Understanding Israel's Role in God's Kingdom: Dispensationalism, Israel, and the Church
Throughout history, the church has sought to understand Israel’s place in God’s Kingdom, and the re-establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 has made this issue even more pressing. But the separation of the church from its Hebraic origins drove it into a period of great darkness. This was only exacerbated by an abyss of unbelief and skepticism caused by “the Enlightenment” (Aufklarung in Germany) that had opened in the West, culminating in self-centeredness, self-worship, and a rise in humanism during the Renaissance.
One consequence was an increasing doubt about the genuineness of Biblical prophecy. The struggle against eschatology was part of liberalism's massive reconstruction of the Bible. In his writing, The Crisis of the European Conscience, Paul Hazzard traces the intellectual shattering of the Christian foundations to the end of the seventeenth century.
In the middle 1800s, John Nelson Darby (A.D. 1800-1882), an Anglo-Irish Bible teacher, derived a new premillennial theology called “dispensationalism” (Classical Dispensationalism). While all dispensational theologies address the human condition of sin and our need for Christ’s redemption, Classical Dispensationalism is expressly God-centered, not man-centered. Its doxological focus sees the ultimate purpose of redemption and restoration as God bringing glory to Himself. Just as the Lord spoke to Israel, “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; For how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another” (Isaiah 48:11, NKJV).[i]
Concerning Israel and the church, Classical Dispensationalism sees God as having two distinct people groups: an earthly people, Israel, and a heavenly people, the church. It identifies God administering the course of the history of redemption through seven successive dispensations or redemptive periods. Among these, the three most important are the dispensation of Law, the dispensation of the Gospel (also the church age), and the dispensation of the Kingdom (the Millennium).
Premillennial dispensationalism is a relatively new viewpoint in the history of Christian theology. However, its view of Biblical prophecy, particularly concerning God’s unique purpose for Israel, has dominated the discourse among evangelical Christians on the relationship between the church and Israel. But it also has flaws.
Classic Dispensationalism views God as having a separate purpose and a distinct plan for dealing with His earthly people, Israel. During this present church era, it teaches that God has suspended His unique purposes for them, namely the sharing of the Gospel, and has turned His attention exclusively to the salvation of the Gentiles through the proclamation of the Gospel by the Gentiles. The perspective is not entirely wrong, as we read, “For a mere moment I have forsaken you, But with great mercies I will gather you” (Isaiah 54:7).
However, it also assumes that Israel’s regathering does not occur until Christ returns. It sees God as having turned away from Israel for a season until the tribulation when God turns back to Israel to discipline but ultimately save her. The church will be raptured at that time, the seven-year tribulation will begin, and God will resume and complete His unique plans for Israel.
This period will be a prelude to the commencement of the future dispensation of a one-thousand-year reign of Christ (the Millennium) and God’s Kingdom upon the earth, marking the period when God’s promises to Israel, His earthly people, will receive a distinct, literal, and complete fulfillment of all His promises. And yet, the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel began in the late 1800s, and today, more Jews are living in Israel than in any other country.
While Classic Dispensationalism acknowledges that all people, Jews and Gentiles, are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, it incorrectly holds a permanent distinction between Israel and the church, even during the Millennium, believing the promises of the Old Testament are not even partially fulfilled through the gathering of the church from among the nations, and that the promises given to Israel are exclusively for an earthly, ethnically distinct people, Israel, that will only be fulfilled in a literal way during the Millennial Kingdom.
In other words, it fails to reconcile Israel to the church in this present dispensation and during the Millennial Kingdom, as the church and Israel are treated as two permanently distinct and uniquely different people groups, one heavenly and the other earthly. And it misses the progressive aspect of God’s national salvific plans for Israel that are tied to the church, which began on the Day of Pentecost with a large group of Jewish believers, resuming God’s purposes for Israel in what many believe started in the late 1800s and led to the Balfour Declaration, League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, and the San Remo Resolution, all of which led to the re-establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Nearly twenty years later, in 1967, Israel recaptured the Temple Mount, East Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria—the heart of the Davidic kingdom. The church also saw the birth of the modern-day Messianic movement during this time.
