Supposedly, Israel as a nation was in some sort of “covenant of works” with God and would lose the Land if they violated that covenant.

A “covenant of works” supposedly mandates some level of obedience (since we’re post-Fall at Sinai perfect obedience is not possible) as a condition for some kind of benefit.  This is opposed to a “covenant of grace” which is (here it gets murky) either without conditions or the condition is some sort of faith–though a faith that is oxymoronicly described as a non-action so that it does not count as a “work.”  “Believe” is not a verb in the incoherent grammar of would-be-Reformed theologians.

But what did the “nation” have to do to come under the curses of the covenant that was not also done by individuals?

I’ve been reading through Jeremiah in my regular reading, so I’ll start there:

Chapter 10:

Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
and there is no breath in them.
They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
the Lord of hosts is his name.

Gather up your bundle from the ground,
O you who dwell under siege!
For thus says the Lord:
“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land
at this time,
and I will bring distress on them,
that they may feel it.”

People are worshiping false gods and are thus about to feel covenant sanctions.  How in God’s name is this not judgment for unbelief–for a failure to trust the true God–for a lack of faith?

From Jeremiah 16:

And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, “Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?” then you shall say to them: “Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the Lord, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me. Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.”

If you don’t need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing you don’t need to be a Bible scholar to realize that people are losing their place in the land because they have turned to other gods and lords?  Was the Corinthian Church under “a covenant of works” when Paul warned them that they would be destroyed if they committed idolatry (First Corinthians 10.1ff)?

For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

Judgment on the nation was judgment on individuals just as national behavior was also the behavior of individuals.  There is nothing done in Israel between Moses and the cross that is any different in principle from the warnings Jesus gives to the churches in Revelation 2-3.

This bizarre theory is completely unBiblical and needs to be mocked or at least repudiated.  There is no justification for it’s existence–to say nothing of its advocates pretending to be theological experts and specially qualified to guard orthodoxy.  They need to become orthodox themselves before they comment on others.