WALKING The COVENANT WAY: PART 8 of 8: the NEW Covenant - SECTIONS One and Two
SECTION ONE ~
We are now venturing into an examination of the very last of the covenants GOD made with mankind in general, and also with Israel specifically. The Edenic and Adamic Covenants as well as the Noahic Covenants were intended for all people; the Abrahamic, Mosaic, Land (Palestinian), Davidic were all given to Israel, with a ‘loop-hole’ of sorts in the Abrahamic Covenant afforded to the Gentiles – that if they have “like precious faith” (2 PET 2:1-4) as Abraham, then they too would be saved and become members of another nation of Abraham (of which he had a few through his many sons) as comprised in the church (1 PET 2:9).
All of these covenants are summed up and fulfilled in the Person of Christ, the Son of Abraham, the Son of David (MATT 1:1).
The paradise that was conditioned upon the Edenic Covenant is fulfilled by Christ in the greater paradise GOD will freely give to us His saints in the New Earth at the sole expense of Christ’s sacrifice. The greater Eden won’t only be in a state of Innocence like the first, it will be incorruptible!
The Adamic Covenant is fulfilled by the Last (and Greater) Adam (1 COR 15:45-47) by whom all who believe in Him will never be cast out (HEB 13:5) as were Adam and Eve. The LORD Jesus becomes the new Head of the new human race of righteousness, contrasted by the first Adam as the Head of the Fallen human race of sin. Through Christ, All Things Become New!
In the Noahic Covenant Christ becomes the true Ark by which all who come to Him will be kept safe from the Final Wrath (and the Great White Throne Judgment, and the ultimate and eternal perdition in Gehenna). The ark was “covered in pitch” (GEN 6:14) and the term used for covered there is the Hebrew word for “atonement”. Likewise all who confess Christ are covered by the atoning blood of the Lamb (ROM 5:11) and the subsequent robe of righteousness (ISA 61:10)!
The Abrahamic Covenant is perfectly fulfilled by Christ in that “GOD shall provide Himself an offering for sin” (as it reads in the Hebrew text) and here one can make the able connection between GENESIS 22:2,8, and JOHN 3:16! Abraham named the place where he was willing to offer up his son, JEHOVAH JIREH, which is to say “In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen (or provided; GEN 22:14)” – and what did Abraham see? I believe it was a vision of Christ crucified for the sin of the world (JOHN 8:56-58).
The Mosaic Covenant is ultimately fulfilled in Christ who fulfilled all the Law perfectly, flawlessly (MATT 5:17; ROM 8:3; EPH 5:27; 1 PET 1:19) and provided the perfect sacrifice for sin that didn’t merely cover them but destroyed them (HEB 7:19-27;1 PET 1:19; ROM 3:25; 1 JOHN 2:2).
The Land Covenant will also be perfectly fulfilled by Christ in that He had always obeyed the holy Law of GOD and thereby entitled to enjoy the land that national Israel was “uprooted and cast out” of every time they were disobedient and unrepentant (DEUT 29:28). This is the land that GOD promised to Abraham from the Nile to the Euphrates river (a land mass roughly the size of Texas!) upon which Christ’s Messianic kingdom shall be established.
In the Davidic Covenant He is the Messiah King Who shall rule from that land during the Millennial Reign of Christ. And as the LORD Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the Son of David, He is the rightful heir to the throne of Israel (LUKE 1:31-33), ruling in the yet future kingdom of Israel (ACTS 1:6-7).
All of this points to the New Covenant, or as we often refer to it as the New Testament. By this New Covenant Israel the nation will become spiritually reborn just as individual Gentiles (and Jews) are today and who are baptized into (and identified with) Christ in His he body, the church (separate and distinct from national Israel).
On the Day of the LORD’s Return, Israel will acknowledge her Messiah and that’s when as a nation they will become spiritually reborn, empowered by the Spirit to truly walk in the ways of the LORD with all of their hearts and minds – something they could only do imperfectly and in truth, seldomly throughout her history.
By the New Covenant we Gentiles are transformed to saints and become the bride of Christ and will rule and reign alongside Him in His coming Kingdom.
So let’s examine the Scriptures and see what they reveal to us regarding this New Covenant:
JEREMIAH 31:31-34
31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah 32 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.
This phrase “Behold, the days are coming” is mentioned in these other verses: vs. 27, 29, 31. The LORD is mentioning these very specific days that address what GOD intends on doing with the nation of Israel, something that He intended all along, in the midst of this nation’s abject failures and deplorable conduct through history.
This reminds me of the covenant GOD made with King David (2 SAM 7) that was so epic and mind blowing that the King of Israel had to go to the other room and sit down (vs. 18). David himself would have the exclusive honor of the Messiah coming through his family lineage and He would reign from his own throne in Jerusalem forever and ever!