After World War II, a more radical Classic Dispensational view emerged called “two-covenant theology.” This theology teaches that God has two covenants, one with Israel and the other with the church. It sees Israel’s salvation linked to God’s original covenants and keeps Israel separate from the New Covenant, which it considers exclusively for the Gentile nations. This theology is popular with many mainline Protestant churches. To a degree, it has been embraced by the Roman Catholic Church through the pronouncements of the Second Vatical Council and Pope John Paul II’s Redemptoris Missio (1991). Since God’s covenants with Israel are separate from those with the church, this theology sees no fulfillment of God’s purposes for Israel at the return of Christ.
In contrast to the Classic Dispensational view, the Reformed Pre-Millennial tradition sees no ultimate separation between Israel and the church. They understand the promises God made to Abraham through the covenant of faith is that he would be the father of many nations and that in his seed, all the families of the earth would be blessed.[ii] This seed is Jesus Christ, faithful Israel; all who are united to Him through faith are heirs of God’s covenant promises.[iii] In the Reformed view, the gospel of Jesus Christ directly fulfills the promises of the covenant of grace for all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles. Unlike the Classical view that sees Israel and the church as two distinct peoples, the Reformed view considers the church to be the true and faithful Israel of God and the replacement for national Israel, which is Supersessionism.
So, we have two or more opposing Dispensational views that are all inaccurate to one degree or another. One sees Israel and the church as two permanently distinct and separate groups; the other considers the church a replacement for the former. Similarly, the Amillennial belief is that God has chosen a “new Israel” in the church, and the Dispensationalist thinks that God’s promises to Israel will somehow be fulfilled apart from the church. And yet, the church under the authority of Christ will oversee and administer God’s Kingdom, which will comprise all the nations, including Israel.
And yet, Pre-Millennial Dispensationalism is the correct way to understand the order and timing for the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. As we read, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison” (Revelation 20:6-7).
Some scholars argue that this one verse in the Bible is insufficient by itself to justify a literal one-thousand-year Kingdom. And yet, not surprisingly, the early church certainly embraced the idea of a literal one-thousand-year reign of Christ. And in Jewish thought, the sages in the Talmud teach that the creation will exist for six thousand years before the universal Sabbath and the one-thousand-year Messianic era.[iv] The rabbis label the first two thousand years as “the hidden years,” beginning at creation and lasting until Abraham. The following two thousand years of “revelation,” they say, include the Patriarchs, the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, and the two Temples in Jerusalem. And the final two thousand years they consider as the “preparation” of the Jewish people for the redemption of the Messiah, balanced between Divine concealment and revelation.
We need to see Israel as the foundation for God’s church and His Kingdom, not a replacement for her, as she is the intended recipient of all God’s covenant promises. I say “intended” because, as Paul stated, “They are not all Israel who are of Israel” (Romans 9:6), meaning not all the Jewish people are in Christ—only a remnant, saved by grace. And if viewed correctly, Dispensationalism can help us systematically understand the progressive nature of God’s redemptive work for Israel and all nations, such things as the period of the Law of Moses, the outpouring of grace and the Holy Spirit, the first and second resurrections, the Millennial Kingdom, and the new heaven and earth.
But it fails, scripturally, if it sees the church and Israel as permanently separate people groups. And it fails if it considers the church a replacement for God's first and only covenant nation. In other words, Dispensationalism establishes the period in which God’s covenant promises to Israel are partially or entirely fulfilled. But it does change the people group to whom those covenant promises are directed. However, it does add to them.
We should see Israel as the vessel that God, through many dispensations, has chosen to bring His redemption to every nation and the instrument He will ultimately use to rule them. Hence, Israel is also the foundation, the deep root that establishes and supports the entirety of the church and not vice versa. Paul said, “Remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you” (Romans 11:18). The branches themselves are Israel. Only now, the branches include those whom God has called and chosen from amongst the Gentiles and grafted them in amongst the natural branches.[v] Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
Therefore, the whole tree is Israel plus the Gentiles that God has grafted into her, collectively the church (the great assembly, ecclesia), and is also a picture of the Kingdom. The church is a partial fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel and now includes those from every nation who have chosen to join themselves to the God of Israel and His people, not replacing Jewish people but adding many branches from the nations to them.
