|
The "New Testament" in Prophecy
A. The Misnomer of "New Testament."
Our Bible was first called the New Testament in 331 AD with the Constantine Bible -- 50 copies which he mandated to be given as Gifts to the Roman Church. However, the term "testament" to describe the present dispensation is borrowed exclusively from the Epistle to the Hebrews ("New Covenant" Wikipedia) - a letter apparently written by Barnabas, as the early church solely attributed it. See Barnabas as Author of Hebrews.
However, Jesus called this dispensation a "new covenant" in "my blood." See Luke 22:20. Cf. Matt 26:28 ("blood of the covenant"); Mark 14:24 ("blood of the covenant").
Regardless, we entitled this article as about the "New Testament" even though it is anomolous because it is the traditional name for the Christian dispensation.
B. New Covenant v. Prior Covenants.
The whole notion that the "New Testament" does away with the original Covenant's Law is contrary to the prophecies of what the New Covenant represents. It may be what Paul claims happened, but Paul's words cannot be accepted at odds with the prior Holy Scripture. The words "new covenant" only appear in one such passage, and that is in Jeremiah. The inspired scripture teaches clearly that the New Covenant will be with the "House of Israel" -- whom God previously divorced (meaning the northern kingdom) -- to revitalize the Covenant-Law given Moses by placing it on these people's hearts rather than only on tables of stone:
“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, 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. 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. 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.” (Jeremiah 31:31–34, ESV.)
See also Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10; Ezekiel 11:19-21)
Ezekiel, who lived around the same time as Jeremiah, appears to explain the new covenant further, adding that God will give a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit will cause believers to walk in God’s statutes and obey His rules.
26 And I have given to you a new heart, And a new spirit I give in your midst, And I have turned aside the heart of stone out of your flesh, And I have given to you a heart of flesh. 27 And My Spirit I give in your midst, And I have done this, so that in My statutes ye walk, And My judgments ye keep, and have done them. (Ezekiel 36:26-27 YLT.)
The original "Covenant" means the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 34:28 KJV, it reads: "And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments."
The New Covenant does not change the ten commandments, but instead will change hearts to want to obey the first covenant on stone tablets, the ten commandments. God will write the covenant -- at least the ten commandments -- it is not necessarily clear whether the term "covenant" includes more) -- on a new heart of flesh that turns "aside the heart of stone."
Jeremiah and Ezekiel were written about 600 years before Christ, so everyone knew what “my Law” and "My statutes" meant. It is none other than the living oracles (as Stephen called them in Acts 7:38) given at Mt. Sinai by God through Moses -- the Ten Commandments at minimum.
Thus, instead of the Law or the Covenant of the Ten Commandments being some horrible thing we must flee from, supposedly because it makes us a 'legalist' (Paulinists speaking again), the Law, including the Covenant of the Ten Commandments, is always spoken everywhere else very highly:
It is love (John 15:10, 12-14), light and lamp (Proverbs 6:23; Psalm 119:105; Isaiah 8:20; Revelation 21:23, 22:5); life (Deuteronomy 4:1, 32:46-47; Proverbs 1:17, 8:33-36; Matthew 19:16,17); seed (Matthew 13:18-23), instructions (Isaiah 1:10; Exodus 16:4 24:12; Jeremiah 35:13; Job 22:22, 36:10; Psalm 78:1; Zephaniah 3:1-7; Malachi 2:1-9, Proverbs 1:2,3,7,8 4:1,2); law (Jeremiah 6:18-19; Zechariah 7:12; Deut 5:5 17:11, 27:1-3, 26, 30:10,14, 32:46,47; John 15:25; Acts 6:2-4,7 13:44,48,49, 28:23); commands, judgments, teachings & ways (Isaiah 2:3; Proverbs 5:12 7:2 8:10 1:8 4:2 3:1 6:20-23; Jeremiah 32:33; Deuteronomy 4:1; 2 Chronicles 15:1-7; Matthew 4:23 7:28,29 9:35 13:54 15:9 28:20; Acts 2:42 4:2 18:11); wisdom, and truth (Psalm 119:43,44,142 138:2; Proverbs 23:23; Malachi 2:6; 1 Kings 2:3-4; John 17:17, 18:37-38, 8:31-32; James 1:18, 21-23,25). It is the straight paths for our feet and a light to our way. (This list is taken from WholeBible.com.)
|