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Answer for yourself: Christians are constantly attesting that they are under a "New Covenant"…are they really?
Answer for yourself: Is it possible that due to their lack of scholarship that they are mistaken and have relied on emotionalism rather than textual facts from the Bible which, when recognized, dispute their claim?
In the previous articles in this series I have demonstrated that there were a series of Covenants made with mankind which God sanctioned as written in the Jewish Scriptures. If you have been an astute reader you have noticed a progression of revelation given to mankind as contained in such succession of Covenants and Covenant stipulations. Of importance to us in this pursuit of truth one should notice that within the Laws of Moses and the Covenant with Moses is contained the Laws of Noah from the Covenant of Noah. In a real way the Covenant of Noah is reiterated almost entirely in the Laws of Moses and the Covenant of Moses; although with some minor changes. Once this is understood it has startling repercussions to Christianity today which denies the validity of the Laws of Moses all the while not understanding that within them were Laws given to "ALL" non-Jews and Gentiles long before there were sons of Jacob or "Jews". And let us not forget that the Covenants of God are "eternal". This means when reading the Old Testament or even the New Testament that if a non-Jewish Christian reads such references to "the Law" and thinks that they have no bearing upon the non-Jew and "ONLY" the Jew then he makes a critical mistake and such failure to understand such dynamics I guarantee leads to erroneous conducts and behaviors in the life of the non-Jewish believer and God considers much of such "behaviors" sin. This is the warning I bring and the information and facts concerning this important topic prove the point. Coupled with this, in the last article I demonstrated beyond any doubt that the "new" Covenant referenced by Jeremiah has absolutely nothing to do with what the Christian of today calls his "new covenant". Literally the Gentile Christian church has attached the word "new" as borrowed from Jeremiah to their lawlessness of today and in reality by rejecting the only Covenant given by God to them they stand apart from God without a Covenant. When these facts of Biblical language and history become apparent to you, as well as when you come to grips with the facts of the credibility of the "New Testament" which gives false assurance to many by rejecting the only valid Covenants given to the non-Jewish believer and then substituting a Roman lie for it, then the horror of your disobedience toward God and shame of the false religious belief system which has entrapped you should bring you to your knees in tearful repentance. Only then can it be said of you that you are not far from the Kingdom of God. But understand being close to the Kingdom of God means a total separation form the Kingdom of Babylon's false religion as well as the Kingdom of Rome's pagan religion; both of which rejected the only true religion given by God to mankind as detailed in the Old Testament which has Covenants first for non-Jews and then for Jews which had a higher revelation. Such is the tragic consequences of anti-Semitism and you have been mired in it your whole life as a Christian whether you knew it or not.
Again, one of the main reasons you have not seen such for yourself is not only because you have failed to study in detail your faith and have taken almost everything by "faith"; never believing for one moment that
you were not being taught "truth". Coupled with this also comes the failure of the Gentle Church to teach the Jewish Scriptures correctly.
No!!!!!!!! Let me show you why. First read the passage.
[30] Behold, days are coming -- the word of HASHEM -- when I will seal a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah: [31] not like the covenant that I sealed with their forefathers on the day that I took hold of their hand to take them out of the land of Egypt, for they abrogated My covenant, although I became heir Master --the word of HASHEM. [32] For this is the covenant that I shall seal with the House of Israel after those days -- the word of HASHEM -- I will place My Torah within them and I will write it onto their heart; I will be God for them and they will be a people for Me. [33] They will no longer teach -- each man his fellow, each man his brother -- saying, "Know HASHEM!' For all of them will know Me, from their smallest to their greatest -- the word of HASHEM -- when I will forgive their iniquity and will no longer recall their sin.
Christians use verses 30 and 31 to 'prove' to us that God promised that the Torah will be replaced by a "New" Torah, the Christian New Testament. But the verse simply does not say that; in fact it says just he opposite! Let me prove it to you!
First of all the Strong's definition for the word used by Jeremiah…"new":
The Strong's # is 2319 chadash (khaw-dawsh');
from 2318; new:
First of all notice that Strong's Lexicon lists a root word as well as a derivative word as used in the verse at hand. First, the translation of " 2319:
KJV-- fresh, new thing.
This is too ambiguous to say the least and we learn nothing from this, but if we look at the "root" word we glean terrific knowledge…let us see.
The Strong's # for the "root" word is 2318 chadash (khaw-dash');
a primitive root; to be new; causatively, to rebuild:
KJV-- renew, repair.
Answer for yourself: Did you notice that the "root" word for "new" as used in Jer. 31 means "renew, repair, rebuild" and not "replaced"?
