The New Covenant
Bible Study Time 9-9-07
Bible Study Time 9-9-07
James Dobson once told about a marine who was severely wounded in the terrorist bombing in Beirut. When his commander visited him in the hospital, this marine had so many tubes running in and out of his body that it was said that he looked more like a machine than a man; yet he was still alive.
As the commander drew near, the marine motioned for a piece of paper and a pen. Though his body was racked with pain, this marine wrote a brief note and passed it back to his commander. The piece of paper had only two words: "Semper Fi." This is the Latin motto of the Marines, and it means "forever faithful." With those two words, this marine spoke for the millions of Americans who have sacrificed so much for our liberty and our security. Sacrificing limb and life, they have remained faithful even to the end.
I like to think of this illustration when I think of the faithfulness of God. We often sing the song, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, but can we really grasp the faithfulness of God? Our minds can hardly grasp the unselfish, undying faithfulness of those who have fought and died for our country, but God’s faithfulness to all of mankind and to each and every individual who had ever been born is something that I’m sure we will never fully understand until the day we see Him face to face.
Even though we go through difficult times, even though we go through dark times, God always brings us through. And when we look back, we see His faithfulness. David said:
Psalms 23:4-6 NKJV
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell* in the house of the LORD Forever.
Then, of course, Jeremiah was the one who actually said:
Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV
22 Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Jeremiah had suffered greatly as a result of his ministry among the Jews. God had called him to one of the most difficult ministries one can imagine. He was called to go to his own country to tell them to surrender to the enemy. He had to tell them that God had set His face against them.
As you can imagine, Jeremiah was ridiculed, mocked and tortured, but God was faithful to Jeremiah. Even though God did destroy Jerusalem just as Jeremiah had predicted, Jeremiah was kept safe. In the Lamentations of Jeremiah, Jeremiah said:
Lamentations 3:1-24 NKJV
1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of (God’s) wrath.
2 He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.
3 Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day.
4 He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe.
6 He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago.
7 He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy.
8 Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.
10 He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush.
11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate.
12 He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow.
13 He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins.*
14 I have become the ridicule of all my people — Their taunting song all the day.
15 He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink wormwood.
16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes.
17 You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity.
18 And I said, "My strength and my hope Have perished from the LORD."
19 Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul still remembers And sinks within me.
21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
22 Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!"
Jeremiah knew the faithfulness of God, and when we look at God’s plan for mankind and for the creation, we see nothing but the faithfulness of God. When Adam and Eve sinned, they passed from the realm of life into the realm of death, but God provided the sacrifice that would cover their nakedness and protect them from the curse of sin. At that time, God promised that a Great Deliverer would come into the world through the woman.
Later, God saw the wickedness of man, and He decided to destroy every living thing that lived on land, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. As Jeremiah said, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.”
Shortly after the flood, mankind rebelled against the Lord again at the tower of Babel, but God was faithful to man. Out of the confusion, God called a man named Abraham. God saw faith in Abraham, and as a result, God counted Abraham’s faith as the equivalent of righteousness. God told Abraham that the Great Deliverer would be one of his descendants.
After another period of about a thousand years, the descendants of Abraham grew into a great nation, and David became the king of Israel. God promised David that the Great Deliverer would be Israel’s Messiah and that the Messiah would establish the throne of David on the earth in an everlasting kingdom. David was told that in this kingdom all the Gentile nations of the earth would bring their sacrifices and their praise to the Son of David, who will rule the earth as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
This kingdom will bring an end to the curse of sin. It will bring an end to suffering and pain. It will bring an end to death. Even the creation itself will be restored to its original beauty and glory. All of this would depend upon the coming of the Messiah and upon Israel’s willingness to submit to the Messiah.
Well, the Messiah did come, and His name was Jesus. He was not born into a royal family, but He was born into a family of very modest means. In fact, as you know, He was born in a stable in Bethlehem because there was no room for them in the inn.
Jesus grew up and did great miracles to prove that He was the Messiah, but in spite of His miracles, He was rejected and crucified by the nation of Israel. To everyone’s surprise, however, He was raised from the dead on the third day, and after spending 40 days with his disciples, He was taken up into heaven.
Ten days later, the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit. They were given special knowledge, and they were given the power to heal and cast out demons. One day, as Peter and John were entering into the temple to pray, Peter healed a lame man and then spoke to the Jews who were standing nearby, saying:
Acts 3:19-21 NKJV
19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,*
21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
Before the creation could be restored, the kingdom would have to come, and before the kingdom could come, the nation of Israel would have to put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Messiah. But there was one more thing that had to happen before any of this could happen. Before any of this could happen, the nation of Israel would have to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins.
The curse of death came upon the creation and upon mankind when Adam sinned in the Garden. Therefore, the penalty for sin had to be paid. The book of Hebrews says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness for sin.
