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[Announcer] (0:00 - 0:34) Think about the Bible like you never have before. You're listening to Christian Questions. Experience more episodes, videos, and Bible study resources at ChristianQuestions.com. Our topic is, "Is the New Covenant Different Than God's Other Covenants?" In the Bible, a "covenant" is a solemn promise, and the Bible teaches us that God made many of these covenants with humanity. In several prophecies, one such promise is called a "New Covenant." Makes you wonder, what happened to God's other promises? Weren't they good enough? Here's Rick, Jonathan, and Julie.

[Rick] (0:36 - 0:46) Welcome, everyone, I'm Rick. I'm joined by Jonathan, my co-host for over 25 years, and Julie, a longtime contributor, is also with us. Jonathan, what's our theme scripture for this episode?

[Jonathan] (0:47 - 1:04) Jeremiah 31:31-32: "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, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt…"

[Rick] (1:05 - 2:01) In our last episode, we talked about the great power of the solemn promises in the Bible called "covenants." We observed that God had made several of these solemn promises, and that many of these are specifically labeled as "everlasting covenants." As we look at Bible history, we can see that all of God's promises have already been made and are already functioning, except for one.

This one promise that has yet to be unfolded is the New Covenant. While this promise is clearly defined in Jeremiah, it's alluded to in several other books of the Bible. So, is the only difference between this New Covenant and God's other promises the fact that it's yet coming, or are there more pieces to this puzzle? Alright, before we look for more pieces, let's quickly review the pieces that we already know. First, the meaning of "covenant" and the meaning of "everlasting."

[Jonathan] (2:02 - 2:08) The Hebrew word for covenant means: an alliance or pledge, a formal agreement between two parties.

[Julie] (2:09 - 2:25) The Hebrew word for everlasting, also translated as forever and perpetual, means concealed. That is the vanishing point. Generally, time out of mind, past or future, eternity.

It can mean an ancient time, a long duration of past or future, continuous existence.

[Jonathan] (2:25 - 2:39) A vanishing point is a point at which something disappears from view. Like when you look at the horizon and it looks like the earth ends, but it really doesn't. A vanishing point can also mean something actually ceases to exist.

[Rick] (2:39 - 3:00) This is important to understand. Covenant, the depth of promise, and the fact that covenants can be eternal, meaning forever and ever, or go to a vanishing point. And so we want to put all of this together to understand how it works. So, let's review God's other promises before we get to this New Covenant.

[Julie] (3:01 - 3:22) Last week, on Episode 1330, we talked about how God's original promise to humanity wasn't really framed as a promise, as a covenant, but it was a command. Genesis 1:28 said, "God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it." Adam's disobedience didn't change what God gave them to do.

[Jonathan] (3:22 - 3:31) After the Flood, God gave an everlasting promise to Noah to never flood the earth again. This promise is often called the "Rainbow Covenant."

[Julie] (3:32 - 3:52) God made a promise to Abraham, the "Abrahamic Covenant," we call it, and it was another everlasting promise. Genesis 17:7 said: "I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you, throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you."

[Jonathan] (3:53 - 4:03) God established the Law for Israel as a covenant, but it was not an everlasting covenant. It would, however, be a key to understanding the New Covenant.

[Julie] (4:04 - 4:11) And finally, with the "Davidic Covenant," God promised King David that through his lineage, an everlasting king would rule.

[Rick] (4:11 - 4:39) So you have all of these promises, one of which was not everlasting. And the key is they're all working together. Let's move into looking at this New Covenant. Based upon God's promise to Abraham, the Abrahamic Covenant that you guys just talked about, a new promise to His people would be everlasting. We're going to park ourselves in Jeremiah 31, where we keep coming back to it throughout this episode. Jonathan, let's look at Jeremiah 31:31-32:

[Jonathan] (4:40 - 5:04) "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, not like the covenant which I made with their father in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord." Well, we observe that God stood for righteousness and Israel didn't.

[Julie] (5:04 - 5:29) You read "the house of Israel and the house of Judah." This was written at a time when the 10 northern tribes of Israel were separate from the two southern tribes of Judah. So, it was necessary for Jeremiah to mention them both so that he wouldn't be misunderstood to mean only the 10 tribes. Jeremiah plainly tells us a New Covenant will be made with Israel, not like the old Law Covenant that people couldn't keep.

[Rick] (5:30 - 6:02) Okay, what we have is looking at the New Covenant in the context of other things. It's in the context of what happened with Abraham, the Abraham promise, and it's in the context of the Law Covenant. It's built on these things.

These verses in Jeremiah 31:31-32 are really, really, really important. Let's take them apart and examine what they are telling us about this New Covenant. Jonathan, let's start with Jeremiah 31:31:

[Jonathan] (6:03 - 6:13) "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," Well, this would clearly be a future promise.

[Julie] (6:13 - 6:15) We need to find out when.

[Jonathan] (6:15 - 6:18) It would clearly be a new promise.

[Julie] (6:18 - 6:19) We need to find out how.

[Jonathan] (6:20 - 6:23) It would be with all of Israel.

[Julie] (6:23 - 6:26) We need to understand who exactly that applies to.

[Rick] (6:27 - 6:34) All right, so we've got a when, a how, and a who in verse 31. Let's move to Jeremiah 31:32:

[Jonathan] (6:34 - 6:50) "not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant, which they broke, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord." Well, this would clearly be a different promise.

[Julie] (6:50 - 6:52) But we need to understand what was different.

[Jonathan] (6:53 - 6:56) This would be a replacement promise.

[Julie] (6:56 - 6:57) Well, why?

[Jonathan] (6:58 - 7:01) Finally, we need to understand where.

[Julie] (7:01 - 7:05) Yes, where would this covenant be put into practice? So many questions.

[Rick] (7:05 - 7:22) So many, but these are good questions. These are important questions. And when we look at the answers to these questions, we see what this covenant really is about.

So let's begin by establishing the "who." Who receives this very specific and very dynamic promise?