Well someone needs to tell the author of the Book of Hebrews because when he quotes this verse he uses a word in the Greek which does not carry the concept of "renew, repair, or rebuild" but one which carries the idea of "new" as in replaced. Such a reference in the Book of Hebrews is not the concept Jeremiah conveys and to say differently is to deceive the reader as well as "adding to and taking away" from the Word of God! You end up with the idea that you have a Covenant today of grace only which replaces the prior Covenants which contained laws and commandments…for right standing with God….such is simply not true!
And by the way this is not the end of the deceptions in the New Testament but only the beginning.
Answer for yourself: So is the view held by Gentile and Messianic Christianity correct which sees that they have a completely "new" Covenant which has replaced the prior Covenants of God which contain Covenant stipulations in the form of laws and Commandments for right standing for God? No way and an educated reading of the New Testament will show you how the early church was still zealous for the Law and the Covenant which continued them long after the cross of Yeshua. Yeshua's death for them did not bring them a "new" replacement Covenant as you have been taught today…see Acts 21:20 just for one example:
Acts 21:20
20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
Let us remember that this is around twenty-five years after Yeshua's death and it is plainly evident that James, the senior pastor of the Yeshua's church as well as others did not believe what we have been fed by Pauline Christianity today. See it for yourself as your study increases.
Also notice in the verses Christianity uses to claim their "new" Covenant that the Covenant Jeremiah speaks of is to be made with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. You should ask yourself when was the last time your church or Pastor preached to you a sermon on how you, as a Gentile Christian, fits into the House of Israel or the House of Judah. Probably never! I dare say if you ask a Southern Baptist, or a Catholic such a question he would not have the slightest idea of what you speak of because they find their identity within their denomination and do not consider themselves as part of 'Israel". They fail to realize that not only the Old Testament, New Testament, and Biblical history teaches that non-Jews are "grafted" into the Israel of God, but being so related means that they are responsible to find their identity not in one of the 2000 different Christian denominations today but in the Covenant of God as given to them in the Old Testament…the Covenant of Noah. And besides that, I find it amazing how a Gentile Christian can claim for himself such a "new" Covenant of Jeremiah when it was "ONLY" to be make with both Houses of Israel and not with foreign nations. The non-Jews and foreign nations of the world find their standing with God again in their Covenant with God and we look to the light of the world, the Israel of God, to be the repository of knowledge of God for the world. It is from Israel and their scholars we find how we, as non-Jewish believers, are to be accepted with God. It is time for the Christian Church to realize the light to the nations yet shines and a Hebraic understanding of their faith is necessary and without it we non-Jews stumble in the darkness of anti-Semitism forged long ago by which we have lost our way. Sadly it takes our death to correct us for most find no reason to study while alive or to even question their faith. Too many good Christian people accept "the fruit of anti-Semitism" for Biblical truth today and only find out their errors when they die and receive a cosmic correction.
We have so far examined the first two verses of the Jeremiah 31 prophecy which Christians quote relentlessly for their authority to stand apart from the Covenant God gave them. However, consider the ignored half of this prophecy: verses 32 and 33. The "new" covenant of which Jeremiah speaks is not a new Torah, but that the Torah, the original Torah, and it is this "re-newed" and "repaired" Torah which will be placed in the hearts of the children of God and everyone in the world will know HASHEM.
Every Christian should awake and take notice of what comes next as it has earth-shaking implications for the typical Gentile Christian.
Jer 31:33
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. (KJV)
Notice this "new" Covenant which Christians claim is their authority for their faith states that God, in this Covenant, will put HIS LAW in the inward parts of His children. Notice also that these LAWS will be written in their hearts of God's people and the consequence of this action makes one in relationship with God and such a one is called the "people" of God.
Answer for yourself: As a non-Jewish believer, having been given the Covenant of Noah with the Laws of Noah, and as reiterated by James in the Acts 15 Church Council where he states that these were "necessary " and which "seemed good to the Holy Ghost", then I ask you how many of the 66 Laws of Noah do you know by heart?
Answer for yourself: Do you think this has any bearing on your relationship with God and your standing before God, or does your relationship with your denomination or your Pastor hold more weight for you? How anyone can see this in the text for themselves and then deny it in their experience is beyond me, but I see too many people who do so. It is as if what the Jewish Scriptures, the Jewish Bible Yeshua used, means nothing to them. It is as if their experience holds for them more authority for their religious beliefs than the text correctly interpreted. This is foolishness and not the actions of a "thinking" believer.
