THE COVENANT - THE LORD'S WAY OF SALVATION

THE COVENANT – THE LORD’S WAY OF SALVATION

The Bible is about how to accept God’s Everlasting Covenant, have eternal life, and be an heir of God’s kingdom according to His promise.

Our Lord made a promise to Abraham to be God to him and his descendants after him. This includes us IF we separate from the world. This is pictured in the old covenant by physical circumcision of men, “cutting off” the flesh of the foreskin. Circumcision in the New Covenant is called “cutting off the world” from our thoughts and our mind. This is “circumcision of the heart,” (Gen 17:11, Rom 2:28-29, Col 2:11-12, Js 4:4, NASB throughout).

We must believe that God sent His Son Jesus Christ, who is Abraham’s Seed, to die in our place, shed His own blood instead of innocent animal"s blood, and bring times of refreshing. This is salvation as preached by all the prophets. If we repent and return to the Lord’s covenant which He made with our spiritual fore-fathers, we become His children and will be blessed. He said to Abraham, “In thy seed shall all the kingdoms of the earth be blessed,” (Acts 3:12-25, Lev 26:40-46, Gen 22:18). We can become His children (Gal 3:29).

Our Lord made this covenant, which we call the Everlasting Covenant of promise. We shall see the similar type of contract was made with Adam (Genesis 2:16-17, Hosea 6:6-7).

The laws were added to the covenant of promise because of man’s transgressions against God’s covenant (Gal 3:19). God’s people tempted Him ten times in the wilderness (Num 14:22, five times before the law was given on Mt. Sinai). These transgressions involved turning away from God to worship other gods of the world.

Jesus says few find the way to properly respond to this promise of God’s restoration of fellowship with Him. In all the covenant agreements, it is our willingness to make sacrifices in response for our sin which the Lord looks at. “It is not the sacrifices in themselves, but simply the heartless sacrifices with which the wicked fancied they could cover their sins, that are here rejected as displeasing to God, and as abominations in his eyes” (Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol. 10, p99-100, C.F.Kiel, Eerdmans Pub, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980).

We can learn from the accounts of God's people in the Old Testament because it is linked to the New Testament. We are to learn from all the experiences of Israel.

The Old and New Testaments are linked together in harmony. There are several texts in the New Testament which direct us to use the Old Testament as an example. They teach us;

“all written in earlier times is for our instruction” (Rom 15:4), and

“all that happened to Israel were for examples for us” (1Cor10: 11 KJV).

These include God’s dealings with His people, their laws, and most importantly, the everlasting covenant. The LINKAGE TEXTS tell us that His dealings with people are still the same. The everlasting covenant of promise is still how we are saved.

In the old covenant, if a foreigner wanted to join Israel, they were to all have one law for the native born and the alien. We are to teach these laws so that Jesus is identified and glorified. We are to teach these laws so that repentance for forgiveness of sins can be proclaimed in His Name to all nations so that people can return to God’s covenant (Num 15:15, Lev 26:40-46, Lk 24:44,47).
Click here for more “ LINKAGE TEXTS.”

The devil has deceived men ever since the Garden of Eden, and continues today.

The war with Satan is described;

Rev 12:9 ¨And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Rev 12:12 ¨Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.

Rev 12:17 ¨So the dragon was enraged with the woman, (representing Christ’s wife – the church), and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

VASSAL AGREEMENT
It was common in the early bible times, that a conquering king gave his newly defeated subjects His laws as a “vassal agreement” between the conquering king and the new subjects, or “vassals.” This is how it worked:

“After a war, the victorious king would make a covenant with his defeated foe, making certain agreements and guaranteeing protection on the condition that the vassal king and all under his authority would obey their new lord. Both lord and vassal would swear an oath, and they would thence forth be united in covenant.” (David Chilton, The Days Of Vengeance, Tyler, Tx, 2011 p14).

