Isaiah Roman

The New Covenant

“… a natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to know them , because they are spiritually discerned1;” a discernment received through direct revelation by the Spirit of God, enabled by the fully sufficient sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross. In the days of old God’s Word (the things of the Spirit) was revealed to the Israelites through the law and the prophets. Their propitiation was found through sacrifice and worship in the Temple. Yet they knew that these things were a shadow of a promise yet to be fulfilled. The Christian looks back on Jesus the Christ as his propitiation and believes by faith in the witness of the Word through the Apostles. It is through the prophets and the apostles that the word of God was kept inviolate and has come down to the present time.

After the death of Solomon, when Rehoboam ascended to the throne of David, Israel was divided. God ripped the northern kingdom out of the hands of David’s heirs. Jeroboam, a servant of Solomon was placed on the throne in the new country of Israel.2 Two tribes, Benjamin and Judah, were given their share of the promised land to inhabit together (Benjamin’s inheritance fell inside Judah’s lot when Joshua cast lots to divide the land). The city of Jerusalem and the Temple also fell inside Judah’s lot. It was from the tribe of Judah the Messiah would rise up.3

God preserved the southern kingdom – known as Judaea – because of his covenant with David.4 The promise of the Messiah came first to Abraham, then to Isaac, then to Jacob, then to Moses, then to David. In order to maintain His perfect righteousness, God preserved His promise through those who were faithful to Him5. The preservation of Judaea and it’s subsequent resettlement after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC were because of the messianic covenant God had made with these, His faithful6.

Israel broke the primary commandment, the first of all God’s laws7. They erected idols in the Temple precincts where God had “placed His name” and began to worship false gods. They had gone beyond secreting false idols in their homes. They had gone beyond erecting groves and places of stone to worship idols to those false gods. They had erected idols to their false gods in the Temple itself.

The worship of Baal,8 the usurper, as well as the sun and moon became rampant9. The horoscope and false gods (idols) were used for divination10 rather than the true prophets of God. These things are recorded in the writings of the prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Zechariah and Amos), the Chronicles of Israel and the two books of Kings.

Zechariah records this condemnation of their blasphemy, “Yes, they made their hearts as hard as a stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts.” – Zechariah 7:12

It was not long before the temple was destroyed, the people taken into captivity. The people were brought back into the land as God had promised, but not for their sake. Rather, God brought them back for His sake, for the fulfillment of His promises.

God’s Mediator came with a new Covenant11 to replace the Covenant of law administered by Moses under Aaron and the Levites through Temple worship. The Messiah came and presented himself to the Jews, the people of the promise. Recorded in Matthew Chapter 5, Jesus preached a sermon we now call The Sermon on the Mount. This was a call to renew the covenant at Mount Sinai. A covenant wherein the law – as it were – would not be written on tables of stone, but rather in the hearts of those who received the Spirit of God.

The rebirth of the Spirit is just that; a new heart. The person who is born again has a regenerated spirit, having been brought to life by God by the giving of the Holy Spirit as the helper, the comforter who quickens us and then dwells within us. Recognition of Jesus as the only begotten of the Father is the beginning of understanding. Submitting one’s self to that truth, and therefore giving one’s self to God, through the work of the Christ, creates an entirely new creature. Thereafter the Spirit of God will work to “finish the work”12 begun by God in the new creature.

It was the rejection of God’s Messiah by the Pharisees which ushered in the messianic Covenant. When Jesus died on the cross the scriptures record that the veil before the Ark of God in the Temple was “rent” (torn from one corner to the other opening the way into the “holy of holies.” The veil before the Ark of God in the temple was only accessible to the Chief Priest, on the Day of Atonement, each year. It was his duty to sprinkle the blood of the sin offering for the people of Israel.

The rending of the veil was the beginning of the last days. The Temple’s final destruction and desecration13 by Titus in 70 AD brought an end to Temple worship. It was the final act of God in the creation of the new covenant with His creation; the One sacrifice able to be the true propitiation for sin. The way to God has been opened by the rending of the veil which brings every believer directly into the presence of God and His throne. The Christ has become our High Priest, and we are all priests, according to his promise14.

Jesus now sits at the right hand of God as an advocate for all faithful believers. All the children of Israel that died in the faith of a coming Messiah, as well as all those who believe on Jesus as the Christ are covered in the blood offered on the cross. This is the Messianic Covenant. The lamb that was slain before the altar of God daily was a foreshadowing of the “lamb slain” before the foundation of the world. Christ died for the sins of the “whole world.” His sacrifice is sufficient for all sin, everywhere, but only those who live by that promise15, given before creation, will be glorified by that covenant.

The Holy Spirit was in Adam at creation but was removed when Adam broke his covenant16 with God.

The Apostle Paul described it this way; “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart” (II Corinthians 3:3).

This was the same as the prophet wrote generations before Messiah arrived to implement it. “I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh.” – Ezekiel 11:19

Humankind searches always for a “plan B” to revert to in the event “plan A” fails. God has no “plan B” He doesn’t need one! There is only one plan, from before the dawn of time, to the end of all creation. The infinite God, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent cannot fail because He will not fail. “I [Am That I Am] will declare the decree!”

1. I Corinthians 2:14
2. “…it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field: And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces: And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee: (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:) (I Kings 11: 29-32).
3. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh [Messiah] come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Genesis 49:10).
4. “thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. 17 According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David” (II Samuel 7: 16,17).
5. See the 11th chapter of Hebrews
6. Jeremiah 30:8-24, Ezekiel 11:17-20
7. Deuteronomy 5:6-10
8. “…he said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to enquire of Baal–zebub the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to enquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die” (II Kings 1:16).
9. The word Baal is an ancient Semitic word meaning “the lord, master, owner (male), keeper, husband.” It refers to Nimrod, the husband of Semiramis. The modern symbol of Islam, the crescent and the star were originally represented with a crescent moon, a full sun and a rising star. This symbol also goes back to ancient babylon, from the times just after the destruction of the Tower of Babel. The symbols represent the false god Bel, his “virgin” wife Semiramis, and their son Tammuz, or Ninus. Bel, or Belus – known in the Bible as Cush – is also known in Greek mythology as Hermes, meaning literally “son of Ham” from which we get the word hermeneutics. The crescent and star represent the false messiah, and his virgin mother. Therefore the worship of Baal and Asherah are the worship of the false father god, and his wife, the virgin mother of the false messiah, Nimrod. For more read The Two Babylons by Rev. Alexander Hislop, Second American Edition 1959.
10. “…our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs” (II Chronicles 29:6).
11. “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. 7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. 8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Psalm 2: 6-8)
12. Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
13. A swine was offered on the altar where only the offerings prescribed by Moses were to be burned, the ultimate blasphemy.
14. I Peter 2:9
15. James 2:14-26, Romans 8:10-30
16. Genesis 2: 16,17, also read Genesis Chapter 3