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The New Covenant Promised to Israel Eventually

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The following is adapted from Bob Hoestra’s class Living By God’s Sufficiency, available free at the Blue Letter Bible Institute (www.blbi.org).

 Previous posts in this series:

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To properly consider the new covenant, we should begin by looking at the promise of it in ages past. In history, God intervened with man and promised the new covenant to the nation of Israel. We will see a glimpse of this in Jeremiah 31. As we look at these verses, we shall see three aspects of the new covenant that we will be able draw upon later.

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” says the LORD.

“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the LORD: “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” says the LORD. “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Some day Israel, as a nation, will come into this new covenant.

Now, they are living under the burden of having rejected the Messiah who brought in the covenant. Of course, many Jews, one by one, for the last two thousand years, have been coming to the Messiah to live under this new covenant, but they have yet to come en masse. Perhaps you, by natural human bloodline, were Jewish in origin and you have come to believe on Christ as the Messiah. This is your covenant. And someday the nation will come. Particularly, it will happen as the end of Romans 11 describes it, it says, “Thus all Israel shall be saved.” That is what eventually awaits Israel.

Three terms to this covenant

There are three terms to this covenant, which are laid out gloriously in this passage. The first of these is the forgiveness of sins, found at the end of Jeremiah 31:34. “For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.” Forgiveness of sins is part of the new covenant. For many believers, the forgiveness of sins is really all they know of when they hear of the new covenant. These recall easily that “this cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you,” and yet forgiveness is only one part of the covenant.

Not only do we see forgiveness of sins in this new covenant, but we must note the second term of the agreement: a personal relationship with God. “No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them” (verse 34). The door for the intimate opportunity to get acquainted with God is opened under the provisions of the new covenant.

Take special note of this third provision of the new covenant: the internal working of God, enabling His people for Godly living from the inside out. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts” (verse 33).

The difference between the covenants is striking.

In the old covenant of the law, the message was inanimate. There was no life in it. It was a message of words carved in stone, external to man; it was an outside, inanimate message. The old covenant describes what life should look like, but it neither provides nor can it provide life to those who are under its terms. God intends for life to be godly, to be holy, to be righteous. And the law demands it, describing life as it should be. But it never offers life.

The new covenant, however, works inside the man.

It is alive and operating at depth in the believer’s soul. It is the Spirit of God at work. This is the glory of the new covenant: that the message of abundant and godly life is brought internal by the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God brings the message of holiness and life inside the man and places it in his mind, embedding it in his heart. In other words, God begins to develop that godly, holy life from the inside out. This is God’s sufficiency for godly living. In the new covenant God works in us, developing a godly life deep in our heart and it will flow forth by His grace.

Comments

  1. Oh, that Bob was still with us
    But praise God, He, our blessed Lord, is and always will be with us. And not by just the letter of the Law, but more importantly by the Spirit of the Law and the Spirit of the Lord. “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept Mt Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” John 15:10-11 NASV.

  2. I really appreciate Chris recognizing that God is not finished with the Jews or Israel. God made a blood covenant with Abraham which is eternal, granting them a huge chunk of land in the Mideast and unique blessings which have filtered down to this day. Even among the secular Jews. In spite of losing six out of nine million in Europe during WW-II and numerous terrorist attacks since then, this race of people rise to the top in almost any profession(Law,Medicine,Finance,the Arts and Social Services,etc) in almost any place. In Israel, Messianic Judaism is rapidly spreading through the Country(See MAOZIsrael.org). In the USA, the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America holds a Conference every year in Harrisburg, PA, which attracts thousands of believers in Jeshua(Jesus). Even though Messianic Judaism is an old movement, it seemed to get turbo-charged during the 1970’s, when Jewish hippies became many of the first born-again believers during the Jesus People movement. So as you can see, the original branches are now being regrafted into the olive tree with us wild branches(Romans 11).

  3. I’m very thankful that you wrote that the new covenant is a future to come. I believe the Hebrews of the books of the tanakh very much understood that their salvation came from faith and not through the law. In Psalm ch 51 David said in his prayer of repentance that the sacrifices of God were a broken and contrite heart. In Psalm 40 David says “behold I come in the volume of the scroll it is of me”. This is also taught in Hebrews 8. Also in Psalm 40 David says his ” ears have been opened” and that God’s laws and precepts were written on his heart. I really believe that the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. Many times write as if they are separate from each other and they aren’t. We don’t need to reconcile friends. Thanks again and hope to read more from you soon. Chris

    • “I really believe that the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. Many times write as if they are separate from each other and they aren’t. We don’t need to reconcile friends.”

