2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
This is a very appropriate time of the year for us to recap some of what God has revealed to us in this series of messages about our covenant relationship with Him. This is because at this time of the year, traditional Jews are celebrating Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year), Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), Sukkot (the festival of Shelters), and Simchat Torah (rejoicing with the Torah) [LV 23: 23-25; LV 16, LV 23: 26-32; LV 23: 33-43; EX 24: 4-7]. Were you surprised to find out what a living and dynamic thing living in a covenant relationship is? Did you realize that it affects the conduct of every part of our lives? Truthfully, when I set out to write this series of messages, I had no idea just where it would lead. God does this at times, asking us to follow His commands when we are not prepared to understand the full importance to us of what he is asking us to do. There are so many things He wants us to know. He loves each of us. He is a keeper of His promises. He never asks us to do anything that isn’t in our long-term best interests. Each day He teaches me what a rich culture I come from as Jew and how important it is for us to all understand the Jewish culture, since it is the one our Lord and Savior was raised in. Knowing about it gives us insight we wouldn’t otherwise have into Christ’s thinking and His way of acting.
The main covenants that are parts of the old covenant of the OT are the Noahtic, the Abrahamic, the Mosiac, and the Davidic. GN 9: 11-13 is the Noahtic covenant, “With these words I make My covenant with you: I promise that never again will a living being be destroyed by a flood; never again will a flood destroy the earth. As a sign of this everlasting which I am making with you and with all living beings, I am putting My bow in the clouds. It will be the sign of My covenant with the world.” The Abrahamic covenant had three promise elements to it: 1) descendants for Abraham through Isaac, i.e. a Jewish nation [GN 12: 2-3; GN 17: 19], 2) a Jewish homeland [GN 15: 13-21], and 3) a King [GN 17:15 & 19]. Note that the first two elements have been fulfilled, but the time for the King to establish His Kingdom is yet to come. The Mosaic covenant came 430 years later with the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai to Moses [EX 24: 7-11; EX 20: 1-17]. The annual commemoration of that is the Jewish festival of Shavuot. This is not to be confused with Simchat Torah, the day in the 7th Jewish month (Tishri) in which the reading of the last verses of DT is completed in the Jewish synagogues and the book of GN is begun again. Simchat Torah is a very joyous holiday and a wonderful reminder of the great gift to the Jewish people and all of us that the Torah (first five books of Moses) really is.
An integral part of the old covenant was God’s exacting directions for His Tabernacle in the wilderness. It was more than furniture and a movable structure that the Jews wandering in the desert were to build, but it was God’s directions for old covenant worship and a foreshadowing of what was to come as a part of the new covenant. Later in this section of messages, we will look carefully at what makes up the Tabernacle and what each part of it symbolizes. Reading the OT is much more than just reading about history. It allows us to have a deeper understanding of the covenants the ancients and traditional Jews today live by as well as the roots of the Covenant of Grace, the one we live by today. The truths of the OT also have great impact on our lives today too. We saw this is a real and practical way with the story of David’s covenant with Jonathan.
God has a habit of revealing the future to faithful people He holds in great esteem. He did this with Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Zechariah, and Jeremiah, for example. In JER 31: 31-34, He prophesied the new covenant to come. “The Lord says, ‘The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. Although I was like a husband to them, they did not keep that covenant. The new covenant that I will make with the people of Israel will be like this: I will put My law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be My people. None of them will have to teach his fellow countryman to know Me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the Lord, have spoken.’” Need we ask if that has impact on us today? I think not. We should meditate on the continuity of the covenant relationship, our need to take our covenant agreements seriously, and how the truths of covenant theology impact our individual lives. God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. He loves each of us more than we can understand.
PRAYER: O Lord, throughout mankind’s history, You have never stopped loving us. That is why You made all the covenants with us that You have. Your wisdom is so much greater than ours, that You know exactly when to make these covenants in an effort to bring mankind to the place where You could maximize the opportunities for our sanctification. You unselfishly yielded up some of Your power, so that we could free agency and not just be Your puppets on a string. Then, by the covenants You made with us, You give us the chance to make choices that will bring us closer to You. All of this was done when we were Your enemies, and You gave Your only Son on the cross for us so that we could be saved. In ancient times, You gave the Law, so that we would know the difference between what is righteous and what isn’t. You promised our protection from floods, and You established the Jewish people to be the first to have a covenant relationship with You. That set them apart from all others. Later in Paul’s time, You opened the possibility of sharing in the covenant relationship with You to the Gentiles, who You “in-grafted” and “adopted” as Your children. You chose Israel to be Your homeland and have promised a new Jerusalem once You have established Your Kingdom. Through Your grace, You have given believers the Holy Spirit, allowing them to be in constant touch with You through prayer, study of Your word, their congregations, and their circumstances. Your presence in our lives is a continuing blessing. We humbly offer You our eternal adoration, worship, glory, honor, loyalty, diligence, trust, obedience, praise, and thanks. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at some of the aspects of the new covenant or Covenant of Grace which arose as the fulfillment of the promises in JER 31: 31-34. We shouldn’t miss what a dynamic and active part of our everyday lives God’s involvement with us really is. His love is all around us. If we are obedient to Him, His love is in us too. Peter and I send you our love, as well.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn