My thoughts regarding Israel

Israel

1. Israel was a redeemed nation. They were not redeemed before God as individuals but as a nation.
Deu 7v8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
2. The whole nation was in a covenant relationship with God.

3. The covenant was the same for the righteous and the unrighteous.

4. The covenant was a covenant of Law keeping - all 613 of them.

5. God promised rain, fruitfulness in the land, security, peace, freedom from evil beasts, freedom from invading armies, victory in war, the presence of God, the blessing of God and long life if Israel obeyed the law. But God warned them with curses, sickness, poverty, barrenness, oppression and a short life if they disobeyed the Law.

Lev 26v1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God. 2 Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. 3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. 6 And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. 7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9 For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. 10 And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. 11 And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. 13 I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright. 14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;
Etc ….

6. The Prophets that were sent to Israel came with the message to repent.
Lev 26v14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; 15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:
Matt.3v2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
7. The covenant with Israel was with Israel only.

Lev 37v34 These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for
the children of Israel in mount Sinai.

8. The obligation under law was primarily obedience not faith.
Exod.19v5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
9. The promise of the kingdom blessing was promised to the righteous.
To enter the Kingdom God promised the resurrection of the righteous.
Matt.25v34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
10. Those who believed the word of the Lord were recognised for their obedience, but their faith did not bring the imputed righteousness of Christ.

11. Abraham was never an Israelite. There is a sense in which the covenant that Israel had was based on the promises given to Abraham which were by Grace through Faith.

12. Israel knew the mercy of God in the withholding of judgment but not the grace of God as we know of it today. There can be no grace where there is law.

13. Israel were not ‘Saved’ as men are today in the Church.

14. Those who heard the word of the Lord and believed it – obeyed his commands God called them - the righteous. Their characteristic experience is the fear of the Lord which leads them to a change of mind and a righteous life. They live in the expectation of a resurrection of the righteous.

Prov 3v7, Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Ecc 12v13, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

15. God will raise righteous Israel from the dead prior to the second coming of Christ . They will see Christ and mourn and believe in him and be born again. Then they will then enter the Kingdom.

Job 19:25, For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

Eze 37v4, Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 6, And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 7, So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 8, And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. 9, Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10, So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. 11, Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. 12, Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13, And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, 14, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

Rom 11v5, Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6, And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. 7, What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded 8, (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. 9, And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: 10, Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway. 11, I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. 12, Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? 13, For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: 14, If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. 15, For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
25, For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26, And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27, For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. 28, As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. 29, For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. 30, For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 31, Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 32, For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

John 3v3, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Heb 8v6, But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7, For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 8, For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 9, Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10, For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11, And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12, For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 13, In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

Jer 31v31, 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: 32, 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 brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33, But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34, And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

16. The OT saints knew of the Grace of God that would come on Gentiles and looked into when and how these times would come, but they never experienced it for themselves.

1 Pet 1:10-12 Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: 11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.