——>There was no Bible at the time of that prophecy and promise except “the Law and the Prophets.”
Yes, there was. It’s called the Old Testament. You may not believe this, but it is clearly outlined in scripture....that the Christian church is a CONTINUATION of Israel. The things entrusted to LITERAL Israel now carry over to the Church, minus things like Old Covenant ceremonial law, clearly done away with at the cross, circumcision, etc... The following content comes from an article by Uriah Smith, titled “The Two Covenants”. It also mentions the 7th-day-Sabbath. I think you would find it intellectually stimulating.
https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/1417/info
I quote the article in part.
Salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22) 22Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
>> In the prophecy as originally given, and as quoted by Paul, it is plainly stated with whom the Lord would make the new covenant: “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant,” not with the Gentiles, but “with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.” The new covenant, therefore, is made with the very same people with whom the old was made.
>> Paul elsewhere mentions this fact in a number of places. In Rom. 9:3-5, he says, “For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” There is no question but Paul is here speaking of the literal seed of Abraham. He continues: “Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever.”
>> These are the very important and lofty distinctions conferred upon that people. Let us for a moment consider them. To them pertained “the adoption.” God adopted Abraham as his friend, and his posterity as his children, because when all others had apostatized from him, Abraham alone was found faithful; and of him God bore testimony that he had obeyed his voice kept his charge, his commandments, his statutes, and his laws. Gen. 26:5. So that people were set apart to be the depositaries of God’s law, and preserve the worship and the knowledge of the true God in the earth.
>>And to them pertained “the glory;” that is, the manifestation of God’s glory among men. This was exhibited at the giving of the law, when Moses was obliged to put a vail over his face to hide the glory of his countenance; and after that in the visible appearance of God’s glory in connection more especially with the ark and mercy-seat.
>>And to them pertained “the covenants,” plural, both of them, the old and the new. He does not say that to them pertained “the covenant” referring to the old, while the new pertained to some other people; but both were theirs. “And the giving of the law.” Then the law was distinct from the covenants. “And the service of God, and the promises.” All the promises came through the same channel. No promise is made to anyone who is not in some sense a member of the Israel of God.
>>And, finally, our Lord himself, as concerning the flesh, came from that people. Many seem to think that all they need to say about the Sabbath is that it is Jewish; and they look upon anything to which they think they can apply this term with apparent if not real abhorrence. But in what condition should we find ourselves to-day, had not the Jews acted the part they have acted in our world’s history? They received the lively oracles to commit unto us. By them truth was kept alive in the world. They were for long ages the only conservators of the knowledge of the true God, and of revealed religion in the earth. And our Lord said that salvation is “of the Jews.”
>>In the providence of God the Jews had been made His chosen witnesses to the nations of earth. They became the recipients and appointed custodians of His revealed will (see Rom. 3:1, 2; 9:3–5). Jesus therefore affirms the absolute superiority of the Jewish religion, having already made it clear that that superiority is in no way related to the place of worship (John 4:21). The superiority of Judaism consisted in the fact that God had chosen the Hebrew people to be His representatives on earth, that He had entrusted to them the divine oracles, and that the Messiah was to be a Jew (Rom. 9:4, 5).
>> The new covenant itself was made with Israel and Judah. How, then, do the Gentiles come in to share in its blessings? Paul explains in Eph. 2:13-15. After speaking of the Gentiles as aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of Promise, he says, “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, EVEN THE LAW OF COMMANDMENTES CONTAINED IN THE ORDINANCES, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.” In verse 19 he adds, “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.”