We swear an oath when we publicly profess to follow Jesus into death and resurrection at baptism, and to take up our cross daily for Him (Rom 6:4, Lk 14:26-27). We are all prisoners of “the law of sin which is in my members,” (Rom 7:23). Jesus Christ is our conquering King who defeated Satan at the cross and rose again (Rom 8:2). We are to choose whose laws and sanctions we will follow, and to whom do we choose to be servants, or vassals(Rom 6:16, Phil 1:1, Titus 1:1).

Meredith Kline describes the standard treaty form of the ancient world, “The structure of the Biblical Covenant bears striking similarities to the established form of peace treaties in the ancient Near East,” and “The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy, was structured in five parts, all of which appear in the biblical covenants,” (Meredith Kline, Treaty of the Great King, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1963).

The Lord delivered His early patriarchs from different forms of attacks from Satan. Some were oppressed by other “lords.” God delivered them from their foes and offered a treaty to them. The Bible calls these agreements covenants.

The simplest picture of a covenant agreement between God and man is the first story in the bible, in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.

WE HAVE FOUR MAJOR COVENANT PICTURES of our Great King calling people from bondage, sin, and judgments to a life of blessings in return for loyalty and obedience:

1 Noah was obedient to what the Lord God commanded him. He built an ark for the deliverance of God's people. The Lord punished all who set their minds on the flesh, but delivered all who set their minds on the spirit.

2 Abraham was delivered from idolatry and family traditions. He was given the covenant sign of circumcision which means to “cut off the world of the flesh,” i.e. separate.

3 Moses led God's people Israel to freedom and then instructed them how to live in God's Law. God’s people Israel were delivered from enslavement, oppression and bondage in Egypt.

4 Jesus defeated the devil, Satan and delivered man from sin and death by His death on the cross. He bore our sins away by His resurrection from the dead.

We can still see Satan and his servants disguising themselves as angels of light and prowling about like roaring lion seeking someone to devour (1 Pet 5:8). They oppress people spiritually, until we call out to the Lord for deliverance, as the Israelite people did over and over.

Let’s look closely at the 5 part structure of the vassal agreement and covenant;

1 PREAMBLE

This identifies the lordship of the great king. This recalls His greatness, power, nearness and presence. The Lord made the heavens and earth and Adam and Eve, and then delivered them from the sin death into which they had fallen.

              Ten generations later, The Lord God delivered Noah and his family
            from the flood judgment because they had helped build His ark of
            deliverance.
                        They were declared righteous.

At the time of Moses and Pharaoh, the people knew these stories of the great Lord God delivering His people from the flood! It is the most well
known story in the world - see “Flood Story.”

2 HISTORICAL PROPLOGUE

This is a survey of the victorious lord’s previous relationship to the conquered vassals, especially emphasizing the blessings bestowed. The Lord had delivered Abraham from idolatry in the pagan land of Ur. The Everlasting Covenant was made by God with Abraham because he had proven faithful by believing the Lord’s promises to make him a great nation and have descendants as numerous as the stars.

3 ETHICAL STIPULATIONS

              The 3^rd section of the vassal agreement requires the most
explanation because of great confusion in churches today.
          The ethical stipulations which follow contain laws;

- how to worship God

- how to love God

- how to love people - how to conduct relationships according to His will.

These explain the vassal’s obligations, and their guide to citizenship and to relations with their neighbors in the covenant. The Lord asked men to follow Him in several ways;

Adam and Eve were to only eat trees the Lord instructed (Gen 2:16-17).

Abraham was to leave his relatives and follow the Lord to the land He would
show Abraham (Gen 12:1).

Abraham was not to take anything from the devil or his agents (the King of
Sodom) lest they say “I have made Abraham rich” (Gen 14:22-24)

           Abraham was to walk before the Lord blamelessly and be circumcised in the
            foreskin. He and his descendant had to accept the everlasting covenant with
            the Lord. Then the Lord would their God, and for they would be His people,
            and He would bless them (Gen 17:1,7).

The Lord tested the people to see whether or not they would walk in His
law (Ex 16:4).

              The Lord continued the covenant with Abraham’s son Isaac “because
            Abraham obeyed My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws”
            (Gen 26:1-5).

              The Israelite people were to “choose” life and prosperity, or death and
            adversity. That is, whether they would follow God’s covenant or not (Lev 26,
              Deut 28).

