A New Covenant

Because of the gospels, we have always assumed the new covenant was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. But is this really the case?

Jeremiah 31:31-34 -- "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, " declares the LORD.
33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

In the books of the Prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the running theme is the Jewish exile. The premise is the same in both books: Israel and Judah have turned their backs on God and set up worship to Baal and other gods with idols. They've erected altars to these other gods in the Temple. This angered God so much that he decided to use the King of Babylon to ransack Jerusalem and exile the Israelites. This basic story is littered throughout both those books.

In his anger, God scatters the Jews. But in the end he promises to regather them back to Jerusalem and forgive their sins and he vows to let them no longer be the scorn of the nations surrounding them.

But notice the promise of the "New Covenant" in Jeremiah 31. "I will write my laws in their hearts." Notice this is the same basic premise in Ezekiel 36, in the last blog entry. God promises he will give the Jews a new heart of flesh after removing their heart of stone. He will write his laws on their hearts so that they will be able to follow his laws and decrees, and be able to do them. Note that they will be able to "DO THEM".

In Christiandom, the new covenant is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Paul teaches that Jesus canceled the laws and decrees of the Mosaic Laws. But I ask anyone to show me where in Jeremiah 31 or Ezekiel 36 where God said in the new covenant his people will no longer have to follow his laws. If Jesus fulfilled the laws, how does that constitute the Jews from no longer having to observe them?

Jeremiah 31 states that the laws will be written on their hearts, not on some scroll like when they were given to Moses. If they are on the hearts of the Jews, would they not still be required to follow them?

Folks, the "New Covenant" is the same when spoken about in Jeremiah and in Ezekiel. When the Jews are regathered from exile and God rebuilds Jerusalem after he punished them. He will begin a new covenant with them where he will put his spirit in them. He will cleanse them of their sins and put a new heart and fill the heart with his spirit so that they can now, at last, be able to concentrate on God and follow his required Laws and Decrees.

This is the new covenant. This new covenant is talked about at length in Ezekiel. In other words, with the state of Israel the way it currently is, this "New Covenant" is still yet to be fulfilled. It is still in the future sometime, if it is coming at all.

With Paul and the gospels, Christianity rewrote the interpretations of the books of the Prophets for new agendas and new times.

But does this really jive with the promises of God in the Old Testament?