161) God’s Irrevocable Covenant With Israel

None of the covenants within the series of covenants can do away with any part of the commitments made previously. This is detailed in the post Father Abraham.

“Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.” (Galatians 3:15-17)

In context, Paul is stating that the covenant made with the nation of Israel through Moses does not cancel or override God’s baseline promise to send one individual Seed of the Woman to destroy sin and death. It simply gives definition to the promise.

“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my [not new but existing] covenant between me and thee [not someone else]…and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” (Genesis 17:1-7)

“…the gospel according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in YHVH’s Promised Savior / Christ Jesus before the world began. (II Timothy 1:8-10)

The same principle of irrevocability applies to each covenant in succession.

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?…God brought them out of Egypt…according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!” (Numbers 23:19-23)

“God is true...all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen [affirmed].” (II Corinthians 2:18-20)

Belief in Jesus Christ, or more properly Yeshua Messiah, as described in the New Testament is unquestionably the extension of the Mosaic code.

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-19)

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:14-16)

“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:3-4)

This is the reason the fundamentalist Pharisees could believe that Jesus was the Prophet who Moses said to obey.

As did the rulers of the Jews. This becomes clear when we focus our attention on Jesus’ acid duel of words with the Jewish leadership rather than his feel-good miracles. Jesus spent so much of his time disputing with them because that was a big part of his ministry – to sift and purify the Levites.

“I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.

They answered and said unto him, Abraham the Hebrew is our father.

Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham [note how they continue the argument started with John the Baptist]. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham…Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning…

Then took they up stones to cast at him…” publicly proving his point  (John 8:29-53)

“And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders…said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? Clearly THEY hadn’t!

And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John [for repentance in preparation for accepting the Messiah’s rule – especially by these rulers who usurped Mosaic authority, whence was it? from heaven, or of men?

And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him [when John announced Jesus’ identity as the Christ?] But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.

And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.

Don’t miss the defiance and deliberate provocation as Jesus continues facing off against his declared enemy.

But what think ye? A certain man had two sons;

  • and he came to the first,  [The Hebrew nation at Mount Sinai as described in the post The Exodus] and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.
    • He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.
  • And he came to the second [Levitical priests and rulers of Israel], and said likewise.
    • And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.

Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first.

Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots [the commoners, from the Greek hoi-poloi literally meaning “the many”, i.e. the Hebrew nation] go into the kingdom of God before you. – Note, not “instead of” you!

For John came unto you in the way of righteousness [the faith of Abraham], and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: 

Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, [expressly stated to be the nation of Israel] and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen [the rulers of the nation of Israel], and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it…last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance [both ruler- and land owner- ship]…When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?

They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.

Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” (Matthew 21)

In the context of the second parable, the nation of Israel is the vineyard, which is not replaced. Only the husbandmen – the caretakers of Israel, i.e. the rulers, are replaced. Like “Washington”, the “Kingdom” that is taken away is idiomatic for “the rulers in the government”.

“rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine.” (I Samuel 15:22-28)

The nation that Jesus replaced was one of Antichrist’s Anti-governments, wolves in sheep’s clothing.

And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them as the husbandmen, not the nation of Israel! But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude – the “many” in the nation of Israel, because they took him for a prophet.” (Matthew 21:23-46)

“Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation [brotherhood of leaders].

And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us [the brotherhood of priestly rulers], that one man should die for the people – plebs, commoners, those ruled in a constantly shifting ethnic population, and that the whole nation perish not.

And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation – of Israelites – And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one – nation of Hebrews – the children of God that were scattered abroad.

Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.” (John 11:47-52)

The kingdom leadership was not taken away from the entire nation of Israel. It was taken away from the nation / brotherhood of chief priests who had replaced the legitimate Aaronic heirs by paying off the Romans for the political appointments, and the Pharisees who had replaced the Mosaic code with impossible legalistic minutia.

The ancient Jewish court system was called the Sanhedrin…Hellenistic sources generally depict the Sanhedrin as a political and judicial council headed by the country’s ruler…It was the final authority on Jewish law and any scholar who went against its decisions was put to death as a zaken mamre (rebellious elder)…The Great Sanhedrin dealt with religious and ritualistic Temple matters…and the solving of difficulties relating to ritual law…

“Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel…Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house [dynasty].And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an household / family for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him…And thine house / family and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. ” (II Samuel 7:8-17)

“Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book…

In other words, this is guaranteed to happen, and proof in the future that he has the power to bring to fulfillment what he says will happen.

And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah…wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble,

BUT! but he shall be saved out of it!

For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.

I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.

And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God…

At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of The Prince of El, and they shall be my people.

Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.” (Jeremiah30-31)

~ 33 AD John the Baptizer was without question an Old Testament prophet. Like Elisha, he inherited Elijah’s spirit and power, but since he died before Jesus’ redemption he did not receive the fulness of the Spirit available to believers after that action.

“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant…he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi…that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years…For I am the LORD, I change not…Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments…“I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 3-4)

“those things which are most surely believed among us...which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word…write unto thee in order…That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed…a certain priest named Zacharias…and his wife…were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless…there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord…thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John…he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb…And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias / Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:1-17)

“And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see?…A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he….For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.” (Matthew 11:7-14)

John’s preaching was meaningful and accepted by the people only because it was based on previous scripture. I’ve rearranged the phrases in John’s record to demonstrate the match with Isaiah’s.