God chose Israel, the least of all the nations, making a conditional covenant with her and giving Israel His Law and priestly services of God—the dispensation of the Law. But this dispensation is built upon the covenant of faith God made with Abraham and the promise of a New Covenant, a better Covenant that, in Christ, would give Israel and those of the nations who would receive Jesus the promise of adoption. We see this adoption by the Spirit as a partial fulfillment in the dispensation of the church age as we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, the guarantee of our inheritance until the resurrection when God fully redeems His purchased possession.[vi]
But other promises were made to Israel, including the inheritance of the land, the riches of the nations, and the authority to rule over them. We read, “The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, And their kings shall minister to you; For in My wrath I struck you, But in My favor I have had mercy on you. Therefore your gates shall be open continually; They shall not be shut day or night, That men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, And their kings in procession. For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, And those nations shall be utterly ruined” (Isaiah 60:10-12). And Jesus told His disciples, “You who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28).
These verses affirm that Israel, specifically those of Israel who have received Christ, have an inheritance of authority to rule and reign with Christ over all nations. The nations will be governed in submission to Israel and her King, Jesus, and, as Isaiah said, “The nation and kingdom which will not serve you [Israel] shall perish.” Also, we are reminded of Paul’s words: “Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises” (Romans 9:4, NIV). Paul is clear these promises are for Israel, saying, “My countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites.” While the church embraces its inheritance in Christ, it neglects Israel’s many other promises that will be received in Christ.
For example, the Law is considered an old dispensation, pre-grace, yet the mere establishment of the Aaronic priesthood and its atoning works was an act of God’s grace for Israel. Also, the Law will serve as the foundation for God’s Kingdom, as it says, “The government will be upon His shoulder?” (Isaiah 9:6). God’s Temple, at least regarding the church, is now considered only spiritual. And yet, we read, “It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory… And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the Lord out of all nations… As the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites, says the Lord” (Isaiah 66:18-21).
Isaiah’s description is of a physical Temple and literal priesthood. And lastly, the covenants, while only made with Israel, are somehow now exclusively for the church. Albeit, only the New Covenant, as the covenant with Abraham, promises the land, which the church sees little value in, the Old Covenant of the Law, which has been entirely replaced by a new one, and the covenants with Levi and Aaron, although stated as eternal, have been superseded by a new priestly order—Melchizedek.
Ironically, there is no verse in scripture where God officiates the Old or New Covenants, nor the Davidic or Levitical covenants with the Gentiles. Once again, Dispensationalism fails by supplanting the church for Israel or by completely separating the church from her. The Old Covenant exclusively pertained to Israel, and no foreigners were allowed to partake of this covenant unless they came under the bondage of the Mosaic Law. And the New Covenant was also solely officiated with the House of Israel and Judah, and no Gentiles were invited to the Last Supper to partake of it.
Their invitation would come later, as Jesus said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). And Paul affirmed, saying, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16). But God’s invitation to the Gentiles is just that; an open door to join and share Israel’s covenant promises, not supplant them. Again, we read, “You [Gentiles], being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree” (Romans 11:17).
However, this raises an important question. If God intended for Israel’s New Covenant promises to be shared with the Gentiles, why did God not make a more inclusive covenant at the onset or make two eternal covenants, one for Israel and another for the nations?
The answer is that Christ, the mediator of the New Covenant, only has one covenant nation—Israel. All other nations can only share Israel’s covenants by being joined to or grafted into her. Some might incorrectly believe that individual salvation is predicated on being grafted into Israel. Not exactly. Personal salvation is predicated on being allowed to enter God’s Kingdom, and that Kingdom is Israel, and its gatekeeper is Jesus— “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14).
The Bible uses “Holy One of Israel” more than thirty times. However, the English translation does not accurately convey the genuine meaning, as seen in Hebrew. In the English language, the words “one” and “of” are added to the translation (הקדוש של ישראל), meaning “the Holy One of Israel.” In Hebrew, on the other hand, it is written as “Holy Israel” (קדוש ישראל), and the difference is rather significant.
The English language conveys a belonging to but also a distinctly separate association. The Hebrew, however, communicates oneness. In other words, “Holy Israel” is another name given to our Lord. He is holy, and He is also Israel. The implication is that Jesus, the word of God revealed in the flesh, is called Holy Israel; therefore, He and Israel are inseparably one. The sages affirm this by saying that God’s Kingship (His Malchut) is also His congregation of Israel (His Knesset Yisrael). They consider Israel an aspect of God, meaning that God, Israel, and His Torah (His written word) are all one.[vii] And since Jesus is the King of Israel, His covenant had to be made with them.
However, a change occurs when Christ officiates the New Covenant. We read, “Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—The sure mercies of David. Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the Lord your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you” (Isaiah 55:3-5). An invitation has been sent to the nations: “Go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding” (Matthew 22:9).