              Law was added 430 years later to the covenant with Abraham because of
            transgressions. Laws were added to the covenant but did not nullify the
            promise previously ratified by God (Gal 3:17).

What LAWS did the Lord instruct His people?
We should follow what Moses was commanded to instruct God’s people. What was added to the covenant of promise? (see section #3ETHICAL STIPULATIONS and section #4 SANCTIONS ).

Later we will see how the SANCTIONS offer us blessings for returning to the Lord’s covenant. This gives us HOPE.

Jesus said “If you believe Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote of Me.” If you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (Jn 5:46-7). FAITH enters thepicture.

The language in Exodus 19:3-9 tells us that the Lord intended to speak to the people law and commandments as instructions to be part of the covenant. (To see a study about the Lord’s speech click here;
“Ten Commandment Speech.”

Exodus 19:4 they had seen His miracles

:5 if you obey My voice you will be mine (heirs eternally)

:6 these are the words to speak to the sons of Israel

:9 Lord spoke from the cloud so that people could hear Him speak
with Moses and “believe in Moses forever.”

JESUS, the SEED promised to Eve, and the offspring of Abraham came with better promises so that we no longer need a lamb sacrifice to atone for each sin. We can put faith in Jesus ¨the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,´(John 1:29). He took our place (Rom 5:8-10, 8:3-4).

The Mt. Sinai covenant speech continues from Exodus 20 through Exodus 23. Part way through, the people became afraid of the thunder and quaking of the mountain when the Lord spoke “So the people moved away, and told Moses to speak with the Lord. The Lord then said, ¨He would speak the words to Moses to instruct the people” (Ex 20:19,20, 22, 21:1, compare Ex34:10-28 speech, and Deut Ch 5 – 30 Moses’ recap of God’s speech).

Look at Exodus 24:1-12. The Lord spoke to Moses (four chapters of words in our bibles). Then Moses recounted to the people all the words of the Lord, and all the ordinances (Ex 24:3). Moses wrote all the words in a book (Ex 24:4,7), and put the blood of sacrificed animals on the people (Ex 24:6-8), and on the book of the law (Hebrews 9:19), to validate the covenant.

The Lord wrote all the words of the law and commandments on stone tablets. The word “commandments” means “words or ideas.” They are “heads of ideas” or laws.

After the people sinned by making the golden calf and worshiping it, Moses smashed those first stone tablets on which the Lord had written His law and commandments. The Lord re-wrote His law on two new tablets of stone. This is when the words were called the “Ten Commandments,” including the summary heads of laws and all the ordinances and statutes which they represent (Ex 34:28).

The philosopher and historian Philo explains how the Israelite people thought in their day, and consequently how Jesus and Paul spoke and taught the people (The works of Philo, C.D.Yonge, Hendrickson Pub, Peabody, Mass, 1993).

“Philo is also noteworthy for understanding the early church and the writings of the New Testament, especially those of Paul, John, and the Hebrews. Most of the churches reflected and described in the New Testament were part of the social fabric of the Hellenistic Greco-Roman world. Precisely because Philo is a Hellenistic Jew, he is essential for New Testament studies,”(pxiii, The works of Philo, C.D.Yonge, Hendrickson Pub, Peabody, Mass, 1993).

Philo lived during the same time period as Jesus and Paul and understood the way of thinking.

The first ten ideas in Exodus 20:3-17 are general ideas or “heads” of the many special laws which follow (Ex 20:23-23:33), and identify many special situations and how to apply the general “head commandments.”

Philo has very enlightened descriptions of the Ten Commandments and the law.

Four quotes from Philo:

#1 “The Ten Commandments are summaries of the special laws which are recorded with

the sacred books and run through the whole of the legislation,” (Yonge’s title; A Treatise Concerning the Ten Commandments, Which Are Heads of the Law, THE DECALOGUE, paragraph #154, the Works of PHILO, Hendrickson Pub., Peabody, MA, 1993)

#2 “These are the explanations (of the Ten Words, the main heads under which are summarized the Special Laws) handed down to us from the old-time studies of divinely gifted men who made deep research into the writings of Moses,” (PHILO, The Special Laws, Book 1, paragraph #1 and # 8, F.H.Colson, Harvard Press, Cambridge, MA, 1950).

