Doctrine of the New Covenant, part 12.

Title: Doctrine of the New Covenant, part 12.  

 

The time has come - the fullness of times, which is the incarnation of the Son of God. Believers are no longer children as they were in the OT, but are now all adult sons.

 

1TH 5:1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you.

 

1TH 5:2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

 

1TH 5:3 While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

 

One of the many benefits of being sons is that we don't ever have to anticipate or fear judgment.

 

What is ironic is that the rest of the world should fear it, but they fool themselves with myths of "peace and safety."

 

1TH 5:4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief;

 

1TH 5:5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness;

 

On the first day of creation, when God said, "Let there be light:

 

GEN 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

 

GEN 1:2 And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

 

GEN 1:3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

 

GEN 1:4 And God saw that the light was good [we are sons of the light and sons of day]; and God separated the light from the darkness [we are not in darkness].

 

GEN 1:5 And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one [echav] day.

 

We were born into this world in darkness, but as believers we no longer are.

 

JOH 1:4-5

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

 

We have the life of Christ, and that life is the light that came into the darkness.

 

1TH 5:4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief;

 

1TH 5:5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness;

 

1TH 5:6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.

 

1TH 5:7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.

 

"Night" has a double meaning in this sentence - the literal night in which sleeping and drunkenness are most prevalent as well as the darkness of separation and independence from God.

 

1TH 5:8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober [aware and alert to the reality and truth of life and the world], having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

 

1TH 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 

1TH 5:10 who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.

 

"awake or asleep" - 4:13-18 … dead or alive at the Rapture of the church.

 

1TH 5:11 Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

 

All believing Israel were destined for promotion to adult sons, and most of them will receive it in the Millennial reign of Christ, but some Jews receive it in their lifetime because they believe in Christ during the age of the church.

 

So we go back to Heb 8. I will state again that the church does not fulfill the New Covenant. It is fulfilled to Israel at the second coming of Christ. We reject the amillennialist view that the covenant is being fulfilled by the church, which view they cannot show in the literal interpretation of scripture.

 

This passage makes the case that the old covenant has passed away. That is its point. Premillennialists have several interpretations of the new covenant with the church. Scofield regarded the New Covenant as having a twofold application, mostly to Israel in the Millennium and also to the church. Pentecost and Fruchtenbaum hold a similar view, while stating specifically that the spiritual aspects of the covenant have been extended to the church. Chafer, Walvoord, and Ryrie hold to the two New Covenant view in that there is a new covenant given to Israel and another one given to the church, both of which are based on the blood of Christ and the forgiveness of sins. These are the two main premillenialist views. The fact that such fine expositors of the Bible would differ on the question means that the question cannot be answered concretely through biblical revelation. We must always avoid conjecture.

 

HEB 8:6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

 

HEB 8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.

 

HEB 8:8 For finding fault with them, He says,

 

"Behold, days are coming, says the Lord,

When I will effect a new covenant

With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

 

HEB 8:9 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers

On the day when I took them by the hand

To lead them out of the land of Egypt;

For they did not continue in My covenant,

And I did not care for them, says the Lord.