      Well said. I agree.

      J.

    • Chris~

      I was wondering if you could please clarify something for me. You wrote that “the new covenant is a future to come.” We are in the new covenant, so what do you mean by it being in the future? Thank you!

      Yours in Christ~
      Barbara

  4. No “glimpse” happening here. The GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (s) covenant with Israel is in full force and has been as soon as the words “it is finished” were uttered by Israel’s Messiah.

    The words “old” and “new”, amongst many, many other words that have been translated into the scripture English reading Believers use, represent and foster a theology that is incorrect and “swallowed whole” by believers “en masse” commonly known as Replacement Theology. This theology has been taught for hundreds and hundreds of years by those who taught us, and those who taught them, and those who taught them, etc. to a point where understanding, expounding and applying this complex Systematic Theology is seen as a “spiritual gift” that appears to be entrusted to only the religious few and if those of the rest of us have enough faith, we to can come to understand for ourselves. As for me, if we apply a little logic and thought as those of Berea did and not get swept away with emotion that too many of us call Faith, all will understand with the help of the “Ruach HaKodesh”. I’ll leave that personal consultation to those of you who happen to care enough to be reading this.

    GOD’S first covenant with man (Adam) started at creation by GOD’s “Grace” alone (sidebar, grace is not a “new” concept of theology). GOD’S second covenant was made with man (Adam) after the fall. Notice, there are no Jews involved here. So, if the “new” (grace) replaces the “old” (Law, works), are these first two also replaced by the “new”? Or is it just the Jews and Israel that are replaced? It seems logical to me, nothing is replaced and all covenants work seamlessly within each other and gentile Believers are graphed into Israel.

    I’ll leave with this question to those who care enough to read my humble opinions. Either Bob H. or Chris P. wrote “Some day Israel, as a nation, will come into this new covenant.” If this is the case, with whom does the “New Covenant” rest with while Israel waits?
    J.

    • Jerry~

      The new covenant “rests” with the Jews and Gentiles who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior as even a casual reading of the NT illustrates. Because you have repeatedly condemned Christianity as a whole of replacement theology, could you please give even a short list of the Christian denominations that adhere to this heresy? I have asked and asked, but you have never supplied one. If our theology is so corrupted, as you claim, then where is the proof? Again, Jerry, the burden of proof rests solely with you. You can’t just say whatever you want, especially with regard to biblical matters, and expect it to just be accepted as truth as though it is to you and not God’s Word that we are to look.

      The bottom line is that you and a few others on this site are about the only ones who believe in the reality of replacement theology in the body of Christ. The rest of us know and believe and teach that Gentiles are grafted into Israel, but it is spiritual Israel, not the physical house of Israel. Here are just a few of the verses that are taught in the body of Christ, which, apparently, aren’t taught where you worship:

      ~”O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Matt. 23:37-39).
      ~”For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16).
      ~“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, [of] the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew” (Rom. 11:1-2a).
      ~”And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree” (Rom. 11:17).
      ~”And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again” (Rom. 11:23).
      ~”Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee” (Rev. 3:9).
      ~”Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: [there were] sealed an hundred [and] forty [and] four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel” (Rev. 7:3-4).

      How do you reconcile your accusations with those verses, Jerry? Where is there ANYTHING that remotely supports your claims?
      With regard to your second-to-the-last paragraph, I don’t know if you are purposefully trying to be deceptive or if you are just honestly ignorant of the Word, but in either case, your understanding of the covenants is wholly distorted. In the first place, we know that “grace” is not a new concept, and secondly, God made many covenants with man, the two greater ones known as the “old” and “new” covenants. You have tried, again, to support your false accusations by taking issue with the words being used as when you wrote, “The words “old” and “new”, amongst many, many other words that have been translated into the scripture English reading…and foster a theology…known as Replacement Theology.” According to the “Jewish Virtual Library,” Jeremiah 31:31 reads, “Behold, the days come, saith HaShem, that I will make a NEW covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah” (caps mine).

