THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

The Hope of Israel: What Is It? 93
and the heir of the promises, is viewed as coining into
existence through a new birth; the national Israel being
the mother, through whose "travail" the new nation
is brought forth.
The case is analogous to that of the new birth of the
individual man when he is converted and becomes a
new creature in Christ Jesus. In both cases the natural
serves as the womb of the spiritual; in both cases the
beginning of the existence of the new creature is accompanied
by "birth pangs"; and in both cases the
natural creature remains for a time after the bringing
forth of the spiritual, and is in direct antagonism
with it.
In another view of it, the beginning of the new
Israel is a resurrection; and this too is analogous to
the case of the saved individual, who is viewed in Scripture
as one raised from the dead a new creature in
Christ Jesus, yet preserving his identity as an individual.
So likewise, the true Israel is a nation of people
who are "risen together with Christ" ;
a nation raised
up out of the mortal and decaying remains, the dust
and ashes of the natural Israel.
And manifestly, resurrection is like birth a process
that cannot be reversed.