Doctrine of the New Covenant, part 14.

Title: Doctrine of the New Covenant, part 14.  

 

We noted last night that in the Millennium all believers will know the Lord, and that during that thousand years the earth will be without lies and deception. It may be that those in the Millennium who know the Lord will look back at our history and its rampant deception, and they will marvel at those who despite our world came to know the Lord.

 

HEB 8:10 "For this is the covenant that I will make ["covenant that I will covenant" - the noun and the verb are of the same root] with the house of Israel

After those days, says the Lord:

I will put My laws into their minds,

And I will write them upon their hearts.

And I will be their God,

And they shall be My people.

 

HEB 8:11 "And they shall not [ou-me: two negatives make it emphatic] teach everyone his fellow citizen,

And everyone his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,'

For all shall know Me,

From the least to the greatest of them.

 

HEB 8:12 "For I will be merciful to their iniquities,

And I will remember their sins no [ou-me: two negatives make it emphatic] more."

 

Complete remission of sins is prerequisite to participating in the blessings of the NC. In the OT, animal sacrifices were reminders of sin day by day.

 

HEB 8:13 When He said, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

 

The writer of Hebrews makes the point that the first covenant (Mosaic) is permanently made antiquated. The NC will be fulfilled by Israel in the future Millennium, but the spiritual blessings of a/the NC have been extended to the church.

 

Whether one holds a two or one NC view, it is clear that the spiritual blessings promised to Israel in that covenant have been given to the church. The application of these blessings will be in a completely different environment in the Millennial reign of Christ and perhaps their manifestation will be slightly different, but such details are not given to us. However, despite that the lack of details allows certain questions to remain unanswered in our minds, we should all rejoice that such blessings, only dreamed of in the OT economy as they labored as minors under the Mosaic Law, have been given to every believer in the body of Christ.

 

When Jesus spoke to the disciples in the upper room about a New Covenant in His blood, He did not explain that He meant anything different than the only New Covenant that they knew of as Jews.

 

This is simply evidence for the one NC view.

 

The Mosaic Covenant was only able to cover the sins of Israel, but the NC will take them away.

 

As we see in the NC, "I will remember their sins no more," and for this to be true there has to be a remission of sins.

 

MAT 26:27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; 

 

MAT 26:28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

 

MAR 14:24

And He said to them, "This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."

 

"My blood of the covenant" emphasizes the foundational aspect of the covenant since a blood sacrifice was required.

 

Luke and Paul quote Jesus as saying "This is the new covenant in My blood."

 

ZEC 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

He is just and endowed with salvation,

Humble, and mounted on a donkey,

Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

 

By presenting Himself to Jerusalem humble, and mounted on the foal of a donkey, He was exhibiting to the people that the kingdom was not to come by force of arms, but by suffering and death. He sought to neutralize the carnal expectations of the people as to the worldly character of the Messianic kingdom.

 

ZEC 9:10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim [northern kingdom],

And the horse from Jerusalem [southern kingdom];

And the bow of war will be cut off.

And He will speak peace to the nations [Gentiles];

And His dominion will be from sea to sea,

And from the River to the ends of the earth.

 

ZEC 9:11 As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

 

The allusion is to the pit in the wilderness that Joseph was thrown into by his brothers. Jeremiah was also cast into a waterless pit. Such a pit is certain death. Safety is only a few feet away, but the person cannot climb out. His only hope is to get help. It represents the misery of Israel's captivity, which is really just a manifestation of the inadequacy of man, Jew or Gentile.

 

This gets to the heart of why the New Covenant must be in His blood and not in His conquering sword.

 

The blessed Jewish nation found itself in a waterless pit and this shows that every Gentile nation, minus such blessings, is in the same pit.

 

ROM 2:29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

 

Is there any advantage to being a Jew if a Jew is only one inwardly?

 

Paul then anticipates the question, "is there any advantage to being of the Jewish nation or being physically circumcised?" And we would expect Paul to say emphatically no, but he says:

 

ROM 3:1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?

 

ROM 3:2 Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

 

Since they were faithless then their blessings are useless, are they still benefited? Their faithlessness showed God's faithfulness to be unconditional.

 

The next argument would have been that there was in fact no benefit or advantage to being a Jew since they proved unfaithful this trust, but Paul anticipates and counters that faithlessness never alters God's faithfulness or frustrates His purpose.

 

ROM 3:3 What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?

 

ROM 3:4 May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written,

"That Thou mightest be justified in Thy words, And mightest prevail when Thou art judged."

 

The next anticipated argument is that if my faithlessness sets God's faithfulness in a bolder relief, then why should He find fault with me?

 

ROM 3:5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.)

 

"I am speaking in human terms" - this is really a very foolish argument, but men are fools and they will make it.

 

ROM 3:6 May it never be! For otherwise how will God judge the world?

 

ROM 3:7 But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?

 

The foolish debater persists, as fools do, and asks, "if my sin shows God's grace and magnifies His faithfulness, why does He judge me as a sinner?"

 

This is typical "ends justify the means" thinking, which our world is always full of. If God's glory is the end, and that is good, and my sin is the means, then why is it counted wrong?

 

ROM 3:8 And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say), "Let us do evil that good may come"? Their condemnation is just.