However, four chapters later (2 SAM 11), King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah murdered. GOD knew it all along, but regardless of these transgressions (PSA 32:1-2; 51:1-4), He established this unconditional covenant with this man who was indeed a man after GOD’s own heart!
On a side note, check out this FROM The MIND of FIRE article that deals with this sordid episode and how GOD wrought salvation through it:This new covenant is distinct and separate from the old covenant GOD made with Moses, because while the Law revealed and established is perfect and holy, the covenant was weak due to the spiritual frailty of man in his sinful state (ROM 8:3) – which required the blood of bulls and goats to cover (but unable to take away) the sins of humanity (HEB 10:1-4).
SIX LETHAL LEVELS INTO SIN.
This new covenant would bring about a Divine intervention, in that GOD Himself, rather than the volitional will of man who may or may not rest the Law in their minds and hearts, will perform this ‘spiritual surgery’ in this everlasting covenant!
This “Everlasting covenant” is mentioned in:
ISAIAH 61:8-10
8 "For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth and will make with them an everlasting covenant. 9 Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, That they are the posterity whom the LORD has blessed." 10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
This portion from ISAIAH succinctly describes the operation of salvation established upon the everlasting covenant: note – “the garments of salvation” (plural) and “the robe of righteousness” (singular).
The work of salvation is multi-fold: there is atonement, propitiation, imputation, justification, sanctification, consecration, and glorification. Hence the idea of many “garments”.
Yet there is only one means to acquire righteousness, the only righteousness that is satisfactory to the Father – the righteousness of Christ Himself; it is a single robe to the exclusion of all others that’s suitable for the kingdom of GOD (this is addressed in part in the parable of the wedding invitation in MATT 22; specifically vs.12-13).
This covenant that addresses the heart of man and GOD’s spiritual surgery there is spoken of here as well:
EZEKIEL 36:24-30
24 "For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 28 "Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. 29 "I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it and bring no famine upon you. 30 "And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations.
JEREMIAH 17:9 states that the heart of unregenerate man is incurably (“desperately” KJV) wicked. Not even GOD can cure this vile thing – so He performs what would amount to a spiritual heart transplant. He removes the old, sinful heart and replaces it with a freshly made heart of His own creation, brought about by the repentant sinner’s faith in the finished work of Christ’s salvation that initiates this Omnipotent Operation.
This is why we who are born again saints are referred to as “sons of GOD”.
Adam was called a “son of GOD” (LUKE 3:38). Angels likewise are referred to as “sons of GOD” (JOB 1:6; 2:1). What do these have in common? All of these are a direct creation by GOD.
When a person repents of their sin, turns to Christ for salvation, and is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of the living GOD, He couldn’t possibly dwell with the slightest taint of sin.
Therefore a new heart, sealed by the Holy Spirit (2 COR 1:22), is granted to the new born child of GOD, and thus, we no longer have “a wicked heart” – a sinful nature in our flesh and minds, yes; but by sanctification the sinfulness of the mind is (or at least should be) diminishing, gradually “perfecting holiness” (2 COR 7:1). And the carnality of our flesh will be dealt with at the Day of our Redemption:
ROMANS 8:23
Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
SECTION TWO ~
EZEKIEL 36:31-36
31 "Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 "Not for your sake do I do this," says the Lord GOD, "let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!" 33 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. 34 "The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. 35 "So they will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.' 36 "Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken it, and I will do it."
For the LORD GOD, to have sin present anywhere in His Kingdom is a violation of His holiness and an intrusive offense of evil. As He is entirely righteous, He must put down evil wherever it may be found and render justice upon it – that involves condemnation and consignment in perdition.
Yet because of His love for us, as well as His love for Israel His desire is not to damn but to deliver. Salvation from sin accomplishes the eradication of evil in His kingdom, absolves GOD of rendering judgment on those He desires to save (and instead renders judgment on our Savior), and is the first step of His ultimate goal: restored fellowship and familial relationship with His creation of humanity. By His grace we are transformed from condemned sinners to commended saints, from being children of the devil to being children of GOD!
His desire is not merely to fellowship with His beloved by dwelling in temples made of stone, but to dwell in “fleshy tables of the heart” (2 COR 3:3) that is to say, the New Testament saints of GOD as a living temple:
1 PETER 2:4-6As deplorable as the nation state of Israel may be today for all of her immorality and false religious practices, a litany of sins that anti-Semites love to advertise (and based on these, assert that they are not worthy to be called GOD’s chosen people). Yet it was GOD Himself that chose Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – and those Jews who place their faith in Messiah, are accounted worthy the same way that we are made worthy today in the church: solely on the basis of Jesus Christ.
4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.
