NEW COVENANT REALITIES

THE NEW & THE OLD COVENANT

There is much contention in the body over which Covenant we are to adhere to. Many cling to the old covenant given to Abraham and renewed with Moses at Mt Sinai, stating that Messiah just renewed every aspect of the old one again. Others see a completely New Covenant and way of life, further, deeper, stronger and everlasting in nature being raised up. Why all this talk about a Covenant though? It’s not such a mainstream word in our modern times is it? But don’t worry, this word just means an agreement, or a contract, just like we would make today by signing on a dotted line, only in ancient times most covenants were signed with blood … usually the blood from an animal would be shed and the animal cut in half. The two parties would walk through the blood to make it a binding contract, meaning that since blood was shed to `cut the covenant’ (or raise it up), then blood must be shed if it is broken (ideally from the guilty party). So this is how the ancients made Covenant-Agreements in Scriptural times, and it was all about blood, since the life of an innocent animal had to be shed on some kind of altar in order to stay in good standing and relationship with Yahuah our Creator (who you may as ‘god’) due to mankind disobedience ever since the Garden. So Adam, his sons, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David all made Covenants like this and there was always signs and seals, promises and blessings attached to all these Agreements. The essence of it was always whether or not Yahuah’s chosen people were going to be obedient and live, only worshipping Him, or would they turn their eyes to the lifestyle of gods and goddesses of their pagan neighbours in the nations and worship just like them.

As we know Israel of old constantly played the whore, committing spiritual adultery with many other deities and so after destroying mankind through a flood and persevering with Israel for over a thousand years, Yahuah gave His wife Israel a certificate of divorce, left her grand Temple built by Solomon and exiled her from the land of promise, never to return to man-made temple structures again.. He was to do something new and fresh with people from all over the world (not just jews or hebrews). But to do this Yahuah would leave His Throne and go through a metamorphosis of sorts in order to transition into our Messiah Yahusha (you may know Him as the greek goddess of healing: Jesus - but His true Name for salvation is Yahusha), a new first-fruit specie of divine humanity to bring deliverance from the serpent’s corrupt curse and seed of sin in the garden.  

So are Yahusha Messiah’s followers today still under the Old Covenant given to Abraham, Joshua, Moses and David, or have they received a New Covenant-Agreement from Yahusha Himself?  This is indeed a foundational issue. Unless this question is clearly seen and fully settled, Yahusha’s chosen people will continue to be unwise, undelivered and still in confusion.

The Scriptures teach that the believer (individually) and the true Bride (globally) is under the New Covenant. Both Old Covenant writers and New Covenant writers confirm this unmistakable fact. But don’t take my word for it … Firstly let’s look at some of the Old Covenant prophets who alluded to passages which specifically speak of the “New" Covenant.

WHAT DID JEREMIAH SAY? : 

Jeremiah the prophet (while living under the Old Covenant) clearly foretold of a day to come when Yahuah would make a New Covenant (which in Hebrew means to cut a Brit Chadasha -  to lift up a new contract/agreement) with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. It would not be according to the Blood-Covenant He made with Israel at Mt Sinai after the exodus from Egypt. It would be an entirely New Covenant with new elements in it, as this Scripture clearly spells out:

JEREMIAH 31:31-34 ... “Behold, the days will come, says Yahuah, that 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 bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My Covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Yahuah. 33 But this will be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahuah, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their Alahim, and they will be My people. 34 And they will teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know Alahim: for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahuah: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more”.

So we see some kind of spiritual procedure happening within a person in order to receive this New Covenant Jeremiah speaks of, being written on hearts and minds in living temples, not merely on external tablets of stone. The important thing to notice here is this New Covenant relates to the whole of Israel, not just to Judah (that’s going into Babylonian captivity), but also to the northern tribes who have already gone into the Assyrian captivity. This is the whole of Israel, originating from Abraham, whose Blood-Covenant involved a promised land, a promised seed and a promised blessing for all nations through him. And Yahuah made good on all of these promises, giving Abraham’s seed the promised land of Canaan, making them a great nation and blessing the world through the royal seed of Yahusha. So while Abraham’s Covenant is indeed foundational, it was alas fulfilled in Yahusha and His New Covenant.

King David was given a Blood-Covenant also when Yahuah said, “Your house and kingdomwill endure before Me forever, and your throne will be established forever.” Now he's addressing the fact that Solomon is going to come on the scene,  but the promise goes far beyond Solomon.

Look at this: 

JEREMIAH 23:5-6 

…“When I will raise up a Righteous Branch of David”:

(That's not Solomon).

…He will reign wisely as King and administer justice and righteousness in the land”.

(Partially true of Solomon) ... but notice it says:

…“In His days Judah will be delivered and Israel will dwell securely. This is what He will be named: Yahuah Our Righteousness”.