Jesus was asked;
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandments in the law?”

Jesus said; “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the great and first commandment. The second is like it, ¨ You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Deut 6:5, Leviticus 19:18, Matt 22:36-38, Mk 12:28-31).

NOTE: These commandments are not in the Ten Heads, or summaries of commands. We would throw out Jesus’ teachings if we only teach the ‘ten commandment’ heads of the laws!

#3 Note: The following is an example of a “HEAD” law and the related special laws it summarizes;

“The fourth commandment, which treats of the seventh day (weekly Sabbath) must be regarded as nothing less than a gathering under one head of the feasts and the purifications ordained for each feast, the proper lustrations and the acceptable prayers and flawless sacrifices with which the ritual was carried out,” (Colson, PHILO, The Decalogue, paragraph #158.

#4 The following Philo quote is an example of how God desires to motivate our righteousness through His promise rather than through the law, (Romans 4:5, 9:30-32).

“..let us now proceed to relate the cause for which God, having pronounced

           these ten commandments or laws, in simple injunctions and prohibitions,
appointed no punishment for those who should violate them, as lawgivers
           usually do.
   The reason is this: he was God, and being so he was at once the good Lord,
            the cause of good alone, and of no evil.

“So then He judges that it was in accordance with His being to issue His saving

commandments free from any admixture of punishment that men might
choose the best, not involuntarily, but of deliberate purpose, not taking
senseless fear but the good sense of reason for their counselor.

           “For it is proper for all the ministers and lieutenants of God (in this case
          Moses) just as for generals in war, to put in practice severe punishments
against those deserters, who forsake the ranks of the just one,” (Yonge, The
        Decalogue, paragraph #176,178).

CLUES FROM SCRIPTURE

This arrangement of 10 “heads” of ideas, known as the Ten Commandments, among many special laws which apply to many specific situations in life has a parallel picture in Psalm 119.

There are “ten words” which appear throughout the verses of Ps 119, so that we will notice the special applications of each of the ten words. This is the same as the first ten “words” of the commandments from Mt. Sinai appearing throughout the following laws and commandments which the Lord told Moses to instruct His people!

Another example of ”heads;”

A river went out of Eden and became four rivers (Genesis 2:10). See how one river of thought begins in Eden and becomes four “heads” (see footnote for ‘rivers’ at Gen 2:10) In scripture, rivers represent teachings (Isaiah 8:6-7).
The covenant made in Genesis 2-3 pictures how God will deal with man throughout history. See the four Covenant pictures given earlier.

Now we will look at the fourth part of the Vassal Agreement;

4 SANCTIONS These sanctions outline blessings for obedience, and curses for dis-obedience. The Lord’s purpose is to get us to return to His Covenant. See;Leviticus 26:1-13, 14- 39. The four sections of Revelation are structured in termsof the sevenfold curses of the covenant, set forth in Lev 26:18, 21, 24, 28).

The revelation written by Saint John was God’s last appeal to the people to

return to His covenant individually in AD 68, just before the final destruction of

the Jerusalem Temple – the center of the Israel nation’s worship.

This is shown by being written in the Leviticus 26 pattern (4 rounds of 7

warnings), (Deuteronomy chapters 28:1-14, 15- 68, Joshua 23:11-16, 24:20-27).

If people stopped keeping God’s laws, then they broke God’s covenant. The Lord looks at His relationship with His people as a marriage vow. It is only God’s bride which is received into heaven for the marriage supper of the Lamb, JESUS!

We must rest in His works.

Breaking our marriage vows with our Lord is committing adultery with another god’s teachings. It is infidelity to God (Hosea 4:1, 5:3, 6:10, 9:1).

If we love the Lord we should show our allegiance to Him, our praise to Him, and our honor to Him (Rev 5:13).

