A New Thing- The New Covenant
Pastor Ellen Mumper, Canada
January 1st started
the year 2010 for us, but we have also come to the end of the Biblical year of
5770. In Exodus 12, the Scripture says that Aviv or Nisan would be the first of
the year for the children of Israel. As this issue of Strombolis comes out,
most of us will be celebrating the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord
and Messiah, Yeshua. Passover, which started on the evening of the 29th of
March, goes on into the beginning of April with the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
coinciding with the Christian holy week. What an awesome time to reflect on
what He did for us, in becoming our Pesach (Passover) lamb, as is stated in 1
Corinthians 5:7 "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new
lump, as you are unleavened. For even Messiah our Pesach/Passover is sacrificed
for us."
On the night before
He was betrayed, our Lord had a last celebratory supper with His followers and
offered a cup of wine to them with these words "For this is my blood of
the new testament (covenant) which is shed for many for the remission of
sins." In a traditional Passover seder,
there are four cups of wine or grape juice offered. The cup of redemption, this
third cup, represented what Yeshua's blood would do in paying the price of our sin.
There is a lot of
confusion about what the New Covenant is, as opposed to the "Old
Covenant." In this time of spring, the time of remembrance of Yeshua's crucifixion and resurrection, this time of new
things being made, I think it's a good thing to examine what is really meant by
the New Covenant. It may come as a shock to many, but the Old Covenant is NOT
the Old Testament and the New Covenant the New Testament as the Scriptures are
laid out. The Old Covenant is NOT for the Jews while the New Covenant is for
the Christians. The New Covenant did NOT start with the book of Matthew
although the Messiah IS the central figure of the New Covenant.
The first mention of
the "new" covenant is given for us in the book of Jeremiah chapter
31. In verses 31 and 32, the Bible says "behold the days come, says the
LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
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
covenant they broke! although I was a husband to them,
says the LORD." There was no church when the Most High proclaimed these
words through His prophet. But what exactly is the new covenant? First we need
to clarify what the OLD covenant was.
The Old Covenant was
not the "Law of Moses", the Torah. Neither can we say that the New
Covenant is not the Torah. A covenant is an agreement between two or more
parties. The covenant given to Israel is predicated by obedience to the Torah,
or the "Law of Moses." Remember that Israel kept this for only about
40 days! They said they would obey and right away they sinned in the golden
calf incident. They did not keep their agreement! The Old Covenant incorporated
the instructions given to Moses but is in and of itself not the law of Moses. There was an IF /THEN clause. IF the children
of Israel kept the instructions, then God said "I will be their God and
they will be My people." (Jeremiah
32:28 and other places.)
As we know from
Scripture, Israel dismally failed in keeping the law given at Sinai. In God's grace He
provided a sacrificial system that allowed men to draw near to Him in the
continual flow of a blood sacrifice. The covering of the Ark, the Mercy Seat,
was called a Kaporet, from the word 'kaphor' meaning covering. Here atonement was realised, especially on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur,
for the putting away of sins. Some say grace is not in the Old Testament
Scriptures but it certainly was, in the provision animals to temporarily be the
blood which would put aside the sin of man.
So what is the New
Covenant? Simply that God knew we could not keep His commandments perfectly so
before our world began (Revelation 13:8), He ordained that Yeshua would come
and pay the price of sin. He is the Lamb of God, the Passover,
that takes away the sin of the world. The New Covenant did not come with
a new set of laws for us, while the old are passed away. The New Covenant was
the agreement that IF we took the provided sacrifices for our sins, Yeshua, the
penalty for breaking His commandments was paid.
The New Covenant
began with Yeshua's death and resurrection but is not
fully come yet. The text in Jeremiah says there are several things which must
happen first. In verse 33, He says that "I will put my law in their inward
parts and write it in their hearts." This happened at Shavuot/Pentecost,
50 days after His resurrection, when the Ruach HaKodesh or Holy Spirit came to indwell believers. The
other things have not happened yet. Israel is not restored. Men still have to
teach each other to "Know the LORD". The New Covenant will be totally
in place when Messiah comes to reign in His kingdom. Then we will have the
fulfillment of this prophecy!
So the "Old
Covenant" is still in place. Yeshua said "If you love Me, keep my commandments." The New Testament had not
been written yet when He said this. We cannot keep the commandments that have
to do with the temple, the priesthood, and the sacrificial system. He has paid
for that part in His blood. We have His forgiveness and where the Old Covenant
said IF you obey Me, the New Covenant says "Now
you CAN obey me! My law is in your hearts and you are a new creature and no
longer slaves to sin." See Romans 6:17 and 18.