[Julie] (7:23 - 7:35) Some in Christianity answer this as, those who enter a new relationship with God upon a sincere declaration that one believes in Jesus Christ. But was this promise even made to Christians?

[Rick] (7:36 - 8:13) The answer here is no. It was made to Israel. And that can be earth shattering, but we're going to get into that. Let's look at it and say, okay, Israel. Why would you say that? Well, while this New Covenant is in direct contrast to the Law Covenant, it's built squarely upon the foundation of the Abrahamic Covenant, which was profoundly reinforced as everlasting. Let's just, again, go to that because it's so important to understand everlasting absolutely is the basis for something else everlasting. Psalms 105:8-11:

[Jonathan] (8:14 - 8:34) "He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham and His oath to Isaac. Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant saying, To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance,"

[Rick] (8:35 - 8:48) Have you ever thought about how long a thousand generations is? It's giving you a sense of - this is enormous! It's figurative language saying a thousand generations, saying it's beyond what you can even comprehend.

[Julie] (8:49 - 9:34) We're going to move into Ezekiel 37. Ezekiel 37 contains two special prophecies where, happily, the interpretation is given for us. First is the Valley of Dry Bones. This compares the nation of Israel to completely lifeless bones. In this figurative picture, Ezekiel predicts that these bones will come to life, stand, live and become a great multitude. Second, the Lord told Ezekiel to write the name Judah on one stick and Joseph on the other.

And again, Judah was the name of the southern kingdom. Joseph was the father of Ephraim, the leading tribe in the north. He's told to join these two sticks together representing how the splintered kingdom would eventually be mended and reunited as one.

[Rick] (9:34 - 9:58) You have this Ezekiel 37 prophecy, and those pieces are really important in what we're about to look at because Israel was founded, again, on the basis of the Abrahamic Covenant, they must be the recipients of the New Covenant. You've got those pieces before.

Now let's look at Ezekiel 37:21-22:

[Jonathan] (9:58 - 10:23) "say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms."

[Julie] (10:23 - 10:45) Israel went from a split nation to a dead nation with dry bones, and now one nation brought back into their original land promised by God. This prophecy came true.

Never in the history of humanity had a people been completely scattered to the ends of the earth and be regathered to the exact same land thousands of years later, while keeping their national and religious identity strong.

[Jonathan] (10:46 - 10:49) It was prophesied long before it could possibly be known.

[Rick] (10:49 - 11:21) And the magnitude of what the two of you just described cannot be understated here or overstated. It is such a big part of understanding how this New Covenant works and to whom it is given. A reunified nation will be given a renewed hope as the God of Abraham's covenant will bless them.

Let's continue in Ezekiel 37. We're going to jump up to verses 26-28:

[Jonathan] (11:22 - 11:47) "I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling place also will be with them, and I will be their God and they will be My people. And the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever."

[Julie] (11:48 - 12:08) The dry bones and sticks prophecies immediately before this are important because they can only apply to literal, physical Israel. We have no indication to spiritualize this. Some Christians try to appropriate the blessings given to physical Israel saying that the Jewish people are replaced by Christians, but that's not true.

[Rick] (12:08 - 12:45) And folks, we have to be careful here because we're looking at God's prophets speaking God's words. When we have a preconceived notion about what we'd like them to come out like, but they say something different, honestly, if we have integrity, we're obligated to follow where the Scriptures are leading us. This is a very clear conclusion here that we need to understand that Israel, physical Israel, is the subject matter here. Keys to Open the New Covenant: Who is this promise made to, Jonathan?

[Jonathan] (12:46 - 13:02) While the New Covenant is made exclusively with Israel, this exclusivity does not preclude other nations benefiting from it. On the contrary, we will soon see how far and wide the power of this promise will spread.

[Rick] (13:02 - 13:28) So, you have a beginning, and then you're indicating you have a much more. We want to understand what the beginning is, the "who," and then we want to be able to build upon that, the much more. The "who" is the nation of Israel. This New Covenant is an everlasting promise of peace from God to Israel that will have massive and far reaching influence. Look, this is not a bad place to start.

[Jonathan] (13:29 - 13:37) Well, this sounds pretty magnificent. Aren't we missing something? Where did Jesus' true disciples fit into this amazing picture?

[Rick] (13:37 - 14:13) Alright, good question. One of the first, and perhaps most important point to make here may sound shocking to some, and we've talked about this already. True Christians are not recipients of this New Covenant. Yeah, that's right, you heard us right. True Christians are not recipients of this New Covenant. Before we begin to think about how they would be missing out, we need to establish just what they are privileged to be putting into this great promise as they follow Jesus.

Alright, so let's see how. Let's see how this promise works.

[Jonathan] (14:14 - 14:40) We're going to stay in Hebrews 8 for a while, so we need a little background as to what the Apostle Paul's audience would have understood. After leaving the slavery of Egypt, the Hebrews wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before being allowed into the Promised Land. During that time, they used a movable temple called the "Tabernacle" to worship, where God's presence dwelled. "Tabernacle" means dwelling place.

[Julie] (14:40 - 15:05) The people were divided into 12 tribes and the tribe of Levi was appointed to be the priests. The structure of this Tabernacle, Jonathan, you're talking about, was two compartments called the "Holy" and the "Most Holy," and only these priests were allowed to enter the Holy, and only the high priest who was Aaron, the brother of Moses, could enter the Most Holy where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, and that was only once a year.

[Rick] (15:05 - 15:32) Alright, so you've got very specific guidelines as to who can do what and when. Now let's go and look at the New Covenant and understand the connections. The New Covenant is mediated by Jesus. Hebrews 8 helps us to understand this mediation context. We're going to drop in on a few verses of Hebrews 8 to help put this together. Then we're going to go to Hebrews 9. So Jonathan, let's start with Hebrews 8:1-2:

[Jonathan] (15:32 - 15:54) And keep in mind, the purpose of a mediator is to bring together two opposing sides. "Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man."