Because of transgressions of His law, He added new sanctions, or laws, to the covenant (Gen 3:14-19, Ex 34:12-16, Gal 3:19). Law was added to the covenant of promise, called “the covenant” throughout scripture.

A Covenant with the Lord offers fellowship with our Creator God to be restored. He added laws to His covenant because of lawlessness (Gen 3:21, Jn 17:3, 2Cor 5: 18).

Adam and Eve turned away from the first covenant agreement which had a single law and they became spiritually dead, (Gen 2:16-17, 3:1-6, Eph 2:1,5). Similarly, the Israelite people built a golden idol and worshiped it while Moses was on the mountain receiving the tablets of law from the Lord (Ex 31:18 - 32:8)!

How are we to restore fellowship with the Creator God?

There are many aspects of the law; Property rights, sundry laws, fines for various penalties, and laws how to worship God. “

How can Paul say “The Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ” (Gal 3:24)?

Among the worship laws are regulations for God’s appointed times, or holy convocations, during the week and year. We learn about our Lord by learning what is important to Him.

He has given us these appointed times, or feasts, for us to keep holy and reflect on their meaning – see 'laws in stone tablets’ Ex 23:14-19, Ex 34:18-23, Lev 23:1-44). All three speeches written in books by Moses.

These feasts actually prepare us to be His people;

1 The Lord commands us to rest every week on the Sabbath, to learn to rest with Him, as the He rested from His work. We must rest in His works.

2 How on Passover we passed from death to life by believing in His prescribed blood to protect from the death angel.

3 How to cut off the rules of the world (world of the flesh) by eating the Unleavened Bread of the words of His Law to prepare us spiritually to confess our condition.

4 To have the hope of resurrection because of Him being accepted as the Wavesheaf Offering of the first fruits of the harvest, representing us.

5 By following the Holy spirit given to us at Pentecost to guide us to be Christ like.

6 To remember to listen to His calling us, by a Blowing of a Trumpets.

7 To appreciate the solemnity of the Atonement He made for us.

8 How to cleanse our heart for Jesus to make His Tabernacle in it.

            These 8 feasts are actually the part of the law, and give us the picture and explanation of how we are to grow in faith of WHAT JESUS THE LAMB OF GOD HAS DONE FOR US.
   See special study about
                   “GOD'S PLAN OF SALVATION SEEN IN HIS FESTIVALS.”

5 SUCCESSION ARRANGEMENTS These assure continuity of the covenant over future generations:

Gen 12:2 “I will make you a great nation,” the Lord promised Abraham.

Gen 15:5 God was promising him descendants as numerous as the stars.

            Gen 15:18   To Abraham’s descendants I have given this Canaan land. In the
                                  New Testament, instead of our “land inheritance,” we inherit Jesus
                                  and eternal life in heaven.

Gen 17:5 God changed Abraham’s name (from Abram) to “father of a
multitude.”

Gen 17:7 God also established His covenant with the descendants of
Abraham.

Israel failed as a nation because of unwillingness to submit to the restrictions and requirements of God,” (SDA BC Vol. 4 p32.8). Also see 2 Kings 17:7-19).

The Lord had defeated Pharaoh to deliver His covenant people from bondage. Pharaoh is a symbol of Satan for us. Our Lord has defeated the our adversary Satan by suffering the death penalty for sin for us, resurrecting from the dead and making His deliverance from the death penalty available to all who believe they need His sacrificial offering for them to be declared righteous, and have eternal life.

“If a vassal kingdom violated the terms of the covenant, the Lord would send messengers to the vassal, warning the offenders of coming judgment, in which the curse-sanctions of the covenant would be enforced.

“This turns out to be the function of the bible prophets…they were prosecuting attorneys, bringing God’s message of Covenant Lawsuit to the offending nations of Israel and Judah,” (David Chilton, Days of Vengeance, Tyler, Tx, Dominion, 2011, p15).

The everlasting covenant made Abraham and his descendants to be God’s people. The covenant required circumcision of the men’s foreskin, as an outward sign of accepting God’s covenant. In both the Old and New Covenants, we are to separate from the world and follow the Lord (Dt 10:16 and Rom 2:29). This was to symbolize “cutting off the world of the flesh.”

