By contrast, the passage in Jeremiah 31 (excerpted at post 306) is speaking of the nation of Israel. Likewise this passage from Romans 11:
One problem with this interpretation is that Jer. 31 does not exist in a vacuum. It has been intrepreted for us in the New Testament, especially by Jesus Himself.
"For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matt. 26:26).
The central theme of Jer. 31 is the new covenant. Jesus's disciples at the last suppoer could hardly have missed the signifiance of His words, and the linkage to what was promised by the prophet Jeremiah.
By linking His own sacrifice -- made for all types of men from all peoples and races -- to the phase "new covenant" He universalize the words of the prophet to include all those who have their sins remitted by His blood. Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant made with His people (Heb. 9:15). It is not limited by race.
Paul, the apostle to the gentiles, adds emphasis to the fact when he recount Jesus's words in 1 Cor 11.
"In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.'"
Paul is speaking to a congreation made up mainly of gentiles. He mentions the "new covenant". So the promise of the new covenant as given in Jeremiah cannot be limited in any way to national Israel.
This is the inevitable conclusion when you read the Old Testament in light of the fuller revelation given to us in the New Testament.
Thanks for sharing your views!
That's 26:28.
Allow me to share one more passage to make my point:
"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel." (Heb. 12:22-24)
Note the linkage of the new (heavenly) Jerusalem to the new covenant. The new Jerusalem is the place where all of God's people dwell regardless of race, etc. We have our home there, again, because of the blood of the new covenant shed on our behalf.
The NT writers never limit the new covenant prophesied by Jeremiah to national/racial Israel. It is always universalized.
Amen. As an all-too-typical unschooled Christian, I never spent much time reading the Old Testament.
Thanks to many of these fine threads, I've returned to the Old Testament and found Jesus Christ on nearly every page. It's truly amazing how Christ was foreshadowed in the Old Testament.
Not surprising, I suppose, since God wrote both Testaments from before the foundation of the world, all with the cross as its center.
No time to comment at such length.
But to say . . . there's some logical great leaps and extrapolations in that list of thoughts which the Scriptures do not support.