January 1, 2015

New Years 2015

“New”

“New” meaning “original” and “new” meaning something that has never been before.

The Old Covenant which was given some 3500 years ago is “not old” in the sense of time but “old” in that it is "obsolete." To be obsolete means to be no longer in use. Something much better had come in the giving of the New Covenant. The New Covenant is not new in the since of time because it had already been announced through the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel around 600 B.C. The New Covenant is “new” in that  the principles at work in the New Covenant are "original or new" as opposed to the obsolete system of the Old Covenant.

Let’s take a look at the comparisons between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

What is the Old Covenant? It is the set of laws, summed up in the Ten Commandments given by God on Mt. Sinai but also it takes in the whole Mosaic Legislation which was the constitution of the nation. It was these very laws that separated the Jewish people from the Gentiles. Other elements that separated Jew from Gentile was that "the adoption, the glory (though fading), the covenants, the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises" were given (Romans 9:4, 5).  Because of the light and glory (though fading) contained in the Old Covenant every other nation (other than the Jews) which lived without the law lived in darkness. The Gentiles were without hope and without God in this world. The Old Covenant frailties are stated in Romans 8:3. The weakness of the Law was man’s sinful flesh and the demand of the law which said, “THOU shalt.” God had placed the responsibility of living up to the Law on man’s shoulders which was demanded by God through the Law which said “THOU shalt.”

The whole purpose of Israel’s wilderness experience was that through the fiery furnace of the wilderness trials the children of Israel encountered, they would see their need of God's hellp to keep his holy commandments and come out of the fiery furnace of the wilderness leaning upon the Beloved, namely, Jesus. It was the fiery trial that was going to prepare Israel for the promised land. These all important lessons the children of Israel did not learn. They left the wilderness walked into the Promised Land with their hearts not broken and with the “THOU shalt” etched into their hardened hearts. It wasn’t until the Cross that a brand new way was ratified and the dawn of the New Covenant came into being first to the Jew and then to the Gentile.

What is the New Covenant? The New Covenant is mostly delineated in Hebrews 8:8-18.

1. A New Covenant 
2. A New Creation 
3. A New Birth 
4. A New Life
5. Law in heart
6. New Spirit
7. A New Self 
8. Spiritual Adoption
9. Gospel Universal to Jew and Greek.
10. God’s People (in other words belonging to God)
11. Spiritual Knowledge (every man shall know me from the least to the greatest)
12. A New way of the Spirit 
13. A New Command 

When the middle wall of partition was broken between Jew and Gentile? It took place at the Cross. For God loved the world (the Jew first) then God's love was extended to the whole world that he gave at the Cross, his only begotten Son   that whosoever (Jew and Gentile) believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The New Covenant takes on so much more than has been said.

The New Creation man absolutely needs a New Covenant. The Old Covenant no longer fits the new man’s makeup. The Old Covenant was given by God to show man first of all that he was sinful and second of all that he was not able to keep God’s Holy Law. The New Covenant has been written on the inside of man that is on fleshly tables of the new heart. The New Covenant written on fleshly tables of the heart was and is able by the Holy Spirit to keep God’s Holy Law. The New Covenant has the Law written on the inside in his new heart and does by the New Nature please and satisfy God’s heart.

The Old Man died in Jesus and out from Jesus’ work at Calvary came a whole new race of men who were freshly born, these are those “born again” not of corruptible seed “Adam’s seed” but of an incorruptible seed (an immortal seed—Christ seed, the word. These are those risen from the dead with Christ. These are those who to them he gives eternal life). Those raised with Christ by faith have been born again by the Word of the Father. Jesus is now our brother. God is our Father.

The New Creation is so vastly different from the Old Creation Man. They are so different so as to be unrecognizable. Without the New Birth no man is able to see the kingdom of God—the kingdom of God is Jesus.

Old Creation incorporates human instincts for whatever is born of flesh is flesh. The makeup and inclination of the flesh verses the Spirit are complete opposites. The flesh spins around the center and gravity of the old self. The New Creation incorporates spiritual inclinations such as an appetite for the word of God, an impulse to do good to one’s neighbor, and the central emphasis on the Holy Spirit.

