And again, let's all dive deep into the Hebrew or Greek, because good ol' English is just not good enough, for the more higher scholarship the most learned, who never pass up a chance to show it.
He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.
Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.
The OT circumcision, sabbath, and law was called an everlasting covenant, and yet it is now old and decayed.
In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
It was everlasting, so long as the people were faithful, which ended at the cross of Jesus Christ.
And so, Abraham will likewise be given the land promised to him on this earth, so long as this earth is habitable, which will end with fire from God out of heaven.
Scripture always proves itself, without any need whatsoever for the pseudo-science of man's scholarship. That is why the wise of this world despise the plain speech of the Bible.
If you would actually take the time to look at the Hebrew and Greek original languages it might help you see the folly of your position. You cannot seem to even grasp the plain reading of the English translations and their emphasis upon Christ and the new covenant. Your unhealthy and unbiblical fixation with ethnic Israel and the old covenant is a common Premil error. Until you see the futility of that, you will never abandon your theology.
The actual usage of the word `owlam elsewhere in the Old Testament negates a rigid insistence on an eternal duration.
Let us look at the usage of this word throughout the Old Testament. The Hebrew word `owlam (Strong’s 5769) comes up 438 in the Old Testament. A detailed survey of its usage should either confirm or contradict our thesis so far that this cannot be limited to eternity.
Examining the employment of the word in the Old Testament one quickly sees that an insistence upon translating the word only as “forever” would totally negate the teaching and historic reality of many ancient texts. In short: the word `owlam/`olam cannot just mean “forever.”
These Judaic traditions have been historically terminated. This is a fact. This is unquestionable. It has been physically impossible for Israel to continue them since the destruction of the temple in AD 70 – as Christ predicted. No one could dispute that. Therefore, we have overwhelming grounds to query interpreting this word `owlam to mean “for ever’ (as it is often done in many versions of the Bible) and viewing these promises as eternal.
Premils are so enthralled with the old covenant arrangement that they cannot seem to accept the removal of the shadow, type and figure. Amillennialism interprets the Old by the New. This is the correct and only way to comprehend the detail of the OT. Amillennialists believe Jesus Christ was the final sacrifice for sin.
It is as if Christ’s perfect life, atoning death and glorious resurrection are not enough for Premils; not perfect enough, not satisfactory enough, and not final enough.
The reality is: the shedding of His blood satisfied the Father and reconciled the sinner to God, securing eternal redemption (
1 John 1:7). By attempting to reintroduce animal sacrifices, Premillennialism does great injury to the work of Christ on the Cross, undoes the once all-sufficient sacrifice that Christ made for sin, undermines the eternal nature of the atonement, and disregards numerous New Testament passages that conclusively prove that Christ’s blood sacrifice was final and eternal. The Old Testament system that employed animal sacrifices was nailed to the Cross and blotted out according to the New Testament.
Colossians 2:14 plainly and unambiguously declares, that Christ's atonement resulted in the
“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.”
The Greek word for “Blotting out” here is
exaleiphō (eks-ä-lā'-fō) meaning:
‘to wipe off, wipe away, to obliterate, erase, wipe out, blot out’
These old covenant ordinances (rites and rituals) pertaining to the ceremonial law were obliterated at the cross.
For those that still anticipate the renaissance of the old abolished ordinances we need to ask: When did (or will) the “blotting out the handwriting of ordinances” occur? From this passage it is clear, Christ “took it out of the way” by “nailing it to his cross.” These ordinances embraced the old covenant civil, ceremonial or ecclesiastical law. They were finished at the cross.
Colossians 2:16-17 tells us:
“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
The Greek word translated “holyday” here is
heorte meaning
feast or festival. Of 27 mentions of this word in the normally precise KJV, it is interpreted “feast” in all of them apart from here.
New American Standard interprets:
“Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day -- things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”
The Living Bible says,
“So don't let anyone criticize you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating Jewish holidays and feasts or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these were only temporary rules that ended when Christ came. They were only shadows of the real thing-of Christ himself.”
Paul is saying here that the old covenant feasts and festivals simply served as types and shadows of things that were to come. They looked forward to the new covenant arrangement and the reality and substance in Christ. The Jews of Ezekiel’s day and Zechariah’s day would never have understood this.
Colossians 2:20-22 finally sums up the sums up the biblical position today:
“Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using) after the commandments and doctrines of men?”
This is not talking about the moral law, it is talking about the ceremonial law. It is a redundant system. Christ took the whole old system away. The old Mosaic ceremonial law is completely gone. It is useless.
Christianity took us away from the old Mosaic ceremonial law completely. Those who argue for a return to the old system fail to see that it has been rendered obsolete through the new covenant.
Hebrews 7:18-19 makes clear:
“For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.”
This word “disannulling” is taken from the Greek word
athetesis meaning
cancellation.
The phrase
“weakness and unprofitableness” used here to describe
the old abolished system actually reads
asthenes kai anopheles literally meaning
: feeble and impotent useless and unprofitable.
It is hard to believe that Christians would promote the return, on the new earth of all places, of such a hopeless discarded arrangement.