[Julie] (15:54 - 16:24) The Law Covenant required a mediator. It was someone to stand between God and the people. And the people asked Moses to speak with God directly.

The priesthood, led by his brother Aaron, was set up to act as an intercessor and right before this in Hebrews 7, Paul, the Apostle Paul, explained that when the priest died, they needed to be replaced. But Jesus remains a priest forever, and his priesthood will never end. He is the holy and sinless high priest. The old priesthood of Aaron goes away.

[Jonathan] (16:25 - 16:37) Here in Hebrews 8, Jesus is pictured at the right hand of God in heaven. Fleshly Israel made the Tabernacle with hands, but the true heavenly Tabernacle is made by God and not man.

[Rick] (16:37 - 17:04) So you have this spiritual sense of what the physical Tabernacle was trying to show us. Paul continues; he then reviews the earthly offerings that an earthly priesthood gives. His point is to show that all the earthly setup was carefully enacted to reflect the glory of the heavenly, to reflect something much, much higher. Hebrews 8:6:

[Jonathan] (17:05 - 17:14) "But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises."

[Julie] (17:15 - 17:37) Israel's priesthood foreshadowed this greater priesthood to come that would be the mediator of a better covenant. The difference between the Mosaic Law and the New Covenant is that people still died under the old Law, but the New Covenant will bring life because Christ is a better mediator than Moses, and the offering of his perfect life was better than the animals sacrificed under the Law.

[Jonathan] (17:38 - 17:54) Hebrews 10:1-4 specifically says the Law was only a shadow pointing to this better covenant, as it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins on a permanent basis. It was all used as a picture of what was to come through Jesus.

[Rick] (17:55 - 18:38) So, you have this picture with these animal sacrifices and this Holy and this Most Holy, and only you can go into the Most Holy at certain times, and all of this, all of this is a picture of something bigger. Let's figure out how that works by understanding how Jesus actually becomes this mediator. How does he become this mediator? Did God just kind of say, hmm, I wonder who can do it? That's not what happened.

What God did is He gave that mediation privilege to the one who earned it. Jesus earned the position by his obedience and by his sacrifice. We're going to see that develop now as we look at Hebrews 9 - a few verses. Jonathan, let's start with Hebrews 9:1:

[Jonathan] (18:39 - 18:45) "Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary."

[Rick] (18:45 - 18:55) These rules for that first covenant, they were necessary, they were sacred, and they had to be followed.

[Jonathan] (18:56 - 19:09) For our listeners who are unfamiliar with all the details of the tabernacle that was enacted as a picture for the Christian walk, we recommend listening to Episode 1099: "Should Christians Care About the Jewish Tabernacle?"

[Julie] (19:10 - 19:33) And the answer is, absolutely yes! In the Old Testament, you see chapter after chapter about these details. The priests had to do everything in a certain order, in a certain way, and each component has a corresponding meaning.

The building materials, the furniture in the compartments, the clothing worn, the sacrifices made, all collectively pointing to Jesus and his true church. It's a wonderful Bible study.

[Rick] (19:33 - 20:08) We've got this big comparison that is coming out in Hebrews 9. We've got this Tabernacle, and now we're seeing something higher here. So let's go further.

To be in the Most Holy, as we already talked about, was to be symbolically in the Tabernacle, is to be in the presence of God. A blood sacrifice was required to even enter, because if you entered without the blood sacrifice, you'd never come out. It was such a solemn and sacred thing.

So now with understanding that, this Most Holy is being in the presence of God, let's look at Hebrews 9:6-7:

[Jonathan] (20:08 - 20:37) "Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance." The high priest couldn't go into the room where the Ark of the Covenant resided without first offering the sacrifice.

This room represents the presence of God.

[Rick] (20:37 - 20:57) This is solemn, this is sacred, this is serious. Now, let's look at how solemn and sacred and serious this is and look at Jesus. Jesus fulfilled this requirement and earned the right of entrance into God's holiest presence.

How did he do that? Hebrews 9:11-12:

[Jonathan] (20:57 - 21:19) "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, he entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption."

[Rick] (21:19 - 21:46) Do you see the power of what this is saying? You have this incredible picture with this incredible sacredness and danger even. And it says that Jesus enters this Most Holy spiritually because he gave his blood and that's it. That's it, it's done, it's over, eternal redemption. So he has earned his place at the right hand of God. Let's look at Hebrews 9:15:

[Jonathan] (21:47 - 22:05) "For this reason he (Jesus) is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."

[Julie] (22:05 - 22:10) "Those that have been called," this sounds like Jesus' faithful followers, also known as the church.

[Rick] (22:11 - 22:32) Yeah, we've got this opening up now to something much, much bigger, because now we're seeing those that have been called. We've been talking about what Jesus did, and he paved this brand new road, this brand new heavenly road. Now the apostle is saying, hey look, those that have been called are benefiting from this.

[Julie] (22:33 - 22:47) Okay, so let's talk about these followers of Christ. There's a lot of differing views in the various Christian denominations. And the main question is, are Christians under this New Covenant - either while they're alive now or later when they're in heaven?

[Rick] (22:47 - 23:38) The answer to that is no. They are not under the New Covenant. They end up administrating the New Covenant because they become part of the body of Christ. They become part of Christ. And you can't be under the covenant when you're part of Christ, administering it and mediating it. It's a tremendous, tremendous point that we need to understand the Scriptures open up to us. Let's go a little bit further. Let's look at the book of Galatians. The Galatian Christians were influenced by Jewish Christians toward following the Law Covenant. Oh brother! The Apostle Paul wrote to them to firmly set them straight. And in so doing, he revealed where the call to Christ fits in relation to the Law and, therefore, to the New Covenant. These are big scriptures here as we're getting started.

[Jonathan] (23:38 - 23:43) Right, the covenant with better promises and a better mediator.

[Julie] (23:43 - 23:56) Here's something amazing. We're going to see that God set up certain women represented certain covenants. And it's not just a matter of interpretation.