”Lust of the world” means “If anyone is friends with the world, he is an enemy of God.” Lust of the world means lust of flesh, lust of eyes and boastful pride of life (Rom 2:28-29, Col 2:11-12, Js 4:4, 1 John 2:15-17).

The Lord expects His People to turn away from all worldly influences. Even some of God’s followers can be false circumcision (i.e. evil workers). People who are the True circumcision, will put no confidence in the flesh. He gave His Laws to test us (Ex 16:4, 20:20, Dt 8:2).

This has always been;

Num 33:55 They will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in
your sides, and as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you.

Deut 10:16 circumcise your heart.

12:1-13 cut off world influence (see James 4:4 in NT).

13:1-11 do not be enticed or yield to anyone who serves any
17:1-7 do not go and serve other gods, or worship them- purge

evil from you.

Phil 3:1-3 Eliminate sources of evil teaching in your life.

Both Old and New Covenant scriptures teach to “cut off flesh.”

However, the physical becomes spiritual. The process of circumcising the heart is described in Eph 4:22-24. The Lord told His prophet Jeremiah to instruct the people to remove the foreskin of their heart (Jer 4:4)!

Paul said, ¨If a (physically) uncircumcised man keeps the law will not his (physical) uncircumcision be regarded as (spiritual) circumcision? A true Jew is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter (Rom 2:25-29).

What did the Lord mean? If we are friends of the world we are enemies of God (Js 4:4). Since this instruction is near the end of the Bible, we should be seriously disciplining our lives to be separate from the world like Jesus (1 John 2:15-17).

Jesus gave us new terms - the New Covenant, with better promises (Heb 8:6).

The nation of God’s people had not circumcised their heart by turning away from the ways of the world, to honor their new King. They were not obedient vassals. They did not continue in God’s covenant (Heb 8:9). Therefore God sent His “messenger of the covenant,” the Lord, to purify the nation of Israel (Mal Ch 3-4 covenant talk).

JESUS came to His people, Israel, as this messenger of the covenant. His first speeches called for repentance (Mal 3:1, Mk 1:15).

Jesus initiated the New Covenant requiring faith in His blood instead of animal blood required in the Mt. Sinai covenant (Heb 9:11-12). Jesus filled full the sin offerings and Atonement Day offerings by entering the holy place once for all time through His blood having obtained eternal redemption (Gen 17:7, Heb 9:11-12).

If we have faith in Jesus Christ’s substitutionery death for us, we should show our faith by obeying Him as a way to show our love of Him, to honor Him, to praise Him according to scripture, to worship Him. Jesus said these are the ones who will be saved into the kingdom. These will stand before Him in heaven – those who practice praising and obeying Him now.

Christ Jesus gave Himself to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds (Titus 2:13-14).

The blood of Christ offering Himself without blemish will cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Heb 9:13-14).

Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant so that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance (Gen 17:8, Heb 9:15).

As in all the old vassal agreements, we should show our love and our desire to honor the Lord by keeping His laws and commandments (John 14:15, 15:10-14).

In the Old Testament unintentional sins could be confessed, a sacrifice
offered, and forgiveness of sin attained (Leviticus Ch 4 and 16).

In the New Testament we are reminded and warned : “If we go on sinning
willfully after receiving the knowledge of the Truth, there is no longer a sacrifice
for sin,” Heb 10:26).

“Anyone who sets aside the law of Moses dies without mercy--,” (Heb
10:28).

“How much severer punishment for those who trample under foot the Son of God and regard as unclean the blood of the covenant,” Heb 10:29).

RULES OF BIBLE INTERPRETATION

This study is focused on the overall view of God’s relationship with His created being - MAN. Most rules for biblical interpretation in the Reformed Tradition agree, No individual passage of scripture is being considered.

One of the rules of hermeneutics, or bible interpretation, requires “the testimony of any single passage of scripture is subject to the illumination of all the rest of scripture.” This is called the “analogy of faith rule.”

We must see how the Old and New Testaments agree and are in harmony.

