The Church and the Sabbath (Lesson 17)

THE CHURCH AND THE SABBATH (LESSON 17) A BETTER COVENANT

We have now arrived in our study to the heart of the new covenant. It is outlined for us in Hebrews 8:1-12. The New Living Translation renders the passage in the following way:

1 Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. 2 There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands. 3 And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too. 4 If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law. 5 They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: "Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain." 6 But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises. 7 If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. 8 But when God found fault with the people, he said: "The day is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 9 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They did not remain faithful to my covenant, so I turned my back on them, says the Lord.

Pentecostal Tabernacle, Kingston, JA. Page 1 of 9 10 But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, 'You should know the Lord.' For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already. 12 And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins."

This is the essence of what the new covenant is to be.

Firstly, I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts (Hebrews 8:10).

How is this to be accomplished? … written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart (2 Corinthians 3:3).

Secondly, And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, 'You should know the Lord.' For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already (Hebrews 8:11, New Living Translation).

Under the old covenant, only the leaders were favoured with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Under the new covenant, everyone is to receive the Holy Spirit, have a personal relationship with God and receive personal instruction from Him. In the old covenant, the people said to Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die (Exodus 20:19).

Pentecostal Tabernacle, Kingston, JA. Page 2 of 9 In the new covenant, everyone has the privilege of knowing the Lord personally.

Thirdly, And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins (Hebrews 8:12).

While in the old covenant we see God’s mercy demonstrated many times, nevertheless, complete forgiveness was only in type and not in reality, since Christ had not yet died for the sin of the world. In the new covenant, there is an abundance of grace and mercy, for Christ, as our substitute, has fulfilled the stipulations of the covenant for us. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). We have contrasted the old and new covenants below on these three items:

OLD COVENANT NEW COVENANT Laws written on stone Laws written on the heart Leaders knew God All know God personally Complete forgiveness Complete forgiveness a typified reality

GENERAL PRINCIPLES The new covenant has general principles rather than detailed laws. Hebrews 8:9 advises us that the new covenant is not like the old.

This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They did not remain faithful to my covenant, so I turned my back on them, says the Lord (New Living Translation).

Pentecostal Tabernacle, Kingston, JA. Page 3 of 9 In the old covenant, everything was outlined in minute detail as if it were given to little children. The new covenant, however, is outlined as given to “sons” who know what their father is doing. As a result of this intimate friendship where all know the Lord, we find a completely different style in the new covenant. In the old covenant the laws regarding the showbread were outlined as follows:

And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord. And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant (Leviticus 24:5-8).

When we come to the new covenant all we have is: For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come (1 Corinthians 11:26).

There is no recipe instructing us how to make communion bread. We are not told what kind of plate to use. Rather, the new covenant deals with the heart, the attitude and the spirit. The central issues are outlined in general principles allowing us the liberty to be guided by the Holy Spirit to find an appropriate recipe, plate and time.

A Covenant of Grace While the old covenant did make provision for forgiveness and while grace was present, nevertheless the focus of the old covenant was law. In contrast, while the new covenant contains law, its focus is on grace.

Pentecostal Tabernacle, Kingston, JA. Page 4 of 9 A Personal Covenant Under the old covenant, only the leaders were anointed with the Holy Spirit. Under the new covenant, however, every believer has the privilege of receiving the Holy Spirit and enjoying a personal, intimate relationship with the Lord.

A Covenant for All Nations The old covenant was limited to the nation of Israel and those who joined themselves to Israel by being circumcised, observing the Law of Moses and keeping the Sabbath. The new covenant, by contrast is good news for all the nations. All may become members of the new covenant community by hearing and obeying the gospel. The New Testament plan of salvation, repentance, baptism in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit is for the “whosoever will”.

The New Covenant: An Extension of the Abrahamic Covenant Some persons are of the view that the new covenant is a continuation of the old covenant. The only difference being that the law of the old covenant is now written on the heart, and in the new covenant believers trust the righteousness of Christ rather than trying to establish their own. This view, however, does not harmonize with the whole of New Testament teaching. Rather than being a continuation of the old covenant with a few minor differences, the new covenant appears to be a continuation of the Abrahamic covenant. We examined the Abrahamic covenant in lesson two. The comparisons between the three covenants noted hereunder, highlight the similarities between the Abrahamic covenant and the new covenant and the dissimilarities between the Abrahamic covenant and the old covenant.