(That's not Solomon - That is the Messiah - That'is the seed of Abraham).

That's the blessing that's in the Abrahamic Covenant. So you have the land promise. You have the Davidic covenant. And that leads us now to the New Covenant.

Ezekiel gives us a bigger perspective. Even more detailed. He wrote: “I will give you a new heart and put My new spirit within you, I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My statutes and carefully observe My ordinances”.

THIS NEW HEART AND SPIRIT IS ONLY AVAILABLE IN YAHUSHA ALAHIM’S NEW COVENANT WHEREBY WE ACTUALLY BECOME SPIRITUAL, THROUGH A SPIRIT BAPTISM AND FIRE BAPTISM.    

NOW WHAT DID YAHUSHA SAY ABOUT HIS NEW COVENANT? :

There can also be no mistaking the words of Yahusha at His Last Supper in Matt chapter 26. Yahusha Himself was born under the Old Covenant and fulfilled all the Old Covenant details in both letter and spirit in Himself (from ceremonial cleansing, to all feasts, torahs messianic prophecies -  indeed the fullness of the book is written of Him. He came to redeem those who were under the Old Law Covenant (the Torah of sin and death), and on the night of His betrayal He took the bread (representing His broken body) and the cup (representing His shed blood) and said to His 12 Disciples that this is the New Covenant arrangement in My blood. Undoubtedly Yahusha was instituting the New Covenant prophesied by Jeremiah and undoubtedly the 12  Disciples knew this, even though subsequent events show, they did not fully comprehend the full significance of it until His spirit filled them with the truth.

MATTHEW 26:26 ... “And as they were eating, Yahusha took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the Disciples, and said, Take, eat, for this is My body. 27 And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink you all of it, 28 For this is My blood of the new Covenant/testament/contract, which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 But I say to you, I will not drink again from this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom”.

To go back and and give shade to Yahusha’s new covenant declarations, insisting that the old is still very much active and demanding of obedience, completely spits in the face of our deliverer’s precious blood, shed to set the captives free from the bondage of sin and death. 

SO WHAT DID PAUL SAY? : 

When Paul wrote to the Corinthian followers concerning Yahusha’s last Supper, he clearly spelt out the fact that the new believers coming out of the nations (called gentiles) as well as Jewish believers are all under the New Covenant.

1 CORINTHIANS 11:23 ... “For I have received from Alahim that which also I delivered to you, that the Master Yahusha the same night in which He was betrayed took bread: 24 And when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, Take, eat, for this is My body which is broken for you: do this in remembrance of Me. 25 And afterwards He took the cup in the same way, saying, this cup is the new Covenant/testament/agreement in My blood: do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. 26 For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show Yahusha’s death until He comes. 27 Wherefore whosoever will eat this bread, and drink this cup of Yahusha unworthily, will be guilty of the body and blood of Yahusha. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks destruction to himself, for not discerning the Master’s body (not seeing and understanding WHO He truly is). 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (die). 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplines by Alahim, so that we should not be condemned with the world”.

WHEN YAHUSHA SAID `DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME’, IS THIS SPEAKING ABOUT LITERAL BREAD AND WINE AND PASSOVER OR COMMUNION ORDINANCES, OR SOMETHING MUCH, MUCH DEEPER? LET’S GO TO THE GOSPEL OF JOHN :

JOHN 6:53 ... “Then Yahusha said to them, ‘Truly truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 But whoever eats My flesh, and drinks My blood has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, dwells in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Alahim has sent Me, and I live by the Father: so He that eats of Me, will also live by Me. 58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: for he that eats of this bread will live for ever”.

SO YAHUSHA IS REFERRING TO HIS STATEMENTS ABOUT EATING AND DRINKING OF HIM NOT ONLY FOR DELIVERANCE BTU ALSO THROUGH THE NEW COVENANT HE IS RAISING UPM AND REMEMBER THAT BLOOD HAD TO BE SHED TO CUT A NEW COVENANT - AND YAHUSHA USED HIS OWN SO THAT MANKIND’S WOULD NOT BE SHED IF THEY `ATE AND DRANK OF HIM’ IN BELIEF FOR THEIR ENTRANCE TO DELIVERANCE. SO THE NEW COVENANT IS TRULY THE ONLY WAY TO ‘ABIDE IN HIM’ :

JOHN 15:5 ... “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in Me, and I in him, will bring forth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing good. 6 If a man abides not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, then you will ask whatever you will, and it will be done for you”.

(MANY OLD, STUBBORN, HARD-HEARTED BRANCHES WERE BROKEN OFF THAT YOU AND I MAY BE GRAFTED INTO YAHUSHA’S VINE.  