      However, even if we take the word “new” out of verse 31 as you seem bent to do, what do you do with verse 32 in which we read, “Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD”? If it’s “Not according to the covenant that [God] made with their fathers,” then this other covenant would have to be “new,” wouldn’t it, and if it’s new, then this just isn’t a “theology that is incorrect and ‘swallowed whole’ by believers ‘en masse,’” is it? Also, if the word “new” is so offensive to you, what do you do with Hebrews 12:24, which says, “And to Jesus the mediator of the NEW covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than [that of] Abel” (caps mine)? What do you do with Hebrews 13:20, which says, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the EVERLASTING covenant” (caps mine)?

      In addition, what do you do with this entire passage in Hebrews 8:6-10 and 13, which says, “But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a BETTER covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first [covenant] (IMPLYING ANOTHER LATER CONVENANT] had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second [OR NEWER]. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a NEW covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant [IMPLYING ‘OLD’] that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my [FORMER] covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this [is] the covenant [IMPLYING ‘NEW’] that I will make with the house of Israel after those days [OF THE OLD COVENANT], saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:… In that he saith, A NEW [covenant], he hath made the FIRST OLD. Now that [IMPLYING THE OLD COVENANT] which decayeth and waxeth old [is] ready to vanish away” (caps mine).

      How, exactly, can you support the idea that there was no new covenant put into place, given these verses?

      You wrote that we should “apply a little logic.” I agree, and the most important part of a logical argument is proof, so If you have the truth, you should have no problem supplying something to back it up with something other than accusations, which, quite frankly, is getting a little old. You can begin by giving the examples to prove your accusations that Christianity has “…created for themselves to co-opt the Covenants, Promises and Kingdom that the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob gave to Israel…” As I have written several times, you haven’t given any evidence to support your claim, so I am, again, asking for it. I attend a Baptist church. Would you please tell me exactly what “Covenants, Promises, and Kingdom” that the Baptist church has “co-opt[ed]”?

      Jerry, you always seem to have plenty to say when accusing Christianity of replacement theology, but you never have anything to say when it comes to proving it. Please don’t tell me to “Take it up with Him” or give me any of the other one-liners that you substitute for evidence. Provide the proof to support your claims.

      I will await your answer.

      Barbara

      P.S. Your opinions are anything but “humble.” A person who is humble doesn’t repeatedly attack a group with unsubstantiated claims but, rather, acknowledges when his or her doctrine cannot stand against logic and Scripture and desires to know the truth.

      • Well said Babara Le Ferve,
        Jeremiah was speaking about the Consciousness of feeling the Presence of God and that seal is located in the ‘heart’ and not in the mind of man. There is a distinction between the two.

        Also that covenant of Divine Design existed from the beginning as the Light of God and the Promise attained shedding our human experience to That of Himself or God,which lies in man’s heart as His Reflection which lighteth every man and woman who cometh into the world. That means that if and when we learn to break or open that particular ‘seal’of knowledge we’ll see that the original covenant was there all along. The only difference we’re truly speaking about is the Way of Christ Consciousness, which is truly about raising our human consciousness to God Consciousness through Christ consciousness which is the ‘mirror’ Reflection of God , the ‘only begotten’Christ Light in the bosom of the Father which has been with us from the beginning as the scriptures of John so poignantly point out. Now the union of the new as well as the old covenant lies in man’s further discovery of the deeper meanings of Hebrew chapter 4, The ‘Sabbath.’ and what it truly means to practice it! That’s the means by which man learns to experience the living covenantof God. We need to address this truth which the Church lacks the courage or knowledge of how to open ‘That’ seal or address this ‘Key of Knowledge’ while walking in the Way of Life.

  5. It helped me a great deal to read Dwight Pentecost, and Clarence Larking on the issue of Covenant and Kingdom.

    Dwight Pentecost has a very scholarly book called ‘Things to Come.’ but for a little lighter reading i recommend his book ‘Thy Kingdom Come.’

    One thing he states as does Larkin is that we must separate out to whom, to which of the three people groups (Gentile, Jew, Christian) is the Bible addressing.

