The New Covenant, Part II

There is more to say!

Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash

Since this is Part II and I will only be referencing the case that I made in the initial piece, I highly recommend reading or rereading the original so this will make sense. Read The New Covenant here.

We will start by reading Jeremiah 31:31-34:

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.

“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people. No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.

I would like to begin by focusing on “I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts.” Yehovah says that He is going to write/inscribe it on our hearts. I believe that there is a misunderstanding about this, and many think it is a new concept in this New Covenant. Being on our hearts and being in our minds has always been the design. Consider the Shema, Deuteronomy 6:4-9:

Hear [and obey, the meaning of Shema], O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts. And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

Let’s first point out that the beginning of the Shema is the answer that Yeshua gave in Matthew 22:37 when asked, “Teacher, which commandment is the greatest in the Law?” This is the Greatest Commandment; this is what He was quoting, the answer the questioner was expecting. We read in English “Hear,” but the underlying word is “shema” (שְׁמַ֖ע), Strongs 8085, ‪‬which not only means to “hear,” but also “obey.” The English hides “obedience,” it hides the action. Obedience to what? The answer is next, “These words I am commanding you.” Next question, “what are ‘these words’?” They are the Torah. Where does He say these should be? Answer: “upon your [our] hearts.” So, way back at Mt. Sinai, when the Torah was originally given, it was expected to be “upon your [our] hearts.” At Mt. Sinai, He spoke the Torah to the people, until they could hear no more, and then they asked Moses to be their intermediary and get the rest, which He did. Moses wrote it all down. Yehovah also wrote a covenant on stone tablets (twice actually), but He did not write it on any hearts. (You should consider my earlier piece on The Ten Commandments to learn what is actually written on those tablets.) This says that it is our choice if it will be on our hearts. It is commanded, but it is our choice.

It also says, “Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.” It is Jewish practice to this day to do this literally with Tefillin, also called phylacteries. That is not what this verse means. What is “on your hands” is a symbol of what you do, your obedience. Binding them “on your foreheads” means “what you think.” Refer back to The New Covenant in Jeremiah 31 where we see, “in their minds.” Again, it is to be in their/our minds, but at Mt. Sinai Yehovah did not write it there, it is their/our choice if that happens. Ponder this: if He wrote it on your heart, would you need a reminder? Again, it is commanded, but it is our choice.

Recall the definition of “sin” from 1 John 3:4:

Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness as well. Indeed, sin is lawlessness.

Lawlessness is translated from “anomia” (ἀνομία). The “a” prefix negates what follows; “nomos” follows which is commonly translated as “law.” So, “anomia” means “without law.” The Septuagint consistently translates “Torah” as “Nomos,” meaning this should be read as “sin is being without Torah.” That is why we are to keep it on our hearts and in our minds, so we will do it, so we will not sin.

Sin has a cost as Romans 6:3 says:

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Until Yeshua came and paid that price, the full price was still on their/our heads. Disobedience, sin, incurs the death penalty. That is why they were commanded to keep this in their minds and on their hearts, so they wouldn’t sin and incur the death penalty. There was a real cost before Yeshua came the first time. Now that He has come and paid that penalty, we can be free from that death. Consider Romans 8:1-2:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.

“The law of sin and death” is the penalty for sin, that is death. Those who are in Messiah have had the penalty paid. The penalty is paid; the requirements have not been done away with. Herein lies the test. With the penalty paid, will you still obey? Without consequences for disobeying, will you follow the Torah, Yehovah’s instructions, because you choose to? The Christian Church seems to answer in unison, “We will not obey!” I want to be clear. You may obtain salvation by trusting in Messiah; that is the only way. Obtaining salvation, everlasting life and being the bride are two entirely different things. Consider Matthew 5:17-19:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law [Torah] or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments [Torah] and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Do you think for one minute that He is going to accept for a bride someone “called least?” Are you playing to win the prize, be the bride, or are you just trying “to be saved” and just scrape by. Aiming to “be called least in the kingdom of heaven” is probably not a good goal to set. He deserves more from us. The Church says to say the salvation prayer, ask Jesus into your heart and you are saved, you become part of the bride. It doesn’t work that way.

