When the Lord announced the New Covenant, He noted that Israel had already broken the old one, the Mosaic Covenant.
“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: 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 broke, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD.’ – Jeremiah 31:31-32Note that the New Covenant was between the Lord and Israel and Judah. Gentiles, and later the Church, were not part of the covenant. But, through Jesus, we are partakers.
“For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” – Galatians 3:27-29The Mosaic Covenant was the one Jewish covenant that was conditional, and ultimately came to an end with the death of the Messiah. Even though Israel had broken the covenant, the Lord continued to honor it until the New Covenant was instituted by the death of the Lord Jesus.
“For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” – Romans 10:4
“Wherefore (Therefore) the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” – Galatians 3:24-26
“… in time past … ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made near by the blood of Christ.” – Ephesians 2:11-13This was a wake-up call for me. I have long operated on the assumption that the New Covenant was all about the Church and Gentiles. That is totally incorrect! We Gentiles are blessed to be included in the Plan. Romans chapter eleven is simply another confirmation of the covenant being with Israel, and non-Jewish people a blessed partaker of that covenant. Even though I had read it and understood it, somehow I still thought it was all about the Church.
“For if thou were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?” – Romans 11:24(Please note that all Scriptural emphasis is my own.)
Praise the Lord for choosing Abraham to be a blessing to the entire world! Praise the Lord for keeping His promises to the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Praise the Lord for including us, who are not those descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in His wonderful covenant. May His name be praised always and ever!