The Old Covenant succumbed to a unique weakness and powerlessness and this was man’s complete weakness of the flesh (2 Cor. 3:14; Heb. 7:22-24). The New Covenant does not at all depend on the flesh for the flesh has been crucified with Christ—the flesh is dead. In the light of the New Covenant the ministry of the New Covenant is so much superior in every way.

“12 But as many as received  him, to them gave he the power to  become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 which were born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12, 13). The Scripture tells us that a New Creation birth and a New Nature came about by God the Father’s will and his will alone. Sinful man was in a place of death which he inherited from the first Adam and out of the dungeon of the Old Nature. He was completely incapable of extracting himself from death's dungeon. It was only the will and power of God that could birth a New Man, a new creation with a New Nature. God created by means of the cross a completely New Man that was "unique and original." This New Creation was birthed out of the void of nothingness. In other words, God created the New Creation Man out of nothing. God created a New Man from a brand new lump of clay. The New Creation, the New Birth and the New Nature were a divine creation of God. (The concept of “to create” is to divinely make something out of nothing). The word “create” is always a reference to Divine Creativity. It is something only God can bring about.

What a miraculous work God had done at Calvary! From our side it looks like a miracle but from God’s’ side it was not a miracle. It was his judgment and loving nature by which God's heart was captivated to redeem man from the prison hold of sin and death. God’s work wasn’t a miracle but a divine choice made within the Trinity. As Jesus said, “Lo, I come to do thy will.” It was a very costly decision for the Second Person of the Trinity to make but one Jesus has never regretted.

Through or by means of the Cross “old things are passed/passing away all things are becoming new.” The Old is everything God in the person of Jesus did away with. The Old refers to the Old Man, the Old Nature came from Adam. The Old Creation and the Old Nature are all done away with through the sacrifice of Jesus’ body on the Cross. The Old Nature had taken on the nature of Adam and the Old Creation’s father became the devil himself. Pride was the first sin committed by Lucifer and pride is the prime force that works in the spirit of the Old Man. The Old Man refuses God’s righteousness: he would prefer to change himself by self-righteousness. He would prefer to change himself by self-works. Along with pride which is closely tied to the love of self—man’s center of gravity was not the Holy Spirit but the sinful self. The Old Man hates holiness and would first choose the life of sin because the call to holiness is seen by the Old Man as shackles on his sinful self-will.

The Old Man loves most dearly the world and all that’s in it such as “the pride of life…” His passions are set on all the wrong things. He cannot see the light of life therefore he walks by the carnal mind which guides him toward the path to hell. He loves his own misguided perception of himself and justifies every sinful action by his darkened conscience.

Those that are born again as children of their Father above have a brand new heart and brand new spirit which takes great joy in doing their Father’s will. Every thing about the New Creation man has drastically changed. Like Jesus the New Man loves righteousness and hates iniquity (Heb. 1:9). All that makes up the New Man is "NEW." His love is set firmly upon God. His once darkened heart is shot through with the light of Christ. He is brand NEW in every way.

As New Born babes our perception of everything has been altered. He becomes absolutely convinced that man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceedth from the mouth of God. His appetite has drastically changed. He loves the word and he lives whole heartedly by it. To him it is the substance that draws him nearer to God. This eating of the word brings great joy even abundant joy to his life.

As New Creations there comes new eyesight. With his miraculously adjusted vision the world takes on a beauty he had never seen before. Everything looks different. Everything takes on a beauty that was once hidden to the eye of sinful man but now is brilliant and beautiful to the New Born child of God. The New Born Man joins in the heavenly chorus “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handy work!”

With the love of God now abundantly flowing out of his heart, it is a love no longer directed toward the self-life but it is now directed to Christ’s command “to love your neighbor (as well as God) as thyself” but with hearts so filled with the abundant love of Jesus we are now capable of loving even our enemies, Imagine! The New Man actually becomes a vessel and carrier of the love of God.