Let us examine the word used by Jeremiah in v. 33 for "law":
The Hebrew word for "law" as used in verse 33 of Jeremiah 31 is as follows:
8451 towrah (to-raw') Strong's Numbers
or torah (to-raw'); from 3384; a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch (1st 5 books of the Old Testament)
KJV-- law.
law, direction, instruction
a) instruction, direction (human or divine)
1) the body of prophetic teaching
2) instruction in the Messianic age
3) the body of priestly direction or instruction
4) the body of legal directives
b) law
1) law of the burnt-offering
2) used of special law, codes of law
c) custom, manner
d) the Deuteronomic or Mosaic Law
What you have to remember in reading the above definitions for the various meanings for "law" in the Hebrew is that contained in this "instruction, prophetic teachings, priestly instruction, legal directives, codes of law, customs, manners, and Mosaic Law" are the Laws of Noah which were the foundation stipulations for the non-Jew in his Covenant with God!
Answer for yourself: Don't you think it rather strange as a typical Christian which has been fed Pauline Christianity his whole life and his "gospel", that you find yourself under grace and not under Law today; that this "New Covenant" which you look to for your authority in reality consists of the Laws God put in one's heart which you have been told you are not under by your Pastor?
Answer for yourself: If the Christian New Testament was really the fulfillment of this prophecy, why are their so many atheists in the world when Jeremiah tells us that when this New Covenant occurs all in the world will know God?
Answer for yourself: Why do Christians spend millions of dollars to missionize, if according to the New Covenant of Jeremiah which Christians claim as their present Covenant and which they believe has already started, that all in the world will have already come to "know" God when this Covenant of Jer. 31 begins?
Nobody is supposed to say "Know HASHEM," because everyone will know Him, according to verse 33. It seems that he missionization of the Christian Church is one of the greatest witnesses against the beginning of the Covenant of Jeremiah let alone the doctrine of the Christian Church which prides itself not being under the Law.
Answer for yourself: How can you continue to profess you are a "New" Covenant believer when you see such evidence to the contrary?
Answer for yourself: How can this New Covenant be in effect today with such facts witness against it?
The Christian may attempt to answer that verses 32 and 33 are talking about the second coming of Yeshua yet future, but it's absurd to say that there is at least a 2,000 year gap between verses 31 and 32. There is no indication of this gap in the text, quite the opposite, in fact. It appears as one prophecy. The Christian answer is illogical, and born of desperation.
Understand that it's okay for the Bible to predict an event to happen 2,000 years later. The issue is splitting a prophecy. The prophecy of verse 32 continues in verse 33, and the entire prophecy should happen at once. Christians, when confronted with such conflicts within their religious belief system maintain that verse 32 was fulfilled thousands of years ago, but verse 33 is yet to be fulfilled. There is no reason to assume that God intended these 2 verses to be different prophecies, separated by 2,000+ years.
Secondly, verses 31 and 32 of Jeremiah chapter 31 do not speak of a new Torah, but a new 'Briss' (or 'Brit' in other Hebrew dialects).
Let us examine the Hebrew meaning for the word "briss", but also remember that we have already seen that "new" means "renewed, rebuilt, repaired".
The Strong's # is 1285 beriyth (ber-eeth');
from 1262 (in the sense of cutting [like 1254]); a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh): -confederacy, [con-] feder [-ate], covenant, league.
1) covenant, alliance, pledge
a) between men
1) a treaty, an alliance, a league (man to man)
2) a constitution, an ordinance (monarch to subjects)
3) an agreement, a pledge (man to man)
4) an alliance (used of friendship)
5) an alliance (used of marriage)
b) between God and man
1) an alliance (used of friendship)
2) a covenant (divine ordinance with signs or pledges)
2) (phrases)
a) covenant making
b) covenant keeping
c) covenant violation
Answer for yourself: What is strangely lacking from this Hebrew definition for "covenant"? Give up?
There is not one mention of the Law or Laws of God.
A Briss is not a set of laws, but a treaty, an agreement, a covenant. If the word was intended to mean 'Torah," the word 'Torah' would have been used in verse 32. It was not! We never find the word Briss to refer to Torah/Laws/Commandments. God is not giving anyone "NEW LAWS" OR "CHANGING LAWS" OR "ABOLISHING LAWS"!!!!!!!!!!
Answer for yourself: So is God telling us through Jeremiah that He is rescinding the previous Law or Laws to give us "new" ones or the "lack" of them? Not at all. To attribute that this is the meaning of the passage goes great injustice to the revelation of God through the prophet Jeremiah. In fact to do so is to create a new religion other than that given to all mankind by God and this is exactly what Gentile Christianity has done whether you know it or not!
