5th Semester / Week 7
This is what God predicted He would do for the people who enter into His New Covenant by faith in the work of our High Priest, Jesus Christ:
“I WILL pour clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I WILL cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I WILL give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I WILL take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I WILL put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them,” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).
The Mosaic Old Covenant was God telling them, “if you will… then I will,” but the Good News is that the New Covenant is like the eternal Abrahamic Covenant, where God simply declares “I WILL.” In the New Covenant, we’re baptized after we’ve placed our faith in Jesus, and God gives us the permanent indwelling of His Holy Spirit. It had been predicted in Jeremiah 31:31-32 that:
“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,”
…and the book of Hebrews was written to tell us that Jesus has replaced the Mosaic Old Covenant and has mediated for us:
“a far better Covenant with God, based on better promises,” (Hebrews 8:6).
The sign of our current and everlasting Covenant is still circumcision, but it isn’t circumcision of the flesh, but rather circumcision of the heart. This had even been the intended purpose of circumcision in the Old Testament as well, such as seen in Deuteronomy 10:16 and 30:6, Jeremiah 4:4 and 9:25, and is also found in the New Testament in Romans 2:29, Colossians 2:11, Philippians 3:3. It’s always been about a change of heart. We learn that New Covenant circumcision is the regeneration (which literally means “new birth”) when God takes our heart of stone and turns it into a heart of flesh, and we’re filled with the Holy Spirit and able to bear fruit of the indwelling Spirit. This fruit is now the outward sign to show the inner change, which is the proof that the individual is part of the saved Elect/Remnant.
According to 2 Corinthians 3, the Holy Spirit is the greater ministry: greater than any previously written Law, therefore, if you don’t know if you have this outward sign of salvation, then after having been baptized, pray every day to be filled full of the indwelling Holy Spirit in order to bear fruit. There are now many ways that we can “offer up spiritual sacrifices” (1 Peter 2:5) like praise and good works such as sharing with others who are in need (see Hebrews 13:15-16), yet the specific fruit that we will bear by having His Spirit is:
“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).
Do we realize that Scripture tells us that because of what Christ has done through His perfect sacrifice, in our Father’s eyes we’re viewed as perfect? Even though we’re still flawed humans that might still struggle and fall? We should remember that all of the patriarchs were flawed individuals, and Scripture makes a point to document their failures. But are we really viewed as being perfect?
“For by one sacrifice He HAS MADE PERFECT FOREVER those who are being made holy,” (Hebrews 10:14).
That’s such a radical message, especially since we know that we’re deeply flawed individuals that are still capable of sinning. We’re thankful that the Old Testament didn’t try to hide the fact that even the patriarchs like Abraham and David were deeply flawed individuals (Abraham had a habit of pretending that his wife was just his sister, and we all know what David did with Bathsheba). The knowledge of their shortcomings lets us that if God was able to use them then He would even be able to use any one of us. God’s Word doesn’t hide their imperfections and attempt to idolize them, but instead shows us that they’re still human and were similar to us. But again, because of what Jesus has accomplished, is it really true that we’re now actually considered perfect?
“And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight,” (Colossians 1:21-22).
The day we were saved, justified, and regenerated by being filled with the Holy Spirit is the day that we could be viewed as being perfect and no longer violators of the Law. However, sanctification is the slow, gradual, sometimes painful process of being made holy and molded into His image through the work of the Holy Spirit (for more on this topic, see the study on Hebrews 12:6-11).
It’s the Holy Spirit that will transform us and give us the power and ability to live victoriously as His priests who now have the ability to conquer sin:
“Sin was in the world before the Law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law,” (Romans 5:13).
“we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code,” (Romans 7:6).
“If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law,” (Galatians 5:18).
This is Good News!!!
We have such Good News when we’ve been regenerated (spiritually born again): we’re now all called the body of Christ, all of us are saints and we’re all called to boldly function as empowered priests. We should find great comfort in these words from Romans 8:
“For those He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified,” (Romans 8:29-30).
That passage shows us that God is in control, and He also has had a plan for each one of us since before the world was created:
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them,” (Ephesians 2:10).
We who believe and place our faith in Jesus are part of His plan, and His plan will succeed. We might not feel perfect, we might stumble and fall, but because of what Jesus has done, all who place their faith in Him are now all His chosen priests.
“Let us therefore come BOLDLY to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need,” (Hebrews 4:16).
We who have His Spirit and bear the fruit of His Holy Spirit no longer have to fear and feel shameful in His presence, but rather, because of what Jesus has done, we can now “boldly” go to Him. We can now function as servants with a clear conscience rather than being burdened and weighed down by guilt. Sin and it’s guilt had rendered us ineffective, but the work done by God to fill us with His Spirit frees us to truly be able to live for Him.
Again, this is all Good News!!!
We should also know that one of the mysteries Paul taught is this: Christ is in all who are saved:
“the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you,” (Colossians 1:27).
We’re the living, breathing, body of Christ. We’re the priests in His Temple and we should appreciate the truth of these words: “There was an Old Covenant, with an old Law which was a heavy yoke given on stone tablets to a people with stone hearts, who worshipped in a stone Temple and kept a weekly Sabbath. All of that has been replaced by a New Covenant with an easy yoke, and the greater ministry of the Holy Spirit who gives us the power and ability to fulfill the Spiritual Law of Christ which is written on the hearts of flesh of His people who worship as the priests of His worldwide Spiritual Temple. Our savior Jesus Christ bids us to find our daily and eternal Sabbath rest in Him.”
“Helping People See Jesus and Exploring All That He Has Fulfilled” 