Old covenant the nation collectively was
Old covenant the nation collectively was(TOC)
The object of the love of Jehovah
A real advance beyond the Old Testament must be noted in two other respects. Under the old covenant the nation collectively was the object of the love of Jehovah. In our Lord's teaching the possession of this privilege is individualized. God is the Father of every disciple in the kingdom.
There had been approaches to this in prophetic revelation, but how partial they were may be gathered from the fact that the messianic King is the only individual whom the Old Testament represents as calling God His Father in prayer. In all other instances of this kind, the theocratic congregation is the praying subject. In the second place, what is even more important, the conception of the divine love is universalized. First of all, this means that it is denationalized. It was not our Lord's calling to engage during His earthly life in missionary activity among the Gentiles. As a preacher He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel only. And as a preacher He conscientiously kept within the limits prescribed by the Old Testament, to the extent even of reserving the title of children for the members of the covenant nation, as His discourse with the Syro-Phoenician woman shows. At the same time He distinctly foretold that in virtue of the completion of His own work the gospel would soon be preached to all the nations. And in an indirect way this tendency toward denationalization may be seen at work even in His treatment of Israelites. In the Israelite it is the man as such, the universal man, sin as a universal human phenomenon, salvation as a universal human need, that the Savior deals with.