Spirit and Covenant

The New Covenant includes the Gift of the Spirit, the first fruits of the New Creation, and the gathering of the nations. The National sins of Israel caused her expulsion from the Land of Canaan. God foresaw her failures and determined to institute a new covenant energized and characterized by His Spirit. It would include the salvation of men from every nation and culminate in the resurrection of the dead and the “New Heavens and the New Earth.” With the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the New Covenant began in earnest.

The Death and Resurrection of Jesus inaugurated this new era, the “Last Days.” All the promises of God now find their fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth - (“For how many soever are promises of God, in him is the yea, wherefore also through him is the Amen” – 2 Corinthians 1:20).

[Crocuses - Photo by Alexandra on Unsplash]

When Israel repented wholeheartedly, the God of Abraham promised to gather her “from among all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you.” He would “multiply you beyond your fathers” and “circumcise your heart to love Him with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live” - (Deuteronomy 30:3-6).

Two things are noteworthy. First, God would “multiply Israel beyond her forebears.” The English term “multiply” translates the same Hebrew verb found in the call to Adam to be “fruitful and multiply,” and in God’s promise to multiply Abraham’s seed - (Genesis 1:28, 17:2).

Secondly, the restoration would occur when God “circumcised Israel’s heart,” an internal change promised in the Hebrew Scriptures and actualized by the outpouring of God’s Spirit in the “New Covenant” - (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ezekiel 11:19-20).

The promised restoration of God’s People was more expansive and glorious than anything the ancient nation had known, an act of grace by which Yahweh would enable His People to fulfill the Covenant through the “new Spirit” He would give them. This is a new creative act that impacts all nations - (Isaiah 65:17-18, Revelation 21:1-3).

The promises are fulfilled through Jesus, including those given to Abraham and Israel, the “circumcised heart” and the “new Spirit.” Christ came to fulfill the “Law and the Prophets.” The Jews who saw him in Galilee experienced something “greater than Jonah,” “greater than Solomon,” “greater than David,” and greater than the Jerusalem Temple. In the Nazarene, the Kingdom of God began to advance across the Earth. The Messiah of Israel was about to baptize his People in “Spirit and Fire” - (Matthew 5:17-21, 12:6, 12:28, 12:41-42).

Having established the “New Covenant in his blood,” Jesus began building his one covenant community centered on him, not the Land of Canaan or the Temple structure “made with hands.” As the New Testament makes clear, the New Covenant is based on and fulfills the original Abrahamic Covenant:

• In Jesus, “what things God had before declared through the mouth of all the prophets <…> the covenant that He covenanted with your fathers, saying to Abraham, in your seed will be blessed all the families of the earth” - (Acts 3:24-26, Acts 10:42-43, 13:18-33).

The jurisdiction of the Torah given to Israel at Mount Sinai was for a limited time - “until Christ came” - the Seed and Heir of Abraham. All those who have faith in the Word of God as the Patriarch did become the “children of Abraham,” heirs of the promises, and “coheirs” with the Son of God - (2 Corinthians 1:20, Galatians 3:24, Romans 8:17, 10:4).

Jesus is the Suffering Servant of the Book of Isaiah who “confirms the promises to the fathers so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.” The “blessings for the nations” promised to Abraham are fulfilled by the Messiah, and the original territory foreseen by the Patriarch exceeds the boundaries of Canaan and includes the “world” or ‘Kosmos’.

Abraham’s descendants are innumerable “like the stars of Heaven” because the “nations of the Earth” are included among them through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Christ - (“that Abraham should be heir of the world” - Genesis 22:17, Romans 4:13, 15:8-9):

• “After these things I saw, and behold, a great multitude that no man could number from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the Throne and the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands” - (Revelation 7:9).

Before the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, the Gentiles were “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” Those who once were far off have been brought near “by the blood of Christ.” The promise to regather God’s People is fulfilled as Jews and Gentiles respond to the Gospel and join themselves to the “Body of Christ.”

God’s purpose was always “to sum up all things in Christ in the fullness of the times,” including the redemption of the Gentile nations and the Creation itself - (Romans 8:20-23, 1 Corinthians 15:20-25, Ephesians 1:10, 2:11-13).