Other important rules of interpretation by Edward J. Carnell, a prominent theologian and apologist at Fuller University:

Systematic passages interpret the incidental.

Universal passages interpret the local.

Didactic passages of systematic instruction interpret the symbolic.

These rules may sound complicated, but they really are nothing more than Common Sense. They do not need allot of fancy educational interpretation. On the contrary, once heard by man, they can be applied by any man.

THE GOSPEL TELLS OF THE BLESSINGS AVAILABLE TO THE WORLD THROUGH THE EVERLASTING COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM’S SEED, WHO IS JESUS (Gal 3:29).

Paul explains in the New Testament, “Before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore, the Law has be our tutor to lead us to know Jesus Christ,” who is to re-create us into a new being, called out of the world, to be like Him and worship Him in His Way (Gal 3:23-24).

Nothing has changed. We are saved from the curse of the Law through faith in the sacrifice of Abraham’s offspring JESUS, who God sent to be a blessing to the world, as promised in the covenant. He lived out the law and fulfilled the requirement of the law in us who follow the Spirit instead of the flesh (Rom 8:3-4).

Jesus, the promised SEED of Abraham, said:

“Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall

pass from the Law until all is accomplished,” (Matt 5:18).

“The gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are

those who find it” (Matt 7:14).

We should desire to please the Lord when and if we appreciate His sacrifice for us(JN 14:11-15), and if we want continued blessings in this life and to be His people. Then we will be given the spiritual “land” that we sojourn in as an everlasting possession as Abraham our father (Gal 3:29, Heb 11:8-9 KJV).

In the New Testament, written after Jesus Christ fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies, our inheritance is made up of all the blessings of an heir as a child of God, if we follow the spirit instead of the flesh to find the “heavenly land, whose builder and maker is God,” (Heb 11:10, 13-16).

The new Testament and the new Covenant teach that if we love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, then we are “in Christ.”
Heaven is our spiritual “place” of promise. This is the Good News! “He who believes in the Son has eternal life,” (Jn 3:36).

HOW TO SHOW FAITH AND LOYALTY TO OUR KING, JESUS

How far should we repent to follow God’s everlasting covenant?

Jesus promised to give us a helper, the Holy Spirit, who will be with us forever and guide us into all Truth (John 16:7-15, Acts 3:13-19).

We must allow the Lord to write HIS laws on our heart and in our minds – turn from following other people’s teachings (Duet 6:6, Jer 31:33, Heb 8:10). We can not take away from the words of His book (Dt 4:2, 12:32, Rev 22:19).

The New Testament teaches us to expect to be disciplined as we Follow the Lord. “He who lives godly will suffer persecution” (2 Tim 3:12, Heb 12:4-11, 1 Pet 3:13-17).

Jesus, “The Messenger of the Covenant” is to baptize us in a baptism of fire to purify us. We are to be holy (Mal 3:1-3, Matt 3:11, 1Pet 1:13-16).

We get hope from HIS promises of blessings which are included in His everlasting covenant;

We become HEIRS of His kingdom of Heaven.

We become Sons of God with Jesus Christ His Son.

We should be willing to allow the Lord to write all HIS laws on our heart. This was true even in the Old Covenant (Duet 6:6).

CONCLUSIONS

TODAY, we are still saved through faith in that covenant of promise. Jesus, the Christ, is Abraham’s promised SEED, Gal 3:29)! Later laws were added because of transgressions (Gal 3:19).

The people continually turned away from the Lord, so laws and sanctions were written to let the people know what the results of their choice would bring – punishments.

In the covenant of promise “The Lord promises to be our God and we will be His people.” We all have one covenant of promise (Gen 17). This reflects the harmony through all the Old Testament and New Testament scriptures.
See this promise (these words) repeated throughout the scriptures.

We should want to be vassals of such a great and loving King!

Law was added to the promise “Because of transgressions” (turning away from God’s covenant). He gave sanctions for us to follow to continue to receive grace.

Grace is shown by our Lord in all the times He forgives His people and receives them back as specified in Leviticus 26:40-46. A remnant will be saved.