The Pharisees, fundamentalists steeped in the scriptures, would have been the first to understand, and believe, John’s announcement that “The kingdom of heaven is at hand!” And in fact we know that there were “certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed.” (Act 15:5)

As bizarre as it may seem, Christianity as a movement or trend may have existed before Jesus came to the scene. The key to this gripping hypothesis is that Jesus obviously didn’t arrive on earth in an intellectual vacuum, and the intellectual element of his ministry was grafted on existing theological models. Nobody will deny that his general theology was Jewish, and Judaism obviously existed long before Jesus was born.

Judaism at the time of Jesus was highly fractured…Everybody knows about the Pharisees and Sadducees, but there were many more. Some forms of Judaism were militant movements (such as that of the Zealots)…

Some of these movements were incompatible with the gospel (the Sadducees, for instance, rejected resurrection and thus the core concept of the gospel; MATTHEW 22:23) but others were just a few cheers short of it and could be easily completed…Nicodemus, Gamaliel and even Paul came from the Pharisaic school of thought…

This means that the movement around Jesus the Nazarene was not a entirely new thing but was largely grafted upon existing ideas…(emphasis added)

…the school of John the Baptist, with its distinct message and disciples (the original Baptists)…were in time absorbed by the movement headed by Jesus (JOHN 1:35-37, ACTS 19:3).

When Paul went after the disciples in Damascus, he searched for people “belonging to the Way” (ACTS 9:2) which is obviously a designation of a particular sect. Jesus called himself the Way (JOHN 14:6), but it isn’t clear whether he coined this epithet then and there, or whether he addressed the members of an existing sect called such by telling them that he was what they were after…

The “town” of Nazareth where Jesus was from was probably not a geographical town (read our article on that name for reasons why not) and was most probably an existing Jewish school of thought (the Nazarenes), which we propose had to do with…the blessings of the Lord of Life being scattered among pagan nations…(Peter’s Great Sheet vision is a clear demonstration of that particular belief, which obviously is one of the main elements of the gospel message; ACTS 10:15)…

Since the discoveries at Qumran we know that the phrase “Sons of Light” was not a general title for virtuous men, but rather a military nickname for Israel (see the War Scroll). Jesus called these militant Sons of Light shrewd (LUKE 16:8), and explained that he was the Light (JOHN 8:12, 9:5) and that his followers are the real Sons of Light (JOHN 12:36, 1 THESSALONIANS 5:5).

YHVH’s Savior / Jesus is only recognizable through the law of Moses and the Old Testament prophecies of salvation,

“Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:26-27)

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).

If you take this statement at face value, then it must logically follow that faith in Jesus is the means of salvation throughout the Old as well as the New Testament.

This becomes more clear when we use the Hebrew translation “YHVH’s Savior” instead of the Greek translation “Jesus” which, because in our English Bible translations it is applied to one single person in time and used only in the New Testament, skews our understanding of his role in history. While we believe on his actions in time and place, the individual carrying out those actions transcends time and space.

“God; Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling [to share dominion over creation] according to his own purpose and grace,

  • which was given us in Christ Jesus / YHVH’s Designated Seed of the Woman Savior from sin and death before the world began, 
  • But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ / YHVH’s Chosen Savior

who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel [as promised to the Adams in Genesis 3:15]:“(II Timothy 1:8-10)

The fundamental New Testament assurance of eternal salvation is based on the Old Testament promises. There is no validity in the New without the Old.  The “new” testament / covenant is, by definition, a modification of a previous testament, therefore both granted by the same grantor to the same grantee.

“Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon…after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end…[unlike the Adams who hid from me in the Garden of Eden] YE shall seek ME, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart…

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: [note! Not with Gentiles instead of Judah!] Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know[be united as one as the term is used for carnal knowledge] me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith 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, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 29-31)

“Then came the day…when the passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat...And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you…

And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them…But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be…he that doth serve…[identifying, in unity with me as] I am among you as he that serveth. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and [as extensions of myself] sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel .” (Luke 22:8-30)

“verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service…went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: Which was a figure for the time then present…But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come…by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

    • For if the blood of bulls and of goats [in fact] sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
      • How much more shall the blood of Christ / the Chosen One, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,
    • purge [by the LORD’s forgiveness of iniquity and no longer remembering our sin] your conscience

And for this cause [serving the living God] he is the mediator of the new testament [with Israel], that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” (Hebrews 9)

Likewise, Jesus’ message about himself before Pentecost and the apostle’s doctrine of the New Testament Church after Pentecost validate everything they preach by referencing back to the Old Testament promises to Israel.

“Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” (Isaiah 55:3)

“And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:44-48)

“…they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. 

  • The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt…
  • he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. Of this man’s seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus…
  • children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent…
  • we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus…from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption…

Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things...Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.” (Acts 13:14-43)

What is this grace of God? Is it, as claimed, a new way of salvation distinct from the Mosaic law of the Old Covenant?

gracelaw

Not according to the Bible.

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us [the essential Mosaic law] that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.“(Titus 2:11-14)

Grace is the fundamental covenant made with the first two humans by God himself to the parents of the entire human race promising to save them and their children from sin and death.

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying…of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die...And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew…

 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this…[the woman’s] seed…shall bruise [crush] thy head [kill you despite you being immortal].” (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:1-15)

The New Testament is not a new and improved religion in the sense of being a super-simple way of avoiding hell and living in a blissful heaven forever after death. The new covenant is the revelation of the mystery of how the old covenant restores immortality, i.e. sinlessness, to mortal humans through transformative death and resurrection.

“the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly….

    1. according to my gospel,
    2. and [according to] the preaching of Jesus Christ,
    3. [and] according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began [when the bruising of Satan was first announced], But now is made manifest
    4. and by the scriptures of the [Old Testament] prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: ” (Romans 16:20-26)

Published by kingdomcome777

A grandmother who loves to study the Bible and bases life on "know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s