The Apostle Paul comes right out and says it. Galatians 4:21-26,28:

[Jonathan] (23:57 - 24:18) "Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman (Hagar) and one by the free woman (Sarah). But the son by the bondwoman (Ishmael) was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman (Isaac) through the promise."

[Rick] (24:18 - 24:49) You have these two women and these two sons, and the Apostle Paul is setting us up to understand something very specific. He's setting us up to understand that these two women, Hagar and Sarah, and their sons, Ishmael and Isaac, are representing something that helps us to see the bigger picture. Next, Paul is about to explain the difference between fleshly and spiritual Israel.

Let's go to Galatians 4 again, verses 4-25:

[Jonathan] (24:50 - 25:13) Here's how we know these women represent covenants. Paul says, "This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children."

[Rick] (25:14 - 25:38) Paul is plainly teaching us that Hagar represents the Law Covenant of sinful Israel. He's saying, Hagar and Ishmael are representations of physical things that are sinful, and he likens it to the Law because the Law comes out from Jerusalem here. So that's where we are beginning.

[Julie] (25:39 - 25:46) The descendants of Ishmael are the present-day Arabs, and the animosity between Arabs and Jews clearly continues to this day.

[Rick] (25:46 - 25:59) Okay, so let's move forward. We've got this physical representation of physical Israel, physical Law with Hagar and Ishmael. Let's go on to Galatians 4.

Jonathan, let's do verse 26 and then 28:

[Jonathan] (26:00 - 26:17) "But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother ... and you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise." There are two parts, earthly Jerusalem in slavery under the Law, versus Jerusalem from above for the children of promise.

[Julie] (26:18 - 26:42) Paul likens the church, Jesus's faithful followers, to Isaac, who was the son of a free woman and not under bondage. In other words, the church is not under the Law, but under grace pictured by Sarah. And the reason is, the Law can't bring life. It leads only to death because those under it can't perform it perfectly. But being under grace means we're under the blood of Christ and that does bring life.

[Rick] (26:43 - 27:37) You can see that when the apostle is talking to the Galatians in their Christianity saying, Oh, so you want your Christianity to be under the Law? It's not a good scenario. You don't go there because it didn't work.

He uses these two women, Hagar and Sarah, and their children, to represent physical Israel - what didn't work - versus spiritual Israel - what did work. And he's putting all of that in place. Sarah represented this covenant of grace through which Isaac was born.

He was a child of grace. She was too old to have that child, and she had that child by God's grace. He's illustrating the spiritual part of the Abrahamic promise.

So let's just briefly go back to the Abrahamic promise to just make sure we're getting what's happening here. Genesis 22:17-18:

[Jonathan] (27:38 - 27:56) "Indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

[Julie] (27:56 - 28:12) Here's two parts again. We have Abraham's descendants described as the sand on the seashore, earthly, the stars of the heaven, heavenly. Through both parts will all the nations of the earth be blessed.

Some translations say all the "families" of the earth will be blessed.

[Rick] (28:13 - 29:03) So now when we look at what happened with Hagar, she represented, remember, physical, but she represented the Law. Remember, the Law was not eternal. It wasn't eternal.

And Sarah represents something eternal. This is where we say, okay, and now he's talking to the true followers of Christ saying, you need to understand these things. We're talking about now these stars of heaven.

So here's what we have: Blessings, like you said, Julie, come from physical seed of Abraham, which is the nation of Israel. And blessings also come from the spiritual seed of Abraham, which are the followers of Jesus, as well. Here is how the apostle focuses his Galatian brethren on who they are. We're going to go to the previous chapter, Galatians 3:29:

[Jonathan] (29:04 - 29:24) "And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise." Well, how do we know we belong to Christ? It's evidenced by the holy spirit, God's power and influence working through us. We are following a spiritual teacher. We're developing Christlikeness.

[Rick] (29:24 - 29:34) We are. What happens with that, the end result of that, is shown to us just in a small way in 1 Peter 2:9:

[Jonathan] (29:35 - 29:49) "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;"

[Rick] (29:49 - 30:41) Alright, now, I want to go back just very quickly to Galatians again. Hagar was representing Jerusalem, the physical Jerusalem, the physical place where the Law comes from, if you will, for the nation of Israel. And we're just saying that you've got this spiritual seed and it's all about something different, something higher, a chosen race, a royal priesthood.

There was no such thing as a royal priesthood before. This is something brand new. A holy nation, a people for God's own possession. Where? In heaven. Jesus' disciples inherit the capacity to bless, along with Jesus himself, as God's spiritual government. Remember, Hagar, the Law, Jerusalem. And then the apostle said in Galatians 4 that Jerusalem from above, Sarah, is our mother. Well, let's look at what that actually means.

Revelation 21:1-3:

[Jonathan] (30:41 - 31:24) "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them," Rick, when the faithful followers of Jesus are with him in heaven, they will be giving the New Covenant to humanity to bless them. It's better to give than to receive.

[Rick] (31:25 - 31:51) And this "giving" comes from the new Jerusalem, which Revelation says, comes down from heaven. Now look, the city doesn't physically come down from heaven. It's a symbol.

But what it's saying is, the source of God's law and God's way through that New Covenant comes through this city, which is a picture of the bride adorned for her husband, the church. It's showing us the difference between the two.

[Julie] (31:52 - 31:56) The church is actually under this Abrahamic Covenant, not the New Covenant.

[Rick] (31:57 - 32:15) Right, because they are part of the blessing that comes from the Abrahamic covenant. That's where they are. That's who they are.

How is this all possible? It's really easy. This is the easiest question of the whole podcast.

How is this possible? It's all because of Jesus. Jonathan, let's look at Hebrews 13:20-21:

[Jonathan] (32:16 - 32:35) "Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen."

[Julie] (32:36 - 32:59) This ties that blood of Jesus right back in. This eternal covenant described as the New Covenant without end, but it is a conditional covenant. Obedience to God's ways will be required.