    You can not separate the idea of kingdom and covenant. The kingdom will be a fulfillment of the covenants (not the Mosaic though) All the covenants are made to Israel. They have yet to be fulfilled, however the church was born out of the New Covenant as Christ Himself stated, but the total fulfillment is yet future.

    We get the righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,Romans 14, but when the kingdom is set up it will be poured out in greater measure.

    Kingdom and Millennium are synonymous. The Covenants were unconditional (Not Mosaic though) God will fulfill the covenants when Christ sets up the Kingdom.

    Pretty exciting stuff!
    In Christ,
    Jim

    • Jim~

      In your post, you wrote, “The Covenants were unconditional….” While it is true that our initial salvation was unconditional (Eph. 2:8-9) because there are no human works that we can offer a holy God to have our sins covered, our final salvation, our entrance in heaven itself, is conditional. Just as the dramatic story of the Israelites illustrates (Rom. 15:4), after God delivered them from Egypt (the “world”), they were sent into the wilderness for a time of testing, and as we know, except for Caleb and Joshua, not one of God’s covenant people entered into the final rest that God had prepared for them, a reality about which we, as believers, are also warned in Hebrews 3:7-19. Below is a list of some 20 verses that illustrate that our final salvation is conditional upon our faithfulness to the covenant we entered into with God. Because all verses (II Tim. 3:16) MUST be reconciled to find the truth of God’s Word, please explain what truth they are putting forth if not the loss of salvation, keeping in mind that they are all addressed to believers. In addition, they also dispel one of the most widely used and unsupported reasons of all, that “they weren’t really saved to begin with.” (caps mine)

      ~“But IF ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:15).
      ~“And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, IF ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses” (Matt. 18:34-35).
      ~“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, IF ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn. 8:31-32).
      ~“Verily, verily, I say unto you, IF a man keep my saying, he shall never see death” (Jn. 8:51).
      ~“I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. IF a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast [them] into the fire, and they are burned” (Jn. 15:5-6).
      ~“For IF ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but IF ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” (Rom. 8:13).
      ~ “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; IF so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together” (Rom. 8:17).
      ~“Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, IF thou continue in [his] goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off” (Rom. 11:22).
      ~“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, IF we faint not” (Gal. 6:9).
      ~“In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: IF ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and [be] not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, [and] which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister” (Col. 1:22-23).
      ~“For now we live, IF ye stand fast in the Lord” (I Th. 3:8).
      ~“IF we suffer, we shall also reign with [him]: IF we deny [him], he also will deny us” (II Tim. 2:12).
      ~“But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, IF we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” (Heb. 3:6).
      ~“For we are made partakers of Christ, IF we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end” (Heb. 3:14).
      ~“IF ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But IF ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons” (Heb. 12:7-8).
      ~“See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more [shall not] we [escape], IF we turn away from him that [speaketh] from heaven” (Heb. 12:25).
      ~“But IF we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (I Jn. 1:7).
      ~“IF we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I Jn. 1:9).
      ~“Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. IF that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father” (I Jn. 2:24).

      As you may or may not know, I have posted this list many times, asking those in the body of Christ to explain their meaning if not loss of salvation. To date, not one person on this blog has even tried, which I find quite troublesome. I don’t mind being wrong, but I do mind these verses being ignored as though they aren’t a part of God’s Word. Hopefully, you will address them.

      Your sister in Christ~
      Barbara

      • Dear Sister Barbara,
        The potential of salvation has been promised and exists in everyone that cometh into the world as the Light of Christ. The Light of Christ or Christ Consciousness remains a ‘seal’ and only is opened by understanding followed by practice. This is the true mode of salvation manifest as the enlightenment of Christ(Light). This Light leads to the understanding of the highest Baptism spoken by Jesus Christ (Luke 12:50) The Baptism of Ascension where we meet Christ in the body (nature) of Christ spoken as the ‘Cloud.’
        Salvation potentially exists and is made avaiable to everyone when the soul(pysche) finally realizes that it is not the flesh and therefore seeks its true freedom and realm of existence in God. In terms of human intelligence this or the above stage represents the ‘awakening’ and the reasoning between flesh and spirit. Thus we seek the truth.
        The scriptures are clear and succinctly point to the Ascension and its transformational process, yet man is so caught up in the gynastics of the mind rather than seeking the true spirit and runs to define or create concepts such as ‘Replacement Theology, Age of Accountability all of which have no bearing on the truth of transformation, only rhetoric … that of repeating the old only in new terms.
        The true act of salvation and transformation is to understand what Jesus did at the mount called ‘transfiguration’ he was teaching Peter, John and James the real means of salvation which has to practiced according to the clues given in Both the Old and New Testaments. Now let’s have that conversation!!

