The following are some interesting questions asked by a member of the forum in response to our study of the Mediator and the New Covenant.
I'm curious as to why you think the new covenant is not already in place?
In Reply, The New Covenant cannot go into place (become operative) until the blood which seals it has been applied. It is Christ’s blood which seals the new covenant, but as we have learned the body of Christ consists of more than just its head Christ Jesus, but likewise the Church his body.
“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into the body…for in fact the body is not one member (Christ its head alone) but many (from the divine standpoint, a composite body)… now you (who have been baptized into Christ, made participators in his death) are the body of Christ (the Anointed, the Church, having lost your individually being joined to the body), members in particular.” 1 Cor 12:12-14, 27
Our Lord, the Mediator of the New Covenant, delays the mediation of the New Covenant, in order first to gather together the "very elect," who are to constitute the members of his Body, his joint-heirs, in the millennial glory and Mediatorial work. He is the Messenger or servant of the New Covenant and each one of the Church now being called and chosen becomes an under-servant and messenger of the New Covenant.
I'm curious as to why you think that the kingdom is not already established. Christ reigns!
In Reply, Has it, has Satan been bound? Is the Church now reigning with her Lord? Has the resurrection of the world begun? Has the times of restitution and restoration of all things begun? Has the great time of trouble already come and gone? (If it has I’m sure glad I missed it). According to the following scriptures (Micah 4:1-2, Isa 2:2-3, Jer 31:31, Zech 14:8) the kingdom (that is the earthly phase of the kingdom) will be establish in Israel, has this happened?
Now it is true that Christ can begin his reign prior to all these things being as he is the one, who will direct and implement them, but what makes you imagine that the kingdom, the Mediatorial reign has already begun?
Did not Jesus say; this cup is the new covenant in my blood?
In Reply, yes he did, but this did not imply that he was implementing it right there and then.
The significance of our Lord’s words here basically were,
This is the cup of the New Covenant in my blood— “drink ye all of it.” This cup of the fruit of the vine represents my blood, my death; by it the New Covenant will eventually be sealed, and I invite you who believe on me to partake of this with me, to partake of it as joint participants with me in the sacrifice of your lives (your restitutional life rights) through which the New Covenant will be sealed, and under which all the families of the earth will be blessed.
When our Lord said, "This cup is the blood of the New Covenant," we should understand that, primarily the cup is his, and secondarily it is ours, who are his Body, sharing it and drinking it with him. There will be none of it left for others to drink of afterwards, for his command is, "Drink ye all of it." It was, therefore, primarily, our Lord's blood or death which was necessary to the sealing of the New Covenant, but by Divine arrangement the blood or death of his Church is also made necessary. Hence the New Covenant cannot be sealed, finished, made operative, until all the "members of the Body" shall have died, when the Great High Priest's "better sacrifice" shall be finished.
It is, therefore, quite proper that our Lord's death or blood should be mentioned as the blood of the New Covenant, even though it be not applied until all the members of his Body shall have been sacrificed by him. Then he will apply all the blood, all the sacrifice, all the death merit, as his own on behalf of the world and seal the Covenant with God on behalf of men.
After having sealed the Covenant with the Father, Christ with his Church will at once enter upon the great work of reconciling the world, restoring the world to harmony with the Father.
Does not the letter to the Hebrews make it clear that the new covenant is in effect and the old is passing away? In fact after the destruction of the temple, the old covenant was finished... was it not?
In Reply, The old covenant has not passed away in fact it is still binding upon the Jew even until this day, that is upon all who have not yet come out from under the Law Covenant into the grace of Christ.
There are a great many things in the Old Law Covenant that are not yet fulfilled. It contains, you remember, a type of the selection of Aaron and his sons (typifying the calling of the church class). The antitype is the body of Christ found in this Gospel Age, and it is not all completed yet. The Law Covenant includes the Day of Atonement, on which the sacrifices were offered for the priest and Levites and household of faith, and then for the people, and those in the antitype have not yet been fulfilled; we find the antitype all through this Gospel Age. We find that after the second sacrifice on the Day of Atonement (the “Lord’s goat”) that the High Priest went forth and gave his blessing to the people, and they rose up and gave a shout to the Lord. That represents a time after the Church and Christ have been glorified, after the new dispensation has begun, and that is all future.
The Law Covenant is not ended yet, so if anybody wants to find out when the New Covenant begins, find out when the Old will end. It was not made with you or with me; therefore, it will not end with us. It was made with the Jews, and the bondage is still upon the Jewish nation, and the blindness upon that people is still not taken away. When our Lord by obedience to the Law captured the prize of eternal life, He took away all the value, but the Law Covenant rested upon the Jews even after His death, and that Jewish nation has been under the terms and condition of that Law Covenant all these 2000 plus years since Jesus died, and there is no way of getting out from under that covenant except by accepting Jesus as the antitype of Moses the Great Mediator.
