THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

The Hope of Israel: What Is It? 139
This is what Hosea and other prophets had foretold,
though God purposely enveloped the meaning of their
prophecies and his full purposes for the Gentiles, in
"mystery," which mystery is now fully explained
(Eph. 3:1-6).
Evidently then, as regards the purposes of God
concerning the Jewish people after their rejection of
that One through whom their promised redemption
was to come, we must needs look to what is revealed
in the New Testament; for there is where the Spirit
of God has revealed "the fellowship of the mystery"
(Eph. 3:9), that is, the union of Jews and Gentiles to
form the true Israel.
Let us recall, moreover, that the covenant relations
between God and "Israel after the flesh" were ended,
even as had been foretold by their own prophets, beginning
with Moses and Joshua (Deut. 4:26; 6:14,
15, 8:20; Josh. 23:15, 16) ;
the old covenant was dissolved
and "ready to vanish away"; every vestige of
it was shortly to be obliterated; and therefore, of
necessity, all promises based upon that covenant, had
there been any as yet unfulfilled, fell to the ground.
But beside all that, God has now brought clearly to
light, as we have seen, what He had but dimly revealed
in times past, that the name ISRAEL belongs properly
to His new-covenant people.
Therefore, it is not enough, for the settling of the
question of God's future purposes for the Jews, that
prophecies concerning Israel be found which apparently
have not yet been fulfilled; for we must needs conclude,
as to all such prophecies unless the contrary
plainly appears that they pertain to the true "Israel
of God," and that their fulfilment is in the realm of
things spiritual and unseen.