This is all about covenant illustrated as the marriage covenant. God Himself married Israel at Mt. Sinai. Due to Israel’s continued infidelity to her marriage vows, she was served a get, a divorce decree (Jeremiah 3:8). (Go back a reread part one so you know what had to happen so that He could remarry His divorcee bride.) Yeshua came the first time only for the lost sheep of Israel, His bride (Matthew 15:24). He came to begin the process of getting His bride back. He issues the proposal, you must accept. Once accepted, you are effectively married, but the marriage has not yet been consummated, the wedding is still in the future. We already know what the marriage vows will be as they are the Torah agreed to by our ancestors back at Mt. Sinai; we are expected to live according to those vows once we agree to the proposal. If we accept, we are betrothed, engaged. Between Yeshua’s first and second coming, we are now in a period of testing to see if we will actually live up to the vows this time. Do we have to be 100% perfect? We are human so we will make mistakes, we will sin. The question is do we continue in those mistakes, that sin, or do we repent, teshuva, and return to honoring our vows? The heart is being tested, are you putting the Torah on your heart?

Again, I will refer you back to part one where the hardening of pharaoh’s heart was discussed. Pharaoh made the initial choice to defy Yehovah. Once pharaoh had made his choice, Yehovah “hardened his heart,” but really, He strengthened his resolve in the choice that he had already made. The New Covenant is about exactly this thing. During this betrothal period, the time of testing whether we will be the faithful bride this time, we are making our choice. Each of us must make that choice, will we honor the vows this time when we say, “I do” at the wedding, or will we not. He is going to strengthen your choice, which ever one you make. That is the New Covenant; He strengthens your choice by He Himself writing the Torah, the marriage vows, on your heart. In our time, before His second coming, before the wedding, it is our choice to put the Torah in our minds and in our hearts. Looking at the world around us it is very easy to see that most people say “No!” If you said “Yes” to the proposal, are you already living as if you are married? Are you honoring the vows to your Husband? The first group that said, “I do,” failed to live up to the vows and were divorced for that. He is not going to let that happen again. This group, us, will prove ourselves worthy before the wedding, or we just won’t be there.

I know that Yehovah cannot be fooled, but this seems so appropriate right here:

Between your “yes” to the proposal and the “I do” at the wedding, how are you living? Are you looking forward to the wedding or the bachelorette party? That one last time as a “free woman” before putting that “shackle” on your finger, one more night on the town, one more night to let your hair down, to get your freak on? Many, I dare say most, are living like this is a bachelorette party; the buffet is open, get some more bacon, some more ham, some lobster, shrimp, and catfish. Go attend a Christmas party and sit on Santa’s lap, hunt some more Easter eggs, but ignore the anniversary of the first marriage, Shavuot. Ignore the seventh day Sabbath, ignore the Groom’s special days, His Feasts, His Mo’edim. They say, “I haven’t said ‘I do’ yet!” That is not the bride He is going to marry. He will marry a bride that after her “Yes,” lives like she has already said, “I do.”

We now need to consider Ezekiel 36:16-38. I have made it easy, click the link and go read it before continuing. This story is about the future restoration of Israel, not “the Jews.” If you don’t know the difference, as most people do not, you should consider my previous two pieces: Have you considered this: Israel? and Have you considered this: the Jews? This is still in our future, Israel has not been returned to the land yet, much of Judah has, Israel has not. An interesting thing for our purposes in this piece is what Yehovah says that He is going to do when this is fulfilled. Consider Ezekiel 36:24-27:

For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and I will bring you back into your own land. I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.

At that point, when He restores Israel, still in our future, He is going to give them “a new heart.” This new heart will “cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.” His statutes and His ordinances are His Torah. This new heart has His Torah written on it so they will do it. This is all still future. This is another witness as to when the “New Covenant” actually is fulfilled.

To think that you are already living under the New Covenant means that you dismiss the choice that you have at this time to put the Torah on your heart. You want to say that He already wrote it there when you “came to faith.” That is not what the Bible says. It is your responsibility, your choice. Choose wisely. Don’t be deceived.

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