Expert: John of AllFaith - 8/20/2009

Question
Hello,

I have had a Jewish person tell me that the New Covenant cannot replace the Old Covenant because the Mosaic Covenant was supposed to be eternal. He sited the following Biblical quotes to prove his argument. What do you say? How can the New Covenant of grace and of Jesus Christ replace the Old Covenant, when the Old Covenant was supposed to be eternal. Please look at the Bible quotes I have listed below, which someone else has pointed out to me.

GENESIS 17:9-10 - "God said to abraham, 'and as for you, you shall keep my covenant-you and your offsrping after you THROUGHOUT THEIR GENERATIONS"
 
EXODUS 31:16 - "the children of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to make the sabbath an ETERNAL covenant for their generations"

DEUTERONOMY 11:1 - "you shall love H-shem, your G-d, and you shall safeguard his charge, his decrees, his ordinances, and his commandment, ALL THE DAYS"

DEUTERONOMY 28:46 - "they (the commandments) will be a sign and a wonder, in you and in your offsrping, FOREVER"

DEUTERONOMY 29:28 - "the hidden (sins) are for H-shem, our G-D, but the revealed (sins) are for us and our children FOREVER, to carry out all the words of this torah"

PSALM 111:7-9 - "his handiwork is truth and justice, faithful are all his orders, they are steadfast FOREVER, for ETERNITY, accomplished in truth and fairness. he sent redemption to his people; he commanded his covenant for eternity"

2 KINGS 17:37 - "and the decrees and the laws, and the torah and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall OBSERVE TO DO ALL THE DAYS; and you shall not fear the gods of others""

Thank you: Alex  

Answer
Hi Alex,

There are two main questions here. I will give a brief (for me) answer to both:

1. Are Christians required to observe the Law of Moses?

No.

Gentiles were never under the Law of Moses and are not today. We are only the under the Seven Laws of Noah and the discipleship of Jesus.

And

2. Is the Mosaic Covenant with the Jews still in effect: Yes. It is eternal.

Baptists (like most everyone else) have conflicting opinions about this issue. I could share an overview of the various commonly held views or I could answer from what I believe the Bible clearly teaches. In this case I will do the later since I am absolutely certain in my beliefs here. If you would like more information on this feel free to write back.

Genesis 12  
1 Now HaShem said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father`s house, unto the land that I will show thee:
2 and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make they name great; and be thou a blessing;
3 and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

In my (strongly held) opinion the Jews are the eternally unconditionally Chosen people of HaShem (HaShem literally means "The Name" of God: Tetragrammaton). This is made abundantly clear in both the Torah (the Five Books of Moses), Tanack (the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures commonly called the "Old Testament" by Christians) as well as in the New Testament.

The passages you cite are absolutely clear. God's covenants with Israel is everlasting and based on His Will not on their at-times shaky compliance even as our salvation is based God's Grace rather than our often shaky compliance with His Will.

Why?

Romans 3:10 as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one;

This is confirmed in the New Testament as several places:

   Romans 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
   16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

As Paul explains at Romans 8:15, by our adoption into God's family we Gentiles can also cry Abba (a personal crying out of a child for its father) along with the natural children, the Jews.

At Romans 11:1 and elsewhere Paul (and others elsewhere) make it clear that this adoption did not replace the firstborn.

   Romans 11:1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
   2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying...

This was written at least thirty or forty years AFTER Jesus' death. The Jews were still then and still are today the Elect of God. That will NEVER change.

Understand that God accepts all who come to Him in faith, Jew or Gentile (Gal 3:28), however this in no way compromises the position of the firstborn because HaShem's callings and gifts "are without repentance" (Rom 11:29). My son by blood was not replaced or in any way diminished by the adoption of my step son. This is the biblical relationship between Jews and the followers of Jesus. ALL are children of God and all are greatly beloved of the Father and the Jews are the Elect (Matt 24:22), the specially Chosen People of God for all eternity.

To the natural, firstborn son (Isaac -- Israel -- the Jews) goes the inheritance promised to and through Abraham and his descendants (both the Semitic and non-Semitic Jewish descendants of Abraham and Sarah: Being a Jew is not a matter of race but of Divine Covenant). Through the first born, by virtue of his inheritance and his calling, God will (and always has) bless all mankind (Gen 12:1-3).

No single people have so blessed the human race as the Jews and yet no people have been so despised.

This is not a coincidence. We are all embroiled in spiritual warfare. We stand with the People of God or we stand against them.

   Isaiah 41:8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
   9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.

"Not cast thee away" is translated from the Hebrew word "ma'ac" which tells us that HaShem will not:

   * Reject, refuse
   * Despise
   * Cause or allow to be rejected
   * Abhor
   * Become loathsome towards
   * Or melt away from
     The Jewish people.

It did not happen before Jesus, it did not happen after Jesus and it will not happen today or ever.

The Jews are the apple of God's eye:

   Deuteronomy 32:8 When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
   9 For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
   10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

It is not that the Jews (nor the followers of Jesus) chose God.

It is that God chose the Jews and allowed the Christians to be grafted on with them. This was allowed in part to make the Jews jealous that the God of Israel would use others to fulfill His purposes (Rom 11:11, Matt 3:9). The "root" of the Tree God planted in the earth remains eternally Jewish.

As Jesus said:
...we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews -- John 4:22

Stand with Israel!

If you have further questions etc. feel free to write back,

~ John of AllFaith