There are a lot of great truths in the OT about the Lord Jesus that are missed in our Bible study. For example, the great Messianic chapter, Isaiah 42 tells, us that Christ will be both a covenant for the nation of Israel, and a light to the nations (v. 6). This ties in with Jeremiah 31 where it is said that God "will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah (v. 31). It will be in contrast with the Mosaic covenant (the Law) (v. 32). This new covenant has a spiritual connotation for the Jewish people. It brings "forgiveness of their iniquities," and because of it, God says "I will remember no more their sin" (v. 34b). This new covenant is first for the house of Israel and house of Judah. One cannot allegorize this and say this refers to the church, which the amills foolishly do!
The Lord Jesus ratifies the new covenant by His blood. "This cup is poured out for you [and] is the new covenant in My blood" (Luke 22:20). The new covenant then was launched at Pentecost. This was prophesied in Joel 2. But it is important to note that the Bible does not say that it is fulfilled in the church. The church indeed benefits by the new covenant, with forgiveness of sin and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but it will only be fulfilled with the Jews in the future Davidic and millennial kingdom.
As Isaiah 42, chapter 49 is also a Messianic passage. In this chapter it is clear that the Messiah "was called by the Lord from the womb; [and the Messiah says] from the body of My mother He named Me" (v. 1). In verse 8 the Lord is speaking to His Messiah and says: "I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, to restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages." Thus it is by the new covenant also that the Holy Land will be restored to the Jewish people. This has to do with the actual land, the dirt, the acreage of the Holy Land! THE RESTORED LAND, THE INHERITANCE, THE DESOLATE HERITAGES. You cannot allegorize this idea!
How in the world can the allegorical guys, the amillennialists, foul up this passage and spiritualize it? But that is exactly what they do! The amil guy Ellicott destroys the passage when he writes on verse 8: "The prophet Isaiah may have thought of a literal fulfillment such as was probably in part accomplished by Zerubbabel, but we now see the prediction in the light of its fulfillment [in the church], and look to the spiritual inheritance." Talking about being blinded! So the literalness of the land no longer has any meaning? --Dr. Mal Couch
