Imperishable Inheritance

Mark Karlberg asks the following questions to Dispensationalists in Covenant Theology in Reformed Perspective (pg. 280).

Whereas traditional covenant theology regards the earthly promises associated with the Mosaic economy to be symbolic and typical (and thus fulfilled by Christ in two phases: first, in the new, semi-eschatological age of the Spirit, and second, in the New Heavens and the New Earth yet to come), dispensationalism goes beyond this position by retaining an additional, literal fulfillment in Palestine during the millennium. The dispensational interpretation of the millennium raises the following important questions:

1. Does not the glorious age of the Church seemingly fade in comparison with the glory of the earthly, thousand-year, theocratic rule of Christ in Palestine?
2. Is national Israel or the true, spiritual Israel (the Church) the immediate object of God's saving activity revealed in the incarnation, life and death of Jesus Christ, in the Father's raising of his Son in the power of the Spirit, and in the subsequent outpouring of the Spirit upon the Church?
3. Does not the idea of a distinct (future) messianic-kingdom climax prior to the eternal state undermine the sufficiency and finality of the reconciling work of Christ (Eph 2:11-22)?

Resolution of lingering differences of interpretation among evangelicals depends, to a large extent, on a proper assessment of the nature and function of OT typology.