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You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Heb. 8:7-8 7 For [gar] if [ei] that [ekeinos] first [protos] covenant had been [en] faultless [amemptos], then should [an] no [ou] place [topos] have been sought [zeteo] for the second [deuteros]. 8 For [gar] finding fault [memphomai] with them [autos], he saith [lego], Behold [idou], the days [hemera] come [erchomai], saith [lego] the Lord [kurios], when [kai] I will make [sunteleo] a new [kainos] covenant [diatheke] with [epi] the house [oikos] of Israel [Israel] and [kai] with [epi] the house [oikos] of Judah [Ioudas]: KJV-Interlinear 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. 8 For finding fault with them, He says, 'Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, When I will effect a new covenant With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; NASB So far we have seen information in the Old Testament from Abraham, Moses, and David with regard to the superior status of the Messiah, of His coming out of the tribe of Judah and not Levi, and that He would be a priest of superior status over that of the Levites. Here is yet another quote from Jeremiah which indicates that the Jewish priesthood of Jesus' day, should have known that they were not to be the last and best priesthood. The entire quote comes from Jer. 31:31-35. But we will begin only with the first part. Jer. 31:31 31 'Behold, days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, NASB Likewise there is another quote not mentioned here which comes from Exodus. Ex. 19:6 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel. ' NASB The priests of Jesus day were folks, some of which believed only in what Moses had written, and some of which believed both Moses and the prophets. References are made in both segments of the Old Testament with respect to their priesthood. One day God will make all people priests and again, the old priesthood would no longer be necessary. The Pharisees and Sadducees had more than ample scripture to know and understand that they were not permanent. They just chose to disregard those scriptures. So these passages teach us that the old priesthood was temporary and taught only that the Mosaic Law directs mans attention to the reality of the Messiah and not the imagination of mans overcoming his own sinfulness and death. Furthermore there is another principle to learn from all of this. This promise is made with both Israel and Judah. Why the distinction? Well, Abraham is the initial recipient of the promise. All nations would be blessed through him. The Savior was going to be a descendant through his line. Also, Jacob had his name changed to Israel. He struggled with Christ and he survived. That is the reason for his name change. Israel means, 'to struggle or wrestle with God.' Believers, especially mature believers, have to struggle through life with their faith and so many other things in life but they persevere and overcome. Mature believers, regardless of their circumstances in life, just don't give up on their faith and spiritual growth. Thus the name Israel is appropriate for believers in Christ. Israel became the name of the nation of Jacob's descendants - the twelve tribes named after his twelve sons. Later on, after Solomon, the nation would split into two nations - the northern nation which took as its name, Israel (sometimes called Samaria), and the southern nation named Judah. The northern nation was very apostate, and was made up of ten of the tribes, and was overrun by Assyria. It never recovered and is often called in history, the lost tribes of Israel. Judah who is the true ancestry of Jesus was hammered several times in history but more or less survived until 70 A.D., when Rome finally removed it as a nation. Christ had come and fulfilled His work on the Cross in about 30 A.D. And was sitting on His throne in heaven. The people of Judah continued their apostasy and were finally, after directing their hate toward Rome, wiped out by Rome some forty years later. Now, Jeremiah is indicating that there would one day be a replacement of the old covenant with a new and better one. Christ accomplished that in 30 A.D. But that is not the end of human history. Another age, one never mentioned in the Old Testament, was born. That is the our era, our dispensation, which we call the Age of the Gentiles, the Age of the Royal Family, the Age of the Bride of Christ, or the Church Age. All of these names apply to our current age. Our age has no prophecy in it except for the event which will end our dispensation - the Rapture. But we do have indicators which we call trends (we are the dispensation of historical trends), which point to the coming of the end of our age. These indicators are not specific such as wars and rumors of wars, increased earthquakes, increased knowledge and so forth. All of which are mentioned by Jesus himself. And we know even one more thing about our age. There will be a fixed limit of people who will become believers during our dispensation. Rom. 11:25 25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in; NASB So as our age progresses, the number of believers who will be a part of our age continues to increase toward the final number of believers for our era. That number of course, no one knows except God. Our dispensation has continued for 1,975 years now (2005-30). In that time the population of planet earth has spread across the globe to virtually every corner and every culture, even those hidden in the darkest of islands and jungles, and has now come into contact with modern civilization and the gospel. People from all walks of life, from all nations and cultures are to be a part of the Royal Family. Even though we as gentiles were not the direct recipients of the scriptures, we are however descendants of Abraham (spiritually) by means of our birth into he family of God through our being saved by means of faith. So all believers are in effect members of Gods chosen nation - Israel. Israel is not a nation of genetic descendants, but a nation of spiritual descendants. Even many of the original Jewish peoples refused to believe in the Messiah and they are not saved. Even today Jewish people reject Christ as the Messiah and they are still waiting for their messiah. He will never come because He has already come. But in the final human generation there will be a tremendous change of attitude toward Christ, and that will be the generation of changed Jewish peoples who will believe in Christ. It is that generation who will see the Second Advent. It is on that generations heart that Christ will write His laws (doctrines of the scriptures) and they will be His people and so forth. We have studied most of this in the past. This change of attitude did not occur in Jeremiah's day. It did not occur in Jesus' day. It has not yet occurred even yet in history. Of the hardest headed, most stubborn of peoples, the Jewish people have been and will be, the ones that will take that title (hard headed an stubborn). They will hold on to that reputation (from heavens point of view) throughout all generations, through the Rapture and into the Tribulation, and it will be during that period of time (the Tribulation) that they, as a group of people, will change and turn in huge numbers, to Christ. So, God will make a new covenant with the house of Israel (all believers) and with the house of Judah (specifically Jewish people). The new covenant came to all people back in 30 A.D. But the reference to Judah means also that Jewish people from each of the twelve tribes, will continue to live throughout history right up until the last generation which will occur in the Tribulation. The Jews will never be wiped out, and all tribes will remain. God is probably the only one who knows who is from which tribe. Likewise, there will be believers on this earth in every generation throughout history. There will never be a generation which lacks believers in Christ. The first covenant (the Mosaic Law, the Levitical sacrifices, the feast celebrations and such) had its faults. It could not save. It could not bring man back to God. Only Christ can do that. Clinging to the old covenant would be a very big waste of time, especially when the scriptures themselves specify that it is only a temporary covenant. 
Now is the time to post a prayer. End Of Lesson Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth. |
