Another word for covenant is contract or testament. The New Testament of the Bible is named for the New Covenant. The New Covenant, more accurately translated as the Renewed Covenant, is a contract with God and is one of the most significant events in the history of mankind. Have you heard of the New Covenant? Have you read the New Covenant!?
Many have heard of the Blood of Jesus (Y’shua) covering or paying for our sins. What you may not heard of is that Jesus (Y’shua) shed his blood on the Cross for the New Covenant. And it is through the New Covenant that God gives us the forgiveness for our sins. God’s covenants require a blood sacrifice. In this case, Jesus (Y’shua) offered himself on the Cross as the blood sacrifice.
Jesus (Y’shua) instituted the New Covenant at the Last Supper, often called the Lord’s Supper or Communion, just prior to his death on the Cross and resurrection. Every time we partake of the Lord’s Supper (Communion) we are remembering and recommitting ourselves to the New Covenant.
Jesus (Y’shua) at the Lord’s Supper:
“This is my blood of the New Covenant,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
Matthew 26:28
Luke 22:19-20: “And he (Jesus/Y’shua) took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.”
As you continue to read the New Covenant next, please note that another word for “heart” (coming from the Hebrew) is the center, core or will of a person.
Read the New Covenant
In the Old Testament, starting in Jeremiah 31:31, God speaking through the Prophet Jeremiah declares exactly what the New Covenant is.
Jeremiah 31:31-34:
“Behold, the days come, says the LORD י ה ו ה, 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 an husband unto them, says the LORD י ה ו ה:
(33) But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, says the LORD י ה ו ה, I will put my law (Torah) in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
(34) And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know[G3045] the LORD י ה ו ה : for they shall all know [H3045] me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says the LORD י ה ו ה: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Jeremiah 32:38-40:
“And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: (39) And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: (40) And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.”
Another word for the “fear” of God is: respect, admiration, worship, awe, or devotion.
Strong’s Ref. #H3045 means to know completely, to understand.
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In Ezekiel 36:26-28, God also states:
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and do them. … and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”
God’s Plan to Transform Us
Exactly How is God Trying to Change Me and Why?
Everybody knows we are not supposed to sin? Right!? The New Testament states that to disobey God’s Laws in the Old Testament is the very definition of sin. Remember when this was written, the New Testament did not exist yet. The apostles were talking about God’s Laws in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament in 1 John 3:4, John states:
“Whosoever commits sin violates also the law: for sin is the violation of the law.”
In Deuteronomy 5:29, God said: “O that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always …”
Ecclesiastes 12:13: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”
2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Isaiah 64:8:
“… we are the clay, and you our potter;
and we all are the work of your hand.”
The following 3 areas from The New Covenant reveal how God, through his Holy Spirit, is attempting to transform us.
The New Covenant contains God’s plan for us to establish a permanent, eternal relationship with him. To keep us from rebelling against him, like Israel did so often, this plan includes a process to re-create us from the inside-out so that we will “not depart from God” and so God “will not turn away from us.”
FROM THE NEW COVENANT: Jeremiah 32:40 God says:
“… I will put my fear in their hearts,
that they shall not depart from me.”
Another word for the “fear” of God is: respect, admiration, worship, awe, or devotion.
FROM THE NEW COVENANT: Jeremiah 31:33 God says:
“I will put my law in their inward parts,
and write it in their hearts”
FROM THE NEW COVENANT: Jeremiah 32:39 God says:
“And I will give them one heart, and one way”
As we become closer to God in knowing his heart (Will) and following him, we become increasingly united to all of God’s People (The Body) because we are united in only one way, God’s Way. As God is not divided, neither are his people. And as there is only One God, there is only One Way.
The Holy Spirit’s Primary Mission is to transform us according to the New Covenant, to remake us from the inside-out in a way that prepares us for eternity with God. This is done by teaching us God’s Laws (writing them on our hearts) and by putting the fear of God in our hearts. This is also done by the prompting or call of the Holy Spirit, compelling us to always live our daily lives in obedience and the fear of God.