>> God had entrusted the Jews with the divine “oracles” (Rom. 3:2). They stood in the world as the official representatives of the true religion. Until the founding of the Christian church there was no other people to whom God could direct the seekers for salvation. Referring to the scribes and the Pharisees who “sit in Moses’ seat,” Jesus Himself counseled the people, “All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do” (Matt. 23:3). When the Jews rejected Christ, their status as the official representatives of the true religion was taken away from them and given to the Christian church (see on Matt. 21:43). [43Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.] After the crucifixion it was no longer necessary for the child of God to engage in the ritual of Judaism (see on Gal. 2:16). At first the distinction between Christianity and Judaism was not too clearly understood. Many Jewish converts believed that Christianity was simply Judaism to which had been added belief in Jesus as the Messiah. They maintained that the Gentiles should be circumcised and conform to the Jewish legal system in addition to their acceptance of Jesus Christ. The Jerusalem Council convened to settle the question (Acts 15). The council ruled against the claims of these men. However, not all seemed willing to accept the decisions of the council. A strong party developed, which continued to insist that Gentiles should accept Judaism along with Christianity. A group of zealots from this party upset the churches in Galatia, a situation that gave rise to the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, in which he clearly set forth that the system of Judaism was now obsolete.
>> This same transition from Judaism to Christianity is Paul’s theme in this present verse. Judaism, with its involved system of commands and decrees, was abolished. With their acceptance of Christ and the removal of this barrier, Gentiles who were “far off” were “made nigh.”
>> But the coming to an end of Judaism did not mean the abrogation of all the laws that God had given to the Jews. The ceremonial law which pointed to Christ naturally came to an end when Christ fulfilled its types. Jewish civil law had already largely passed away with the passing of the nation’s sovereignty. But the moral precepts, which are a transcript of the character of God, are as eternal as God Himself and can never be abrogated. In all his teaching concerning the end of the Jewish legal system, Paul made emphatically clear that the moral law was not abrogated (see on Rom. 3:31). [31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law.] When speaking of the end of circumcision Paul was careful to add, “but the keeping of the commandments of God [is everything]” (see on 1 Cor. 7:19). See further on Gal. 2:16.
>>1 Corinthians 7:19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. NKJV
>> Thus plainly is it stated that through Christ the Gentiles are brought into such a relation to God that they are no longer strangers from the covenants of promise. The middle wall of partition between the Jews and themselves was broken down by what Christ abolished on the cross.
>> Here a most ludicrous and ridiculous blunder is made by some opponents of the Sabbath, even those who claim to be ministers of the word. They assert that the wall of partition was broken down in order that the Jews might come out where the Gentiles were, and partake of their liberty and blessings, the privileges of the gospel, and the first-day Sabbath.
>>This is just exactly the opposite of the truth. The Gentiles had no blessings to offer. We have already seen from Paul’s testimony that they are without God, without Christ, and without hope, and have no interest in the covenants. The gospel was not theirs, but was preached to Abraham, to Moses, and the Hebrews, all through their history; and all its blessings were included in the new covenant, which, like the old, was made with that people. Gal. 3:8; Heb. 4:2.
>>No! the middle wall of partition was broken down that the Gentiles might go in where the Jews were, and be partakers of the blessings and promises which they had in their possession. Through Christ they enter in. He hath made both one so far as they will accept of his work and his offering. The Gentiles who thus come in, are then no longer Gentiles, but members of the commonwealth of Israel; no longer far off, but made nigh by the blood of Christ; no longer strangers, but fellow-citizens with the saints.
>> The Gentiles are then reckoned as Israel in a certain sense, Paul, elsewhere very clearly shows. Rom. 9:7” “Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.”
>>In harmony with this, he testifies to the Galatians:
>>“And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Gal. 3:29. All who are Christ’s then, are the children of Abraham, not literally but spiritually, and are accounted for the seed. So we hear him saying to the Romans in language still more pointed: “For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God.” The inward work of grace, then, in the heart, under the gospel, constitutes one a Jew in reality, and an Israelite indeed.
>>Nothing need be added to such plain statements of the apostle, yet he uses a figure in Rom. 11, which beautifully illustrates this point, and is entitled to a passing notice. He there represents the Jewish people, while they were the children of God, by a tame olive tree, and the Gentiles by a wild olive tree. The branches of the tame olive tree were broken off, and grafts from the wild olive tree, the Gentiles, were inserted in their places. Did this change the tree and make a Gentile tree of it? No; it was the same tree; but now the Gentiles are brought in to be a part of it, and thus partake of its root and fatness, the blessings of the new covenant, the promises of God through Abraham and his seed.
Etc...