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Learning About God’s Two Great Covenants
By Moses – A Law Perfectly Suited for a World Passing Away
Learn more about the wisdom, purposes and glory which came by Moses’ covenant and his law. That arrangement was glorious but was not God’s ultimate or final plan for humanity. It left two crucial matters unresolved:
(1) It was not a covenant for all of us as God’s creation. That covenant was specifically with the children of Israel who came out of slavery in Egypt and their descendants (Deut. 5:1-3). As such, that covenant and its law were for only a very tiny fraction of human beings.
(2) It was an arrangement that God designed for the temporary world – a world which is “passing away” (1 John 2:17). As such, Moses’ law had hundreds of provisions dealing with the ongoing problems of sin, punishments for lawbreakers, the fair treatment of slaves, sicknesses, diseases, uncleanness, the touching of dead bodies and many other such things.
While that covenant and its law far exceeded that of any other nation (Deut. 4:8), it was never God’s plan that it would be his everlasting covenant for all humanity. That ultimate and final covenant would come later, through his Messiah.
By Messiah – A Covenant for a Permanent World that will Never End
But Jesus has now obtained a more excellent ministry, in as much as he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted upon better promises (Heb. 8:6).
Journey with us “Beyond Moses” and find the exceedingly greater glory in God’s eternal covenant through his Messiah. That covenant brings us to unending life in the age to come. It accomplishes all things for humanity that God’s arrangements through Moses were not intended to accomplish.
Now all humanity can come to peace with God through the Messiah (Rom. 5:1). The call to this covenant with God is not on the basis of nationality or hereditary lines. Rather, it is extended to us with these words, “And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes, take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17).
Likewise, in crystalline contrast to Moses’ law, in the new – permanent world which comes by the Messiah, there is no need for provisions about animal sacrifices for sin. God has determined that his son’s giving of his life in a death for us, now stands as the one sole sacrifice for all people for all time,
When the Messiah had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God… For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (Heb. 10:12, 14).
In God’s ultimate covenant for unending life with the Messiah, there is no need for provisions of punishments for lawbreakers, there will be no lawbreakers there. There will be no slaves, sicknesses, diseases or uncleanness. There is no need for provisions about touching dead bodies – there will be no dead bodies there, no more death. And even now, the person who is in the Messiah and led by his spirit is “not under” Moses’ law (Gal. 5:18). In the eyes of God, that person is already a new creation and partaker of the life to come,
If anyone is in the Messiah, that person has become a new creation. The old has passed away. Look! Everything has become new (2 Cor. 5:17).
It is the new covenant ratified by the blood of the Messiah himself (Luke 22:20), which is God’s ultimate and final arrangement with all of creation,
May the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you able in every good thing for doing his will… (Heb. 13:20, 21).
The Origin of Sabbath Observance
Anthony Buzzard
Does the observance of the Saturday Sabbath represent the ultimate in God’s will for His people today? Much has been written on the important subject of the function of Old Testament law in the New Testament. Despite the nervousness of many Sabbath-keepers, those who do not rest on the weekly Sabbath are not of the opinion that Christians can disobey God with impunity. The vital question is: What does obedience mean in the New Testament under the New Covenant?
A primary difficulty for adherents to Saturday Sabbath-keeping arises from a misunderstanding of the origin of obligatory Sabbath observance. Based on Genesis 2:2, 3 and Exodus 20:8-11, it is argued that the Sabbath day was instituted at creation as a weekly rest for all mankind from Adam onwards.
This account of the origin of weekly Sabbath-keeping overlooks the following biblical facts:
The Law, the Sabbath & New Covenant Christianity
by Anthony Buzzard
Most Recent Videos
EDITOR’S CHOICE – VIDEO
“To Sabbath or Not to Sabbath?”
By Anthony Buzzard and J. Dan Gill
Should Christians keep the Sabbath? This is an excellent interview with Anthony Buzzard by J. Dan Gill regarding the Sabbath. Anyone with an interest in issues about the Sabbath, new moons or holy days, dietary restrictions, etc. should not miss this important discussion of these matters. [Watch Video]
EDITOR’S CHOICE – ARTICLE
Life in the Messiah
By J. Dan Gill
God’s new covenant does precisely what the Law of Moses could not do. With the coming of the Messiah, we now see the unveiling of God’s ultimate plan for humanity. It is by the Messiah that YHWH sets all things right that have been askew since Adam erred in the beginning. [Read Article]