Paul says that He received from Yahusha Himself this revelation of the body and blood of Yahusha, and not from Peter, James or John or other Disciples. He was given this understanding of what was instituted the night Yahusha was betrayed, quoting the very words of Yahusha in relation to the bread and the cup: “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood (not old animal blood or foreskin blood)”. Paul the great Pharisee and Disciple to the gentiles, having been born and raised and taught under the Old Covenant, now declares the revelation of the New Covenant. Which he further expounds in his letter the Hebrews :

SO WHAT DOES HEBREWS SAY? :

When writing to the Hebrews, Paul again confirms that the Bride is under the New Covenant.

HEBREWS 8:6 ... “But now He has obtained a more excellent service, by how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7 For if that First Covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second …13 And by saying: ‘A New Covenant’, He has made the first old. And now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away”.

HEBREWS 10:15 ... “So Yahusha’s Spirit is a witness to us: for after that He had said before, 16 ‘This is the Covenant that I will make with them after those days’, says Yahuah, ‘I will put My Laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more”.

It should be remembered that these Hebrew believers (who Paul is writing to) had been for years under the Old Covenant ceremonies, laws and ritualism. At the time of writing they were in the transitionary period from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. They were under great pressure to return to the Old Covenant shadows. Paul shows that they were now under ‘a Better Covenant’,’a Better Testament-contract-agreement-witness’. Everything was better under the New Covenant. In the Scripture passages above, he even quotes to them the prophecy of the Old Covenant prophet Jeremiah, concerning the coming of the New Covenant as well as some interpretative comments. Why return to the ‘Old’ when the ‘New’ is far better?

The Scriptures are clear. Yahusha’s Bride is under the New Covenant and all that is involved in that Covenant. Jeremiah prophesied it. Yahusha instituted it. Paul confirmed it and interpreted it even clearer in his letter to the Hebrews. Yahusha Himself is the mediator of this New Covenant and mediator of the New and Better Contract-Agreement: 

HEBREWS 9:15 ... “For this reason Yahusha is the mediator of a New Covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant”.

So What happened to the Old Covenant (which was called an ‘everlasting’ covenant?) Does it continue to be everlasting if Israel constantly broke it? Does this Old Covenant travel along with the New Covenant? What is the relationship of the Old Covenant to the New Covenant?

THE HEBREW LETTER

In the course of his quoting from the prophet Jeremiah, Paul gave some specific interpretative comments about the Old and the New Covenants :

* Yahusha is the mediator of a better Covenant.

* The better Covenant is established upon better promises.

* The first or the Old Covenant was not without its faults, otherwise no place would have been sought for the second or New Covenant.

* The days would come when Yahuah would make a New Covenant with Israel and Judah (yet Yahusha is the one who cuts the New Covenant, proving Who He truly is: ALAHIM!)

* It would not be like the Old Covenant made with them after the exodus from Egypt, that Covenant that Israel failed to keep and so Yahuah chose to disregard them.

* The very fact that Yahuah said He would make a NEW Covenant implies that the first has now become Old.

* That Covenant which has decayed and become Old is now ready to vanish away.

* In the context of things, Paul also says “He takes away the first (or the Old Covenant) that He may establish the second (the new Covenant).

The Old Covenant given to Moses (which incorporated the Covenant given to Abraham also) is spoken of as "the first Covenant". The New Covenant is spoken of as "the second Covenant". The first Covenant had its faults, its imperfections. It had decayed and waxed Old. It was ready to vanish away. It would be replaced, superceded by the new and better Covenant. 

HEBREWS 7:22 ... “For there is a dissolving of the former commandment/covenant due to its weakness and unprofitableness. 19 For the Law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw close to Alahim. 20 But it was not without an oath. 21 (For those Priests were made without an oath; but Yahusha became Priest with an oath by Him that said, ‘Yahuah sware and will not repent, for you are a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek). 22 By as much was this Yahusha made a surety of a Better Covenant. 23 And there truly were many Priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing: 24 But this man, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable Priesthood”.

So why should believers seek to go back to that Covenant which has decayed, waxed Old and vanished away when the New Covenant is the New Covenant is "new", "better" and "everlasting" in it's duration? 

HEBREWS 13:20 ... “Now the Alahim of peace, that rose from the dead our Master Yahusha, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant, 21 make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Yahusha Messiah; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amein”.

IT IS YAHUSHA’S NEW BLOOD COVENANT THAT IS MADE ALIVE AND ETERNAL FOR DELIVERANCE FROM MANKIND’S CORRUPTION WITHIN.