But this New Covenant is an arrangement by which the Abrahamic Covenant will be fulfilled as it relates to Israel and all mankind. It carries out the promised blessings.

[Rick] (33:00 - 33:25) And it's promised blessings are carried out through the mediation of Jesus and through the mediation of his body, which is the church, symbolized in this Jerusalem coming down from heaven. They're not under the New Covenant. They're OVER the New Covenant. That's really what we're seeing here. Jonathan, when we look at the Keys to Open this New Covenant, again, the question, how is this New Covenant inaugurated?

[Jonathan] (33:26 - 33:47) It's plain and simple. The New Covenant comes through Jesus. While his true disciples do not receive the benefits of the New Covenant, they are privileged to give the benefits of that covenant to Israel and then to the world as they administer it as kings and priests under the jurisdiction of the Lord Jesus.

[Julie] (33:48 - 33:55) To summarize, you asked the question, how does the New Covenant work with regard to these faithful followers? What would you say in a sentence or two, Rick?

[Rick] (33:56 - 34:31) The New Covenant works through the blood of Jesus and the mediation of Jesus and his body (his faithful followers). "Lo, I go to prepare a place for you. Where I am, there you will be also." They descend from heaven to reside over those who receive the New Covenant. That's where the true church fits. It's not under, it's over, because that's where Jesus brought them.

This is an amazing picture that has begun to come into focus. Jesus and his disciples will bring God's covenant of peace to all.

[Jonathan] (34:32 - 34:40) We have been introduced to how the spiritual seed blesses the world. How does the physical nation of Israel join in this blessing?

[Rick] (34:41 - 35:35) Well, Israel's role in blessing the world in some ways follows a similar pattern to the spiritual seed. Their ability to bless will come through trouble, lots of trouble. When this trouble reaches its full measure, it will likely be tragic to watch.

And this is why it is so important to hold tightly to God's promises, as they help us to see His ultimate purposes. So we're now going to focus on this physical seed of Israel to whom the New Covenant is given, and we want to focus on the where and the when of this New Covenant. For Christians, we can format our further understanding by absorbing the apostle's reasoning against the Hebrew Christians. And we're going to go to Hebrews 12 just for a moment to sort of set the big context, and then we're going to go to the "when" and "where" questions. Hebrews 12:22-24:

[Jonathan] (35:35 - 36:14) "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel." There's a lot here. Now let's break this down into pieces.

"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels."

[Rick] (36:14 - 36:41) Alright, so what you have is you've come to this heavenly Jerusalem. We've just seen how in Galatians, how it is the picture, Galatians and Revelation, the picture of the bride coming down to govern. This is what you've come to.

This is what you're called to. That's what he's telling the Hebrew Christians. You're not under that Law anymore. You're called to this law, this higher law, this spiritual law, and you're a part of this.

[Jonathan] (36:42 - 36:49) "...to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all,..."

[Rick] (36:49 - 37:09) They're enrolled where? In heaven. The New Covenant is where? On earth. They are the administrators, the mediators, of this wonderful, wonderful promise through Christ, through the church, and God, who is the judge of all.

[Jonathan] (37:10 - 37:24) "...and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,..." Now, these are the faithful, those past heroes of faith described in Hebrews 11 who died before Jesus and therefore were not promised a heavenly reward.

[Rick] (37:25 - 37:41) Right, they're on earth. They're human beings. They are working alongside of, and because they're human beings, they come under the auspices of this New Covenant because it covers all of humanity. We see how all of these pieces work together, and then let's finish the verse:

[Jonathan] (37:42 - 37:49) "...and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel."

[Rick] (37:49 - 38:04) So it comes down to Jesus. It comes down to his blood. It comes down to, he paid the price so all of this can happen. Now we look at, we've got the context, now the question is when.

[Julie] (38:04 - 38:30) That's a good question. Some Christians believe that this New Covenant already started right when Jesus died. He nailed the old covenant to the cross, so their reasoning is the New Covenant immediately begins because they believe faithful Christians are under the New Covenant rather than being part of its implementation administration. But I think we're seeing that that isn't really the way the Scriptures are teaching it. So, when does this New Covenant start?

[Rick] (38:31 - 39:02) This New Covenant, as we initially said, it starts through trouble. We know that all of these elements will come together, and we now are going to look at a prophecy. In this prophecy in Jeremiah 50, it is speaking about the judgment against Babylon. Okay, so we're going to look at just a quick piece of that judgment, make some comments on it, and then move toward the New Covenant because it all fits together. Jonathan, let's read Jeremiah 50, just verse 3 at this point:

[Jonathan] (39:02 - 39:16) "For a nation has come up against her out of the north; it will make her land an object of horror, and there will be no inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have wandered off, they have gone away!"

[Rick] (39:17 - 40:24) Alright, without getting into a ton of detail here, we see this judgment as it was a literal judgment on Israel in Jeremiah's day, but also as a prophecy about spiritual Babylon. And we believe that spiritual Babylon is representative of false church systems. When we look through history, we have seen how Christianity has been so grossly changed from its original form.

And we truly believe that those gross changes from the soundness of the gospel of good news to all men and to all people, will have to be taken down and taken apart. That's part of our prophetic understanding of this. So, this is both a literal prophecy, as most prophecies are, and a spiritual prophecy. We understand the demise of these systems to be part of the prophesied time of trouble. This is a hint. When you see many church systems beginning to fall and crumble, you know that trouble is there.

Now, with that context, let's go to Jeremiah 50, the next verses, 4-5:

[Jonathan] (40:25 - 41:22) "In those days and at that time, declares the Lord, the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah as well;" Well, there's Israel plus Judah again, meaning the entire nation. "...they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the LORD their God they will seek. They will ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces in its direction; they will come that they may join themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten." We read "in those days and at that time." Well, during what days and time? Zionism is the beginning of this time marker when the Jews were returning to Israel since the late 1870s and then became a nation in 1948, all the way up until today. The other piece is the judgment of the false church systems with their errors and immoralities being exposed and finally destroyed.

