ReNEWing the Covenant
Bible Study
(a follow along sheet for the Audio Message of the same name)
(Click here for Audio message)
JS Lowther
Tabernacle time is a time of Covenant renewal Moses was commanded by YHWH to read the law…
Deu 31:10 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,
Deu 31:11 When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
Deu 31:12 Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law:
Deu 31:13 And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
Deu 31:16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
Ezra 9 and Neh 10 is a great example of this, the people were gathered to hear God’s law and to re establish the covenant God made with their fathers.
In the Hebrew the idea of covenant is simple it is BRiT which is the feminine version of BeRA which is the word to CREATE by a separating action, used in GENESIS…
DIATHĒKĒ /DIATHEKAOS are Greek words the KJV and LXX translated to TESTAMENT or COVENANT,
dee-a th’-em-ahee meaning the same exact thing to put apart
they are the same in the bible and of no difference, so by speaking of the New testament we are speaking of the New Covenant.
SO THE QUESTION “WHAT is the place of the New Covenant in all of this?”
For this is my blood of the new testament,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
(Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20)
For the Christian this is an important question!
For whatever the New Covenant is
CHRIST DIED FOR THAT REASON
SO LET US READ THE COVENANT WE ARE UNDER
Hebrews 8:7-13/ Jer 31:31-37
For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. (Rom 8:3 the law…was weak through the flesh / them) For finding fault with them, he saith, “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah… because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the LORD; I will put my LAWS into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their SINS and their iniquities will I remember no more.” In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
This Message is DEDICATED TO UNDERSTANDING THE NEW COVENANT AND IT’S Place in the Christian Israelite life
The Message is that the New Covenant is a Renewal and constant repeal of the old Covenant
That we as Israel are sold under
That the OLD Covenant is not from Genesis to Malachi or the time before Christ
NOR is the New covenant is A TIME LINE….
But that these two COVENANTS are
HEART SETs, A SOUL SETs, A MIND SETs AND (YES) A STREANGTH SETs
AND IT IS OUR CHOICE
AS CHILDREN OF ISRAEL TO CHOOSE THIS DAY.
So are you an old Covenant Israelite of a New covenant Israelite
The shock may come when one considers that the old testament / covenant is a bad thing it is not the part of the bible BC
And the alternative old Covenant mind set speaks thus:
Deu 8:17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
Deu 8:18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
Deu_6:5-6 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
in Luke 10 and Matt 12 Strength is added to the line up of how we are to Love YHWH
FOR THIS REASON COVENANT is the only reason Israel matters! And the Covenant contained in the keeping of the Law in the heart, mind, and soul is the strength of Israel by love.
Just before what we read in Deut 31 is DEUT 30,which is the establishment of New covenant
Deu 30:1 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
Deu 30:2 And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
Deu 30:3 That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
Deu 30:4 If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:
Deu 30:5 And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
Deu 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Deu 30:7 And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.
Deu 30:8 And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.
Deu 30:9 And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:
Deu 30:10 If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
Deu 30:11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
Deu 30:12 It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Deu 30:13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Deu 30:14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
Deu 30:15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
Deu 30:16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
Deu 30:17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
Deu 30:18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
Deu 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Deu 30:20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
consider how
The Apostle Paul in Romans 10:1-10 references this specific portion of the law as the righteousness of FAITH (def), but where in the scriptures does it come from? THE LAW.
Rom 10:1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
Rom 10:2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
Rom 10:3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Rom 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Rom 10:5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
Rom 10:6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
Rom 10:7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
Rom 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Upon this scripture the idea of the magic words of salvation in founded
“asking Jesus into the heart”
While context is lacking rendering the action useless to ones Salvation because beyond the words, the heart unfortunately it’s not followed out.
If truly one were to “ask Christ in to there heart”
What are they asking for?
The Question is ultimately who, or what is Christ?
HERE IS THE PINACLE of the matter, the CORNER STONE, HEAD OF THE CORNER that all of the Scriptures rest:
John 1:1-18
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
WHAT did Christ declare? :
I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. – John 17:14
Christ is the word made flesh, and as the word he is the law and as the law he accordingly is the word of faith found in Deut 30 and thus the New Covenant heart set with the law in it
Christ like the eternal precept for Adam man is the embodiment of what we are asked to do in Moses National Law, the knowledge of GOOD and EVIL, blessing and curse. To place God’s law in our heart, mind and soul and know he is our strength.
Consider John’s offering of Christ’s work
1Jn 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
1Jn 3:5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
1Jn 3:6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
1Jn 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
1Jn 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
In other words the followers of Christ try to live as best they can like Christ
As easily seen by Heb 8:1-2, the fault of the first covenant is in our flesh, and it’s failure is yet in us, yet under the New Covenant our faulted flesh is amended by Christ and his spirit, the Law is still ordained to life (Deut 30), but the decay, vanishing away, passing away and abolition is that of the enmity between us and God IN OUR FLESH as stated in Hebrews 8.