God’s New Covenant, while promised to Israel and officiated with her, has now been opened to the Gentiles. All are invited to join the King of Israel and share in Israel’s covenant promises, beginning the promise of “adoption, and they have been grafted into Israel to share in her governing authority. And for the Gentiles to share this authority with the Jewish believers, God had to remove natural branches, dead ones. Paul said, “You will say then, Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith” (Romans 11:19-20). And Jesus said, “Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:10).
We must understand that being part of the church is more than personal salvation, although that is a remarkable gift of God. The Gentiles have been invited to share in Israel's salvific promises. But more, they share in all Israel’s covenant promises and her governing authority, expanding God’s Kingdom to include all the nations, with Jerusalem at its center.[viii] They have joined their Jewish brethren in Christ to be part of a spiritual global family of believers that, in the resurrection, will return with Christ to govern the nations in God’s Kingdom, which will comprise a natural unresurrected remnant of Israel and a tiny remnant of nations.
We read, “I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir” (Isaiah 13:12). The Gentile branches do not replace the Jewish ones; they have merely been added in the place of the dead branches that were removed.[ix] They have been grafted in among Israel, becoming part of her cultivated Olive Tree and partakers of their promises in Christ.[x]
Paul said, “Through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles… And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you… Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either” (Romans 11:11, 17-18, 20-21).
Paul’s statements could not be more explicit, drawing a hard line on God’s truth toward the Jews for rejecting Christ and the Gentiles for becoming proud and arrogant against the Jewish people. He said, “Consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off” (Romans 11:22). God did not replace Israel with the church. He merely replaced some of her dead branches. And while it appears that God has turned His face away from Israel for a season, Paul also affirmed, “Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace” (Romans 11:5).
In every dispensation, God has preserved a remnant of the Jewish people, and throughout the church’s history, there also has been a remnant of the Jewish people that has received Christ. We read, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).
This small number, along with a present majority of Gentile Christians, comprise the church. Often culturally assimilated into their denominations, this remnant of the Jewish people remains genetically the natural seed of Abraham. So, it is unsurprising that many today cannot see any Jewish influence within the church and struggle to connect its origins with the nation of Israel and the Jewish people. Yet, this remnant exists to preserve God’s name and His word.
While Classical Dispensationalism confuses the relationship between the church and Israel, to a degree, it accurately demarcates the distinction between the Covenant of the Law and the Covenant of Grace—two distinct dispensations. We read, “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17); “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). But it fails to reconcile the covenant of Faith God made with Abraham unless the church supplants Israel.
The giving of the Law does not supersede the covenant of faith with Abraham, nor could it create any means of righteousness and salvation through the works of the Law.[xi] Here, again, is where Dispensationalism fails. God’s covenants with Israel began with Abraham and are fulfilled in Christ. And the most significant promise in the Abrahamic covenant is the land of Israel as an eternal inheritance, not a temporary dispensational occupancy, but a permanent habitation. Hence, the Dispensationalist’s two-people theology seeing the church as a spiritual people going to heaven, not a spiritually reborn people who will inherit the earth.
The works of the Mosaic Law remain the works of the flesh and our human efforts. As it is written, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” (Galatians 2:16). But the Law rests upon the covenant of faith God made with Abraham, a prior dispensation that did not end with the giving of the Law, nor does it even end with Christ. It is fulfilled in Him.
But even now, complete fulfillment will not happen until Jesus returns. Hence, Dispensationalism is better divided along Christ’s advents, His first and second, not the covenants. We read, “Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). In truth, there is but one Premillennial dispensation of fallen humanity from the first Adam to the second, and the gradually unfolding story of God’s redemption and salvation for all people through His covenant nation, Israel, and her Messiah, Jesus (Yeshua).
Any person (under the law) who had faith and believed in the God whom they could not see, and by their “obedience of faith” to accept and observe the Law, were imputed His righteousness and were destined for eternal life—the “law of faith.”[xii] However, the fulfillment of the Law could only be in Christ, and the promises in Christ are unconditionally given to all who would receive it by faith.
