As part of our “Tough Questions” sermon series, someone asked:
“Do Gentiles and the church today receive the same fulfillment to the promises as Israel in the Old Testament?”
This is an important question deserving a much longer response than I can provide here. So, my goal is to provide a brief overview and suggestions for further reading for those who would like to explore this topic.
In my response, I will unpack two premises:
- Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises God makes to Israel.
- All those united to Christ (both Jew and Gentile) receive the promises.
Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises God makes to Israel
To more fully understand how Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel, let me briefly summarize the promises in the Old Testament. In response to humanity’s rebellion in Genesis 3-11,[1] God calls Abram and promises that he would:
- make him into a “great nation” (Gen 12:1-3)
- make his “name great” (Gen 12:1-3)
- be blessed and be a blessing (Gen 12:1-3)
- give him land (Gen 15:18).
God’s relationship with Abraham has global implications.[2] By making a covenant with Abraham God moves forward his plan to redeem people from every tribe, tongue, and nation (Gen 15:18; 17:9-14).
God keeps the Abrahamic promises (see above) through his progeny Isaac and Jacob—promises which take shape and develop as the biblical storyline unfolds (Gen 26:3-5; Gen 32:28). It is through Jacob’s (Israel’s) line that God brings forth tribes and kings. Note Jacob’s blessing for Judah as he nears death, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples” (Gen 49:10 ESV). Like the global scope of Abraham’s promise, this future ruler who comes from Judah would have a worldwide impact.
Exodus describes the development of God’s people into a nation. Israel was redeemed by God (Ex 6:2-9) and they were the recipients of Torah (Ex 19-31). The Torah—the “Book of the Covenant”—outlines what it looks like for God’s people to live in a covenant relationship with God (Ex 24:7). A key feature of this relationship is centered on the sacrificial system outlined in Exodus, Leviticus, and reiterated in Deuteronomy. The priests and Levites were ministers of the sacrificial system in the mobile Tabernacle during the wilderness wandering (1446 BC) up until the death of King David (970 BC). It was David’s son, Solomon, who constructed a permanent temple structure (1 Kings 6). Solomon partially fulfilled God’s promise to David that his offspring would “build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Sam 7:13 ESV). But the reign of Solomon was only a partial fulfillment because following David is a four-hundred-year history of failed kings leading to exile. It is also a partial fulfillment in that the temple itself foreshadowed a greater fulfillment.[3]
Israel’s story does not end in Babylonian judgment. The eighth century prophet Isaiah anticipates the day when God would dwell with his people (Is 40:3) and save his people from their sins through an enigmatic suffering servant figure (Isaiah 52:13-12). Jeremiah looks forward to the latter days when God would establish a new covenant with his people (Jeremiah 31:31-34). The prophet-priest, Ezekiel, spoke about the pouring out of God’s Spirit upon his people (Ez 36:27; 39:25-29). Joel similarly spoke of the pouring out of the Spirit accompanied by cosmic signs (Joel 2:28-32). This sampling of promises provides a window into the expansive prophetic theme of “restored Israel.”[4]
All the thematic streams of the Hebrew Bible converge to form the torrential river of God’s YES in Christ (2 Cor 1:20). Jesus is the one who weaves together all the themes from the Hebrew Scriptures. For example:
- Jesus is the new Adam—the one who initiates the new creation (Rom 5:14; 1 Cor 15:22, 45).
- The land promise made to Abraham now encompasses the entire earth and looks forward to the new creation (note Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations, Matt 28:18-20; Rev 21).
- Jesus is the Davidic king, the lion of the tribe of Judah (Matt 21:9).
- The exile ends in Jesus (Matt 1:17; Mark 1:2-3).
- Jesus fulfills the role of the suffering servant in Isaiah (Acts 8:32-35).
- Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of his people thus fulfilling the sacrificial system (Rom 3:25; Hebrews 9-10).
- Jesus sends the Spirit (John 7:37-39; 14:15-17).
If all the promises made to Abraham, Israel, and David are fulfilled in the person of Jesus, what does this mean for the church?[5]
All who are united to Christ receive the promises
The church is the “household of God” (Eph 2:19) which includes both Jew and Gentile (Eph 2:13-15) who respond to the grace (e.g., the work of Jesus) of God “through faith” (Eph 2:8).[6] Only those who belong to Christ—both Jew and Gentile—receive the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises.[7] This is a pervasive New Testament theme. For example, in Peter’s Pentecost sermon he proclaims that the “promise” is for “you and for your children” (i.e., Jews) and for those who “are far off” (i.e., Gentiles) “everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:39 ESV).[8] In Romans 4 Paul argues that the promises of God come by “faith” (Rom 4:16). Paul refers to Abraham as “the father of us all, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist” (Rom 4:16-17 ESV). Similarly, Paul in Galatians argues that the “promised Spirit” comes “through faith” and this is for both Jew and Gentile (Gal 3:14). Later in Galatians Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal 3:28-29 ESV). In 1 Peter 2:9, Peter uses language once reserved for Israel to refer to his believing Gentile audience declaring them to be a “people for his own possession”.[9]
The overwhelming emphasis in both the Old and New Testaments is that the “fulfillment” of the promises God made to Israel comes through the person of Jesus. And these promises are for all who have faith in Jesus Christ, BOTH Jew, and Gentile alike.[10] They are promises that are “inaugurated,” and will find their final fulfillment when Christ’s kingdom is fully established (Rev 22).[11]
Suggested Resources:
Beginning
Bibleproject.com
Intermediate
- K. Beale and Benjamin L. Gladd, The Story Retold: A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the New Testament
Advanced
James M. Hamilton Jr., Typology: Understanding the Bible’s Promise-Shaped Patterns
Christopher Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative
Works Cited
[1] Old Testament scholar Christopher Wright argues that the call of Abram is God’s response to humanity’s rebellion. See, Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 199.
[2] Wright, 200.
[3] James M. Hamilton, Typology: Understanding the Bible’s Promise-Shaped Patterns: How the Old Testament Expectations are Fulfilled in Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2022), 290.
[4] G. K. Beale and Benjamin L. Gladd, The Story Retold: A Biblical Theological Introduction to the New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2020), 13.
[5] Paul M. Hoskins, That Scripture Might Be Fulfilled: Typology and the Death of Christ (Xulon Press, 2009), 22-23.
[6] Douglas J. Moo, “The Letters and Revelation,” in NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, ed. D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), 2120.
[7] Beale and Gladd, 13.
[8] John B. Polhill, Acts, vol. 26, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 117.
[9] Bryan J. Vickers, “Israel, Spiritual,” eds. Chad Brand, Charles Draper, Archie England, Steve Bond, E. Ray Clendenen, and Trent C. Butler, Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 851.
[10] For helpful commentary related to this point, see, https://rts.edu/resources/what-are-some-misconceptions-about-covenant-theology/.
[11] Beale and Gladd, 280.
About the Author
Tucker Anderson
Tucker Anderson has served at Calvary Church since 2015. He is a graduate of Bethel Seminary and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His passion is helping people develop a biblical worldview by understanding the relationship between the Old Testament and New Testament.