The Holy Spirit “Teaches You All Things” John 14:26
FROM THE NEW COVENANT: Jeremiah 31:34 God says:
“And they shall teach no more … everyman his brother
… for they shall all know me”
In the verse above, God is talking about his people: the disciples of Jesus (Y’shua), true Israel – those who have faith in Jesus (Y’shua) and obey God’s commandments, not everyone in the world or the blood descendants of Israel.
In 1st John 2:27, John says: “you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing (Holy Spirit) teaches you of all things, and is truth”
The Holy Spirit Causes Us to Obey God’s Law
In Ezekiel 36:26 God says: “And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and do them.”
In 1 John 3:24, John states: “And he that keeps his commandments dwells (makes his home) in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abides (lives) in us, by the Spirit which he has given us.”
God’s Perfect Teaching Tool:
Obedience to Torah
When some see “the law” (Torah) they see “legalism” and being trapped or controlled – but when God sees “the law” (Torah) he sees his way to teach us. God’s law reveals what sin actually is. Legalism, is in fact man-made laws that have nothing to do with God.
Do you really trust God? This is the test: will you do what God says even though you don’t know the reason why? Do you trust God enough to just obey? It can be a tough thing to do. To place your life in the hands of God and to stop arguing with him and to just obey what he says in the Bible.
Even though I didn’t understand, I did what God said and often I learned why on the other side of obedience, after I obeyed. Could it be that all the times I fought with him about his Old Testament Laws and disregarding them, that I was actually fighting against the very thing that God uses to teach us and bring us closer to him? Remember the first 5 books of the Bible, “the law” is actually called “the Torah” in Hebrew and means “teachings” – God’s Teachings.
In addition to my passion, commitment, faith, and drive to pursue God – what I’ve discovered is that I’ve learned faster and deeper, grown quicker, and gotten much, much closer to God by being obedient to God’s Laws than by any other way. My Walk with Jesus (Y’shua), my Bible study, my living experience, my relationships God and others was now growing exponentially in richness and quality. My life was now like a rocket shooting into the sky that had no visible end in sight. I felt I had truly reached God’s Promised Land! A place where God’s dreams and plans for me were fully becoming a reality. A land of true richness flowing with milk and honey. Home, the place where I was always meant to be with him in my faith and where I was meant to live with him forever: The Ultimate Blessed Life in Unity with God!
Connecting the dots years later, I’ve can now see how God uses our obedience to teach us. God’s perfect teaching tool allows even a small child to start pleasing God by building their faith upon the foundation of Trusting and Obeying God. Like starting at a first grade level we grow in easy-to-understand levels, each level or grade building upon the last. Could it be that God is, in fact, is the most perfect teacher!? Sometimes the obvious has to be stated. While many seek out the latest Christian teacher, book, teaching, or Bible study program to enrich their walk with Jesus (Y’shua), did anyone ever consider that God has always had the perfect plan to teach us and to grow us perfectly? And God’s teaching is perfectly designed to help us grow quicker, deeper, stronger, and in a way that is more easy-to-understand that anything any man can design.
So let’s get with God’s Perfect Teaching Program:
The Torah!
My experience is, that after walking in obedience for some time, the Bible became much easier to understand, I learned quicker, and grew much stronger. Everything in the Bible now lights up and makes more sense. I describe it this way: Before it was like I was playing a pinball machine that was never plugged in BUT NOW it is plugged in and all the lights, bells, and whistles light up. The Bible and my relationship with God had now become more alive in a whole new way than I could have ever imagined before. Little did I know years before that obedience was so fruitful and beneficial. I didn’t know then, I just trusted and obey God without knowing all the details – because I wanted to be in right relationship with him and because I wanted to please him.
SEE NEXT ARTICLE: The New Covenant – IN DEPTH
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