Last week we covered the covenants with Noah and with Abraham.
The third covenant God made was with Moses, the Mosaic Covenant. This was given upon their exodus from Egyptian slavery, 430 years after Abraham. This was about settling in, the occupation of the land. It was a covenant of (possible) security. It was for their nation alone. He gave no less than 613 laws (10 of those were “big ones”) in the Old Testament, all the way from what kind of foods were acceptable, and sanitation facilities to keep out disease, what is sin and what are the retributions from man to man for sin, on family life, on deaths—as well as things I mentioned above. If they follow these laws, God would make the land fertile, and they would be happy and, well, could be rich. The downside is, the opposite was also true. With disobedience came the curses, which God named as a part of His covenant: pestilence, drought, no rain, killed and oppressed by conquerors, even finally exiled from His land. It took then a thousand years of fighting to get the land, but only 500 to lose it all. This was a reminder that “God keeps His promises”—both negative and positive. Few Jews will admit that that curse was brought on by themselves. God is serious; He means what He says. One day He will divide the nations, like sheep from goats.
The Mosaic was a temporary covenant; it was only intended to operate until the Messiah came. Those laws make us really aware of what sin is. Speaking of replacing the Mosaic with the New covenant, we don’t abolish all the old law. We’re saying that operating our economies on the “Jubilee” scale might still work on evening out the business cycle. Or, the criminal justice system could learn something by applying the Mosaic system that emphasized restitution, instead of mostly punishment.
The fourth covenant was with David, and was about succession. The covenant had two parts: God promised successors who would permanently sit on David’s throne—IF they obeyed Him. Secondly, from David would come, not just a king of the Jews, but the King of kings, Jesus, who would sit on that throne forever. That second part was unconditional. Jesus will come to do that.
In Matthew and Luke, the genealogies of Jesus, from both mother and stepfather, were given and it was proven that Jesus on both sides came from David.
David had great faith in God’s promise; on his deathbed, he thanked God, even though he could not see any of it come true. Again, he showed faith. A side note Pawson makes: we were not made for democracy; that concept was nowhere in Scripture. We are to exist in a kingdom, under a benign king—and what of a king that would lay down His life, who would have a special concern for the poor, someone who is not going to become power-hungry, or dazzled by wealth or fame—someone whose model is “service”—well, we found such a person—Jesus the Messiah. There were several times when people wanted to make Him king during His first advent, but He rejected all that. His purpose then was to show what love was, and to die for the ungodly. His purpose on His second advent will be different. It is to be a Judge and our King and Sovereign. We will meet our Maker then. He will judge from David’s throne in the Millennium.
Now we come to the final, fifth covenant. It is called the New, or Messianic covenant. It is detailed in three places in the Old Testament. God was kind enough to provide all five covenants in the Old Testament—and all five can be found in the New. This New covenant was foretold by three prophets: Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel. One was from Jeremiah 31:31-34:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me… For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
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First, as the Jeremiah verses show, the New covenant would not be written on stone tablets, but on men’s minds and hearts. This means they would have an inclination to avoid sin. They wouldn’t have to be told for each thing how to live, but they would know the rule of love, and have a desire, not to seek for their own pleasure, but to live Christlike. Today, some churches in England, when each of the 10 Commandments are read, the congregation responds by saying, “Lord, incline our hearts to keep this law.” The beauty of the New covenant is, the inclination is already there. We will want to obey God; we will want to do good.
Secondly, it shows us that there will be intimacy--all of us will know better what the Lord is feeling or thinking. There would be no need for teachers or classes on what God is like.
The third characteristic of the New covenant in Jeremiah is innocence. As opposed to guilt—which comes between you and someone you love. Are you hiding a secret from your love? Not a good idea. But innocence happens when you have confessed and have been forgiven; it is a wonderful feeling. Again, we will desire to have nothing between us and our husband, God.
