PLAINER WORDS SINCE 1968
Issue # 426
April 14, 2018
CHAPTER SIX
This chapter continues our consideration of Rule 2, according to “How To Enjoy The Bible.” The “New Covenant” being our next example.
(j). The New Covenant ─Its very name suggests
that it is the replacement of one that could be referred to as an Old Covenant.
The name, “new,” suggests that it is in contrast with “old.” As we consider the
New Covenant, we need to keep before us the premise that truth written in
the Past, and relating to a fulfillment in the Future, must not be read, or
interpreted of the Present Dispensation.
Covenants pertained to Israel. Gentiles, as such, never entered into any
covenant relationship with the LORD. Israel was Jehovah's covenant people. The
covenants were made with the “fathers” of Israel. Romans 9:4 said; to Israel
“pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and THE COVENANTS.” The
Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 2:12 wrote of the Gentiles’ dispensational
disadvantage when he said, “at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from THE COVENANTS of
promise.” Covenants relate to the nation of Israel, and are associated with
Truth associated to the FUTURE Kingdom of God; not Present Truth of the
Mystery. Notice references to covenants and their associations.
“But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord:
men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the
Gentiles . . . and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting COVENANT
with them” (Isa. 61:6, 8).
The context in Isaiah 61 which deals with Israel during the “day of vengeance”
(V. 2) and the Pre-Millennium Kingdom of God when Gentiles, as
strangers and aliens, shall feed Israel’s flocks and be their plowmen. It is
then that the EVERLASTING COVENANT will be enforced. This covenant is called a
“new Covenant” in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Notice to whom this NEW COVENANT is to be
made with.
“Behold, the days come, smith the Lord, that
I will make a NEW COVENANT with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL, and with
the HOUSE OF JUDAH: Not according to the covenant (i.e.
old) that I made with their fathers in the day that 1 took them by the hand
to bring them out of the land of Egypt; . . . But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL (not the Church
of the Mystery). ..I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in
their hearts; and will be their God, and they (i.e. Israel) shall
be My people” (Jer.31:31-33).
In Jeremiah 32:37-40, mention is made to the fact that God will gather Israel
out of all the nations and will bring them into the land, again, where they
will dwell safely and, in reality, be God’s people. He will give them one
heart, and one way, and He will establish with Israel “an everlasting COVENANT.”
This deals with Israel's restoration during the pre-millennium Kingdom of God
when the NEW COVENANT will be in full force.
Jeremiah, again, referred to “In those days” and “in that time” shall the
children of Israel and Judah “seek the Lord their God” they will join
themselves to God with “a perpetual COVENANT” (Jer.50:4-5).
Not a single reference to a New Covenant in the OT is related to the Church,
which is His Body. In the NT, occurrences of the word, COVENANT, are referred
to as TESTAMENT.
“And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it: For this is My blood of the NEW TESTAMENT, which is shed for many for the remission of sins”
(Matt. 26:27-28).
“And He said unto them, This is My blood of
the NEW TESTAMENT, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I
will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until THAT DAY that I
drink it new in the Kingdom of God” (Mark. 14:24-25).
Notice that in Matthew 26:29, as well as in Mark 14:25, the NEW TESTAMENT is
connected with the KINGDOM which is a reference to Israel's restoration and the
times of refreshing coming from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19-21). This
is, vividly, brought out in the account of the same event in Luke’s gospel
(Read Luke 22:7-20).
It is noted that the eating of the bread and drinking of the cup is, vitally,
connected with the Jewish feast of the Passover; for the Lord Jesus said in
Luke 22:15: “With desire I have desired to eat this PASSOVER with you before I
suffer.” Then in Verses 19-20, He took bread and He gave thanks, saying; “This
is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise,
also, the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the NEW TESTAMENT in
My blood, which is shed for you.” What the Passover was to the Old Covenant,
the Lord’s Supper is to the New Covenant.
Continuing reading in Luke 22:29-30, it is observed that the Lord’s Supper is
associated with the Kingdom and the Twelve Apostles sitting
on twelve thrones judging the twelve, tribes of Israel. The next reference to
the NEW TESTAMENT, or COVENANT is in 1 Corinthians 11:25 where Paul told the
Corinthian church what he had received from the Lord concerning the night He
was betrayed.