The Apostle said it holds until death, and he represents it as a marriage contract, which holds until death. The only way a Jew can become free is by dying to the Law that he might be married to Christ. The Jew that is not dead to the Law is still under the Law because Christ is the end of the Law to everyone that believeth--NOT the end of the Law for righteousness to anybody else. All Jews who do not believe are still under the condemnation of the Law. That is the reason they are separated from all other nations today. God included all in unbelief that in due time He might have mercy upon all.
I agreed that the new covenant was entered into with Israel! But the grace and mercy of that covenant was extended to the gentiles... we are the wild olive branches that were grafted on to Israel that entered into that new covenant.
In Reply, we never said that the New Covenant was (past tense) entered into with Israel, where did we say that?
Now if you mean we implied it when we quoted Jer 31:31-33 you are mistaken, the text does not state that Israel has already entered into the New Covenant, but that “after those days”, i.e. after the completion of the church, the Great Mediator, THEN “will I make a new covenant with the house of Israel”.
The New Covenant is to be made with Israel alone; the rest of the world (the gentiles) will come into or under this covenant through Israel.
Those of Israel who forsook the covenant (rejected Jesus) are the branches that were cut off...But they too shall be redeemed after the full number of the gentiles comes in.
In Reply, It was not the New Covenant for which they were cut off, nor is it the New Covenant to which the gentiles are grafted in, what the Jews were cut off from was the special blessings and privileges which they had enjoyed as the Lord’s peculiar people, the seed of Abraham. If they had proven faithful they would have inherited the special privilege of being joint heirs with their Lord in the spiritual phase of the kingdom, but alas only a remnant proved faithful so the remainder of the elect class is being called out from amongst the gentiles instead, grafted in as the seed of Abraham, the spiritual seed.
"God hath not cast off His people whom He foreknew." They were merely cut off from His favor for a time while the bride of Christ was being selected (completed) from amongst the gentiles, but will return back to favor when that work is accomplished. Then once again they will be God’s peculiar people of the earthly seed which shall be used to bless all the nations (peoples) of the world.
I'm curious as to why you think the new covenant is not already in place?
In Reply, The New Covenant cannot go into place (become operative) until the blood which seals it has been applied. It is Christ’s blood which seals the new covenant, but as we have learned the body of Christ consists of more than just its head Christ Jesus, but likewise the Church his body.
“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into the body…for in fact the body is not one member (Christ its head alone) but many (from the divine standpoint, a composite body)… now you (who have been baptized into Christ, made participators in his death) are the body of Christ (the Anointed, the Church, having lost your individually being joined to the body), members in particular.” 1 Cor 12:12-14, 27
Our Lord, the Mediator of the New Covenant, delays the mediation of the New Covenant, in order first to gather together the "very elect," who are to constitute the members of his Body, his joint-heirs, in the millennial glory and Mediatorial work. He is the Messenger or servant of the New Covenant and each one of the Church now being called and chosen becomes an under-servant and messenger of the New Covenant.
I'm curious as to why you think that the kingdom is not already established. Christ reigns!
In Reply, Has it, has Satan been bound? Is the Church now reigning with her Lord? Has the resurrection of the world begun? Has the times of restitution and restoration of all things begun? Has the great time of trouble already come and gone? (If it has I’m sure glad I missed it). According to the following scriptures (Micah 4:1-2, Isa 2:2-3, Jer 31:31, Zech 14:8) the kingdom (that is the earthly phase of the kingdom) will be establish in Israel, has this happened?
Now it is true that Christ can begin his reign prior to all these things being as he is the one, who will direct and implement them, but what makes you imagine that the kingdom, the Mediatorial reign has already begun?
Did not Jesus say; this cup is the new covenant in my blood?
In Reply, yes he did, but this did not imply that he was implementing it right there and then.
The significance of our Lord’s words here basically were,
This is the cup of the New Covenant in my blood— “drink ye all of it.” This cup of the fruit of the vine represents my blood, my death; by it the New Covenant will eventually be sealed, and I invite you who believe on me to partake of this with me, to partake of it as joint participants with me in the sacrifice of your lives (your restitutional life rights) through which the New Covenant will be sealed, and under which all the families of the earth will be blessed.
