YESHUA, THE CHURCH AND THE RENEWED COVENANT 1 As we have endeavoured to show, the New or Renewed Covenant was initiated by the God of Israel through His servant Moshe in the land of Moab. This event was to precede the Children of Israel entering the Promised Land over the Jordan under the guidance of Joshua. This of course may be a profound shock to many people who consider this Covenant to have been initiated on the Day of Pentecost, post the sacrifice and resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah. This initiation by God through Moshe of the Renewed Covenant (Deuteronomy 29:1) was to ultimately make possible the enactment of the First Covenant made at Horeb, which the Children of Israel so miserably failed to adhere to. This Renewed Covenant, although initiated at the time of the Children of Israel s entry into the land, would take some 3,500 years to fully implement and bring to full fruition its promise and intent. All the events that are recorded in the Bible from this time of the crossing of the Jordan to where we are now, have to do with bringing the Children of Israel into full submission to the requirements that were given to them, at the foot of Mount Horeb. It is here that the Almighty conveyed His instructions to the people of Israel, and He fully intends that they are ultimately carried out by a people who are completely in agreement with His Torah (instructions). It is the promises of a changed nature contained in the Renewed Covenant that will make the First Covenant at Horeb do-able (Deuteronomy 30:6). As things generally stand for the people of Israel, even now, it is not doable in the manner that God meant it to be done. The Apostle Shaul (Paul) pointed this out in his book to the Romans (mostly Jews) : Romans 8:7-8 The sinful mind (that which we have by nature) is hostile to God. It does not submit to God s law (Torah instructions) nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. The sinful nature, or that which we have by birth in the flesh, cannot comply fully with God s requirements as laid down at Horeb. The 1 This article produced by Mayim Chayim Messianic Fellowship, PO Box 3021, Eastbourne, East Sussex, U.K. www.mayimchayim.co.uk - mayim_chayim@btinternet.com 1
history and events of the fortunes of the people of Israel graphically point this out. Those people God chose to apply this Torah have completely failed due to their inept nature. The failure of the people of Israel to inherit the Promised Land in the peace and prosperity, as it was intended that they should, has not to do with God being unreasonable in giving a whole list of instructions which are not for our good. Our inability or unwillingness to comply has to do with our defective nature, not with a deficient law or code of living. Romans 7:13 Did that which is good (Torah the First Covenant) then become death to me? (We are that by nature). By no means! But in order that sin might be recognised as sin (see ourselves for what we really are) it produced death in me through that which is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become utterly sinful. The instructions given by God through Moshe took us from a notional being bad to an in your face deficient. That s what the Torah does it gives us a divine standard to measure ourselves against and, inevitably, we fail. The Renewed Covenant was added to the First Covenant given at Horeb to make it other than a means to condemn the people of Israel and with them the whole of humanity. For if our nature simply does not allow us to conform to its requirement then that is for all practical purposes what it becomes, for : I John 3:4 Sin is the transgression of the Law (King James Version); and Romans 6:23 The wages of sin is death. Or, as in the people of Israel s case, not being able to fully inherit the land as well as having the death sentence hanging over their lives. The prophet Jeremiah takes up the theme of the Renewed Covenant by stating God s intentions : Jeremiah 31:31 The time is coming declares the Lord, When I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt (First Covenant at 2
Horeb), because they broke my covenant though I was a husband to them declares the Lord. This is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbour or a man his brother, saying, Know the Lord because they will all know Me from the least to the greatest. These intentions are a re-iteration of those promises contained in the Renewed Covenant which was added in Moab (Deuteronomy 29:12 and 30:6). Yeshua the Messiah came on the scene to make possible the fulfilling of this promise of a changed nature on the part of the Israelites, reconciliation with God and a restoration to the Promised Land. This was prophesied by Isaiah : Isaiah 52:10 The Lord will lay bare His holy arm (His right hand, the action part of His being), in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation (Yeshua means salvation) of our God. Isaiah 52:13-15 and 53:1-12 See, my servant will act wisely (apply Torah perfectly); He will be raised and lifted up (on a Roman stake) and be highly exalted (raised from the dead to inherit the nations). Just as there were many who were appalled at Him - His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man, and His form marred beyond human likeness. (He was beaten to a bloody pulp). So He will sprinkle (refresh) many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of Him. (He will be King of kings). For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard they will understand. (Spiritual eyes and ears opened). Who has believed our message (not many up to now) and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him (God) like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground. (He was in a hostile environment). 3
