Earlier, Acts 13:32-39 was quoted, but not in its entirety. When the complete quote is included, we see that the early church 
proclaimed more than the fact that Christ is the fulfillment of Israel, He is the realization of the Son of God. As such, Christ is also the fulfillment of the kingdom. So, Acts 13:34 offers this prophecy from God about Jesus: “I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.”
Talk of David in the Bible is always significant because David represents the fulfillment of Old Testament Kingdom promises. David is the prototypical king of Israel. This prophecy fulfilled in Acts 13 is an acknowledgement that Jesus has come as the King of the Israel of God. Thus, our contemporary over-emphasis on the national entity of Israel is a diminishing of the glory of the eternal kingdom which has already begun for God’s people in Jesus Christ.
The issue of emphasis in the New Testament is not national, nor ethnic, and it isn’t even about a parcel of land; the issue is Christ the king and His kingdom people who are “in him” by faith. There is still a future fulfillment in Christ at the consummation of His kingdom, which brings about the new heavens, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem from above. So, the Apostle Paul was able to speak of a new reality in Galatians 6:15-16,
“For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.”
Clearly, the Apostle Paul makes Christ’s faithful out to be the true Israel of God. The reason is that those born again are “in Christ.” Those in Christ are in the true Israel of God. They are the fulfillment of the kingdom promises of the Old and New Testament. Thus, the Apostle Peter would say of us who are in Christ,
1 Peter 2:9, But you are a Chosen Race, a Royal Priesthood, A Holy Nation, A People for God’s own Possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God…
The people of God—God’s Holy nation—is not Israel, but us who belong to Christ. The kingdom belongs to Christ and to those to whom He gives it. Jesus died the “King of the Jews,” and when He rose again and ascended into heaven, he guaranteed a new future which inextricably sewed heaven and earth together into a new reality which He will complete on His return.
Notice the significance of each point in 1 Peter 2:9. Christians now are the “chosen race,” first mentioned in Isaiah 43:20. Christians are now the “royal priesthood and holy nation” of Exodus 19:6. [Yes! Christians are the nation of God’s favor.] Christians are now the “people for God’s own possession,” mentioned first in Exodus 19:5. In short, Christians are the children of God, the chosen for His kingdom. Thus, no one [including Jews living in the land of Israel]—no one can come to the Father except through His son, Jesus (John 14:6). Christians are those who have thus come to the Father.
The original covenant promise from God came to Abraham. It was through Abraham that Isaac (the child of promise) and Jacob (the father of the 12 tribes of Israel) came about. The faith of Abraham is completed in the coming of Jesus Christ. So, again, Paul the Jew would say, “Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are the sons of Abraham” (Galatians 3:7-8). “So, those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.”
From the beginning, Abraham was to serve as a light to the nations, and, in Abraham, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. They were originally blessed through the light of Abraham’s offspring–Israel, which shone (in varying degrees of darkness) until the arrival of the true Israel of God: God’s only begotten Son, Jesus. Now that Christ has come, everything has changed into a glorious reality of his eternal kingdom.
If you belong to Christ, you are Abraham’s descendant, an heir according to the promise (Galatians 3:29). If you are in Christ, “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem…” (Hebrews 12:22). In short, all the promises of God (including those in the Old Testament) are “yes and amen” in Christ Jesus.
To Be Continued Again? What about the future of national Israel? Stay tuned.
(In the meantime, you may want to read, “Is the Holy Land Really Holy?”)
Related articles
- Is God Always on Israel’s Side? (gregoryccochran.com)
Gregory C. Cochran 
How marvelous to belong to the family of God! Thanks for another lesson in this series. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Linda Archer
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Linda, thank you so much for the comments. You had asked about Judaism and the afterlife. I don’t really know very much, but I do know in the first century AD there was disagreement between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. You might recall Paul in Acts 23 on trial before the Sanhedrin discerned that a portion of the crowd was for the resurrection and a portion against. So, he brought up the Resurrection and divided the rulers, who ended up letting him go. From this time onward, most Jews have believed in an afterlife and a form of resurrection from the dead. Reformed Jews still do not accept the afterlife.
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