Jesus improved the Mosaic commandments by warning us, and making us guilty for thinking about some things, not just acting upon them. If our mind hates someone, and if we think about lusting after someone of the opposite sex, for instance—we are guilty as well as killing or having sex with them. Also, sin is not just “avoiding what we shouldn’t do;” it’s also not doing what needs to be done. Jesus had some radical ideas in His commands: When mercy is called for, we must practice to act and be merciful—or else we miss heaven. If we need to forgive someone, we must do it regularly—or we miss heaven.
It’s important to stress this overall fact: This covenant is made active, in part, in each of us, by the sanctification of our souls, after we have truly seen Jesus for all He did, and have repented the wickedness of our nature, have confessed, been born again—and been baptized.
In the second set of Old Testament verses, from Isaiah, there is a seeming contradiction of character. Isaiah 9:6ff, we learn that Jesus will be one who governs. And He will be a:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace
And what will be His kingdom like? Endless, peaceful, with Judgment and Justice--forever.
Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever.
But in Isaiah 53, He is prophesied to be the opposite, a suffering servant:
He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all
The details of Isaiah 53 are an accurate prophecy of Jesus’ first advent—written nearly a thousand years before Jesus fulfilled it and died for our sin. The 9:6 verses will be fulfilled on His second advent.
The early Jews never thought that there would be two advents, and they could not put the two Isaiah statements together (they have even suggested two Messiahs coming), and never suspected Jesus to fulfill any of the Messiah’s requirements. They ignored the Servant and wished for a King out of a great desire for a ruler to deliver them from Roman oppression. Jesus spoke of a kingdom, but a kingdom of the mind, and conquering our enemy, sin.
Their desire to kill Him was more likely due to the fact that He was smart—and snubbed the religious leaders of the day. He also made blunt, outrageous statements pointing out their sin. They were so full of hate that they lied to the Romans that He wanted to grab a kingship (Remember, the Romans alone had the authority to kill Him).
Now to Ezekiel on the last Old Testament explanation of the New covenant. He says, in Ezekiel 36:26:
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Thus, He will soften our stubborn hearts. He will also give His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was hidden until near the end of Christ’s ministry. But Ezekiel wrote on it, even though he was writing hundreds of years before.
Rev. Pawson insists that we will never truly enjoy the New covenant until we receive the Holy Spirit. He believes in a separate filling of the Holy Spirit. He has excellent proofs (unless he is lying and deceiving us. But his sermons have always blessed my spirit, and I think God would warn me if there were any deceptions at all going on.) So read what he says next. His testimony is powerful.
He doesn’t have time to debate this special baptism position theologically, but he does touch on one thing: it was big enough that the idea was an introduction to 3 of the 4 Gospel accounts with the words of John the Baptist. Here is Matthew 1:8 for example:
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Being so baptized means, he says, “filled to overflowing”. How would you know when that occurs? The mouth is the “overflow” chamber. Jesus did say that whatever you are full of, will come out of your mouth. He told of two incidents. The first was a conversation he had with a missionary in a park, who was bewildered and sad, and said that he hadn’t really accomplished anything measurable in 10 years of evangelism and work. The missionary confessed that he didn’t think he was ever filled with the Holy Spirit--though he was clearly saved. He asked for Rev. Pawson’s prayer, and as soon as he gave an inauspicious one, the man’s head shot upright and he shouted “Hallelujah!” in the loudest possible voice. Got everyone’s attention. Fortunately, they were in a public park Rev. Pawson asked him if he had ever done that before, and the missionary said, “Never! I am a reserved Englishman.” But then he said, “Is that it?” Pawson said, “I just heard you overflow. That’s it.” Rev. Pawson says, within 24 hours the missionary had administered healing on two very sick people—which he had never done before.