        • MJ~

          I appreciate your responding, but I think the simplistic explanations put forth in the Word of God about salvation are very clear, and to be honest, what you have written is New Age to its core. For example, you wrote, “Salvation potentially exists and is made avaiable [sic] to everyone when the soul(pysche) finally realizes that it is not the flesh and therefore seeks its true freedom and realm of existence in God.” In the first place, salvation was only “made available” through God’s grace, nothing else, first through animal sacrifice and finally through Christ’s sacrifice, not through any perceived “awakening” on the part of our “soul.” Secondly, it is only “made available” to those who agree to and accept God’s conditions, which the Bible clearly puts forth in the following scriptures:

          1. We are sinners: Romans 3:23
          2. We are dead in our sins: II Corinthians 5:14
          3. We don’t seek after God: Romans 3:11
          4. We deserve to spend eternity in hell: Romans 6:23
          5. God sent His Son to save the world: (John 3:16)
          6. God draws us to Him: John 6:44, Revelation 3:20
          7. Mankind can choose to accept or reject God’s plan. If he or she accepts, he or she will do the following: receive and believe (Jn. 1:12), repent (Acts 3:19), confess (Rom. 10:9), call on the Lord (Rom. 10:13)
          8. We are then taken from the darkness to the light: Col. 1:13.
          9. We are then tested in the wilderness as were God’s people in the OT after they received salvation. We are to become holy as God is holy. We are to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts: James 4:8. We are to do everything that is on my list of “If” verses.

          This is the only “awakening” or “clues” we need. In addition, John 8:36 tells us exactly how to receive “true freedom.” It says, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Please let the Word speak to you and quite trying to force some esoteric meaning into it.

          I pray that you will come into the true wisdom and knowledge of God’s Word.

          Barbara

          .

          • Dear sister Barbara LeFevre,

            The ‘I’ in pride is very blinding,as for our human intellect always seems to complicate the truth .
            Of course I know the scriptures you have listed in the prior post and there’s not a single thing with them that I disagree with including that sin is a type of ignorance befallen on mankind. For if ‘man’ was free of sin (ignorance), he as well as she would be free of the wrath of God or the Law of suffering and death.(Rms.4:15)
            It seems you wish to think that truth must be complicated and cannot be translated into simple form as it is always that way in the Light of Christ Consciousness. Now I’m sure you understand what consciousness is and where it is spoken of in the bible though translation is necessary.

            Consider the Pharisees and what you might imagine them to have viewed Jesus to be in His day, based on the way he reduced the Laws into simple sayings of great importance, even the Great commandments. Surely he showed his talents when he was young and taught in the synagogue; yet as he matured he was in a position to simplify the truth based on established scriptures and he did not necessary have to boast of his erudition. At the same time Jesus assured the lawyers and Pharisees that he did not come to abolish the Law rather to make it understandable without having to repeat it like a parrot without meaning. Instead he …”Then opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, Luke 24: Now if we consider the lawyer’s position they too would have probably thought of Jesus as a New Age prophet which he was at that time. Therefore having hindsight at our backs … who was more correct in the interpretation of the ‘law’ the Pharisees or Jesus? Even Nicodemus had problems with Jesus’ esoterism …or was his teaching clear to everyone’s understanding and as to what he was teaching even to a master rabbi.(Jhn 3:10).

