three promises together in such a way that they all rely on each other and can only be fulfilled when Jesus returns. When He comes, all Israel will be saved when they are provoked by the fullness of salvation coming to the gentile church (Ro. 11:11-15, 25-26). Then they will be righteous and can possess the land and be a great nation- which will overflow with blessing to the nations as Jesus establishes His kingdom in Israel and to the ends of the earth forever!
Also, let’s note that these promises were given to Abraham, not only his descendants on his behalf. In order for God to be faithful to Abraham, He has to actually give these things to Abraham. The problem is, Abraham is currently dead, and he died without receiving the promises (He. 11:13). The only way for God to be faithful to Abraham is to resurrect him and give him the fulfillment in the next age.
Unbreakable Covenant
We need to be firmly aware that the Abrahamic covenant is NOT the same as the Mosaic covenant (the Law given at Sinai), aka the “old covenant” that was superseded by the new covenant. It’s much older and deeper. Most significantly, the Mosaic covenant is conditional, but the Abrahamic covenant is unconditional. It’s secure no matter what because it’s based on God’s faithfulness to Himself, not anything man does or doesn’t do.
When God affirms the covenant with Abraham a few chapters later, He actually puts Abraham to sleep and passes between the covenant offerings Himself (Ge. 15:12-20). Traditionally, the two parties were supposed to do that together. By not letting Abraham participate and doing it all Himself, God was saying, “You’re not making any promises; I’m making all the promises, and I’m going to be faithful to this covenant because of Me, not because of you.” This is the nature of God that our faith is based on! As 2 Timothy 2:13 says, “if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.”
Jeremiah 31 makes the distinction between the new covenant and the Mosaic (not Abrahamic) covenant explicit:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt… I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people… they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
(Je. 31:31-34)
God contrasts the new covenant with the Mosaic covenant (the Law given when He brought them out of Egypt), not the Abrahamic covenant. The new covenant is God’s way of making Israel righteous so He can fulfill the Abrahamic covenant. Like Paul says in Romans 11:26 that “All Israel will be saved,” God says to Jeremiah that “they shall all know Me.”
The next few verses are just as striking, because God swears that His covenant with Israel to make them a nation forever is secure.
“Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD of hosts is his name: ‘If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.’ Thus says the LORD: ‘If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD.'”
(Je. 31:35-37)
This is crucial for the church to understand, otherwise we’ll become arrogant against Israel and start to imagine that God can just erase His covenant with Israel and give the promises to gentile believers instead. This is called “replacement theology” or “supercessionism” (sometimes also called “better covenant theology”). I am convinced that it’s a theologically-veiled deception born out of Satan’s hatred of Israel. Replacement theology argues that because the majority of Israel rejected Jesus, God not only judged them with the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD but has permanently divorced them from being His people. In Jeremiah, God rejects this in the strongest terms, saying that He will never cast off Israel because of their sin.
Just to be sure, let’s jump to the New Testament. Paul says clearly about the election of Israel: “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Ro. 11:29)
Davidic Covenant
Generations after the covenant with Abraham, God singled out David as the one through whose line the promises would come. In 2 Samuel 7, David got it into his heart to establish God’s house of prayer, and God responded with a promise to establish David’s house forever.
“And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. …your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.”
(2 Samuel 7:9-10, 16)
I used to think that this referred to Jesus’ throne in heaven today. He’s King right now, right?
Well, yes and no. Of course as God He’s King over the universe, but He’s not currently reigning on David’s throne like God promised. Where is David’s throne? In Jerusalem. On earth. The Son of David has not yet taken His rightful throne.
“Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom… from this time forth and forevermore.”
(Isaiah 9:7)“At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD…”
(Jeremiah 3:17)“I heard one speaking to me out of the temple… ‘this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever.”
(Ezekiel 43:6-7)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.”
(Jeremiah 23:5)
Psalm 2 describes this Davidic King as the Anointed One, which is where we get the term “Messiah.”
“The kings of the earth set themselves… against the LORD and against his Anointed… the Lord… will speak to them… ‘As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.'”
(Psalm 2:2-6)
Israel has been waiting for this promised King, the Anointed One, to come reign on David’s throne in Jerusalem, bring perfect peace to those who dwell in the land of Israel, and bring blessing to the nations by establishing the kingdom of God on earth forever. No wonder they were confused by Jesus’ first coming! They weren’t wrong; God just had a different timing than they were expecting. But He will come again, and He will do all He said.
This is only the tip of the iceberg of the promises. (For example, I didn’t even touch God’s promise to do the Exodus all over again!) The Abrahamic covenant is the core of God’s promises to His people, and all that follows is detail about how He will fulfill it, with the Davidic covenant being arguably the biggest detail. In the next post we’ll unpack how these promises are fulfilled, along with Satan’s rage and God’s deliverance, in the story of Jesus’ return.
Note: Much of this blog was based on things I learned in Samuel Whitefield’s book One King. I wrote about it a few years ago, and I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy! (Full disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate, so if you make any purchases through my links I may receive a small commission.)