The animal that was sacrificed to cover Adam and Eve was a picture of the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross. Noah offered an animal sacrifice to God when he came out of the ark, and this symbolized that the ultimate restoration of the creation would be based upon the shed blood of Jesus Christ. When Abraham took his son, Isaac, up on Mt. Moriah and laid him on the altar, this was a picture of the fact that someday God would offer His only begotten Son as the sacrifice which would pay for the sins of the world.
Just before Jesus was crucified, He went up into the upper room to observe the Passover with His disciples. Matthew says that:
Matthew 26:26-28 NKJV
26 . . . 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.
Jesus had to shed the blood of the New Covenant, and it was this New Covenant which was to purify the nation of Israel. Jeremiah 31 says:
Jeremiah 31:31-33 NKJV
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.
The New Covenant was to be based on the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and it will purify the nation of Israel when they do finally accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Then the nation of Israel will be ready to serve the Lord as a kingdom of priests as they minister to the Gentiles nations. Jeremiah goes on to say:
Jeremiah 31:34-38 NKJV
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."
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.
Jeremiah knew the faithfulness of God, and that God would never forsake Israel or His promises to Israel. Someday Israel will serve the Gentile nations of the earth as a kingdom of priests, and it will be Israel’s privilege to lead the Gentile nations into a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Zechariah, Chapter 2, says:
Zechariah 2:10-12 NKJV
10 "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," says the LORD.
11 "Many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.
12 And the LORD will take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the Holy Land, and will again choose Jerusalem.
During the kingdom, the Lord will dwell in Jerusalem in the midst of the Jewish people, but the Gentiles nations will be joined to the Lord and will become the people of God.
All of this could have happened immediately after the death, burial and resurrection of Christ for the blood of the New Covenant had been shed. However, the Jews rejected Jesus throughout the Acts period, and God began to reveal the church of our present age. In our church there is neither Jew nor Gentile, and our church is not anticipating a place in the earthly kingdom. We are citizens of heaven, and we look for the Savior who will catch up to be with Him in heaven.
But God has not forsaken His promises to Israel. Someday when the last person is saved and the Church is complete, God will take the Church up into heaven, and then He will once again reach out to the nation of Israel with the gospel of Jesus Christ. At that time, the Jews will look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they will believe. The kingdom will come, and the Jews will lead the nations to know the Lord. At that time even the Gentile nations will say:
Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV
22 Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Thank you for studying with me this morning. It’s been a pleasure being with you, and I’ll look forward to studying with you again next week at this same time.
Church links:
http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/
http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/
http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/
As the commander drew near, the marine motioned for a piece of paper and a pen. Though his body was racked with pain, this marine wrote a brief note and passed it back to his commander. The piece of paper had only two words: "Semper Fi." This is the Latin motto of the Marines, and it means "forever faithful." With those two words, this marine spoke for the millions of Americans who have sacrificed so much for our liberty and our security. Sacrificing limb and life, they have remained faithful even to the end.
I like to think of this illustration when I think of the faithfulness of God. We often sing the song, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, but can we really grasp the faithfulness of God? Our minds can hardly grasp the unselfish, undying faithfulness of those who have fought and died for our country, but God’s faithfulness to all of mankind and to each and every individual who had ever been born is something that I’m sure we will never fully understand until the day we see Him face to face.
Even though we go through difficult times, even though we go through dark times, God always brings us through. And when we look back, we see His faithfulness. David said:
Psalms 23:4-6 NKJV
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell* in the house of the LORD Forever.
Then, of course, Jeremiah was the one who actually said:
Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV
22 Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Jeremiah had suffered greatly as a result of his ministry among the Jews. God had called him to one of the most difficult ministries one can imagine. He was called to go to his own country to tell them to surrender to the enemy. He had to tell them that God had set His face against them.
As you can imagine, Jeremiah was ridiculed, mocked and tortured, but God was faithful to Jeremiah. Even though God did destroy Jerusalem just as Jeremiah had predicted, Jeremiah was kept safe. In the Lamentations of Jeremiah, Jeremiah said:
Lamentations 3:1-24 NKJV
1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of (God’s) wrath.
2 He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.
3 Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day.
4 He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe.
6 He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago.
7 He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy.
8 Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.
10 He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush.
11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate.
12 He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow.
13 He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins.*
14 I have become the ridicule of all my people — Their taunting song all the day.
15 He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink wormwood.
16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes.
17 You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity.
18 And I said, "My strength and my hope Have perished from the LORD."
19 Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul still remembers And sinks within me.
21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
22 Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!"
Jeremiah knew the faithfulness of God, and when we look at God’s plan for mankind and for the creation, we see nothing but the faithfulness of God. When Adam and Eve sinned, they passed from the realm of life into the realm of death, but God provided the sacrifice that would cover their nakedness and protect them from the curse of sin. At that time, God promised that a Great Deliverer would come into the world through the woman.