            Do you think that anyone that reads Jhn 3:5-8 is able to have an immediate epiphany experience?? What about children,… how would you attempt to explain the complexity of those ideas to a child if not in simple language. If anyone wishes to be a worthy teacher they should get beyond just teaching themselves.
            Now when you read your own words in the prior post and find the phrase “My List” pause and maybe you’ll want to eliminate that phrase of boast out of your future responses. Erudition is sometimes what Paul has said it to be Rms.1:21-23. I feel your mistake and I apolpgize if you misunderstood me or judged me incorrectly. As a psychologist and educator I have been in that place myself, but I have tried to learn from my mistakes as well. So I’m in no way upset or begrudging you for what you wrote prior. Rather I feel Just Love Barabara, just love for one another… maybe that’s too new age too? Jhn 13:24

            Yes, Barbara I agreed that It says, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
            Now do mind explaining, and you can get creative as possible within the parameters of scripture, as to explain what the ‘Son’ represents in that context and its entirety? Please try to use your own words, I’ll know if they are scriptural reference, believe me, I’ll know.
            The reason for this request is: .. what if an opportunity affords you to explain such a concept to a group of non-believers who have very little knowledge of scripture moreless the means to understand its immediate translation. Therefore what means of ordinary language can you muster-up that would produce an explanation so that it sounds logical and complete. Forget about “What It Says” and think about what you have to say about it, making it natural, organic and spontaneous as if the truth really exists in you. Try this exercise on me, I will not judge you in no way, you don’t’ even have to post it, just try it! Then you’ll feel the power of a living truth, not one that parrots or is copied. Now mind you quoting the scriptures is necessary to back up one’s ideas or translations(interpretations), but unless truth flows freely it is not your own truth and it is not freedom. Try to relax and go with what your heart is speaking to your mind. This is perfectly natural.
            Oh by the way Isaiah loved to use the term Awake, awake my soul awake.
            Isaiah 29:8 It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
            Also in your erudition can you explain the meaning of Mount Zion, is it just a physical location?
            Peace and love
            MJ

          • MJ~

            As far as your comment that I “wish to think that truth must be complicated and cannot be translated into simple form,” I think my “We are dead in our sins” (II Cor. 5:14) and my “God sent His son to save the world” (Jn. 3:16) is far less complicated than your “…soul(pysche) finally realizes that it is not the flesh and therefore seeks its true freedom and realm of existence in God.” You consider this “simple language” in which to communicate with children? Where have you taught the gospel to non-believers where this is “ordinary language”?

            You wrote, “Now when you read your own words in the prior post and find the phrase ‘My List’ pause and maybe you’ll want to eliminate that phrase of boast out of your future response.” Perhaps you were reading this too much as a psychologist and not enough as an educator because an educator would have known that the word “My” refers to the list I compiled, not to the Scripture I wrote. Also, how can my citing any Scripture, let alone a mere twenty verses, in any way, be considered a “phrase of boast”? In addition, it’s a good thing Paul didn’t have you critiquing his writing because he used the phrase “my gospel” three times in his letters (Rom. 2:16, 16:25; II Tim. 2:8).
            You wrote, “At the same time Jesus assured the lawyers and Pharisees that he did not come to abolish the Law rather to make it understandable without having to repeat it like a parrot without meaning.” Where is the Scripture in which Jesus says He came to make the law “understandable”? Matthew 5:17 says that He came to “fulfill” the law.

            You wrote, “Try this exercise on me, I will not judge you in no way, you don’t’ even have to post it, just try it! Then you’ll feel the power of a living truth, not one that parrots or is copied.” In the first place, you don’t even know me, so will you please tell me how you are able to imply that I am merely parroting Scripture? Secondly, your argument is faulty. Just because I made a list of verses does not mean that I don’t “feel the power of a living truth.” I’m sorry you weren’t able to understand the purpose of the list although I did preface it with an explanation. Thirdly, I’ve written scores of responses on this blog. If you want to go back and read them, then you might be better able to assess the depth of my understanding and my ability to communicate.

            You wrote, “…they too would have probably thought of Jesus as a New Age prophet which he was at that time.” You think Jesus was a “New Age prophet”? Jesus was the antithesis of New Age thinking, so you either don’t know what New Age philosophy is, or you don’t know who Jesus is.

            Finally, I have nothing against the word “awake” or Isaiah’s love of using it. What I do have a problem with is how you have used the word to develop a doctrine that is not biblical.

            As to the rest of what you wrote, I think we can end it here unless you have something to say about the topic of my initial post.

            Barbara

  6. To the above post in reply to Ms. Barbara Fevre.
    P.S. Correction John 13:24 was meant to be John 13:34
    And Luke 24:45
    Apologies,
    MJ