He had no beauty or majesty (No David Beckham) to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hid their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. (The Jewish establishment hated what He said and stood for). Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced (had nails driven into Him as well as a spear) for our transgression; (the reason it happened) He was crushed (life erased) for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace (Hebrew : Shalom) was upon Him; and by His wounds we are healed. (God paid the price for Israel and man through an expression of himself in Messiah Yeshua). We all, like sheep, have gone astray, (God will bring Israel back into His fold), each of us has gone his own way; (not followed Torah) and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open his mouth; (didn t complain, claim his innocence or resist). He was led like a lamb to the slaughter (had His blood taken out of him), and as a sheep before her shearers (had His skin taken off Him through whipping), is silent, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away. And who can speak of His descendants? (There weren t any). For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, (unrighteous flawed humanity), and with the rich in His death (was placed in His uncle Yoseph s tomb he was a wealthy merchant), though He had done no violence, nor was any deceit found in His mouth. Yet it was the Lord s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering (our guilt being atoned for) He will see His offspring and prolong His days, (He would rise from the dead and gather to Himself children of God true Israelites of the spirit) and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand. (God s will for Israel and the whole of creation will be worked out through Him). 4
After the suffering of His soul (mind, emotions, body) He will see the light of life and be satisfied (entered back into eternity); by knowledge of Him my righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities (take the consequences of our nature upon Himself). Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life until death and was numbered with the transgressors. (Paid the price of our sins and was raised from the dead to return soon as King of kings). For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (The people of Israel have been brought back to relationship with the Creator through Him). Just before Yeshua was to pay the price as is described in the above, He came together with His Talmudim (disciples). It was the Passover season of 30 A.D. He called His followers together some 24 hours earlier than the actual Passover would be eaten that year for a special teach-in session. He himself was to become the Passover Lamb slain for Israel and humanity at large. Here in Matthew 26:27-28 we read : Then He took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, Drink from it all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Yeshua takes the cup of wine and points to it as being a symbol and reminder of His blood which would be the catalyst for the Renewed Covenant. He was to become the Lamb of God. His blood, when applied around the doorposts of our lives, would deliver us individually from the angel of death, allow Israel to inherit the land and remain there. The original Passover and exodus of Israel from Egypt was a reflection of what Yeshua was to do for His people in becoming the true Passover Lamb. Our acceptance of His death on our behalf; the recognition of our deficient nature and our helplessness in the face of it; the understanding that God requires us to walk in His Torah, and our need for another spirit (circumcised heart) is where our submission needs to be. 5
In Matthew 5:17-20 Yeshua says : Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. (Make possible their working out). I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. (When Israel is restored to the Land and Messiah dwells among them). Anyone who breaks one of the least of these and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven, but whoever practises and teaches these commands will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Yeshua was going to make possible the keeping of Torah within its true spiritual intent, which is not possible with just human nature (uncircumcised hearts), which is what the Scribes and Pharisees were attempting to do. Yeshua was to make possible the promise within the Renewed Covenant given at Moab by Moshe, but before its full activation a little more had to be done. A people, a Firstfruit of Israel, had to be trained to help in the full restoration of Israel back to the Land with a different spirit and this is the aim of the Renewed Covenant. Yeshua Himself would be the first of the Firstfruits of this salvation (I Corinthians 15:23) and those that are gathered to Him a Firstfruit of God s harvest. This group known as the Church (Greek : Ekklesia, which means called out ones ) was originally Jewish to a man and would have been considered a sect of Judaism. Judaism at that time was the last vestige of the religion and way of life God had given through Israel. In Matthew 16:13-19 there is an account of a discussion among Yeshua s disciples as to who He was : When Yeshua came to the region of Caesaria Philippe, He asked his disciples Who do people say the son of man is? They replied Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about you? He asked. Who do you say I am? 6
