Concerning God’s covenant with Israel, one of the foundational principles we learned in Deuteronomy 12 is that when the Lord offers a covenant to a nation (or a person), it is perfectly okay to decline that offer.
That’s right.
Whether a nation or an individual decides to accept God’s invitation to enter into a relationship with Him is something that is purely voluntary.
One is neither forced nor obligated to enter into a covenant the Lord offers you.
And if you decide to decline God’s invitation, it also does NOT mean you will be subjected to some kind of curse for the rest of your life.
Of course, if you reject God’s invitation, you’ll have to resign yourself to the fact that you’re also declining to partake in any of the blessings attached to that covenant.
On the other hand, what happens if you do accept God’s Covenant and you do decide to enter into a relationship with Him?
The answer to that question is also simple.
Once you accept God’s Covenant, you obligate yourself to all of the terms and conditions of that covenant.
Now, here’s a hard truth that a lot of Christian pastors and denominational leaders would have a really hard time swallowing…
…because if they did, they would be forced to admit that much of the basis of their theology and traditions are based on shall we say extremely weak foundations.
Well brace yourself because here goes.
When one studies Jeremiah 31 that talks about a New Covenant being written on the hearts of believers (who are ONLY Israel by the way), it is a mistake to call it a “New” Covenant.
Yeah, you read that right.
Let me say it again.
It is a MISTAKE to call the New Covenant Jeremiah speaks about the “New Covenant“.
Instead, it would be much more accurate to call it the RENEWED Covenant.
You might not think that one word change is that big of a deal but oh man trust me, it is a big deal.
It’s a huge deal.
Using the word “New” instead of “renewed” creates a wall of separation between gentile believers and Jews, results in anti-Semitism, and leads to a negative attitude towards the “Old” Testament in general.
This seemingly tiny change would actually make an enormously positive difference in bringing the Torah back to the righteous place where it belongs in the believer’s life…whether for the ethnic gentile or ethnic Jew.
Now that you know this, I should warn you to don’t try and explain this to the institutional gentile church.
Believe me, I’ve tried and they don’t want to hear it.
Because as I said, it’s a truth that would force them to have to rethink and rearrange their theology for all time and forever…
…and most folks just aren’t ready for that kind of revolutionary change at the moment.
The prophet Jeremiah makes it clear that really there is only one key difference between the original Covenant of Moses and its future renewal.
And that key difference is who is the Covenant’s Mediator.
We obviously believe the Mediator to be Yeshua.
That’s really the only difference
Otherwise, there is very little difference between the Mosaic Covenant and what the Christians mistakenly call the “New Covenant of Christ“.
Check out these words from Yeshua himself.
“Don’t think that I have come
to abolish the Torah or the Prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to complete.
Yes indeed!
I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away,
not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah
— not until everything that must happen has happened.
So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and
teaches others to do so will be called the least in the
Kingdom of Heaven.
But whoever obeys them and so teaches
will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
-Matthew 5:17-19
Sometimes I wonder if Christians really get what Yeshua is saying here.
He’s saying not even one tiny part of the Law will be done away with and he further goes on to say that anyone who disobeys even the least of God’s HOLY commands will be considered as rubbish in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Like read the text for crying out loud.
Again the only difference between the Mosaic Covenant and the Renewed Covenant is who the Mediator is.
And come to think about it, I guess another difference is how one was grafted into Israel may have possibly changed (I wouldn’t be dogmatic about this though).
In Moses’ day, if a gentile wanted to be grafted into the nation of Israel, he had to be circumcised.
And if your were a female, based on Ruth’s example, you declared allegiance to the God of Israel and/or married an Israelite man.
In our day and age, under the Renewed Covenant, one can be grafted into Israel by attaching oneself to the works and person of Messiah Yeshua.
However, we should still understand that this a renewed version of the Mosaic Covenant.
Hence, the terms, conditions and underlying principles don’t change.
Every last God-ordained principle of God’s Word remains the same yesterday, today, and forever.
I would think the main challenge facing us modern believers today is exactly how to apply Torah principles in our modern culture and times and…
…how the current lack of physical temple and priesthood in Jerusalem affects things.
Would it be even more accurate then, to call it “the completed covenant” ?
That’s a good one! Thanks for sharing.