In 1 Peter 2:9—10, the apostle gives a summary statement regarding the New Testament church. Writing to the scattered believers and churches throughout Asia Minor, Peter defines the new covenant church in terms drawn from the old covenant descriptions of the people of Israel:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.7
What is so remarkable about this description of the church is that it identifies the church with the exact terminology used in the Old Testament to describe the people of Israel with whom the Lord covenanted. The best reading of this language takes it literally to mean that the new covenant church is altogether one with the old covenant church. The Lord does not have two peculiar peoples, two holy nations, two royal priesthoods, two chosen races — he has only one, the church of Jesus Christ.
WOW!!!
That is the point exactly!!
Now go to Matthew 21: 33 - 46 and you can see the parable where the Lord told the Jews that the theocratic kingdom was going to be taken from them and given to this "new nation".
That is why I have to be Catholic. The parable shows us a kingdom which is physical, seen, and earthly. There is no warrant to understand the Church in a paradigm other than that which existed in the Old Covenant. The administration of the Church changed....the Church's nature, however, did not. It is still physical, earthly, and seen.
And that is one of many reasons why I am a Preterist.
