A New Covenant: The Prophets and YHWH's Promise of New Life

Well after today we will have finished our overview of the Old Testament by looking through the covenants. I pray it has been helpful to you and helped you to know and love the Old Testament more

The Covenant with humanity (Genesis 1): Essentially stating that humanity is to be the priest-king over creation - they fail!

The Promised Offspring of Eve (Genesis 3): defeat the serpent and reverse the curse of sin

The Noahic Covenant: the promise to hold back his wrath against sin

The Covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15): Unconditional covenant where God takes on the consequences of both sides and promises to give Abraham a land and a people

The Promised Offspring of Abraham (Genesis 12):

The Covenant with Israel (Exodus 19-24): Conditional based on following God’s laws

The Covenant with David (2 Samuel 7):

The Promised Offspring of David (2 Sam 7:12-16)

It would be through the Davidic king that God's promise of blessing to the nations would be accomplished (cf. 2 Sam. 7:19; Ps. 72:8–11, 17). The Davidic covenant had also been anticipated in the Mosaic covenant (cf. Deut. 17:14–20). The Davidic king would be the expression of God's theocratic rule in Israel. He was to reflect the righteous rule of the divine King. He was also to lead Israel in the faithful observance of the Mosaic law. The Abrahamic covenant had promised a realm and a people for God's kingdom. The Mosaic covenant provided the law of the kingdom. The Davidic covenant now provides a human king for the kingdom.

The kings in David’s line continuously led the people into rebellion, regularly had prophets sent to call them to repentance and warn them of the consequences of rebellion, but the kings killed the prophets

If God were true to his word he would have to raise up a righteous, obedient son of David to take the throne

The New Covenant: The future promise found throughout the prophets,

Let’s read Jeremiah 31: 31-34 together

Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV)

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

The Prophets

So we’re doing a brief overview of the prophets this morning

The prophets are found as the last books of the Old Testament, they are split into two groups: the major prophets (Isaiah - Daniel, just called that because they are longer) and the minor prophets (Hosea-Malachi)

While there was certainly fore-telling that the prophets did, they actually were primarily calling the kings back to covenant faithfulness.

And they did this by speaking about 3 different covenants

Mosaic Covenant - Call to repentance, Destruction Foretold

Prophets warned of the consequences of rebellion

The Covenant was a marriage!

- Prophets Talk of breaking the covenant like being an adulterous wife

They gave dire prophetic promises of what was to come for Israel and Judah as they continued to ignore their covenant vows

They were warned over and over again that they would be destroyed by invading armies for their rebellion and they wouldn’t repent!

They didn’t even care!

There is a story in Jeremiah where Jeremiah has a prophecy written down and delivered to a king who proceeds to listen to the prophecy and cuts up the scroll off line by line as it is read, throwing it in a fire to be destroyed

The kings then proceeded to hunt down and kill virtually all the prophets

Davidic Covenant - Remembered

The second covenant that the prophets spent considerable amounts of time on is the Davidic Covenant

The Davidic Covenant is referenced over and over again by the prophets

The Promise to David will not be forgotten by God!

Psalm 89:29–37 (ESV)

In the Prophetic Promises of the Davidic King we start to see what this King will be like

He will be a good shepherd

Ezekiel 34:22–23 (ESV)

22 I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

He will be a righteous and just Judge

Jeremiah 23:5 ESV

5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

He will be the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace

Isaiah 9:6–7 (ESV)

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

He will have an everlasting and peaceful kingdom

7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

He will be the best example of one who fears and loves YHWH and will gather the nations to Himself

Isaiah 11:1–16 (ESV)

1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked... 10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

Amos 9:11–15 (ESV)

11 “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the Lord who does this. 13 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. 14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. 15 I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.

Micah 4:3 ESV

3 He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore;

The Curse of Sin on the Land will be reversed!

Amos 9:13-15/

He will come from Bethlehem

Micah 5:2 ESV

2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

New Covenant - Promised

Jeremiah 31/

Ezekiel 11

The third covenant that is spoken about in the Prophets is called the New Covenant, and it is tightly interwoven with the Davidic Covenant

The need for a New Covenant

The Suffering Servant of YHWH

In the New Covenant:

The Law is written on hearts and not just on stone tablets

Jeremiah 31:33 ESV

33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

The gentiles are grafted in as descendants of Abraham

Jerusalem is restored

Jeremiah 31:38–40 ESV

38 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. 40 The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”

Eden is restored Ezekiel 36:33-36

Ezekiel 36:33–36 ESV

33 “Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. 34 And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. 35 And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ 36 Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.

YHWH is king over all the Earth

Zechariah 14:9 ESV

9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

Malachi 3:1 ESV

1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

Life is given without price

Isaiah 55:1–5 (ESV)

Those in the New Covenant are given new hearts and a New Spirit (Ez 11:19, Jer 31)

Ezekiel 11:19–20 ESV

19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV)

Hundreds of years before David recognized the need for God to give us New hearts!

