Doctrine of the New Covenant, part 13.

Title: Doctrine of the New Covenant, part 13.  

 

The film Darkest Hour, which is coming out in November of this year, and which is a movie about Winston Churchill, played by Gary Oldman, becoming Prime Minister and dealing with WWII got a rating of 5.4 out of 10. I was curious to see if it was actually not well made, and so I dug a little deeper. I found that people aged 18-29 gave it a 5.3 and people aged 30-44 gave it a 4.1, and that people aged 45 and over gave it a 9.0, with the females of that group giving it a 9.7 out of 10. I believe those statistics speak of our current culture.

 

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.

 

"In fact, there is no period of the history of Israel before the captivity, in which more or less idolatry was not united with the worship of Jehovah, except the time of David and the first years of Solomon, during which the influence of Samuel still continued to be felt. And when by the captivity idol-worship was completely eradicated from the people, as far at least as regards that part of it which returned, it is well-known that a hypocritical letter-worship got the mastery over them, which was morally very little better." [Delitzsch]

 

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.

 

Laws to be written right on the heart, the indwelling Spirit, and the grace to desire God's will and the power to execute it.

 

In the case of the Mosaic Covenant, God wrote His laws on tables of stone to be obeyed by the regenerated Israelite. In the case of the New Covenant, He writes them on the mind and heart in the sense that He not only regenerates the individual, but He provides for the personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer, in whose ministrations are added resources of grace which give the believer both the desire and the power to do God's will.

 

Let's see it said again:

2Co 3:2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;

 

2Co 3:3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.

 

2Co 3:4 And such confidence we have through Christ toward God.

 

2Co 3:5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,

 

2Co 3:6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

 

Php 2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;

 

Php 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

 

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.

 

All will be able to learn and all will know him regardless of class or profession. Truth will be found everywhere and in every media outlet.

 

There will not be a privileged class of priest or scribe who has access to more knowledge than others. At Sinai, when the Lord first spoke to the people, they were terrified and asked that, from then on that Moses would tell them the word of the Lord. From that point on, the people relied on priests and prophets to speak to them the word of truth, but:

 

Under the New Covenant, intermediaries, i.e. priests, are no longer needed. God will speak directly to His people through the Holy Spirit when they hear the truth.

 

This is true in our age as well, but what they will not have is false doctrine and deception all around them as we have. Remember, in each age, or in each dispensation, God is revealing some unique things that are particular to that time. If you're like me, you want to know why in that age all believers will know Him, and in our age only some believers seem to know him and there is great ignorance of Him everywhere, but we must be careful of conjecture, for it only leads to false doctrines. We can see in our own age that some people have far easier lives than others and we might ask why God gave to one differently than the other, but we can never really answer that question.

 

They are all equipped with the great Teacher, the Holy Spirit. The word will be spoken openly and freely without corruption or deception and they will all learn it. No one will have to say to another believer, "Know the Lord." Again, it doesn't mean that they don't have teachers or that they don't have to read scripture, but that they will not have to sift through false interpretations and false doctrines, which our current world is full of. If it is only the truth that is heralded from all media sources, then the believers, indwelt by the Spirit as they are, will fully know the truth. On every corner, on every channel, website, news article will be a truth from the biblical perspective.

 

Isa 54:13 "And all your sons will be taught of the Lord;

And the well-being of your sons will be great."  

 

Isa 11:9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,

For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord

As the waters cover the sea.

 

It is a cause of judgment that men:

 

Rom 1:25

For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

 

During the Millennium, God will do away with the lie. He will lock up the father of lies, the devil, for 1,000 years. This, along with many other aspects of the covenant, show beyond a doubt that the church does not fulfill it.

 

Psa 85 describes it:

 

Psa 85:8 I will hear what God the Lord will say;

For He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones;

But let them not turn back to folly [unconditional].

 

Psa 85:9 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him,

That glory may dwell in our land.

 

Psa 85:10 Lovingkindness and truth have met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

 

Psa 85:11 Truth springs from the earth;

And righteousness looks down from heaven.

 

Psa 85:12 Indeed, the Lord will give what is good;

And our land will yield its produce.

 

Psa 85:13 Righteousness will go before Him,

And will make His footsteps into a way.

 

The condition of abundant truth, without lie, will be all over the earth.

 

Psa 98:1 O Sing to the Lord a new song,

For He has done wonderful things,

His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.

 

Psa 98:2 The Lord has made known His salvation;

He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.

 

Psa 98:3 He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

 

We can try to imagine how wonderful such an earth will be, but we remember that many, many people will rebel against it. Also, we must remember that the spiritual blessing of truth has been given to the church. Although the earth is full of deception, if you can count yourself as one of them who are not deceived, you have an unlimited capacity for truth since the Spirit of God indwells you. No one has to admonish you to know the Lord, for you know Him.