Progressive Dispensationalist Robert L. Saucy writes that "God's promise to his people that he 'will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more,' stated as the climactic provision of the new covenant by Jeremiah (31:34; cf. also 33:8; 50:20), forms the basis for all other provisions. In the words of W. Rudolph, this promise 'stands at the conclusion not as a chance addition, but as the operative basis of the whole promise..." (Saucy, The Case for Progressive Dispensationalism [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House,1993], p.114-115).

The blessing of the "forgiveness of sins" under Israel's New Diaheke is the basis for all the blessings under that Diatheke.. It will now be shown that under Israel's New Diatheke the blessing of forgiveness of sins is stated as being “nationalistic” in nature.

In the following verses the application of a "forgiveness of sins" is directly tied to the "nation" of Israel:

"...blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins" (Ro.11:26-27).

In an address to the Evangelical Theological Society in 1954 Howard W. Ferrin quoted Dean Alford's commentary on these verses where Alford says that Paul "is dealing with 'nations'--with Gentile nations, and the Jewish nation. Thus dealing, he speaks of the fulness of the Gentiles coming in, and of all Israel being saved: having 'no regard' for the time of the 'individual' destinies of the Gentiles or the Jews, but regarding 'nations' as each included under the common bond of consanguinity, according to the flesh (Alford, "The Greek Testament, II," p.435)" (Ferrin, "All Israel Shall Be Saved," Bibliotheca Sacra 112 (July, 1955), p.241).

At verse twenty-seven Paul quoted from Isaiah 59:20-21 and 27:9, verses from the OT that speak of the end time deliverance of the nation of Israel. George Eldon Ladd writes that "in the Old Testament the eschatological salvation is always pictured in terms of the national, theocratic fate of the people of Israel" [emphasis added] (Ladd, The Last Things [Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978], p.8).

Since the words "all Israel shall be saved" are in reference to the eschatological salvation of the "nation" of Israel then are not the words in regard taking away sins also in regard to that same "nation"? Bruce Ware writes that "Israel still awaits a future action of God whereby he will bring 'all Israel' (Rom. 11:26), or the nation of Israel as a whole, under the provision of forgiveness of sins and Spirit-indwelling..." (Blaising & Bock, Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992], p.96).

God will bring the nation of Israel as a whole under the provision of forgiveness of sins. There can be no doubt that the forgiveness of sins under Israel's New Covenant is in regard to a “national” forgiveness. J .Bruce Compton also sees the same truth that Ware expressed:

"The promised deliverance encompasses the nation as a whole...the term 'Israel' refers to national, ethnic Israel, and the expression 'all Israel' refers to the nation as a whole... Paul’s point is that just as a remnant is presently experiencing salvation, so one day 'all Israel' will be saved...the nation’s sins being forgiven in his citation of Isaiah 27:9 in 11:27b, 'When I take away their sins.'" (Compton, "Dispensationalism, the Church, and the New Covenant," Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal [Fall, 2003], p.27).

Repentance and the Forgiveness of Sins: On the day of Pentecost the Apostle Peter addressed the following words to the nation of Israel:

"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out that the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you" (Acts 3:19).

The words of Peter here are in regard to the sending back of the Lord Jesus which is in relationship to the fulfillment of Israel's New Diatheke. Kenneth Barker says that "the prophetic setting of the new covenant announcement is Israel's final restoration to the land after the tribulation period and at Christ's second coming to the earth" [emphasis added] (Blaising & Bock, Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church, p.321).

The Father's sending back of the Son was dependent on a national repentance on the part of the nation of Israel. In an article written by Stanley D. Toussaint and Jay A. Quine we read that "it is concluded that in Acts 3:19-21 Peter was discussing the eschatological age promised in the Old Testament. But was he saying that if Israel repented, the kingdom would come? Was the kingdom contingent on Israel's response? The answer must be in the affirmative. Peter had just said that removal of their sins was contingent on their repentance" [emphasis added] (Toussaint & Quine, "No, Not Yet: The Contingency of God's Promised Kingdom," Bibliotheca Sacra 164 [April-June, 2007], p.144).

There is no doubt that the words of Peter were in regard to a "national" repentance which would have resulted in a forgiveness of sins for the "nation" of Israel.

In the "Scofield Reference Notes (1917)" at Acts 3:20 we read: "The appeal here is national to the Jewish people...the promise to national repentance is national deliverance: 'and he shall send Jesus Christ' to bring in the times which the prophets had foretold.' "

This "blotting out of sins" is in regard to the forgiveness of sins, the cleansing of "national" Israel that will occur upon "national" repentance:

"Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities" (Ez.36:32-33).

It is clear that the words in regard to "repentance" and sins being “blotted out” spoken by Peter at Acts 3:19 are in regard to a "national repentance,” as witnessed by the following words: "Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins" (Acts 5:31).

Receiving New Life: The national repentance which will bring a forgiveness of sins to the “nation” of Israel will also bring new life to that nation. Saucy writes that "the concept of forgiveness of sins can be seen also in Ezekiel's mention of cleansing in connection with receiving new life (cf. Eze 36:25-27)" (Saucy, The Case for Progressive Dispensationalism, p.115).

In summary, the “forgiveness of sins” under Israel's New Diatheke is nationalistic in nature and the receiving of that blessing is dependent on a national repentance. This forgiveness of sins will also bring new life to the nation of Israel, and this new life is described in the thirty-seventh chapter of the book of Ezekiel.

Here we will see that the “individual” receives the “forgiveness of sins” upon repentance and that this repentance and forgiveness of sins brings new life.

On the Damascus road the Lord Jesus said the following to Paul about the Gentiles: "...the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me" (Acts 26:18).

Under the "antitype" the "individual" Gentile's "forgiveness of sins" is dependent on "repentance" and this blessing results in receiving new life: "God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life" (Acts 11:18). This "repentance unto life" is certainly tied to "forgiveness of sins": "When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions" (Col.2:13; NASB).

The "forgiveness of sins" under today's New Diatheke is not in regard to forgiveness to a "nation" but instead to "individuals.” Saucy writes that "the lack of a 'national' character for the church in contrast to Israel is recognized by J.W. Flight: '...there is in the NT no hint of the orginization of a Christian state, or any evidence of a sense of nationality on the part of the Christians as there was in Judaism' " (Ibid., p.210).

Blaising understands that in traditional dispensationalism the "blessings" under today's New Diatheke are interpretated in an "individualistic" manner. He writes that "the heavenly nature of the church's salvation was interpreted by classical dispensationalists in an individualistic manner. Political and social issues were 'earthly' matters which did not concern the church. The church was a spiritual unity found in Christ. This unity manifested itself not only in the oneness of Christ but in the oneness of personal salvation. Issues in the church were individual, private, spiritual matters, not social, political, earthly matters" (Blaising & Bock, Progressive Dispensationalism, p.26).

Again, Donald K. Campbell writes that "it should be observed that a type presents a general though genuine resemblance of its antitype."

The "forgiveness of sins" in regard to the "nation" of Israel under her New Diatheke presents a genuine resemblance to an “individual” believer's "forgiveness of sins" under the New Diatheke which is in effect today so therefore there is no doubt that a typological relationship exists between the two.

The importance of understanding this typological relationship cannot be overestimated, especially since the "forgiveness of sins" under the New Diatheke promised to Israel and today's New Diatheke forms the basis for all of the blessings. Since the very basis of all the blessings under Israel's New Diatheke is a “type” then it cannot be any more evident that Israel's New Diatheke is a “type” of the New Diatheke that is in operation today.