[Rick] (41:23 - 41:45) It's bringing us to what it said in Jeremiah 50:5, "the everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten." These are the precursors. When we see these things happening, we know that we're on the doorstep; we're moving towards them. And here's the thing, God has always planned that through great trouble will come great blessing. He's always had that as part of the plan, and we're seeing that unfold.

[Julie] (41:46 - 42:02) So we're trying to figure out when will the New Covenant be inaugurated. And we know it can't begin yet. It waits for its proper time when the covenant of grace has completed its work.

That should tip us off to the church class. Romans 8:18-22:

[Jonathan] (42:03 - 42:11) "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us..."

[Julie] (42:11 - 42:17) "Us" meaning the recipients of this second great promise of grace, the true church.

[Jonathan] (42:18 - 42:21) "For the anxious longing of the creation..."

[Julie] (42:21 - 42:24) That "everybody else" who will receive the New Covenant.

[Jonathan] (42:24 - 42:49) "...waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God." The true church. "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now."

[Rick] (42:50 - 43:44) So they're subjected to futility. When there's futility, there's trouble. We're seeing this, and it's waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. When we're looking at the when, we see that is very, very, very, very clearly tied to trouble and great, great difficulty, but the beautiful thing is that from trouble comes blessing. That's the way God's plan unfolds.

Now let's go a little bit further. Let's look at the "where." At this point, look, at this point, we finally come to something that's easy, all right?

The "where" is easy. We have already seen many scriptures that unequivocally point to Israel. Not spiritual Israel; the physical nation of Israel in the Middle East on planet Earth. Let's be clear, that's where it is. After all, it's the land that God originally promised to Abraham. Let's go back to Ezekiel 37:24-26:

[Jonathan] (43:44 - 44:31) "My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them. They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons' sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever." I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever." Israel will be the first to profit from the New Covenant. It is a covenant of forgiveness and blessing and restitution to all those who want to live under it.

[Julie] (44:31 - 45:04) And there's no doubt this describes the physical land of Israel in spite of today's headlines. Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob, Jacob had 12 sons who would become the nation of Israel. When Jacob was dying, he gave a blessing to each of his sons.

An interesting clue when reading prophecy about Israel, because sometimes Israel does mean spiritual Israel, that is the faithful Christians who've been grafted into God's favor and who receive a heavenly reward if they're faithful, but spiritual Israel is never referred to as "Jacob." And we see "Jacob" here in these texts.

[Jonathan] (45:04 - 45:08) Rick, in today's headlines, we see trouble towards Israel growing, don't we?

[Rick] (45:09 - 46:19) We do. You know, in the demonstrations that are arising throughout the world because of what's happening in the Middle East in Gaza with Hamas and with the nation of Israel and people are jumping to a lot of conclusions and what's happening is Israel, if you've noticed, in most of the headlines, Israel is being painted as the aggressor. Israel is being painted as the one who's done wrong.

And you've got to look at the whole picture to understand. We're not going to get into the politics of it. What we're going to tell you is that these kinds of troubles for the nation of Israel, this is a beginning of trouble.

These are just little seeds of trouble. There is much more coming along these lines before the blessing comes. Jeremiah had a lot to say about this world-changing development.

In this next prophecy in Jeremiah 16, he's showing the people of Israel their sins. He's focusing on the people in this particular prophecy. And then he shows them just how dramatic their deliverance will be.

This is another emphatic proof that the New Covenant is with the physical nation of Israel. Jeremiah 16:10-13:

[Jonathan] (46:20 - 46:52) "Now when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, For what reason has the Lord declared all this great calamity against us? And what is our iniquity, or what is our sin which we have committed against the LORD our God? Then you are to say to them, It is because your forefathers have forsaken Me, declares the LORD, and have followed other gods and served them and bowed down to them; but Me they have forsaken and have not kept My law." It sounds like the fathers have eaten the sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on the edge, doesn't it, Rick?

[Rick] (46:52 - 47:07) It does, and what that simply means is it sounds like you're suffering for what your past generations did. And the interesting thing about that is that in the New Covenant, that piece is taken away. So that's what's happening.

Let's continue with verse 12:

[Jonathan] (47:08 - 47:31) "You too have done evil, even more than your forefathers; for behold, you are each one walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me. I will hurl you out of this land into the land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will grant you no favor."

[Julie] (47:31 - 47:36) What dramatic language. In other words, you defiled everything about Me, your Holy God.

[Rick] (47:37 - 47:42) This was not only fulfilled in Jeremiah's day, it was even more dramatically fulfilled in AD 70.

[Julie] (47:42 - 47:47) That's when the Temple was destroyed by the Roman government and the Jewish people were scattered to the ends of the earth.

[Rick] (47:48 - 47:56) Next, Jeremiah points them to the day of the New Covenant. Now, listen to this. Jeremiah 16:14-15:

[Jonathan] (47:57 - 48:22) "Therefore behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no longer be said, As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but, As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them. For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers."

[Julie] (48:23 - 48:50) This idea of the leaving Egypt, leaving the slavery of Egypt shows up in the Old Testament a ton of times. In our last episode, we discussed how the Passover memorializing the Hebrews leaving the slavery of Egypt was the beginning of the Law Covenant. Its remembrance was a perpetual statute within the Law, meaning when the Law ends, so does that specific memorial. It'll be a respected memory.

[Rick] (48:50 - 49:43) It will. Again, Julie, like you said, one of the most repeated events in the Old Testament is the deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt. This was an absolute focal point for the establishment of a nation because it showed God's foresight and power and wisdom and providence.

Jeremiah is saying that the deliverance from Egypt will be considered a small thing, which right now is the biggest thing in relation to the regathering of Israel from the ends of the earth and the eternal restoration of the nation to their Promised Land. He's saying that that regathering is going to make what happened that was so often spoken about in the Old Testament, look like something small. That's the magnitude of this New Covenant. Jonathan, the Keys to Open the New Covenant, again, let's look at how it is inaugurated.

