THE NEW COVENANT
HOUSE OF ISRAEL: We are all sons of God through our faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:26), because all who have been baptized into Christ (Matthew 28:19) have put on Christ (Galatians 3:27). Jesus also said that those who do the will of God are his brothers, (as well as sisters and mothers) (Matthew 12:50). These scriptures reflect each other, for since Christ is the son of God (Mark 3:11, John 1:34), and we are sons of God as well, this would make us brothers to Christ. Connecting this further, scripture states God would declare the people of the nations righteous due to faith, which is why God told Abraham "By means of you all nations would be blessed." This is because those who adhere to the faith are considered sons of Abraham and are being blessed accordingly (Galatians 3:7-9). According to biblical history, the physical nation of Israel was collectively the sons of Abraham (Genesis 17:19, 21:12, 25:21-26, 32:28). Therefore, we who are sons of God, Christ's brothers, are spiritual "Israel" since we are spiritual "sons" of Abraham. This blessing of Abraham was to be accomplished through Christ for the nations that we might receive the promised spirit through our faith (Galatians 3:14). Along with all this, the bible tells us that Christ is Abraham's "seed" (Galatians 3:16) and all who belong to Christ are also the "seed" of Abraham, heirs with reference to a promise (Galatians 3:29).
So putting it all together: Adherents to faith are spiritual sons of Abraham, and thus are spiritual Israel. God will choose some from out of them to make up the royal House of spiritual Judah to rule over the House of Israel. The bible tells us a little about what this rulership is about: The House of Judah will rule, along with Christ, over the earth (Revelation 5:10). Since Judah is ruling over Israel (Micah 5:2) as they also rule over the earth with Christ, this means Spiritual Israel will remain on the earth. This is why the bible speaks of the blood of Christ reconciling all things in heaven and earth (Colossians 1:20). This is sensible because God created the earth to be inhabited (Isaiah 45:18), and the bible also speaks of the meek and the righteous as being on the earth forever (Psalms 37:29). This will happen when God rids the world of wickedness, evil and death and makes everything new again (Matthew 25:46, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1-2). Okay, so now that we see how the bible defines what the Houses of Israel and Judah are, we need to know what the New Covenant is that was promised to them: We have see that the two Houses are related. According to prophecy, the covenant to be made with Israel is this: God would put His law within them and their hearts; He will become their God and they will become His people, and all will know God and He will forgive their sins (Jeremiah 31:33-34, Hebrews 8:10). Knowing covenants must be inaugerated by blood (Hebrews 9:18, 20-22), Christ said that this New Covenant was to be activated through his blood and symbolized by the wine at the Last Supper (Luke 22:19-20). We know that Christ's death is the inaugeration of the New Covenant because he called it the "blood of the new covenant" (Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20). Thus, Christ pouring out his blood for us is the beginning of the New Covenant intended for both the House of Israel and the subset House of Judah. Paralleling this is 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, which states that eating the unleavened bread and drinking the wine is symbolic of proclaiming Christ's death for us until he returns. The shedding of blood makes Christ the mediator of this New Covenant (Hebrews 12:23-24), and this makes Christ the sole mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5-6). Christ had to mediate this New Covenant in order to release people from sin so that a kingdom covenant with Judah could be carried out. (The Kingdom Covenant is addressed under the next subheading) This new covenant was a necessity in order to cleanse us from sin, otherwise there'd be nobody spiritually clean enough to be chosen for the Kingdom Covenant made with the House of Judah. Only after this cleansing occurs can anyone be chosen for Judah, which is pointed out at Hebrews 9:15. This New Covenant releases us from the old Law Covenant of the ancient Israelites, and allows those who are called into the House of Judah to receive the Kingdom (Hebrews 9:15-22). (For more information regarding the Law Covenant, please read the page titled "Law Covenant") This means that since we are all under this New Covenant, we are all under Christ's mediatorship and his blood for forgiveness of sin. This New Covenant makes the former covenant obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). Covenant of the Kingdom
This Kingdom Covenant is the covenant that enables the House of Judah to rule over the House of Israel according to the prophecy at Micah 5:2/Matthew 2:6. Those of the spiritual House of Judah will reign with Christ as priests with him (Revelation 1:5-6). Does the Bible give us any additional information about these New Covenant priests? Revelation 7:4 gives us the details of how many belong to this priestly group where it says: "And I heard the number of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel." (New World Translation) The scripture makes it quite plain: The New Covenant priests total 144,000 and come from out of the sons of Israel. Some consider this to be a literal number, others consider it to be a symbolic number. At this time we don't have the answer as to whether it is symbolic or literal, so we strongly recommend that you prayerfully search the scriptures if this is a matter of importance to you. Significance of Bread and Wine Christ introduced the New Covenant with the passing around of bread and wine and commanded that it be done "in remembrance" of him. According to the American Standard Version: Luke 22: 19-20 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. And the cup in like manner after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, [even] that which is poured out for you. Here, Christ is stating that the unleavened bread symbolized his body that he was about to sacrifice for us. This unleavened bread was to replace the passover lamb, for under the Old Covenant the passover lamb symbolized Christ's body (this is discussed in detail under the page titled "The Lamb") (compare Exodus 12:1-11 with John 1:29 and 1 Corinthians 5:7). It is logical that the unleavened bread would now become the symbol for Christ because leaven symbolized sin and corruption (Matthew 16:6, 1 Corinthians 5:6-8), whereas Christ was to die without sin or corruption (1 Peter 2:22), and therefore was "unleavened". The entire nation of Israel was expected to eat of the passover lamb under the Old Covenant, symbolizing the future expectation of Christ's sacrifice (Exodus 12:3). The entire assembly was to eat it because it signified that Christ was to die for all, not just a few (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). Now, as Christ passed the tests put upon him and proved himself unsullied, he could now commence the New Covenant, with the unleavened bread symbolizing his pending, sinless, sacrifice. This is related to the passover, the only real difference being that the Old Covenant was in expectation of his sacrifice, and the New Covenant was for the remembrance of that sacrifice now being past. Next, he took the cup of wine and passed that around too, stating that it symbolized his blood that he was about to pour out for the cleansing of our sins. He specifically mentions that this is in relation to the New Covenant. Note that this includes, not just physical Israel today, but anyone who is of Spiritual Israel, for according to God all people can be cleansed of sin through Christ's blood. This is supported at Acts 10:28, 45, and Ephesians 3:6. Note that Christ stated that we were to "keep doing this in remembrance of" him, showing that this was to be a repeated occurance on a regular basis. This is to be done until his return (1 Corinthians 11:26). Therefore, we can deduce from scripture that the bread and the wine are symbolic of Christ's sacrifice that cleanses all mankind from the curse of sin. Since all mankind is eligible to be covered under the New Covenant, then all who have true faith in this New Covenant are expected to share in eating the unleavened bread and drinking the wine.
******************************************************** ADDENDUM: Sometimes people have questions regarding this article. For the benefit of all our readers, we will post the questions and the answers for your consideration: 1 -- QUESTION:
|