Again, that door has now been opened to the Gentiles. For the generation of Israel who saw Jesus and rejected their Messiah, God cursed and promised they would not enter His eternal rest. Hence, the symbolism of the withered fig tree is a picture of that fallen generation in Israel.[xiii] But Jesus later spoke of a time when the fig tree would again become tender and put forth leaves, meaning that Israel would believe again in the Lord’s salvation. He said: “When its [the fig tree’s] branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near” (Matthew 24:32). We know and trust that God has and will continue to reveal Himself to Israel.[xiv]
Paul said this about the Jewish people: “Their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil [that covers their eyes] remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ” (2 Corinthians 3:14), “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3). In other words, if Israel continues to blindly observe the Law of Moses in this current dispensation, even out of faith, their eyes will remain veiled to Jesus. But once they believe, and even more significantly, they see that Jesus is the Christ and their Savior, the scales will fall from their eyes, and they will see and know their Messiah.
Per scripture, when Christ returns, the entire remnant of the Jewish people will be saved. Until then, Israel remains under Abraham's covenant of faith. But they are also under the judgment of the Mosaic Law and veiled to God’s truth by trying to fulfill the Law in their human strength.[xv] It is still possible for an Israelite today to have faith in God through the covenant with Abraham. However, they cannot know God intimately because the veil that comes through the Law of Moses prevents them from seeing their Savior. As Paul said, “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Romans 10:12).
Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant with Abraham, the covenant of faith consummated through the Law of Faith, and the fulfillment of the Mosaic Covenant—the Law. He is also the fulfillment of the covenants made with Live and Aaron. Hence, we believe in God’s law of substitutionary atonement and the propitiation Jesus made for us on the cross.[xvi] As it is written, “For whoever calls [by faith] on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).
And lastly, Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant made with King David. All who believe in Jesus become purified from sin and are promised the spirit of adoption and everlasting life. We receive the Holy Spirit's indwelling presence and intimacy with our heavenly Father in a way impossible before Christ came. And we are given the resurrection and the promise of God’s glory and His services that we may become a royal priesthood and a holy nation.
Therefore, we conclude that “faithful Israel” are those of the seed of Abraham who are in Christ. These are joined with the Gentiles who are also in Christ and share in “faithful Israel’s” covenant promises—all of them. We are spiritually one people, although naturally, we are different. We are called the ecclesia, the great assembly, and the church, and we will be resurrected into new, glorified physical yet imperishable bodies. Paul refers to this spiritual group as “the Israel of God.”[xvii]
But while our rebirth is spiritual, as Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10), the church is not a heaven-bound group but a spiritually reborn and resurrected people from every tongue and tribe who are to receive the glory and the promises of God and return with Christ to rule and reign with Him over the earthly nations, including the nation of Israel and the Jewish people who survive the tribulation—the dispensation of the Kingdom.
Every promise of God given to Israel is shared by all who comprise the church; these include both “faithful Israel,” to whom belong the promises of God, and the Gentiles that have been grafted into “faithful Israel” to share in her covenant promises, collectively becoming “the Israel of God.” Our inheritance is in Christ, and as He will receive all the nations as an eternal inheritance, we also hold the keys of authority for every spiritual promise for the nations.
The church began in Israel with Jewish believers. While it might appear that God has abandoned Israel, even for a season, He has retained a remnant of the Jewish people in every generation and dispensation saved by grace. He will conclude this dispensation with Israel’s salvation and restoration when Christ returns to establish His Millennial Kingdom in Jerusalem. In this future dispensation, the church will rule and reign with Christ over the remnant of Israel and the nations yet to be resurrected. And at the end of the Millennium, in the second and final resurrection, God will make all things new and a new Heaven and Earth—the dispensation of eternity.
[i] All Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Bible (NKJV) unless otherwise noted, Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982.
[ii] Genesis 12, 15, 17.
[iii] Galatians 3:16, 29.
[iv] Davidson, Baruch S. What is the significance of the year 6000 in the Jewish calendar? Chabad.org.
[v] Romans 9:24.
[vi] Ephesians 1:13-14.
[vii] Glotzer, Leonard R. The Fundamentals of Jewish Mysticism: The Book of Creation and Its Commentaries. Jason Aronson, Inc. 1992.
[viii] Ephesians 3:6.
[ix] Luke 3:9.
[x] Ephesians 3:6.
[xi] Galatians 3:15-18.
[xii] Romans 3:27, 4:9.
[xiii] Matthew 21:19.
[xiv] Jeremiah 24:1, Matthew 24:32.
[xv] 2 Corinthians 3:15-16.
[xvi] 1 Peter 2:24, 1 John 2:2.
[xvii] Galatians 6:16.