The fault of our out ward man who is flesh, is the transgression of the law: unrighteousness, sins and iniquities are the repercussions of that transgressing, Christ was therefore sent to remit and forgive transgressions of the law, this is not only forgiveness of the sins of past actions but a working remission of sin that is able to justify / make righteous the Christian by his faith at present, while still striving to showing his faith by works before ordained, in the law, that he should walk in them (Eph 2:10).
According to Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20, as well as ample amounts of scripture beside those, Christ, the Word made flesh’s purpose was to establish the New Testament / Covenant in his blood, this is no doubt the greatest truth of scripture to be understood by those seeking to be Christ’s disciples.
How much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God?
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, 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 9:14-15)
The New Covenant not only wills forgiveness of unrighteousness, sins and iniquities, but it unquestionably confirms God’s desire for His people to have His Law in their mind (inward parts) and heart which is the dwelling place of the spirit.
Notice the place where Hebrews 10 quotes Psalm 40: “He taketh away the first (covenant), that hat he may establish the second covenant” , it is exactly where Psalm 40 says “yea, thy law is within my heart”.
… I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. (Hebrews 10:9) |
I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
(Psalms 40:7-8) |
NEW COVENANT vs OLD COVENANT
(only place OT is mentioned)
(2 Corinthians 3 & 4) Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament (covenant); which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
4 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the God of this world (This is a reference to the only God of this world, YHWH- Rom 11:25; Eph 4:18), hath blinded the minds of them which believe not (John 3:18-21), lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them…For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh… …For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:6-18
The difference in covenants are as follows:
OLD first Covenant |
NEW second Covenant |
Faulted by weak flesh |
Sufficiency is of God |
God’s Law written in stone / the letter |
God’s Law written on the heart / the spirit |
Killeth |
Giveth life |
Glorious Ministration of death |
Excelled Glorious ministration of spirit |
Glorious ministration of condemnation |
Excelled Glorious ministration of righteousness |
Glory of the Law is Vailed / hidden with out Christ |
Glory of the Law is unVailed / seen in Christ |
The laws spoken of in Jeremiah 31 and Hebrews 8 are the same laws of God and of Moses, known very plainly in scripture as such. The function of Christ to put the laws of God in his people’s mind (inward parts) and heart, as well as to forgive sin this is the difference between the above aspects of the Covenants.
Consider how these are the two categories by which the above aspects of the old and new covenant are divided:
Old first Covenant |
New second Covenant |
“sin is transgression of the law” |
“he was manifested to take away our sin” |
The law is not the part of the Covenant that decayeth and waxeth old and is ready to vanish away, it is very clear that the law is to be written in the heart and mind, it is the sin which is abolished.
All of the effects of the OLD covenant in the OLD out ward man are linked to sin: flesh, stone (heart), letter, killeth, death, condemnation, vailed, hidden, blinded.
All of the effects of the reNEWed inward man under the NEW covenant are linked to the law in the heart and forgiveness: sufficiency of God, heart, spirit, life, spirit, righteousness, unvailed, seen, shine.
Notice the correlation between 2 Corinthians and Zech 7
Thus speaketh YHWH of hosts, saying,
(New Covenant man)
Execute true judgment,
and
shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:
And
oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless,
the stranger, nor the poor;
and let none of you imagine evil against his brother
in your heart.
(Old Covenant man)
But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder,
and
stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone,
lest they should hear the law, and the words
which YHWH of hosts hath sent in his spirit
by the former prophets:
therefore came a great wrath from YHWH of hosts.
(Zechariah 7:9-12)
The old and new testaments are not time lines in place to designate B.C. and A.D. Ages, they are Spiritual heart conditions, both still being present.
Christ’s blood was shed for the remission of Sin, and was recognized as an eminent promise by pre-Christian disciples of Christ.
The Gospel preached in the pre-Christian age is not hidden when the heart is turned to Christ and the law is put within it, and we start to love the LORD our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbour as our self. This “Christ”ian model has been the desire of God towards his Word since the beginning, the law written on the inward parts by love is the separation line of Sons of God and the world.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (Deut 6:6-7, 11:18, 32:46)
God’s law as spoken to Moses is the law to be written on the heart under Christ’s New Covenant, God has not changed his standards.
Romans 7:10-25
10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
…
12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man :
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Eph 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
Eph 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
Eph 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Ephesians 4:18-24
18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20 But ye have not so learned Christ;
21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Col 3:6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
Col 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Col 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation. (Isaiah 51:6-8)