Grace was offered by the Lord if people returned to His covenant conditions (Lev 26:40-46, DT 32:36, 43, Neh 1:9).

Jesus taught us we must worship in Spirit and in Truth. We know from Saint John’s Description, how those who were around the Lord’s throne worshiped.
They had a spirit of gratitude, honor, blessing, praise, and glory to God for their deliverance from death. They had gratitude for being His vassals, or servants! Saint Paul is a “bond vassal” (Rom 1:1)!

What is Truth? Jesus came to earth as the Word of God, full of grace and truth. Our goal also should be to observe God’s appointed times which are holy to Him, to love Him and our neighbor – and our enemy. Even try to eat the foods he prescribes for us. And worship when He wants us to. All according to Scripture – in the Law of Moses.

The prophet Malachi tells us;
· Stop giving your second best to the Lord (Ch 1)

· Remember and keep the Law of Moses and take heed to your spirit (Ch 2)

· Allow the Lord, the messenger of the covenant, to purify you as in a refiner’s fire so you may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness (CH3).

Remember the Law of Moses, not just the Ten Commandments
(Ch 4).

We are free to choose “Life and prosperity” (Lev 26:1-13), or “Death and adversity” (Lev 26:14-39) according to scripture.

The Law defines:

how God wants us to act under His Lordship.

how we will be treated if we reject His covenant treaty.

how people will be treated resulting from their choices such as in

Deut 30:15.

Jesus taught;

“Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be

added to you” (Matt 6:33).

“Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly

are ravenous wolves” (Matt 7:15, 2 Cor 11:13-15).

Jesus said, “ASK, and it shall be given to you; SEEK, and you shall find;

KNOCK, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives,

and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened” (Matt7:7-
8).

We are to show gratitude and thanks by giving honor and glory to Jesus by making it our intent to be loyal to the laws of His covenant, which Jesus was careful to keep (John 5:46-47).

REPENT TO THE COVENANT

Jesus taught;

Aliens who wanted to join His people to repent (Num 15:15)

Legalists to realize they needed forgiveness for lawless deeds (Rom 6:14)

Anti-nomialists to turn from lawless ways to the law He gave Moses
(Rom6:1)

Family members to give more allegiance to God than family
(Lk 14:26-27)

Proud people should become humble (Habakkuk 2:4, James 4:6)

Ungrateful people should have gratitude (Col 2:6-7, Heb 12:28)

Unforgiving people should forgive others for mercy (Matt 6:14-15)

Fearful people should have strength and confidence in the Lord (Matt 6:25).
Selfish people should not just tithe offerings but also give justice and

mercy (Matt 23:23).

Make sure our bible interpretations are accurate with the overall viewpoint of the bible teaching. The Old Testament stories must agree with New Testament doctrinal conclusions (1Cor 10:1-11, Rom 15:4).

Scripture can not contradict itself (see rules of bible interpretation). We must maintain the harmony of scripture.

Show thanks. We are still saved by faith in His promise of grace through His Covenant.

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It is my prayer that this study might be used to bring some light to help see what the bible shows us about our Lord’s agreement to be our God.

ASK the Lord for His Holy Spirit to show you more light. He has been the greatest source of strength and teaching to me to study this.

I give Him thanks for the resources and for my wife Candace for her support to be able to work on the study.

Richard Liskow

Go TO HARMONY BIBLE STUDIES homepage.

Link to WHAT SHOULD YOU TO DO WITH GOD'S LAW?

About Me

1 Noah was obedient to what the Lord God commanded him. He built an ark for the deliverance of God's people. The Lord punished all who set their minds on the flesh, but delivered all who set their minds on the spirit.

2 Abraham was delivered from idolatry and family traditions. He was given the covenant sign of circumcision which means to “cut off the world of the flesh,” i.e. separate.

3 Moses led God's people Israel to freedom and then instructed them how to live in God's Law. God’s people Israel were delivered from enslavement, oppression and bondage in Egypt.

4 Jesus defeated the devil, Satan and delivered man from sin and death by His death on the cross. He bore our sins away by His resurrection from the dead.