Then he related an even better second story, this time involving him. When he was a senior pastor, a man at his church (named James) was the self-appointed leader of the opposition—repeatedly saying “we’ve tried that, it didn’t work”” or “we’ve never done that before, and we’re not going to try it now.” He flattened every idea of progress that Rev. Pawson brought up. Pawson regretted him greatly, since the church wasn’t together or moving ahead. But Pawson always got 6 weeks respite every year, when he could actually pursue some ideas—because James had a weak chest and was laid up in the hospital every springtime (all his life) with hay fever miseries. He was gasping for air at the worst of it.
Well, upon Pawson’s annual trek to see him, driving there he heard the words “James 5” ringing in his skull. He thought “That’s his name, but what’s the five?” Perhaps you might have guessed what the words refer to: in James 5, when you are sick, you should call for the elders, who administer oil, and you would be healed. Pawson thought, ”I don’t want to do that for James.” He rationalized that he needed a break, and it would be good for the church. Then he made a startling confession: “In fact, I had never administered oil.” Clearly he was a more worldly man then, since no one in his congregation even thought of him for any expectations of healing. Like many congregations, belief in the supernatural or miracles was most uncomfortable. Asking to administer oil showed belief in the supernatural, and that God would act now like He did in the Book of Acts. Few people had enough faith for that. Well, what was the first thing our hospital patient said when Pawson came through the door? “What do you think about James 5?” Pawson said, “why do you ask?” He responded “I want you to do it to me.” His lungs were full again, the doctors said he should stay there for another 3 weeks, but he was thinking about a business appointment he didn’t want to miss, only 3 days away. So he said, “Will you come and do that?” Pawson sought a way out, so he said “I’ll pray about it.” He did pray on the way home, but not heroically--He said, “Lord, please tell me why I shouldn’t do this?” But the heavens were brass, he said.
Two days later James’ wife finally called, and asked, “James wants to know if you’re coming to anoint him.” He said, “All right, I’ll come tonight.” He bought a large container of olive oil and went. James was, as usual, gasping for breath, so he opened his Bible to James 5, and read it robotically. The first thing it said was, “Confess your sins one to another.” So Pawson said, “James, I’ve never lied to you.” (Rev. Pawson’s audience was really enjoying this.) James responded, “That’s mutual.” So “we dealt with that part,” he said to his laughing audience. So when they got to the “anoint” part, he got his bottle of oil, took the top off, and poured it all over his head!
Guess what finally happened? Absolutely nothing. He still lay there gasping. So Pawson was muttering how James would act worse than ever as he slunk out the door. In a final grasping for straws, he said “I’ll run you to the airport for your business trip tomorrow.” But he didn’t believe it. Nor did he sleep all night, and didn’t think of James come morning. But he got a phone call. “Hello, James here; can you pick me up?” Pawson, shocked, finally said “Are you all right, James? What happened?” He said in the middle of the night, it was as if two hands squeezed his chest. He coughed up a bucketful of liquid from his lungs, and, lo and behold, he could breathe freely. Upon Pawson asking, he assured him the doctors gave him a pass. “In fact,” he said, “I’ve even been to have my haircut.” The barber said, “I’m afraid I’ll have to wash your hair first. I’ve never seen such a greasy head in all my life.”
Three more miracles arose from that event. First, he never had that problem again. Second, James got filled with the Spirit; and third, he became Pawson’s best friend.
“But I’ve missed out the most important part: Just before I did that, I went to my church, knelt down, and tried to pray for James. Have you ever tried to pray for a sick man when you want him to stay sick? And then, to my astonishment,” he said, “I found myself praying with all my heart and soul—but not in English!” He looked at his watch, and figured it went on for an hour. He’d never done that intensive prayer that long, before. “That’s when I understood Acts chapter two, and understood the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Now I find myself doing things I’ve never done before in my life. I could administer God’s healing, give people wisdom and knowledge, even prophesy.” That’s the New covenant. To go on being filled. The Spirit is softening our heart, conveying God’s forgiveness. Thank God for His Spirit! Thank God for His covenants!
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