INTRODUCTION According to prophecy, the "House of Israel" and the "House of Judah" will walk together to the land that is given as an inheritance from God (Jeremiah 3:16-19). Prophecy foretold a New Covenant would be established for the House of Israel and the House of Judah, which will be different from the former covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-32). Before going further, we need to define what the "House of Israel" is, and what the "House of Judah" is.
HOUSE OF ISRAEL We are all sons of God through our faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:26), because all who have been baptized into Christ (Matthew 28:19) have put on Christ (Galatians 3:27). Jesus also said that those who do the will of God are his brothers, (as well as sisters and mothers) (Matthew 12:50). These scriptures reflect one another, for since Christ is the son of God (Mark 3:11, John 1:34), and we are sons of God as well, this would make us brothers to Christ. Connecting this further, scripture states God would declare the people of the nations righteous due to faith. This is why God told Abraham "All nations shall be blessed in you " This is because those who adhere to the faith are considered sons of Abraham and are being blessed accordingly (Galatians 3:7-9). According to biblical history, the physical nation of Israel was collectively the sons of Abraham (Genesis 17:19, 21:12, 25:21-26, 32:28). Therefore, we who are sons of God, Christ's brothers, are spiritual "Israel" since we are spiritual "sons" of Abraham. This blessing of Abraham was to be accomplished through Christ for the nations that we might receive the promised spirit through our faith (Galatians 3:14). Along with this, the bible tells us that Christ is Abraham's "seed" (Galatians 3:16) and all who belong to Christ are also the "seed" of Abraham, heirs with reference to a promise (Galatians 3:29). HOUSE OF JUDAH According to bible history, Judah was a male descendant of Israel (Genesis 32:28, 29:35) and was one of the ancestors of the Israelite kings (Matthew 1:1-16). Notice, Jesus was also in this royal lineage of kings (Matthew 1:16). According to prophecy, the spiritual House of Judah will rule over the spiritual House of Israel (Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:6). The ones sealed for this rulership come from out of spiritual Israel itself (Revelation 5:9-10, 7:4-8), just as the physical tribe of Judah had come from Israel as shown above. Therefore, this "House of Judah" is a subset of the "House of Israel." Putting it all together: Adherents to faith are spiritual sons of Abraham, and thus are spiritual Israel. God will choose some from out of them to make up the royal spiritual House of Judah to rule over the House of Israel. This is no different than today's nations having their members ruling over them (presidents, kings, etc.). Okay, so now that we see how the bible defines what the Houses of Israel and Judah are, we need to know what is the Covenant that was promised to them:
NEW COVENANT We have seen that the two Houses are related. According to prophecy, the covenant to be made with Israel is this: God would put His law within them and their hearts; He will become their God and they will become His people, and all will know God and He will forgive their sins (Jeremiah 31:33-34, Hebrews 8:10). Knowing that covenants must be inaugurated by blood (Hebrews 9:18, 20-22), Christ said that this New Covenant was to be started through his blood, which was symbolized by the wine at the Last Supper (Luke 22:19-20). We know that Christ's death is the inauguration of the New Covenant because he called it the "blood of the New Covenant" (Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20). Thus, Christ pouring out his blood for us is the beginning of the New Covenant intended for both the House of Israel and the subset House of Judah. Paralleling this is 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, which states that eating the unleavened bread and drinking the wine is symbolic of proclaiming Christ's death for us until he returns. The shedding of his blood makes Christ the mediator of this New Covenant (Hebrews 12:23-24), and this makes Christ the sole mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5-6). Christ had to mediate this New Covenant in order to release people from sin, so that a kingdom covenant with Judah could be carried out. (The Kingdom Covenant is addressed under the next subheading) This New Covenant was necessary in order to cleanse us from sin, otherwise there'd be nobody spiritually clean enough to be chosen for the Kingdom Covenant made with the House of Judah. Only after this cleansing occurs can anyone be chosen for Judah, which is pointed out at Hebrews 9:15. The New Covenant releases us from the old Law Covenant of the ancient Israelites, and allows those who are called into the House of Judah to receive the Kingdom (Hebrews 9:15-22). This means that since we are all under this New Covenant, we are all under Christ's mediatorship and his blood for forgiveness of sin. This New Covenant makes the former covenant obsolete (Hebrews 8:13).
BREAD AND WINE Luke 22: 19-20 Then taking bread and giving thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying "This is my body to be given for you. Do this as a remembrance of me." He did the same with the cup after eating, saying as he did so: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you." Here, Christ is stating that the unleavened bread symbolized his body that he was about to sacrifice for us. This unleavened bread was to replace the Passover lamb, for under the Old Covenant, the Passover lamb symbolized Christ's body (this is discussed in detail under the page titled "The Lamb") (compare Exodus 12:1-11 with John 1:29 and 1 Corinthians 5:7). It is logical that the unleavened bread would now become the symbol for Christ because leaven symbolized sin and corruption (Matthew 16:6, 1 Corinthians 5:6-8), whereas Christ was to die without sin or corruption (1 Peter 2:22), and therefore was "unleavened".The entire nation of Israel was expected to eat of the Passover lamb under the Old Covenant, symbolizing the future expectation of Christ's sacrifice (Exodus 12:3). The entire assembly was to eat it because it signified that Christ was to die for all, not just a few (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). Now, as Christ passed the tests put on him, and proved himself unsullied, he could now begin the New Covenant, with the unleavened bread symbolizing his pending, sinless, sacrifice. This is related to the Passover, the only real difference being that the Old Covenant was in expectation of his sacrifice, and the New Covenant was for the remembrance of that sacrifice now being past. Next, he took the cup of wine and passed that around, stating it symbolized his blood that he was about to pour out for the cleansing of our sins. He specifically mentions that this is in relation to the New Covenant. Note that this includes, not just physical Israel today, but anyone who is of Spiritual Israel, for according to God all people can be cleansed of sin through Christ's blood. This is supported at Acts 10:28, 45, and Ephesians 3:6. Note that Christ stated that we were to "do this as a remembrance of" him, showing that this was to be a repeated occurrence on a regular basis. This is to be done until his return (1 Corinthians 11:26).
CONCLUSION It is evident in scripture that the "Israel" of God is actually a spritual Israel, not a group consisting of only the blood-related Israeli race. Therefore, we can deduce from scripture that the bread and the wine are symbolic of Christ's sacrifice that cleanses all humanity from the curse of sin. Since all mankind is eligible to be covered under the New Covenant, then all who have true faith in this New Covenant are expected to share in eating the bread and drinking the wine.
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