Last week we covered God’s 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 the occupation of the land. It was a covenant of (possible) security.
It was for their nation alone. He gave laws to live by, no less than 613 laws
(10 of those were our familiar “big ones”) in Exodus and Leviticus--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, on family
life, and on deaths. If they follow these laws, God would make the land
fertile, and they would be happy. 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. All
named in Deuteronomy. It took then a thousand years of fighting to get the
land, but only 500 years 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. But 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. (Which He did. Though most of the Jews don’t know it, Jesus
was their Messiah.) 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. For
instance, many economists would tell you that operating our economies on the
“Jubilee” scale, given by God, 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. 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 That was unconditional. Jesus will come in a
Second Advent to do that.
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.
Dr. Pawson then gave a side note: we were not made for a democracy; that
concept was nowhere in Scripture. Man is at his best 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 they were fickle, and He
knew it; 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, for
both Jews and Gentiles that are saved because they believe in Him.
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. 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.”
First, as other Scriptures show, the New Covenant includes Gentiles in the
“house of Israel.” Secondly, how to live 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 Ten 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.
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 in this life? 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 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. 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 also 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
As we see above, 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 verse, on the other hand, 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 us
belonging to a kingdom, but for now, a kingdom of the mind, and conquering our
enemy, sin.
Their desire to kill Him was more likely due to the fact that He snubbed the
religious leaders of the day. He also made blunt, outrageous statements
pointing out their sin. They were so full of hate of Jesus that they lied to
the Romans that He wanted to grab a kingship (Remember, the Romans alone had
the authority to kill Him).
A side note: Pawson believes that baptism is a part of salvation (I have a
blog on that). 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.
He will also 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 prophesied on it, even though he was writing
hundreds of years before, in 36:26-27:
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. 27 I will put My Spirit
within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments
and do them
Rev. Pawson insists that we will never truly enjoy the New Covenant until we
receive the Holy Spirit. He also believes in a separate filling of the Holy
Spirit. He has excellent proofs. But his sermons have always blessed my
spirit. So read what he says next. His testimony is powerful. 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. Dr. Pawson told of two personal
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.” This man 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 Philip (another senior pastor) 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. Perhaps you might have guessed what the words
refer to: in James 5, where if 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 Philip.” He rationalized that he needed a break, and it would
be good for the church. Then he made a startling confession: “You know what,
Lord, I have 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,
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
responded, “why do you ask?” The patient said “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 Philip’s wife finally called, and asked, “Philip 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. Philip 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, “Philip, I’ve never lied to you.” (Rev.
Pawson’s audience was really enjoying this.) Philip 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 Philip 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 Philip come morning. But he got
a phone call. “Hello, Philip 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, Philip 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 Philip. 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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