My impression is the Bible portrays the New Covenant as a covenant of HOPE, in the following ways:
1. The New Covenant assured believers of entry into the Kingdom of God - at Christ's coming; and
2. It provided believers with an inner, living experience of the coming Kingdom - already, in their spirit, through the Holy Spirit, without the works of the Law.
I share the excitement that there's no doubt more freedom, peace and prosperity available to the Church, through the New Covenant, in this present world, than most of us have realised so far. Not only in the believer, but also in the measure of the over-spill from believers to the world, influencing and benefiting society at large. Bring that on!
But at the same time, I think the Bible also teaches that persecution will always exist alongside the Church, to varying degree, until He comes. Numerous Bible-verses could be cited, such as Jesus' parable about the tares being allowed to continue growing alongside the wheat until the very end.
So I think the New Covenant hope can be accurately taught and experienced without going so far as to assert that there must necessarily come the total elimination of everything bad in society-at-large before Jesus comes.
Certainly I think the New Covenant hope can be taught without saying that everyone living on earth at the time when Jesus comes must be believers, as some say.
I do see the importance of correctly identifying fulfilled prophecy (about all things Old Covenant), and distinguishing it from future things. So prophecies about the Temple, Levitical priesthood, sacrifices, and Messiah's inauguration of the Kingdom) for example, are likely all fulfilled already. That's an essential foundation for New Covenant teaching for sure.
But I don't see that all end-times prophecy referred to AD70 events exclusively. I think the New Covenant hope can be taught and experienced just as well if not better, without insisting that Bible-terms like the trumpet, the end of the world, the coming of the Lord, the resurrection, the wrath of God, perdition, the judgment, redemption, reward, salvation, the Kingdom, and the new heavens and earth, were each limited in their meanings to AD70 events alone.
I think I see in the Bible that some of those terms were given relevance to events and themes either side of AD70, not just to AD70 events alone. For example, Paul connected the coming of the Lord with the resurrection of the dead at the last trumpet; and assured that on that day we believers will be saved while unbelievers will undergo wrath. So themes such as "the coming of the Lord", "last trumpet", and "wrath of God" were given relevance to a Day which is still future, despite the fact that certain other prophecies were indeed fulfilled by the events of AD70.
Conceding that some end-time themes project beyond AD70 into the future while asserting that other prophetic themes have indeed been fulfilled already, takes nothing away from the New Covenant hope - rather it clarifies and supports New Covenant teaching.
Failing to see the already-fulfilled aspects of end-times prophecy can weaken New Covenant teaching by wrongly implying that Judaism must be in our future. But on the other hand, not conceding the still-future aspects of end-times prophecy could also discredit New Covenant teaching instead of help bring people out of their wrong ideas about Old Covenant ceremonies in future.
In summary, this is how I understand the New Covenant hope:
On the CROSS, the end of all things (not only of things Jewish) was at hand; the Old Covenant, sin, the devil and death were all defeated; judgment occurred; the new covenant was established; resurrection-life and the Kingdom of God were all INAUGURATED; the Kingdom is within you - but the SECOND COMING will bring its CONSUMMATION; the end of all things and the renewing of all things (not only of things Old Covenant), including the resurrection of the body, and new heavens and a new earth.
1. The New Covenant assured believers of entry into the Kingdom of God - at Christ's coming; and
2. It provided believers with an inner, living experience of the coming Kingdom - already, in their spirit, through the Holy Spirit, without the works of the Law.
I share the excitement that there's no doubt more freedom, peace and prosperity available to the Church, through the New Covenant, in this present world, than most of us have realised so far. Not only in the believer, but also in the measure of the over-spill from believers to the world, influencing and benefiting society at large. Bring that on!
But at the same time, I think the Bible also teaches that persecution will always exist alongside the Church, to varying degree, until He comes. Numerous Bible-verses could be cited, such as Jesus' parable about the tares being allowed to continue growing alongside the wheat until the very end.
So I think the New Covenant hope can be accurately taught and experienced without going so far as to assert that there must necessarily come the total elimination of everything bad in society-at-large before Jesus comes.
Certainly I think the New Covenant hope can be taught without saying that everyone living on earth at the time when Jesus comes must be believers, as some say.
I do see the importance of correctly identifying fulfilled prophecy (about all things Old Covenant), and distinguishing it from future things. So prophecies about the Temple, Levitical priesthood, sacrifices, and Messiah's inauguration of the Kingdom) for example, are likely all fulfilled already. That's an essential foundation for New Covenant teaching for sure.
But I don't see that all end-times prophecy referred to AD70 events exclusively. I think the New Covenant hope can be taught and experienced just as well if not better, without insisting that Bible-terms like the trumpet, the end of the world, the coming of the Lord, the resurrection, the wrath of God, perdition, the judgment, redemption, reward, salvation, the Kingdom, and the new heavens and earth, were each limited in their meanings to AD70 events alone.
I think I see in the Bible that some of those terms were given relevance to events and themes either side of AD70, not just to AD70 events alone. For example, Paul connected the coming of the Lord with the resurrection of the dead at the last trumpet; and assured that on that day we believers will be saved while unbelievers will undergo wrath. So themes such as "the coming of the Lord", "last trumpet", and "wrath of God" were given relevance to a Day which is still future, despite the fact that certain other prophecies were indeed fulfilled by the events of AD70.
Conceding that some end-time themes project beyond AD70 into the future while asserting that other prophetic themes have indeed been fulfilled already, takes nothing away from the New Covenant hope - rather it clarifies and supports New Covenant teaching.
Failing to see the already-fulfilled aspects of end-times prophecy can weaken New Covenant teaching by wrongly implying that Judaism must be in our future. But on the other hand, not conceding the still-future aspects of end-times prophecy could also discredit New Covenant teaching instead of help bring people out of their wrong ideas about Old Covenant ceremonies in future.
In summary, this is how I understand the New Covenant hope:
On the CROSS, the end of all things (not only of things Jewish) was at hand; the Old Covenant, sin, the devil and death were all defeated; judgment occurred; the new covenant was established; resurrection-life and the Kingdom of God were all INAUGURATED; the Kingdom is within you - but the SECOND COMING will bring its CONSUMMATION; the end of all things and the renewing of all things (not only of things Old Covenant), including the resurrection of the body, and new heavens and a new earth.
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