Dear one, you just read for yourself that God is "renewing" and "reestablishing" and "repairing" the SAME COVENANTS containing the SAME Laws! God is "replacing" NOTHING! Rome did that already and you have fallen victim to such deception.
According to the Christian 'proof,' Briss must means Torah. You need to recognize that if Briss could mean something else, like 'treaty,' there is no longer a proof from here to their New Testament. Understand that in order to live by a "new" set of laws whereby you live by grace and not by Law, then it becomes necessary to replace the first Law given by God in order to have a "new" Law that replaces it. Thus the need to define "bris" as law instead of relationship and Gentile Christianity does just that; just read some Christian commentators.
Let's use the Christian's definition of 'Briss' as "law" and see if there were any other Torahs that were given as well (besides the Tanach and the Christian New Testament). After each example ask yourself: Does this make sense? If you find that it does not make sense, then be fully persuaded that the Christian definition is wrong and their theology in such issues as well.
Let me conclude this short article with a summary statement. If, as Christianity professes, that we are under a New Covenant, understand that nowhere within it, according to Jer. 31, are the Laws of God replaced with new laws whereby the older Laws have ceased to be required by God. The only thing is this, and this I hope will shock you: this "new" relationship God desires to have with His people is one whereby they observe and keep the laws of God which are written on their hearts (heart in Hebrew is the mind), and I found it rather hard to keep the laws of God in my mind while in a church because they were never taught.
Answer for yourself: How is it possible that God writes His Laws on our hearts and minds yet we don't know them or ever have heard of them before?
Notice the Hebrew word for "heart" in Jeremiah 31:33 is Strong's # 3820:
3820 leb-
the inner man, the mind, the will, the heart, understanding the inner part, the midst
1) the midst (of things)
2) the heart (of man)
3) the soul, the heart (of man)
4) the mind, knowledge, the thinking, reflection, the memory
5) inclination, resolution, determination (of will)
6) the conscience
7) the heart (used of moral character)
8) as the seat of the appetites
9) as seat of the emotions and the passions
10) as the seat of the courage
Notice again that God is to write the Laws of His Covenant on the mind of the believer. That means that one who is under this "New" Covenant of Jer. 31 would have the knowledge of the Laws of his respective Covenant. The fact that few don't even know that they are under the Covenant of Noah and not the "New" Covenant of Jer. 31 testifies to the failure of the implementation of Jeremiahs' New Covenant for the non-Jew. Right now you should stop and ask yourself before God how many of the 66 Laws of Noah do you know and observe. If you are embarrassed by your answer then it is time for you to begin a serious study of your faith to make sure you don't die and stand before God ashamed, which you will do unless you discover the truth about your relationship with God and cast off the lies.
Not only that but I found myself brainwashed repeatedly by being continually taught that we were no longer under the law, but under grace. Yet all the while we as Pastors reassured the people that they are under a "New" Covenant with God, when the stark reality of it to me today, is that ignorantly we repudiated the ONLY COVENANT which Gentile mankind ever had by nullifying the Laws of God as contained in the Covenant of Noah both in belief and conduct. And this primarily can be blamed on a New Testament which continually misquotes, mistranslates, and takes the Jewish Scriptures out of context in order to pervert the truth whereby they appeal to Jewish Prophetic authority incorrectly for credibility for their false doctrines. May God forgive us for not loving Him more whereby we study sufficiently to see these tragic mistakes which capture good people who love God, but in the sad and final result, make them law-breakers as well as covenant-breakers and literally render them without a valid Covenant with God. You may be in Covenant with your church or Pastor but not in Covenant with God and you need to know this before you die and meet your Covenant Creator. Don't you want to know the truth before you die?
It sure looks to me like God never intended to replace His Covenant with His people but only to renew it by writing the Laws of God on the hearts of believers. This "re-newed" covenant has not been written on the hearts of all men yet, mainly because of the vast numbers of Christians world-wide numbering in the billions who teach contrary to the Word of God and don't espouse the Law at all, but rather operate counter productively to God by denying the Law and advocating instead that "they are no longer under the Law (Covenant renewed …remember?) but under grace. May God forgive us for hindering the Kingdom of God coming to all mankind.
Answer for yourself: Now do you think that the New Covenant has really began yet? Better reconsider.
Answer for yourself: Then to what covenant should the Christian look for his relationship with God?
I have already told you if you have been listening. Shalom.