Which came first: The church or the nation of Israel?

÷

I understand that our interpretation will have us look at the church and Israel differently as you do see the truth in dispensations, pre-trib rapture and then comes the focus on Israel with the Kingdom to come like referenced in,


Acts 1:6-7
New International Version
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

As we have already interacted on the subject that will divide our view on eschatology that will also divide the difference between the church and Israel. Which may be the reason why some may want Israel and the Church to be of the same.

[...] then passages of scripture such as the following take on a much more informed meaning:

Matthew chapter 22

[...]
[6] And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
[7] But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
[8] Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
[9] Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

[10] So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
[11] And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

I think the NT ekklesia refers to the assembly of the body of Christ- which was a new thing.

I'm perfectly fine with this definition, and I think that it's brought out perfectly here:

I Corinthians chapter 2

[1] And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
[2] For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
[3] And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
[4] And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
[5] That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
[6] Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
[7] But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
[8] Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
[9] But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
[10] But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
[11] For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
[12] Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
[13] Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
[14] But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
[15] But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
[16] For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Are we foolish enough to believe that Old Testament saints didn't have any of the Bible's "mysteries" revealed to them by the Spirit of God?

For example, did any Old Testament saints foresee Christ's resurrection by the Spirit of God?

Of course, they did.

Here is but one of many examples that I could give:

"The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. " (Psalm 110:1)

And here is what Jesus Christ had to say about the same:

Matthew chapter 22

[41] While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,
[42] Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.
[43] He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,
[44] The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?
[45] If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?
[46] And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

David, "in spirit", or by Divine revelation, not only called Jesus "Lord", but he also foresaw Christ's resurrection and ascension back to heaven ("Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool").

Along these same lines, we read:

Acts chapter 2

[22] Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
[23] Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
[24] Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
[25] For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
[26] Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
[27] Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
[28] Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
[29] Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
[30] Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
[31] He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

My point?

Well, although Christ's crucifixion truly was a "mystery" to many (I Cor. 2:7-8), at the same time, there were many, like David, who foresaw the same by the Spirit of God.

Again, Paul's use of the word "mystery" in his epistles does NOT mean something that nobody knew.

Instead, he used it repeatedly in the sense of "mystery religions" in which only the initiated knew and understood certain things.

David was one of those initiated, and so were many other Old Testament saints who had things revealed unto them by the Spirit of God which others didn't understand.

Hopefully, this makes sense.

Why do you see a "difference here between the church and Israel"?

The disciples asked him this question for a reason.

We read:

Acts chapter 1

[1] The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
[2] Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
[3] To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
[4] And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
[5] For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
[6] When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

Jesus had not only spent much of his earthly ministry prior to "his passion" teaching about the coming kingdom of God, but he also spoke to his disciples about the same for forty days after his resurrection from the dead.

The outcome of these talks?

Well, the disciples rightly asked him "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?"

Why "rightly asked him"?

Well, because Jesus undoubtedly spoke to them about things such as this:

Micah chapter 4

[1] But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
[2] And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
[3] And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
[4] But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
[5] For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
[6] In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;
[7] And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.
[8] And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.

At Christ's second coming (he only comes twice - Heb. 9:27), "the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." In other words, as the prophesied son of David, Christ will reign and rule over this earth from within a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem as he sits upon the throne of his father David. At this time, even as we just read, "O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem." For this very reason, the very last question that Christ's disciples asked him before he ascended back to heaven was in relation to the timing of the kingdom being restored to Israel.

And...???

How does this somehow differentiate between Jews and Gentiles?

In other words, this is the exact promise that both believing Jews and believing Gentiles are waiting for, so where's the alleged difference?

Anyhow, there's no real distinction between Jew or Gentile here, nor is there elsewhere in the Bible.

Galatians chapter 3

[26] For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
[27] For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
[28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
[29] And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

We're told over and over again in scripture that God is no respecter of persons.

We're either in Christ and saved, or we're without Christ and lost.

Dispensationalism is a heretical teaching.

Our focus should be on Christ, and not on one's ethnicity.

Acts 1:6-7
New International Version
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”