THE CORINTHIAN LETTER 

Paul is comparing the glory of the Old Covenant ministry and the New Covenant ministry. Moses was the minister of the Old Covenant tablets of law written on tablets of stone. Moses had the radiating glory on his face from Yahusha’s shekinah esteem and had to wear a veil over his face. The Old Covenant was a ministration of death through sin, used as a school-master pointing to the New Covenant. In due time, Moses died and the glory was done away with and abolished from the later Temple also.

2 CORINTHIANS 3:6 ... “And He has even made us competent to be workers serving a New Covenant, the essence of which is not a written text on stone but the Spirit. For the written letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if that which worked death, by means of a written letter engraved on stone tablets, came with glory (such glory that the people of Israel could not stand to look at Moses` face because of its brightness, even though that brightness was already fading away) 8 won’t the working of the Spirit be accompanied by even greater glory? 9 For if there was glory in what worked to declare people guilty, how much more must the glory abound in what works to declare people innocent! 10 In fact, by comparison with this greater glory, what was made glorious before has no glory at all now. 11 For if there was glory in what faded away, how much more glory must there be in what lasts forever?”

In contrast, Yahusha is the mediator of the New Covenant. His law is written on the tablets of our heart and mind. His glory exceeds the glory of Moses and His glory remains as a work of spirit and life. One is a function of the letter that kills; the other is the function of the spirit that gives life. Believers in the New Covenant can be changed from glory to glory beholding the unveiled face of Yahusha, truly discerning His body and blood, knowing He is in fact Alahim who they can follow beyond the veil of His New body and blood as the Narrow Gate for Deliverance through His New Spirit and Fire Baptisms (more on that later).

The Old Covenant is done away with and abolished. The New Covenant exceeds in glory and remains. Therefore, why do Bridal Believers need to restore that which has been done away or abolished? We have the more glorious Covenant that eternally remains. Nothing else need be added to it or subtracted!!

WHAT ABOUT THE GALATIAN LETTER? 

A careful consideration of this passage of Paul to the Galatian believers also confirms the fact that the Old Covenant has been replaced by the New Covenant:

GALATIANS 4:21-31 ... “21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise. 24 These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children also. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written: ‘Be glad, barren woman, you who never bore a child; shout for joy and cry aloud, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.’ 28 Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does Scripture say? ‘Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.’ 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman”.

Paul, in his inspired allegory here, likens the two sons of the father Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac to the two Covenants.

• Hagar, the bondmaid and her bondson, Ishmael, represents the Old Covenant from Mt Sinal, and the bondage of Jewry after the flesh, even though of Abraham's seed. It spoke of earthly Jerusalem, that Jerusalem which now is.

• Sarah the free woman and her promised son Isaac represent Yahusha’s New Covenant from Mt Zion and the Jerusalem which is above, and the freedom of His Bridal Elect, born of divine water and Spirit, being Abraham's seed (through Yahusha’s blood) by belief. Yahusha was the ultimate seed and promise fulfilled to Abraham. 

A reading of Genesis 21 in connection with this Galatian passage shows that, in due time, when Isaac came, Hagar and Ishmael were "cast out" for they could not be heirs together and remain in the same household with Sarah and Isaac. So the truth is evident, once the New Covenant had been establish, the Old Covenant had to be cast out. Both Covenants could not remain together in the household of belief, or in the same house. The Judaistic teachers tried to bring back the Hagar-Ishmael / Old Covenant and be at peace with the Sarah-Isaac / New Covenant. But this was not to be! For as Ishmael (born after the flesh) persecuted Isaac (born after the spirit), so did Old Covenant believers oppose New Covenant believers in the early assemblies. They could not dwell together in the same house without there being huge conflict, which was their eventual demise and removal of their light for nearly 2000 years.

No wonder Paul asks, “Have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth?”

The Old Covenant has indeed become "Old", "decayed", "vanished away". The Old Covenant has been "done away", "abolished", and been "cast out". The New Covenant is indeed new and better and it exceeds in glory and remains in the house of Yahusha Alahim as heir of the promises of Yahusha Alahim’s glory.

So the Galatian Believers (just as the Bride today) was bound by mixture. It was a mixture of Abraham, Moses and Yahusha, the bondage of the old law and the liberty of Yahusha’s favour, a mixture of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. So Paul showed them very clearly that they could not be under both Covenants at the same time. They could not have Moses/Abraham in one hand and Yahusha in the other. They could not mix the old torah law with Yahusha’s favour. The Old and the New Covenants cannot be joined together. Hence the need to come out of Covenantal confusion and start drinking from the New wine of Yahusha’s Vein, whereby  believers can actually become new creatures like Yahusha was by following Him through the spirit and fire baptisms into the maturity of His New Royal Laws of Love and the 9 Fruits of Righteousness. 

It’s all about Behaviour … 24/7, the only form of worship our Master And Alahim accepts today ..

So stay tuned, because next we’ll talk more about this NEW WINE Yahusha promises !