Simon Peter answered You are the Messiah (Christ) the Son of the Living God. Yeshua replied Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter (Greek : Petros=pebble) and on this rock (Greek : Petra=rock) I will build My Church (group of called out ones) and the gates of Hades (the grave) will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Peter was to be a chip off the block of rock which was Yeshua the Messiah. All those chosen in Messiah and who seriously take to the call are pebbles, as was Peter, although of a lesser stature. The key that opened the way for Peter was the realisation of who Yeshua was and what he stood for. It is the receiving of these keys that would give the disciples, led by Peter and all who followed, their authority in knowing the will and purposes of the Most High God. The gates of hell would not prevail against the church because they would be resurrected at the end of this age to take control of the restored Israel and ultimately the whole earth. That is what the binding and loosing is about authority in rulership. In Matthew 19:27-29 Peter again speaks up : We have left everything to follow You! What then will be for us? Yeshua said to them I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things (restoration of Israel) when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on the twelve thrones, judging (guiding, directing) the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. These Talmudim of Yeshua and those that would follow their example would be trained to the highest level, sometimes even to destruction. That is, some would have to forfeit their lives in the most gruesome of circumstances. 7
The idea is that they would exercise Torah, be instructed by it in the most difficult of arenas. Not the relatively easy conditions of the Israelites of old but having to face hostility in the communities they existed in, being out of kilter completely with their surroundings. Not only this, but they would have to deal with their own carnal nature in a way the Israelites of old were never required or even able to do. In John 17:13-20 Yeshua is speaking to the God of Israel : I am coming to you now but I say these things while I am still in the world (He was soon to die on the stake) so that they may have the full measure of joy within them. I have given them Your Word (Torah explained correctly) and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world (societies, systems and values) any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You would protect them from the evil one (Satan, the leader of the spirit world of darkness who desired to destroy these called out ones). They are not of the world even as I am not of it. Sanctify (set apart for holy use) them by the truth, Your Word (Torah The Law) is truth. As You have sent me into the world I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself (to die and rise from the dead) that they too may be truly sanctified (same would ultimately happen to them). My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be as one. (of one accord in perfect agreement). This being of one accord and in harmony is not of course a natural human state. This oneness could only be achieved by a people who had clarity of what they were to be about as well as, and this is crucial, being empowered by the Spirit of the Living God. This calling would not be easy as Yeshua so often stated. In Matthew 19:16-28 is a story of a morally aware, comfortably wealthy young man. He asks how he might inherit eternal life and become one of the called out ones. Yeshua instructs him to keep certain commandments found in Torah, and these he claimed to have kept. He then was told to give up his wealth and hand it to the poor and follow Yeshua. This he was unable to do because his security and first love was with his wealth. He was actually breaking the first of the ten commandments You shall have no other gods before me. The consequences being that he was 8
missing out on learning with the greatest teacher of all time; having a leading role in a future kingdom ruled by Messiah; and eternal life. That reliance on this life s things was going to exact a heavy price. This hard choice that this young man failed on is the same sort of choice millions have likely failed on over the past centuries. The list of things we might have to forsake to truly follow God and Messiah is almost endless in our generations. Wealth or its acquisition is but just one. Family ties, careers, drink, drugs, sex, marriage, social standing, whatever is our god or gods. In Matthew 7:13-14 Yeshua speaks of the gate or way that those called by His Father over the coming centuries would have to negotiate : Enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life and only a few find it. Applying the Torah through trusting in Messiah Yeshua was going to be a tough call, requiring complete dedication and focus. Not many would negotiate this spiritual boot camp of the God of Israel. And yet this is what would be required to select those capable and indeed worthy to guide the future Israel and the world of tomorrow. When the last of these called out ones have been trained then will come the New Age and grand completion of the design destination of the New or Renewed Covenant. Scriptures quoted from New International Version May 2007 9
10