When referring to the Promised Land, the Hebrew Bible employs the terms “inheritance,” “inherit,” “heir,” and “promise.” The same terms are applied in the New Testament to what God is doing in His Son, including the Gift of the Spirit. Jesus is the heir of Abraham, indeed, the heir of all things - (Colossians 1:12-13, 1 Peter 1:3-5).

• “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth!” – (Matthew 28:18).

• “And the seventh angel sounded, and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said - The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever” – (Revelation 11:15).

• “I have installed my king on my holy hill of Zion. I will tell of the decree – Yahweh said to me, You are my son! This day, I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession” – (Psalm 2:6-8).

The receipt of the Spirit confirms the status of men and women as believers. Whether Jewish or Gentile, they are the “children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and coheirs with Christ.” Everyone who receives the Spirit joins his new community regardless of ethnicity or gender, and in and through Jesus, God is gathering His children from every nation.

HEIRS OF THE COVENANT

Jesus is Abraham’s “seed.” As partners with him, we become “heirs according to promise.” Moreover, the Spirit is the “earnest of our inheritance for the redemption of the possession” - (Romans 8:16-17, Galatians 3:29, Ephesians 1:13-14).

• He is “the mediator of the new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the everlasting inheritance.”

The Nazarene implemented the New Covenant by becoming Abraham’s heir. Consequently, we who are “in Christ” are “coheirs” with him and “children of Abraham” destined to receive the full inheritance - (Romans 8:1-23, Hebrews 8:6-13, 9:15).

Christ’s Apostles are “ministers of the New Covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit.” The Spirit writes His laws in our newly circumcised hearts. Jesus became the “surety of a better covenant,” and established the New Covenant, making the “first one obsolete” - (Deuteronomy 30:6, Jeremiah 31:34, Ezekiel 11:19-20, 2 Corinthians 3:4-6, Hebrews 7:22, 8:6-13, 9:15, 10:16).

Christ’s bodily resurrection was an act of new creation.  God did not resuscitate a corpse but gave him a glorious immortal body that is no longer subject to death. This means his resurrection inaugurated the New Creation.

However, there is an overlap between the existing age and the coming one. This overlap will continue until Jesus returns and we receive our glorified bodies - “Therefore, if any man is in Christ, a new creation, the old things are passed away, behold, they have become new” - (1 Corinthians 15:42-50, 2 Corinthians 5:17).

The Death and Resurrection of Jesus also redefined the boundaries that separate the People of God from the rest of humanity. This includes the extent of the Promised Land. As Paul wrote, Abraham and his heirs will “inherit the world,” not just a small piece of land in the Middle East. All men who have faith in Jesus become full members of God’s One Covenant People. Biological descent from Abraham no longer has any significance in identifying who belongs to this Holy Community - (Romans 4:13).

Being Christ’s “coheirs,” our final hope will be realized in the resurrection of the righteous. The Creation is “sighing and travailing in birth pangs” for now as it “eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God.” That condition will end when the “Lord of Glory” appears at the end of the present age.

Humanity and the Universe are subject to decay and death due to Adam’s “transgression.” God will reverse the Curse forever when we receive the redemption of our bodies. In the interim, we have the Spirit as the “first fruits” and down payment of our coming redemption - (Romans 8:17-23).

The New Creation is the inheritance of all true believers, including the Great Patriarch. “We look for the New Heavens and the New Earth where righteousness dwells.” There, “God will tabernacle with men, and they will be his people.” He will wipe away every tear and death will cease forever. “Behold, I make all things new!” - (2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1-7).

The “New Covenant,” the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant, began with the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This process is underway as the Gospel is proclaimed on the Earth “to all nations.” It will continue until the consummation of all things when Jesus returns, the dead are raised, and the “New Heavens and the New Earth” arrive in all their splendor.

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SEE ALSO:

• Heir of Abraham - (Jesus is the true Son of Abraham, the heir of the promises, the Anointed One who fulfills and implements the inheritance for his people)

• The Spirit is Life - (The Spirit of God imparts life, especially the everlasting life of which the Gift of the Spirit is the foretaste and guarantee)

• The Circumcised Heart - (The promise of the Spirit is integral to the redemption of humanity and the Covenant of God with His people)

• To the Ends of the Earth - (The Gospel of the Kingdom announced by Jesus offers salvation and life to all men and women of every nation and people)