Psalm 51:10 ESV

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

The Realization of the New Covenant

Jesus is the Promised Davidic King

Jesus is the sacrifice that enacted the New Covenant

Luke 22:17–20 (ESV)

20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Paul recognizes this throughout his letters and the author of Hebrews continues to recognize this as well

1 Corinthians 11:25 (ESV)

2 Corinthians 3:6 (ESV)

Hebrews 8:8 (ESV)

Hebrews 9:15 (ESV)

Hebrews 12:24 (ESV)

The Holy Spirit is the means by which the New Covenant is carried out

The Apostles recognized this

When the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, and gave them the ability to proclaim the gospel in other languages that they didn’t previously know, Peter quoted Joel the prophet:

Acts 2:16–17 (ESV)

16 [Peter answered]... this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;

And when the prophet Joel said all flesh he wasn’t talking about every person without exception, he makes that clear in the original passage in Joel 2, he says “whoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!”

There are those who do not call on his name and sense no need for Him or joy in Him

The promise of the Spirit is not for them! It is for those who call upon the name of the Lord!

So when God declares through Joel that the Spirit of God will be poured out on all flesh, He is stating that no one by reason of birth will be excluded! You can’t look at anyone and say, “They’re not a Jew so they can’t be in the New Covenant” you can’t say, “Their skin isn’t the right color so they can’t be in the New Covenant”, or “they aren’t the right gender to be in the New Covenant”. Jesus has united us all under the New Covenant!

So, Even though we are Gentiles, even though we were not part of the first covenant, we have been invited into this new Covenant!

What we learn new from the New Testament is that the only way to receive the promise of the Spirit is to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. Peter concludes his sermon in Acts 2:38 with these words: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Peter is announcing that with the coming of Jesus Christ, "calling upon the name of the Lord" means turning from all other hopes and calling upon Jesus in the act of baptism (cf. 1 Peter 3:21).

It is better to be under the New Covenant than under the Old Covenant

Under the Old Covenant we all must become Jews and hold to the law, which only is supposed to show us how much we need a savior! Under the New Covenant God has come to us and invited us to be restored in relationship to Him. By Christ’s substituting work on the cross and His righteousness being given to us, and by the very Spirit of God coming to live within us, we are now in this New Covenant! We are given a new heart that isn’t constantly drawn to sin and rebellion and that has been set free to pursue righteousness. We have been given life through the spilled blood of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

2 Corinthians 3:6 ESV

6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Implications

Let me tell you a story. I was regenerated by God exactly a decade ago next week, and yet for the longest time I couldn’t tell you when it happened. I had just started my first semester of college and I had lost all of my Christian structure and foundation that had been built around me by my family. I wasn’t a Christian (though I thought I was) and I was starting to spiral into sin. I was at a Christian college that required chapel attendance, so I went to the chapel service and didn’t pay much attention (per my usual attitude). But toward the end of the chapel, the women’s soccer team went up and played a cutesy video of them playing with kids on their missions trip. By the end of the video I was openly sobbing. For years as I recounted the story I said that I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest during that video and I went and typed an earnest prayer to God that said in part,

“God, please guide me to the place I need to be in order to serve you best. Guide me to the people who can mentor me and help me become the man you want me to be. Don't let me lose sight of this. Smack me in the face if I begin looking the wrong way… Whatever your will, may it be done.”

I posted the prayer to facebook to be held accountable and then promptly forgot about it. But when God gave me a new heart, he made me part of the grand inheritance for His Son, Jesus the Christ, the promised offspring of Eve, Abraham, and David, and He wasn’t about to let me go that easily. He honored my prayer to be smacked in the face if I looked the wrong direction with what is called a thunderclap headache and a brain aneurysm that yanked me out of my sin and forced me to think about my sin and how desperately I needed that new heart.

For so long I had believed that God loved me and was proud of me just the way I was so long as I made an earnest effort to follow His rules. For so long I believed that I could do enough good things and that was what it meant to be a Christian. I didn’t understand how it was impossible to be a Christian without the Holy Spirit giving me a new heart!

We have been invited into the New Covenant

We need new hearts

We need the Holy Spirit

He is so much more than a cosmic helper that gives us supernatural powers!

He is the very Spirit of God dwelling in us! He is the one who writes the Law of God on our hearts!

The New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant!

For so long I was so grateful to be saved that I just wanted to be a servant in the house of God. That was enough for me and it still is!

But we have been invited into adoption!

Not simply servants, but sons and daughters of the King!

Jesus was the perfect man who took on himself the responsibility and authority of Adam, the representative head of humanity

through the cutting of the New Covenant, Christ brought for himself a family who could stand in the presence of his Father! we have been married into the family of God!

Our King who goes before us and represents us has perfectly obeyed the Law that every other one has broken

In Jesus, we can be redeemed to the perfect and Holy Father and Creator!

All of this can be ours if we believe Jesus is who he says He is, the Son of God!, and repent of our sinful rebellion against him!

One day he will return and finish the work he started on the cross, eliminating sin and the curse of sin!

we are told this in Revelation

Every tear will be wiped away from the eyes of those found in Christ and all wickedness will be destroyed!