Expert: Dean Gade - 11/10/2005

Question
Hi Dean!

I indeed appreciate the thoughtful answere and confession to having struggled with the writting and the reality.

A couple verses that come to heart are:

1 Cr 1:18: For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.  
1Cr 1:19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

AND

2 Cr 1: 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, [even] by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but IN him was yea.  
2Cr 1:20 For all the promises of God IN him [are] yea, and IN him Amen, unto the GLORY of God by us.

This pair of scripture embraces the word COVANENT. Verily, today our bodies have become THE ARC OF THE NEW COVANENT and the Old Arc remains lost for good.

The article "in" is a very Covenent related article. Blood Covanents were a middle eastern early tradition that gave rise to such practices as we have today: the Hand Shake (comes from parties cutting above the wrist and blending hands after swearing the blood oath in animal blood. The bread for the body and wine for Blood was drunk earlier before the Oath got sworn) or the tradition of East Indian women in India wearing scarlet marks at the parting of their hear above the forehead to identify their marital status. Scarlet referred to the blood mark and that they were bounded to a stronger force by Covanent (of marriage).

Once a Covanent was sworn there was no way the parties could walk off from each other. There was a curse and a blessing sworn.

Now when you read scripture and track down the 7,000+ promises and watch the LAMB of GOD in whom it was all sworn, you really get hooked.

** Question to consider yet (and I understand what you wrote) is Paul in all his Books writes things that hover over this Covanent tradition that promise returns.

Ephesians contains this massive Covanent lingo, " That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and STARNGERS from the COVANENTS OF PROMISE, having no hope, and without God in the world:  Eph 2:13 But NOW IN CHRIST JESUS ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the BLOOD OF CHRIST".

Hope some day we have a revelation of why folks are claiming these Blessings today....even the Spiritual ones...Event of the Day of Pentecost
is still within the periphery of the sworn Oaths!

JESUS, in fact, walked protected and unharmed BECAUSE the Promises sworn in the Old Testament! Except for that night of arrest when the FATHER and HE permitted it, by saying, "now is the hour of darkness"....**yet even in that hour the Covenent force of protection reiterated itself when JESUS answered in the Garden, "I am HE" and the huge gang and the soldiers got thrown to the ground by an unseen spiritual force!

Thanks. If you do get a revelation or hear in a discussion the why and the wherefore, do let me know. Enormous thanks!

Cordially,

Greg

-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
Hello Dean!

I understand the saving factors of the New Testament well and immensly appreciate the deliverances preached over the Sunday pulpit. I have experienced deliverances first-hand, like seeing "no weapon formed against thee shall prosper" from Isiah and other Promises take root in my life. I also believe in the riches and glory promised all through the New Testament in connection to Old Testament Oaths.

My question is, that St. Paul who wrote much of the New Testament would have known this best! Yet himself and all the followers were killed, tortured, mocked and burned for the first 300 years. Why so? Did'nt they know the Promises being preached today (even) better then?

Infact until 1905 when Pentecostal experiences surfaced again, everything went underground! Why this tough reality on the ultimate Covanent that would even have Father Abraham stand in shock if he was given a revelation of this whole thing? (I mean, his Covanent in animal blood prospered him, delivered him, had GOD speak on his behalf. Ours' has the very Oath Swearer become the LAMB!)

Appreciate the answere.

Thanks
Greg
Answer -
I've go to admit that I've struggled with this one for many years.

One of the conclusions that I came up with is that the emphasis in the OT had to do much more with the physical than in the NT.  Jesus made that distinction in the following:
John 4:19-24

19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
(from New International Version)

The point being that under the old covenant there was much more of a "reward/punishment" relationship with God.  It had to do with the inheritance of a land, with outward ceremonies and civil laws.  Whereas the new covenant supercedes all this and deals with a personal spiritual relationship with God .

Jesus is our example.  He said, "Not my will but yours be done" when it came to torture and death.  St.Paul followed this understanding:
Acts 21:13-14
13 Then Paul answered, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." 14 When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, "The Lord's will be done."
(from New International Version)

Although the writer of "Hebrews" did point out that this was a part of the faith of the OT saints too:
Heb 11:32-40

32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated- 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
(from New International Version)

We are called to an obedience of faith.  Not a faith based on the fear of punishment or the desire to gain rewards from God.  If God calls us to suffer and even die to proclaim His love to others, then His grace is still suffient for us and we will be following the example of our savior:
Heb 12:2-3
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
(from New International Version)

With all of the "name it and claim it" theology that has been preached for a few decades, it is no wonder that the saints forget to set their eyes on our Lord and the eternal reward rather than on things of the earth which will perish.

I hope that this helps to clarify the matter of divine intervetion in this world on our behalf.  If I have missed the meaning of the question you have asked, please write again.


Answer
The concept of COVENANT is not used much today except in legal situations

There are distinctions in the Bible between a covenant between men and the covenant between God and men.  There is equality between men but with God we do not have that equality.  His covenent is between a superior with an inferior.  This carries both a blessing and a curse..as He often stated:
Deut 27:15-17

15 "Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol--a thing detestable to the LORD, the work of the craftsman's hands--and sets it up in secret."
Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
16 "Cursed is the man who dishonors his father or his mother."
Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
17 "Cursed is the man who moves his neighbor's boundary stone."
Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
(from New International Version)


Deut 30:19-20

19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
(from New International Version)

But the Isrealites DID NOT KEEP THE COVENANT..SO THE BLESSINGS PROMISED COULD NOT BE PUT INTO EFFECT FOR THOSE WHO BROKE THE COVENANT.

God then speaks of a new covenant:
Jer 31:31-34

31 "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."
(from New International Version)

This is the covenant which St. Paul is speaking about..the one that we have received by the blood of the true Lamb, the Lamb of God Himself.

And I believe this is the orginal covenant which God DID make with Abraham.  Whereas the covenant of the Law was the second covenant made with sons of Jacob through Moses.

Gal 3:15-18
Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ.   17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
(from New International Version)

This covenant is called "new" because it was new to the remnant of the Isrealites.  In the same manner John speaks of a "new" command which is not really new:
1 John 2:7-8

7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
(from New International Version)