In
the last couple of posts I have begun to explore the New Covenant promises as
written in the Old Testament Prophets. Let me expand on my point. The New
Covenant promises are what I call sovereign decrees of God which are guaranteed
to the target audience of new covenant people. They are decrees that can be
counted on completely. To use a metaphor, they are decrees that you can take to
the bank or bank on. Let me give an example from Isaiah 54.
Isa 54:16-17 "Behold, I have created the blacksmith
Who blows the coals in the fire, Who brings forth an instrument for his work;
And I have created the spoiler to destroy.
(17) No weapon formed against you
shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You
shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And
their righteousness is from Me," Says the LORD.
If
you take the time to read Isaiah 54 and put these verses in context you will
see that it is a promise to new covenant Israel. This brings up a legitimate
question; who is new covenant Israel? What constitutes new covenant Israel? Paul
takes a side trip in Romans, in chapters nine, ten, and eleven to explain this.
He uses the olive tree metaphor. Branches are cut off for unbelief. Wild olive
branches are grafted in, and some of the cut off branches are re-grafted in the
original tree. All of the branches are grafted in because they believe in
Christ Jesus. So then, New Covenant Israel is made up of both Jews and
Gentiles. The New Covenant people lose the status of being either Jew or
Gentile. They are in fact a new creature/ creation in Christ.
The
truth is that the new covenant promises are for the new covenant people and there
are neither, Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, slave nor free… rather they are
all one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:28.) Verse 29 goes on to explain that all in
Christ are heirs of Abraham and the promise. The promise is a New Covenant
based upon better promises. It is important to realize that all of us Gentiles have to be grafted in via
Christ or we could not be part of the covenant people. There is a provision in the Old Covenant for
Gentiles joining in to become Jews. It is found in Exodus 12.
Exo 12:48-49 And when a stranger dwells
with you and wants to keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be
circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a
native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it. (49) One law
shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you."
The
plain simple fact is that if the New Covenant is not completely in force,
Gentiles could not be part of the people of God unless they were circumcised
and obeyed all of the Mosaic Law. If in fact, non-Jewish people are in covenant
with God at all it must be via the new covenant. Therefore, all those in Christ
Jesus are new covenant people and, they can rest assured that God has not
formed the weapons that come against them… not only that, they (the weapons)
will not prosper. Furthermore, any tongue that rises in judgment will be
condemned by the new covenant people. It is the heritage of the new covenant
people. And finally, look at the imputed righteousness clause… their righteousness
is from Me says the Lord.
Shouldn’t
we want to be the new covenant people? We will look further into this and the implications
in further posts.
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