1 CORINTHIANS 3:16-17
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
2 CORINTHIANS 6:16-18
16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people." 17 Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you." 18 "I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty." (See also 1 COR 6:19; EPH 2:21)
And whereas we come to Christ on an individual basis, one day Israel will come to faith collectively as a nation when the Messiah returns:
EZEKIEL 36:25, 27,33a
25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 33a … 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities,
In these same passages above GOD promises Israel the restoration of their land, of their cities, of their agriculture; there is no spiritualizing these passages and then attributing them to the church. If taken literally, at face value, these verses strictly apply to the nation of the Jewish people, Israel.
EZEKIEL 36:24, 28, 29b-30, 33b-36
24 "For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.
28 "Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.
29b …I will call for the grain and multiply it and bring no famine upon you. 30 "And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations.
33b …I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. 34 "The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. 35 "So they will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.' 36 "Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken it, and I will do it."
All of this will come to fruition once Israel enters into the New Covenant with their Messiah! These promises are as certain, as dependable as the rising sun and the setting moon. GOD declares that once these celestial objects are no more, then all of His promises to Israel will have been fulfilled (The LORD Jesus Himself speaks on this in MATT 5:18-19).
JEREMIAH 31:35-38
35 Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name): 36 "If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the LORD, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever." 37 Thus says the LORD: "If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the LORD. 38 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that the city shall be built for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate (From the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate, this is the entire circumference of the city of Jerusalem, from “A to Z” in effect).
We believe that the completion of the church (“the fulness of the Gentiles”) is coterminous with GOD once again moving upon His people Israel.
Prior to the existence of the church, GOD’s eye was on the nation, seeking to draw her to repentance and to receive their Messiah; since they rejected the LORD Jesus nationally, GOD has reserved them for even more severe judgment that was foretold in DANIEL 9:24-27, which will transpire in the last week of the 70 Weeks prophecy outlined in this reference.
Chastening and judgment on the Jew first and then the Gentile for rejecting the One Who is the Bridegroom of the church. For this (among many other reasons) we believe that once the fulness of the Gentiles has been reached (and the rapture of the body of Christ occurs) then the spiritual blindness that’s happened on Israel will begin to lift, until finally, they witness the Second Coming and receive Y’shua ha Mashiyach (See ZECH 12; esp. vs. 10-14).
ROMANS 11:25-29This spiritual blindness was mentioned by the LORD Jesus Himself as He made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday:
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins." 28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
MATTHEW 23:36-39This testament or covenant was specific to Israel, just as the Abrahamic Covenant, the Mosaic and Land Covenant and the Davidic Covenant was. Something that must be understood however, is that the New Testament church was hidden in the Old Testament Scriptures. The apostle Paul called this “a mystery (once secret, now revealed; EPH 5:32; ROM 16:25)” concerning His apostleship to the Gentiles (of which, predominantly) that became the church of the LORD Jesus Christ (EPH 3:1-6).
36 "Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 "See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 "for I say to you, you shall see Me no more until you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!
LUKE 19:41-42
41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
EPHESIANS 2:11-13Both Israel and the church are recipients of the Gospel – but while we are in what some refer to as “the age of grace” or as I prefer it, “the church age” any Jew who receives Y’shua ha Mashiyach is “grafted back in” (ROM 11:24) and is part of the church, until the bride of Christ is caught up. This will end the church age, and the 70th (and last) week of Daniel commences. Jews who come to faith in Y’shua after the rapture will be considered “Messianic Jews” of the nation of Israel.
11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
While the church receives the Gospel (which Israel will receive later on) she remains distinct from Israel. We were once “…aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise…” but now are afforded the same salvation, the same indwelling of the Spirit, the same citizenship in heaven as the nation of Israel is promised!
Apostle Paul elaborates here:
EPHESIANS 3:3-9Contrasting the Old Testament, specifically the Mosaic Covenant with the New Covenant, we find that the New is “better” just as is the ministry of Christ over that of Moses is “more excellent”:
3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. 8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;
HEBREWS 8:6-13The Law under the Mosaic Covenant was always intended to fulfill one primary purpose: to expose the sin nature of man from which he couldn’t possibly free himself:
6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah 9 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD. 10 "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 "None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." 13 In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
1 TIMOTHY 1:9-11The Law will also fulfill another purpose during the returning “kingdom of Israel”. Every nation has its laws, so will Israel in the Millennial Reign of the Messiah – and no law was ever so glorious as THIS! The difference is, that the people of Israel at this time will be empowered by the indwelling Spirit just as we the church are empowered to live holy lives in Christ!
9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
This concludes this Eight Part series!
There is a video series on these covenants recorded by a Messianic Jewish scholar, Gideon Levytam at the YouTube Channel, The HOLY SCRIPTURES And ISRAEL. These videos are awesome! Enjoy!
The EIGHT Covenants of GOD.
The NEW COVENANT.
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