The New Covenant
The blessing component of the Abrahamic covenant was amplified by the
New Covenant. The new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; 32:40; Ezekiel 16:60-62;
34:25-31; 37:26-28; Romans 11:25-27; Hebrews 8:6-13) focuses on redemption and
spiritual blessings of Israel. It develops the "blessing" aspect of
the original Abrahamic covenant. It also includes material blessings which is
dependent on the salvation of the nation of Israel.
The name comes from Jeremiah 31:31-34,
“Look, the days are coming”—this is
the Lord’s declaration— “when I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This one will not be like the
covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead
them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am
their master”—the Lord’s declaration. “Instead, this is the covenant
I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s
declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will one teach
his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will
all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s
declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember
their sin.”
But it had already been promised in the Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 30:1-14)
and would be affirmed in other prophets (Ezekiel 36:26-27). The covenant is
new, because of its distinction from the Mosaic Law, the old covenant. Hebrews
8:13 confirms that the Old Covenant (Mosaic Law) has been made obsolete by the
establishment of the New Covenant.
By saying a new covenant, he has
declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is
about to pass away.
Because it is an amplification and development of the Abrahamic
covenant, it is eternal and unconditional. God Himself declared that the New
Covenant would be everlasting.
I will make a permanent covenant with
them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put fear
of me in their hearts so they will never again turn away from me (Jeremiah 32:40).
But I will remember the covenant I made
with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish a permanent covenant
with you
(Ezekiel 16:60).
I will make a covenant of peace with
them; it will be a permanent covenant with them. I will establish and
multiply them and will set my sanctuary among them forever (Ezekiel 37:26).
That it is unconditional is evident by the fact that no conditions are
placed on Israel in any of the passages that deal with this covenant.
In the blood of Christ, Christians today enjoy all these promises as a
result of the New Covenant and have been made ministers of the New Covenant,
For this is my blood of the
covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (Matt. 26:28).
He has
made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the
letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life
(2
Corinthians 3:6).
But the specific promises in Jeremiah 31:31–34 are to the “house of
Israel and with the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31) and they will be
fulfilled for Israel in the millennial kingdom when they have been restored to
the land with Christ as their king. The context of the covenant in Jeremiah
31:35–40 (NLT) is the future Kingdom.
It is the Lord who provides
the sun to light the day and the moon and stars to light the night, and who
stirs the sea into roaring waves. His name is the Lord of Heaven’s
Armies, and this is what he says: “I am as likely to reject my people Israel as
I am to abolish the laws of nature!” This is what the Lord says:
“Just as the heavens cannot be measured and the foundations of the earth cannot
be explored, so I will not consider casting them away for the evil they have
done. I, the Lord, have spoken! “The day is coming,” says the Lord,
“when all Jerusalem will be rebuilt for me, from the Tower of Hananel to the
Corner Gate. A measuring line will be stretched out over the hill of Gareb
and across to Goah. And the entire area—including the graveyard and ash
dump in the valley, and all the fields out to the Kidron Valley on the east as
far as the Horse Gate—will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again
be captured or destroyed.”
The
fact that the church participates in the blessing of the New Covenant does not
mean that God’s promises to Israel are set aside. These promises have never
been fulfilled with Israel but will when Israel is reestablished in the land,
for God has declared,
“I will put my teaching within them and
write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my
people. No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying,
‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the
greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive
their iniquity and never again remember their sin” (Jeremiah 31:33-34).
Only when He returns and begins His kingdom will He establish the New
Covenant in its fullest sense. Then, when everyone knows the Lord, all people
will fully experience this universal aspect of the Abrahamic covenant. The New
Covenant guarantees that there will be a time when all Israel will turn to her
Messiah. But what about Israel today?
All
Scripture quotations, unless indicated, are taken from The Christian Standard
Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.
Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of
Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
Scripture
quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living
Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by
permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois
60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright
© 2020 by Miguel J Gonzalez Th.D.
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