“After the same manner also He took the cup,
when He had supped, saying, This cup is the NEW TESTAMENT in My blood: this do ye,
as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me” (1
Corinthians 11:25).
We read in 1 Corinthians 11:26; “often as ye eat this bread, and drink this
cup ye do shew forth the Lord's death TILL HE COME.” This shows
that the NEW TESTAMENT is connected with the COMING of Christ,
which will be the consummation of the Kingdom. The Apostle made mention, again,
of the NEW TESTAMENT in 2 Corinthians 3:5-6:
“But our sufficiency is of God; Who hath made
us able ministers of the NEW TESTAMENT.”
In this Chapter, Paul compared the glory of the “old testament” (v. 14) which
“is done away in Christ” with the glory of the NEW TESTAMENT. Thus, we see that
Paul, during the Book of Acts, considered himself an “able minister of
the NEW TESTAMENT.” Of course, this presupposes that there was an
OLD which we learn “in Christ” was “done away” with.
Many students of the Word recognize that it is
hard to connect Paul with the New Testament since it was made with Israel and
in light of what he, subsequently, reveals in the Prison Epistles. A point in
fact is noticed in the Scofield Reference Bible where, in the
marginal references, the occurrences of the “new covenant” and “new testament”
are given. The two references in 2 Corinthians are omitted. Scofield,
evidently, could not distinguish the difference between Paul’s Acts epistles
and His post Acts epistles. The former related to a Past Dispensation while the
latter related to the Present Dispensation. Since he couldn’t handle it, he
ignored the instances in question.
Hebrews 7:22 speaks of a “better testament” and, of course, the new was better
than the old. In the Eighth Chapter of Hebrews we note that Paul mentions a
“better covenant which was established upon better promises” than the first covenant.
He restated that the new covenant was to be made with the House of Israel and
Judah (V. 8).
During the Acts Period, believing Israelites were operating under the NEW
COVENANT. Believers of the Gospel of the Kingdom were having a foretaste of the
Kingdom. It is said that they had tasted of the good Word of God, and the
powers of the world to come (Heb. 6:5).
In the course of the Acts Period, it was said, “a New
Covenant, He hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and
waxeth old is ready to vanish away” (Heb. 8:13).
In Hebrews 9:15, Christ is said to be the Mediator of the “New Testament;”
that the transgressions under the first (i.e. the old) testament might be
redeemed. The reader is reminded in verses 16-17 that where a testament is there
must be the death of the testator; for as long as the testator lives, the
testament is not in force.
In summary, what we have is this: those Israelites who believed the Gospel of
the Kingdom and the Lord Jesus Christ; the New Testament was in force. The Old
Covenant was still in force for those Jews who did not believe the Gospel that
“the Kingdom of God was at hand.” Israelites who were not repentant during the
Acts period the old covenant was not abolished for the nation; for
the NEW COVENANT had simply been superimposed over the OLD; only for
individuals who believed.
The NEW is to be established, officially, when the Lord Jesus Christ begins to judge the quick and the dead “at His Appearing and His Kingdom” (2 Tim. 4:1). For this will be the time when Old Testament and New Testament Hebrews, who qualify based upon their faith, will be raised from the dead and have the New Covenant written on the table of their hearts.
The foregoing should indicate to the reader that
the NEW COVENANT is connected with:
(1) The Pre-Millennial Kingdom of God
(2) The House of Israel and the House of
Judah
(3) The Passover
(4) The Lord’s Supper
(5) The Blood of Christ
(6) Better Promises
(7) Better Testament
All of which is truth written in a Past Dispensation (Pentecostal) relating to
a brief period of the Past and will find its ultimate fulfillment in a Future
Dispensation (Kingdom of God). COVENANT TRUTH is not PRESENT TRUTH for the
Church, which is His Body. Right In our consideration of this Third Rule for “rightly
dividing” we come upon a new, unquie, and majestic Truth which is the
embodiment of Present Truth—and was an exclusive truth made know to the Apostle
Paul, and to him alone, as a prisoner of Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 1:8). The Bible
refers to this Truth as “The Mystery.”
~~END of CHAPTER SIX~~
Copyright © Thomas L. Ballinger 2018
First Printing 1975
Major Revision 2011