It is (Re)-Written: Heavenly High Priest ep. 3/7
- Dec 15, 2023
- 7 min read
THE COVENANT
"Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:" - Jeremiah 31:31
So far, we have learned that if Christ is interceding for us we must surely need it, and that what He did at the cross did not complete our whole salvatory journey but rather facilitated it. Thus even though we are forgiven and we no longer have any guilt between us and God, we are still in need of the intercession of Christ because we yet still capable of doing things that are not according to God. In brief, it is that continual intercession that saves us. Many Christians are taught that what Christ did at the cross alone saves them, but there is no salvation if there is no priest to minister the blood that was shed on the cross. “for the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11)
We have also decyphered our heavenly Father’s involvement in all this; as a loving chastising Father to lead us to lean on our intercessor. What does the Bible have to say concerning this cooperation between the Father and Son?
(Zechariah 6:12 KJV) And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
(Zechariah 6:13 KJV) Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
These verses speak of two individuals, the LORD [YHWH-Jehovah- the King] and the BRANCH [meaning a branch that proceeds from a royal tree] “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch,” (Jeremiah 23:5). The Father and Son made an everlasting covenant, a counsel of peace, in which Jesus would do everything that was necessary in terms of merit, and that would satisfy the Father. Thus so, the Father, because of the merits of Jesus, is able to consider us by the disposition we established in our previous episode. No one is capable of breaking this covenant, because it is a covenant "between them both" (Zechariah 6:13) And because it is solely between them, it allows Christ to save us to the uttermost.
Some may ask, what about verses that say “I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.” (Ezekiel 37:26)? Well, has any man ever been in negotiation with God over the everlasting covenant? Did they agree to terms and roles? Obviously not. What these verses mean is that God will deliver unto His people the everlasting covenant, for it was already made in the days of eternity past and will endure for ever.
(Ezekiel 37:27 KJV) My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
(Ezekiel 37:28 KJV) And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
When and how was this covenant delivered to man? Immediately after man sinned this everlasting covenant was delivered to him in the following verse:
"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15)
We would do well to notice that “He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one” (Galatians 3:16). In giving it to Adam and Eve, God gave the covenant to all men (since they were the only humans alive at that point), and promised that through their line, Christ would come to live a life of righteousness, accrue merit and die for their sins for "he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1)
However, a few centuries later, “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5) “And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth” (Genesis 6:7) Which He did through a flood, “wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water” (1 Peter 3:20)
“And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;… And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth” (Genesis 9:8-11)
Here again was God delivering His covenant to all men (for Noah and his family were the only humans on earth at this point). To remind them of this covenant, “God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature…I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.” (Genesis 9:12-13)
However yet again, apostasy grew and men slowly moved back to wickedness, “they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High” (Psalms 107:11) They did not believe the token of the covenant and went about to build a tower in "a plain in the land of Shinar" (Genesis 11:2) “whose top may reach unto heaven” (Genesis 11:4) in order that they may escape another flood were God to send it. God would not now destroy them with a flood for He had promised not to destroy man in order to start again. This time however, He simply confounded their languages and spread them across the earth. Such was the origin of nations. These nations went about their own way, but with the same rebellion of Babel though now in different tongues. God would now deliver His covenant to only one faithful individual, and in order to do that He would have to call him out of his nation.
“the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee” (Genesis 12:1)
Abram left his country but he did so with his father Terah (father's house) and nephew Lot (kindred). Only after Terah had died, and Lot had separated from him, had he fully fulfilled the command. Then and then only did the LORD deliver His everlasting covenant to him:
(Genesis 15:5 KJV) Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be
(Genesis 15:6 KJV) And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
On this Paul writes, “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” (Romans 4:2-3). The question then is this; were people in the old testament justified by faith? Or by works? Some Christians are taught to believe that people in the old testament were saved by keeping the law, and that now under the new testament it is just about grace. Is this true? Consider where Paul goes to show that justification by faith has always been since Adam, and that the only way man can be saved is by the Abrahamic covenant, the everlasting covenant as was delivered to Abraham.
“For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.” (Galatians 3:18)
And so anyone who shall ever be saved eternally will be so saved only because of faith in Jesus.
This “counsel of peace” involved Christ becoming “a priest upon His throne” (Zechariah 6:13). A priest must have a temple/tabernacle/sanctuary wherein he ministers. The Levitical priesthood had a sanctuary here on earth which was a copy of the true one in heaven, “Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.” (Hebrews 8:5) and so far, we have learned that Christ is the “minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man” (Hebrews 8:2) We have also studied the history of how God delivered His everlasting covenant to man.
Conclusion
The everlasting covenant is also called the new covenant “Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them” (Ezekiel 37:26) On this we ask, who’s the ‘them’? “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31) This Scripture says the new covenant is made with Israel. Who is this Israel? God will answer us on this “And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn” (Exodus 4:22). Israel is a symbol of Christ. When Paul says “And so all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:26) he says it because he knows “ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (1 Corinthians 12:27) and therefore he can confidently identify for us the seed of Abraham “And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29) because “He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” (Galatians 3:16)
1. The Scripture teaches that the only way any human being shall be saved eternally into heaven is to go as part of “the body of Jesus" under the everlasting/Abrahamic covenant. What does this mean to you? Could this mean that we will biologically be attached to the physical body of our risen Lord? Or does it mean our bodies and minds must be filled/possessed with the Spirit of Christ? [Consider Romans 8:14 and Galatians 3:27]
2. Read the following quotation and deduce points relevant to this lesson
“It is called an everlasting covenant (Jer_32:40), not only because God will be for ever faithful to it, but because the consequences of it will be everlasting. For, doubtless, here the promises look further than to Israel according to the flesh, and are sure to all believers, to every Israelite indeed. Good Christians may apply them to themselves and plead them with God, may claim the benefit of them and take the comfort of them” - [Matthew Henry, Comprehensive Commentary on Jeremiah 32:26-44]
NEXT: THE SHADOW
Comments