The fact that the Apostles might at first have not clearly understood their mission to Gentiles, didn't change the fact that Abraham's story (and hence, Israel's story) was a story which from its beginning was always going to go somewhere - not just to Israel (who hadn't even been born yet when the promise was given): the promise was from the beginning going to be about "all nations"!
So, the Church, the Gospel, isn't just some other story inserted in the interim while we wait for God to get back to continuing His real story with Judaism. No, the Church 'is' the very story of Abraham unfurled - because the centre of the promise was the Seed, which is Christ - and the Church is the Messianic body, in which there was neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, bond nor free. Since Israel had become the custodians of Abraham's promise, once the Seed came this good news was proclaimed to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
So Abraham's story was like a river that was always meant to overflow its banks and flood the whole land - and once that happened the river became indistinguishable within the flooded plain. Not because the river is now inferior to the flood, but because the river has become a flood.
Or like a dam's spillway, athough its construction included channels in which the water could at first flow, it was also from the outset designed with preparations for the event that the sheer volume of water would overflow those channels - and when that's happening, the channels are all but invisible and useless - the water inside the channels is all but indistinguishable from what's outside - it's now just one wide torrent of water flowing!
So, the Church, the Gospel, isn't just some other story inserted in the interim while we wait for God to get back to continuing His real story with Judaism. No, the Church 'is' the very story of Abraham unfurled - because the centre of the promise was the Seed, which is Christ - and the Church is the Messianic body, in which there was neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, bond nor free. Since Israel had become the custodians of Abraham's promise, once the Seed came this good news was proclaimed to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
So Abraham's story was like a river that was always meant to overflow its banks and flood the whole land - and once that happened the river became indistinguishable within the flooded plain. Not because the river is now inferior to the flood, but because the river has become a flood.
Or like a dam's spillway, athough its construction included channels in which the water could at first flow, it was also from the outset designed with preparations for the event that the sheer volume of water would overflow those channels - and when that's happening, the channels are all but invisible and useless - the water inside the channels is all but indistinguishable from what's outside - it's now just one wide torrent of water flowing!
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