The Abrahamic covenant pertained to all families of the earth (Genesis 12:3). The new covenant pertains to all nations (Matthew 28:19). The old covenant pertained to the children of Israel only (Exodus 31:12, 13; Deuteronomy 5:1-3). Pentecostal Tabernacle, Kingston, JA. Page 5 of 9 Those who were under the Abrahamic covenant were not under the law (Galatians 3:16-19). Those who are under the new covenant are not under the law (Romans 7:6, 10:4, Galatians 3:24, 25; 5:18). Those who were under the old covenant were under the law. In fact, the old covenant was the law (Exodus 34:27, 28; Deuteronomy 4:12, 13; Deuteronomy 9:11-15).

Under the Abrahamic covenant, faith was accounted as righteousness (Genesis 15:5, 6). Under the new covenant, faith was accounted as righteousness (Romans 3:28; Ephesians 2:8, 9). Under the old covenant, righteousness was based upon personal obedience to the law (Deuteronomy 6:24, 25; Romans 10:5; Galatians 3:11, 12).

According to Galatians 4:21-31, Abraham was the father of two groups of people that have symbolic religious significance. Let us consider the New Living Translation rendering of the passage.

Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says? The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave-wife and one from his freeborn wife. The son of the slave-wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God's promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God's own fulfillment of his promise. These two women serve as an illustration of God's two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them. And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law. But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother. As Isaiah said,

Pentecostal Tabernacle, Kingston, JA. Page 6 of 9 "Rejoice, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into a joyful shout, you who have never been in labor! For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband!"

And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit. But what do the Scriptures say about that? "Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman's son." So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.

It is obvious that Isaac represents the Church, those who have established and maintained a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus by faith. Ishmael represents those who trust in their works or in their physical connection to Abraham for righteousness. Those who like Isaac are the “children of promise” have had a personal experience with God. They have repented of their sins, been baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of those sins and have received the infilling of the Holy Spirit. They have not trusted in their own works to save them for they have come to understand that all their righteousness “are as filthy rags”. They trust only in the Lord God Almighty. We are advised in Genesis 32:24-32, that Jacob had his own personal, transforming experience at the brook Jabbok when his name was changed to Israel. Those who trust in their law-observance or their nationality for righteousness are, according to Paul, still in slavery to the same law that they vainly attempt to keep. They are the descendants of Ishmael and are still under the old covenant.

Pentecostal Tabernacle, Kingston, JA. Page 7 of 9 It is evident that the new covenant is a continuation of the Abrahamic covenant. It connects to Abraham before his circumcision and thus, it applies to all nations and is not limited to the nation of Israel. Romans 4:1-13 makes this abundantly clear. Our rendering comes from the New Living Translation:

Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God's way. For the Scriptures tell us, "Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith." When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it:

"Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin."

Now, is this blessing only for the Jews, or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles? Well, we have been saying that Abraham was counted as righteous by God because of his faith. But how did this happen? Was he counted as righteous only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised! Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous—even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are counted as righteous because of their faith. And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised. Pentecostal Tabernacle, Kingston, JA. Page 8 of 9 Clearly, God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God's law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.

The old covenant was based upon the promise of the children of Israel (Exodus 19:7-8; 24:3). The new covenant is based upon the oath of God and the promise of the Lord Jesus (Genesis 22:15-18; Hebrews 6:13-20; 8:6).

The old covenant was ratified by the blood of animals (Exodus 24:3-8). The new covenant was ratified by the blood of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:11-14)

The mediator of the old covenant was Moses, a human being only (Exodus 20:18-21; John 1:17). The mediator of the new covenant is the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh. (Hebrews 12:24).

The old covenant was a faulty covenant (Hebrews 8:7, 8). The new covenant is a better covenant (Hebrews 8:6).

The old covenant is a decayed, obsolete covenant (Hebrews 8:13). The new covenant is an everlasting covenant (Hebrews 13:20).

The new covenant is indeed a better covenant.

Pentecostal Tabernacle, Kingston, JA. Page 9 of 9