Covenants, part 2

10-19-13 Bend

10-26-13 Medford

Introduction – Last time we began a series on the covenants with an overview of the major covenants that God made that are recorded in the Bible.

1. --With Noah – promise not to destroy the earth again with a flood
2. --With Abraham, Isaac & Jacob – promise of great number of descendants, inheritance of the land, material blessings
3. --With Israel at Mount Sinai – continuation of promise to Abraham, Isaac & Jacob plus deliverance from captivity and offer of blessings plus opportunity to be a model nation, conditional upon their obedience
4. --With David – perpetual dynasty, culminating in the Messiah
5. Prophecy of a New Covenant

 

Brief review

• Definition -  “Generally speaking, a covenant is a long term agreement between two or more parties that formalizes a binding relationship between them. It defines their essential obligations and commitments to each other” (The New Covenant, Does it Abolish God’s Law?, p. 9).

• --There are covenants with conditions or obligations and covenants with unconditional promises.
• --There are covenant conditions or obligations and covenant rituals or signs.

SPS – As promised last time, today we will get more specific regarding the transition from the covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the nation of Israel and the New Covenant mentioned in this prophecy.

• To begin with, we will take a closer look at Jeremiah’s prophecy of the New Covenant to see

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. 

• How does the New Covenant differ from the covenant God made with Israel at Mt. Sinai?
• Part of the answer is in the following verses that we will analyze.

33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD:

1. --I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts;
2. --I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 
3. 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.
4. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

 

Putting these points in chronological order of occurrence:

 

1. 1.  I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

Matthew 1:18-21  18 ¶ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.  19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.  20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.  21 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”

• --“The Hebrew word for "he will save" is … has the same Hebrew root … as the name Yeshua…. Thus the Messiah's name is explained on the basis of what he will do. Etymologically the name Yeshua' is a contraction of the Hebrew name Y'hoshua' (English "Joshua"), which means "YHVH saves." It is also the masculine form of the Hebrew word "yeshu'ah," which means "salvation."
• --Jesus = Greek form of Hebrew Yehoshua (“Joshua”) which LXX translates as iēsous

Hebrews 9:15   And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant.

NLT Hebrews 10:1-18  The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.  2 If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.  3 But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year.  4 For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 

5 That is why, when Christ1 came into the world, he said to God, "You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer.  6 You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin.  7 Then I said, 'Look, I have come to do your will, O God -- as is written about me in the Scriptures.' " 1  8 First, Christ said, "You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them" (though they are required by the law of Moses).  9 Then he said, "Look, I have come to do your will." He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect.  10 For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. 

11 Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.  12 But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God's right hand.  13 There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet.  14 For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.  15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,  16 "This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day,1 says the LORD: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." 2  17 Then he says, "I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds." 1  18 And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.

Hebrews 9:11-12, 15  11 ¶ But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.  12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption….  15 ¶ And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

• --Another difference = eternal inheritance (more on that next time)

Galatians 4:4-5 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law [lit. “under law”], 5 to redeem those who were under the law [lit. “under law”], that we might receive the adoption as sons.

• “adoption” – “The Greek term ui`oqesi,a (huiothesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance” (N.E.T. footnote).

NIV Galatians 4:4-5, 7   4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law,  5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons…. 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

 

2. 2.  I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts

• Put in mind = ability to understand God’s law and how to apply it
• What is the Old Covenant counterpart of this?

Deuteronomy 10:1-5  "At that time the LORD said to me, 'Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood.  2 'And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.'  3 "So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand.  4 "And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the LORD had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them to me.  5 "Then I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, just as the LORD commanded me."

John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

John 16:13 "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth….

1 Corinthians 2:12-16  12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.  13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 

14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.  16 For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

• --Write on heart = motivation to obey God

Deuteronomy 5:22-24, 27-29   22 ¶ " These words [the Ten Commandments] the LORD spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.  23 " So it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.  24 "And you said…. 27 'You go near and hear all that the LORD our God may say, and tell us all that the LORD our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.'  28 ¶ "Then the LORD heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me: 'I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken.  29 'Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!

• --“The people had not been able to live up to what they knew was the word from God. It remained external. Jeremiah looked for a time when people would not simply obey an external code but would be so transformed that God's own laws would be written in their inmost beings” (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary).

Romans 8:7  … the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

NLT Philippians 2:13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Romans 6:17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

Jeremiah 31:33 – I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts

Hebrews 8:10 – I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts….

• --Why the difference?

--Hebrews 8:10 quotes from the LXX (Greek OT), as is the case of most OT quotations in the NT.

• --Jews object to the Greek word nomos (“law”) as a translation of torah, which has a broader meaning of “instruction.”

 

3. 3.  I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 

Exodus 19:5-6 Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.  6 'And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'

 

• But Jeremiah writes that they broke the covenant they made with God.

Hosea 1:1-2  The word of the LORD that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.  2 ¶ When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: "Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the LORD."

Hosea 1:9 Then God said: "Call his name Lo-Ammi, For you are not My people, And I will not be your God. 

• --As result of being forgiven and because of understanding and being motivated to live by the laws of God, we have a relationship with God that OT Israel never enjoyed because of their sins of unbelief and disobedience.

Matthew 21:42-43  42 ¶ Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD's doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes'?  43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.

1 Peter 2:4-10  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."  7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,"  8 and "A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense…." 9 ¶ But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;  10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

NLT 1 John 1:5-6 ¶ This is the message we heard from Jesus1 and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

NLT 1 John 2:1 ¶ My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins -- and not only our sins but the sins of all the world. 3 And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 4 If someone claims, "I know God," but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

4. "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.

• --This will take place during the millennial rule of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 11:9   9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.

• All nations, and ultimately all mankind, including OT Israel, will be given the opportunity to participate in and partake of the benefits of the New Covenant.

Hosea 1:10  10 ¶ " Yet the number of the children of Israel Shall be as the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' There it shall be said to them, 'You are sons of the living God.'

Hosea 2:23   23 Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they shall say, 'You are my God!' "

• --The apostle Paul quotes these two passages in Romans 9-11 to explain this in great detail.

Jeremiah 24:7 'Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.

Hebrews 8:1-8, 13  Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,  2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.  3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer….  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. 

• 1. Forgiveness of sin through the sacrificial death of Christ vs. continual animal sacrifices
• 2. Ability to understand and apply the laws of God by means of the Holy Spirit vs. laws written tablets of stone and whole stones
• 3. Motivation to obey God vs. tablets of the law inside the ark of the covenant
• 4. Eternal life vs. inheritance of the land of Canaan & material blessings
• 5. Relationship with God

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. 

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.

• --Ex. – improved software that makes previous versions obsolete because of better features, so users gradually learn this and make the transition from the old to the new.

 

One more point that we should make before we close today….

• --There are covenant conditions or obligations and covenant rituals or signs.
• --“In ancient times, major covenants were ratified and kept alive through symbolic rituals that reflected each party’s commitment to, and acceptance of, the covenant’s binding requirements.

Matthew 26:26-28  26 ¶ And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."  27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.  28 "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26   23 ¶ For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;  24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."  (Do this to remember me as often as you drink it." – NLT) 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

• So we can say that the New Covenant is “kept alive through symbolic rituals that reflect our commitment to, and acceptance of, the covenant’s binding requirements.
• --Partaking of the Passover symbols offers us an annual reminder of the New Covenant that was made with us at baptism.