When our Lord said, "This cup is the blood of the New Covenant," we should understand that, primarily the cup is his, and secondarily it is ours, who are his Body, sharing it and drinking it with him. There will be none of it left for others to drink of afterwards, for his command is, "Drink ye all of it." It was, therefore, primarily, our Lord's blood or death which was necessary to the sealing of the New Covenant, but by Divine arrangement the blood or death of his Church is also made necessary. Hence the New Covenant cannot be sealed, finished, made operative, until all the "members of the Body" shall have died, when the Great High Priest's "better sacrifice" shall be finished.
It is, therefore, quite proper that our Lord's death or blood should be mentioned as the blood of the New Covenant, even though it be not applied until all the members of his Body shall have been sacrificed by him. Then he will apply all the blood, all the sacrifice, all the death merit, as his own on behalf of the world and seal the Covenant with God on behalf of men.
After having sealed the Covenant with the Father, Christ with his Church will at once enter upon the great work of reconciling the world, restoring the world to harmony with the Father.
Does not the letter to the Hebrews make it clear that the new covenant is in effect and the old is passing away? In fact after the destruction of the temple, the old covenant was finished... was it not?
In Reply, The old covenant has not passed away in fact it is still binding upon the Jew even until this day, that is upon all who have not yet come out from under the Law Covenant into the grace of Christ.
There are a great many things in the Old Law Covenant that are not yet fulfilled. It contains, you remember, a type of the selection of Aaron and his sons (typifying the calling of the church class). The antitype is the body of Christ found in this Gospel Age, and it is not all completed yet. The Law Covenant includes the Day of Atonement, on which the sacrifices were offered for the priest and Levites and household of faith, and then for the people, and those in the antitype have not yet been fulfilled; we find the antitype all through this Gospel Age. We find that after the second sacrifice on the Day of Atonement (the “Lord’s goat”) that the High Priest went forth and gave his blessing to the people, and they rose up and gave a shout to the Lord. That represents a time after the Church and Christ have been glorified, after the new dispensation has begun, and that is all future.
The Law Covenant is not ended yet, so if anybody wants to find out when the New Covenant begins, find out when the Old will end. It was not made with you or with me; therefore, it will not end with us. It was made with the Jews, and the bondage is still upon the Jewish nation, and the blindness upon that people is still not taken away. When our Lord by obedience to the Law captured the prize of eternal life, He took away all the value, but the Law Covenant rested upon the Jews even after His death, and that Jewish nation has been under the terms and condition of that Law Covenant all these 2000 plus years since Jesus died, and there is no way of getting out from under that covenant except by accepting Jesus as the antitype of Moses the Great Mediator.
The Apostle said it holds until death, and he represents it as a marriage contract, which holds until death. The only way a Jew can become free is by dying to the Law that he might be married to Christ. The Jew that is not dead to the Law is still under the Law because Christ is the end of the Law to everyone that believeth--NOT the end of the Law for righteousness to anybody else. All Jews who do not believe are still under the condemnation of the Law. That is the reason they are separated from all other nations today. God included all in unbelief that in due time He might have mercy upon all.
I agreed that the new covenant was entered into with Israel! But the grace and mercy of that covenant was extended to the gentiles... we are the wild olive branches that were grafted on to Israel that entered into that new covenant.
In Reply, we never said that the New Covenant was (past tense) entered into with Israel, where did we say that?
Now if you mean we implied it when we quoted Jer 31:31-33 you are mistaken, the text does not state that Israel has already entered into the New Covenant, but that “after those days”, i.e. after the completion of the church, the Great Mediator, THEN “will I make a new covenant with the house of Israel”.
The New Covenant is to be made with Israel alone; the rest of the world (the gentiles) will come into or under this covenant through Israel.
Those of Israel who forsook the covenant (rejected Jesus) are the branches that were cut off...But they too shall be redeemed after the full number of the gentiles comes in.
In Reply, It was not the New Covenant for which they were cut off, nor is it the New Covenant to which the gentiles are grafted in, what the Jews were cut off from was the special blessings and privileges which they had enjoyed as the Lord’s peculiar people, the seed of Abraham. If they had proven faithful they would have inherited the special privilege of being joint heirs with their Lord in the spiritual phase of the kingdom, but alas only a remnant proved faithful so the remainder of the elect class is being called out from amongst the gentiles instead, grafted in as the seed of Abraham, the spiritual seed.
"God hath not cast off His people whom He foreknew." They were merely cut off from His favor for a time while the bride of Christ was being selected (completed) from amongst the gentiles, but will return back to favor when that work is accomplished. Then once again they will be God’s peculiar people of the earthly seed which shall be used to bless all the nations (peoples) of the world.