Later, God saw the wickedness of man, and He decided to destroy every living thing that lived on land, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. As Jeremiah said, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.”
Shortly after the flood, mankind rebelled against the Lord again at the tower of Babel, but God was faithful to man. Out of the confusion, God called a man named Abraham. God saw faith in Abraham, and as a result, God counted Abraham’s faith as the equivalent of righteousness. God told Abraham that the Great Deliverer would be one of his descendants.
After another period of about a thousand years, the descendants of Abraham grew into a great nation, and David became the king of Israel. God promised David that the Great Deliverer would be Israel’s Messiah and that the Messiah would establish the throne of David on the earth in an everlasting kingdom. David was told that in this kingdom all the Gentile nations of the earth would bring their sacrifices and their praise to the Son of David, who will rule the earth as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
This kingdom will bring an end to the curse of sin. It will bring an end to suffering and pain. It will bring an end to death. Even the creation itself will be restored to its original beauty and glory. All of this would depend upon the coming of the Messiah and upon Israel’s willingness to submit to the Messiah.
Well, the Messiah did come, and His name was Jesus. He was not born into a royal family, but He was born into a family of very modest means. In fact, as you know, He was born in a stable in Bethlehem because there was no room for them in the inn.
Jesus grew up and did great miracles to prove that He was the Messiah, but in spite of His miracles, He was rejected and crucified by the nation of Israel. To everyone’s surprise, however, He was raised from the dead on the third day, and after spending 40 days with his disciples, He was taken up into heaven.
Ten days later, the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit. They were given special knowledge, and they were given the power to heal and cast out demons. One day, as Peter and John were entering into the temple to pray, Peter healed a lame man and then spoke to the Jews who were standing nearby, saying:
Acts 3:19-21 NKJV
19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,*
21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
Before the creation could be restored, the kingdom would have to come, and before the kingdom could come, the nation of Israel would have to put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Messiah. But there was one more thing that had to happen before any of this could happen. Before any of this could happen, the nation of Israel would have to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins.
The curse of death came upon the creation and upon mankind when Adam sinned in the Garden. Therefore, the penalty for sin had to be paid. The book of Hebrews says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness for sin.
The animal that was sacrificed to cover Adam and Eve was a picture of the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross. Noah offered an animal sacrifice to God when he came out of the ark, and this symbolized that the ultimate restoration of the creation would be based upon the shed blood of Jesus Christ. When Abraham took his son, Isaac, up on Mt. Moriah and laid him on the altar, this was a picture of the fact that someday God would offer His only begotten Son as the sacrifice which would pay for the sins of the world.
Just before Jesus was crucified, He went up into the upper room to observe the Passover with His disciples. Matthew says that:
Matthew 26:26-28 NKJV
26 . . . 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.
Jesus had to shed the blood of the New Covenant, and it was this New Covenant which was to purify the nation of Israel. Jeremiah 31 says:
Jeremiah 31:31-33 NKJV
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.
The New Covenant was to be based on the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and it will purify the nation of Israel when they do finally accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Then the nation of Israel will be ready to serve the Lord as a kingdom of priests as they minister to the Gentiles nations. Jeremiah goes on to say:
Jeremiah 31:34-38 NKJV
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."
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.
Jeremiah knew the faithfulness of God, and that God would never forsake Israel or His promises to Israel. Someday Israel will serve the Gentile nations of the earth as a kingdom of priests, and it will be Israel’s privilege to lead the Gentile nations into a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Zechariah, Chapter 2, says:
Zechariah 2:10-12 NKJV
10 "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," says the LORD.
11 "Many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.
12 And the LORD will take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the Holy Land, and will again choose Jerusalem.
During the kingdom, the Lord will dwell in Jerusalem in the midst of the Jewish people, but the Gentiles nations will be joined to the Lord and will become the people of God.
All of this could have happened immediately after the death, burial and resurrection of Christ for the blood of the New Covenant had been shed. However, the Jews rejected Jesus throughout the Acts period, and God began to reveal the church of our present age. In our church there is neither Jew nor Gentile, and our church is not anticipating a place in the earthly kingdom. We are citizens of heaven, and we look for the Savior who will catch up to be with Him in heaven.
But God has not forsaken His promises to Israel. Someday when the last person is saved and the Church is complete, God will take the Church up into heaven, and then He will once again reach out to the nation of Israel with the gospel of Jesus Christ. At that time, the Jews will look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they will believe. The kingdom will come, and the Jews will lead the nations to know the Lord. At that time even the Gentile nations will say:
Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV
22 Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Thank you for studying with me this morning. It’s been a pleasure being with you, and I’ll look forward to studying with you again next week at this same time.
Church links:
http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/
http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/
http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/
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