7. The New Covenant
The seventh perpetual covenant we are going to look at is the New Covenant which is no doubt the reality and fulfillment of the covenants which God made with Abraham, with the children of Israel, and with David His servant. For it is written; “Brothers, let me take an example from every day life; just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established , so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed: The scripture does not say “and to seeds” meaning many people, but “and to your seed”, meaning one person, who is Christ.’
“What I mean is this: The law (covenant with Israel), introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in His grace gave it to Abraham through promise” (Galatians 3:15-18).
In like manner the New Covenant did not do away with the covenant and the sign which God made with the children of Israel and with David. It brought about instead a reformation, making it feasible for Israel to keep their part of the covenant. For it is written: “For if the first covenant had been faultless then no place would have been sought for a second.”
“Because finding fault with them (the people), He says: ‘Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah – not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord” (Hebrews 8:7-9).
Let us be reminded of the covenant which God made with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; “Behold, the days are coming says the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David A Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely, and this is the name by which she will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.”
‘For thus says the Lord: “David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually” (Jeremiah 33:14-17).
So perpetual is this covenant that the Lord said to Jeremiah; “As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.” Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, “Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, the two families which the Lord has chosen, He has also cast them off? Thus they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them.’
“Thus says the Lord: ‘If My covenant is not with day and night, and I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them” (Jeremiah 33:22-26).
Many of us profess to be believers but unfortunately, we stumble, because we are disobedient to the word, to which we also were appointed.
To be continued
With brotherly love
Lucius Joseph
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