[Jonathan] (49:45 - 50:09) The precursor to this new and eternal covenant is trouble both for Israel and the world. This trouble is a necessary breaking down of society, purging of religious error, and refocusing of Israel to wholehearted reliance on the God of promise. The drama of Israel's restoration to their land and to their faith will be overwhelming.

[Julie] (50:10 - 50:20) Prophetically, we've seen the Jewish people restored to their land, but we haven't yet seen a restoration of Israel to their faith. When does that happen? And to summarize, where does the New Covenant apply?

[Rick] (50:20 - 51:01) Alright, well, the New Covenant applies in Israel, and as we'll see, it begins in Israel. That's where it is planted. And when it happens is after the trouble, after the big trouble.

Israel's faith comes after Israel's being replaced or put back into their land. It comes as a result of God's providences. They haven't seen all of those things yet, and they will because the trouble will get big enough where it cannot be denied.

It's been said that truth is stranger than fiction. Let's say that watching God's truth unfold is far more dramatic and exciting than fiction.

[Jonathan] (51:01 - 51:08) So what does this all end up looking like when all of these diverse pieces are finally put in place?

[Rick] (51:09 - 51:39) The end results of all of this will absolutely reflect the description of this New Covenant as God's covenant of peace. As we put some of the final pieces together, we will focus on the "what." What is this covenant made of?

We know it's God's promise, but what makes it so different from the previous Law? And finally, we'll look at the "why." Why is God going through all of this trouble to do this anyway?

[Julie] (51:40 - 52:00) By some counts, the Law Covenant has 613 individual statutes, ordinances and requirements, not to mention all the oral traditions of the Law that dictated every aspect of Jewish life. We don't find a corresponding list of "do's and don'ts" for the New Covenant. Why do you think we're given such little information about how it'll work, what the logistics?

[Rick] (52:01 - 52:44) Well, how it will work is, as we will see, it will work from the inside out, and you're not going to need all of those rituals to bring you to God, because the way the New Covenant works is God's government, remember, coming down from the new Jerusalem from heaven, is there. It is a very clear picture.

Let's unfold the what of this New Covenant a little bit now as we begin to try to put the rest of this together. What makes the New Covenant so different from the Law? First, it will be received in a very different way.

It will be received in the hearts of men. Jeremiah 31:33-37. Let's do 33 to 34 first:

[Jonathan] (52:45 - 53:50) "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord, I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." I have a quote from our friend David Rice: "Rather than a set of commandments on tables of stone, God will implant the principles of godliness in their hearts, just as Adam, at his creation, had it impressed within, an intuitive sense of what was right and good in order to regulate his conduct. But with Israel, this writing on the heart, when complete, will be more thorough than with Adam, because the knowledge of sin will, by contrast, deepen their appreciation for what is right."

[Julie] (53:50 - 54:28) Well, that's really important. CQ contributor on that Tabernacle program, Tom Ruggirello, said this, "It'll not be a mechanical reprogramming of man's brains. It'll come through education and perfect teachers.

People will have to make the effort to learn and change, and this kingdom arrangement will provide the setting for mankind to finally attain perfection and be granted eternal life on a perfected earth. Peter describes this in Acts 3 as the "times of restitution of all things." To answer my original question, the New Covenant won't be about an arrangement of details, but rather, it's going to be one of principles from the inside out.

[Rick] (54:29 - 55:06) And there's so much more value when you are looking at principles than details. See, principles put details in order. Details get stuck on principles, and that's why you have to have the right order here, and that's how this works.

So you've got that being written on the tables of their hearts. Secondly, this New Covenant is an unmistakably eternal promise, which produces eternal surety and confidence. When we read these next verses in Jeremiah 31:35-37, listen to how God tells Jeremiah to describe the eternal factors of this New Covenant:

[Jonathan] (55:06 - 55:44) "Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The Lord of Hosts is His name. If this fixed order departs from before Me, declares the Lord, then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever. Thus says the Lord, If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord."

[Rick] (55:45 - 56:10) God is basically saying, Look, if the sun and the moon and all of that fall apart, then yes, I'll cast off Israel. It's just not going to happen. If you can measure the heavens and measure the deep, yeah, then I'll cast off Israel.

There's a little bit of sarcasm here saying, it's not possible. It's not possible because it's eternal. That is My promise. That's the depth and the power of this New Covenant.

[Julie] (56:11 - 56:28) Can we go back to a question we raised last week? The Sabbath is part of the Law Covenant, prominent enough to be one of the Ten Commandments, and it's called a "perpetual covenant." If the Law Covenant is being replaced and the "perpetual statute" of Passover ends, what happens to the Sabbath?

[Rick] (56:29 - 56:42) The Sabbath stays. The Sabbath will be ever present. And how do we know?

Because it said so in Exodus, and it's going to bring us right back to the very core of the matter here. Let's look at Exodus 31:16-17:

[Jonathan] (56:43 - 56:59) "So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed."

[Rick] (57:00 - 57:13) Instead of being given the Law, Israel and humanity will now have this new law written in their hearts. We've already established that. It's based on principles.

You've heard the saying, let your conscience be your guide.

[Julie] (57:13 - 57:15) Yes, but what guides your conscience?

[Rick] (57:15 - 57:46) Yeah, that's a good point.

In that day, God's New Covenant will guide each and every conscience that receives it. So when we look at the Sabbath, and we look at this in the context of it being written on their hearts, what we see is this becomes a natural outgrowth of the beauty and the power of God's eternal promise. It is there because God said, you need to pause and reflect.

It's eternal, absolutely positively.

[Jonathan] (57:47 - 58:00) Sabbath reminds me of a "Selah" moment. Stop, pause, and reflect to praise and honor God for all he has done for us. There will be such positive influence all around.

Everyone will look forward to the Sabbath.

[Rick] (58:01 - 59:12) They will, they will. It will be a "looked forward to" time to just stop and look and consider, just like you said. So we've got the "what" of New Covenant. It's principles written on the hearts of the people. And part of that being written on their hearts is they're looking forward to the reflection of all these things. Well, why did God do this?

Why did He go through all the trouble of the sin and the death, and the trouble, and the prophecies, and the up and the down, and the yes, we'll follow you, no, we won't, and this happened, that, and then Jesus was crucified, and then he's raised and the people don't understand. Why does he go through all of this? Because it was His plan all along. Understand the power of the heavenly mind that sees the necessity for the experience of sin and death.

God created man to live forever. Make no mistake about that. That's what His original intention and design was. Let's go back to Genesis 1:26-28. And this is where we get the principles of this New Covenant. Go ahead:

[Jonathan] (59:13 - 59:44) "Then God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

[Rick] (59:45 - 1:00:31) God blessed them and said, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. That promise is fulfilled in the New Covenant. All of God's other promises are pieces that bring us to this New Covenant. This is how God fulfills what he said at the very beginning. Let's go back to Jeremiah again. Jeremiah really puts this all in order for us.

After proclaiming the sins of Israel's spiritual leaders in Jeremiah 23, now remember in Jeremiah 16, he was looking at the people saying, this is what you've done as the people. In Jeremiah 23, he's saying, yeah, you spiritual leaders, you're not off the hook. Here's what you've done.

He goes again back to that day. Jeremiah 23:3, then 7-8:

[Jonathan] (1:00:32 - 1:01:04) "Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply Therefore behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they will no longer say, As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt but, As the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them. Then they will live on their own soil."

[Rick] (1:01:05 - 1:02:01) Jeremiah goes through the trouble of restating, it will no longer be said that the God who delivered Israel out of slavery is the God of all, but this is the God who brought them for the four corners of the earth. He says it both times, once to the people and once to the leaders. What he's saying is all of you, no matter who you are, you will know that I am God.

There will be such a powerful proof. It cannot be denied. That's the power of the New Covenant. That's what it's saying. This New Covenant is for the benefit of all people. It starts with Israel, unquestionably.

You cannot argue with that scripturally, but it is bigger than Israel as we shall see now. Once again, the drama of that time cannot be underestimated. And one of the key points: is trouble will bring peace. Let's look at Daniel 2:44:

[Jonathan] (1:02:02 - 1:02:16) "In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever."

[Julie] (1:02:16 - 1:02:18) This kingdom is the New Covenant.

[Rick] (1:02:18 - 1:03:11) It is inseparable. And you say, well, it doesn't call it the "new covenant," but it describes it as the New Covenant. The new Jerusalem coming down from heaven, Jesus mediating, having the law written in your hearts.

Hello! Put the pieces together. It is a profound, profound connection. So let's look at where this profound connection comes.

And remember, it says "in the days of those kings;" it has to crush the other kingdoms, get this world out of the way, so the New Covenant has a place to be planted and to grow. Here's where it brings us.

All nations...all nations, not just Israel, all nations. And if you didn't get it, I said, all nations will seek God, understand His righteousness and live under this covenant of peace. Isaiah 2:2-4:

[Jonathan] (1:03:12 - 1:03:54) "Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths. For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war."

[Julie] (1:03:55 - 1:04:15) We read earlier in Ezekiel 37:26, how God said, "I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it will be an everlasting covenant with them." Some people point out that this never actually says it's the New Covenant, but look at these Isaiah scriptures. God's righteous government comes directly from heaven, working with the earthly Jerusalem.

[Jonathan] (1:04:15 - 1:04:26) Earth's billions will be resurrected and have God's law written on their hearts. What a relief. Peace on earth, goodwill towards men.

The original good news.

[Rick] (1:04:27 - 1:04:56) You know, there are many pictures that help us understand this kingdom and this New Covenant. We have new Jerusalem coming down from heaven, and that's one of the pictures. This mountain of the house of the Lord, that's another picture.

It's showing us the same thing with a different picture language. When we look at Isaiah 11:9-10, it's the same thing. It's showing us what the New Covenant brings with the picture language of the Isaiah 2 verses. So Isaiah 11:9-10:

[Jonathan] (1:04:57 - 1:05:14) "They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Then in that day the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, who will stand as a signal for the peoples; and His resting place will be glorious."

[Julie] (1:05:15 - 1:05:31) And isn't this "not hurt and destroy" - isn't that what we all long for? And it's not only everywhere, it's within everyone. Can you imagine true heartfelt appreciation which will give birth to heartfelt loyalty? This is harmony restored. Thank God.

[Rick] (1:05:31 - 1:05:55) This is having God's law written on their hearts. This is the principles working from within to solve the things in front of you that are without. And it's saying in that day, the nations will resort to Jesus, the root of Jesse.

The nations. It's not just Israel, it's the everybody. One last scripture before we close this up, Psalms 22:27-28:

[Jonathan] (1:05:56 - 1:06:06) "All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before You. For the kingdom is the Lord's and He rules over the nations."

[Rick] (1:06:06 - 1:06:21) He rules through the New Covenant because it fulfills what was given originally. Jonathan, finally, Keys to Open the Covenant. Again, how is this New Covenant inaugurated? How does it work?

[Jonathan] (1:06:23 - 1:06:43) The New Covenant comes to be as a result of Jesus' paying the price for Adam's sin. This covenant will be mediated by Jesus himself along with his true followers. It is an eternal covenant of peace with all of humanity and fulfills exactly what God had originally designed for His human creation.

[Rick] (1:06:44 - 1:07:43) It fulfills what God's original design was. God didn't miss a beat. God didn't say, Oh, I have to think of something else. What God did is put things in place, allowed sin, allowed Satan, allowed death, allowed tragedy and allowed the Law Covenant to show us what all those things were. When the New Covenant is fully inaugurated, we will see God's true will come to fruition in a way that is staggering in its magnificence and its glory throughout the entire earth for all of humanity. Folks, think about it.

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