Editorial note: The following is based on the supplied transcript. Speech has been joined into paragraphs, without independent verification against the video.

Ministry introduction

Hello and welcome to Finding the Ancient Path. If you are new here, I’m excited to have you. We’re grateful that you found us. This ministry is dedicated to helping people who are coming out of Babylon, coming out of the world, coming out of religion, and wondering what to do next. We have been blessed with members from literally all over the world, and we’re growing. And to that end, I need your help. This little group started in the living room with just a handful of people, but now we’re reaching people, as I said, literally around the world. And the infrastructure needs to grow a bit. And so, if you feel led to give to this ministry, if you feel blessed by our little group, then I want to give you that opportunity on a monthly basis through being a YouTube member or being a Patreon member or maybe offering a one-time donation on PayPal.

Either way, it goes a long way. And even if you don’t give, I’m just glad you’re here. So, let’s get on to today’s teaching. God bless.

New or renewed covenant

Okay, here we are. New covenant or renewed covenant. It matters. Why am I doing this lesson? Well, I keep hearing it. I keep hearing people using this word renewed in reference to the new covenant. and it makes me scratch my head. I don’t know why they are doing that or where they learned that. So now you know my position on this topic and I’m going to spend the rest of this lesson trying to make my point in this regard. So I hope it makes a difference.

Context of Jeremiah 31

Let’s continue on. Why some believe in renewed covenant? Well, I think it comes from two places. This being the first one here in Jeremiah 31, where it says, “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.” When you look at that word new in the Hebrew, it’s haresa in the feminine form of harash. And its meaning is new. But it also has other meanings. It could mean new. It could mean fresh. And it could mean renewed.

All of it based on the current context that the word itself is in. And that’s very important to remember because Hebrew is a highly context dependent language. Many Hebrew words carry different meanings or broad semantic range and context determines the precise meaning. Let’s let’s look at a couple of other words that are like this word. Ruach, for example, has several possible meanings based on its context. Spirit, wind, breath, mind, or disposition. And nephesh also has several different meanings based on its context. Soul, life, person, or creature. So in the case of Jeremiah 31, we have to consider its context when we’re looking at this topic.

What is the context? Well, it clearly says in Jeremiah 31 that this new covenant that’s coming is not like the covenant that I made with their fathers. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days. So it’s not in any way like the old covenant. So how do we read that then? Which one of those words should we put in here for? Should we put new, fresh, or renewed? Well, I think it’s obvious. that the word here is new and not renewed or not refreshed. In other words, what he’s saying is in that verse that this new covenant will not be like that but be like this which is new.

So, in in understanding this argument, trying to figure out whether or not it’s a new covenant or a renewed covenant, you have to take into consideration not just what the English translations are telling you, but you have to look back into the original language, try to find the context, thus finding the answer to your question. But what is a covenant anyways? Well, a covenant is

Understanding covenants

basically a contract. And I think there’s a lot of Christian mysticism around the word covenant. They they have a hard time understanding that the heart of the matter it’s a contract. The old covenant was a marriage contract between Yah and Israel. The new covenant likewise is also a marriage covenant or a marriage contract. But let’s look at some of these definitions. The biblical definition is bite which means a covenant, a treaty, an alliance, a pledge, a constitution or binding agreement between two parties. In other words, a contract. And the Oxford dictionary, sorry for the typo there, misspelling dictionary, has a very similar definition.

A covenant is an agreement which brings about a relationship of commitment between God and his people andor a person. Biblically, covenant is more than a contract. The contract is primarily transactional where a covenant is relational and binding. So what do we learn? Well, a covenant is a contract. But when it comes to a biblical contract or a biblical covenant, it’s different in that it’s based on relationship and it’s binding. So what is a covenant? Well, I have up here in front of us a little diagram, little composite image of some of the bigger covenants that we see in scripture. And we’re going to try to understand what makes them their covenant.

The biblical concept of a covenant is deeply connected to the idea of cutting a covenant because covenants were often ratified through sacrificial ceremonies involving blood symbolizing that the covenant was binding unto death before Yah. When we look at the covenant between the father and Abram in Genesis 15, we can see on the same day Yhovah made a covenant with Abram. But when you look at that in the Hebrew, it’s not make a covenant or made a covenant. It’s cut a covenant. Cut what? Well, as we look through scripture, we can see that there was indeed cutting involved. There was blood involved. in the covenants, almost all of them. Genesis 8, we see that Noah built an altar to Yahweh and took every clean animal and every unclean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. We see for Abraham in Genesis 15, he said to them, “Bring me three-year-old hepher, a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought all these to him and cut them in two.

These were covenants being drawn between these men and the father. Well, we see it again at Sinai. Exodus 24. Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which Yhovah has made with you according to all these words.” So again, we see the cutting of the covenant there. But we’re going to skip the Davidic covenant for a moment and go straight to the new covenant where likewise we see the cutting of the covenant involved blood. Luke 22 Yeshua is speaking. This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you. So why did we skip the Davidic covenant? Well, we didn’t really skip it.

But in this case, there was no blood involved. Hebrews tells us that according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood. So in David’s case, it was not. David’s covenant between him and the father was that there would always be someone on the throne of David. So

Signs of the covenants

why the signs then? Or maybe I should ask, what are the signs of these covenants? And why does it matter? Well, as we’re going through this, I hope that you can begin to see for yourself the differences between the old covenant and the new covenant. And thus arriving at the conclusion that the new covenant is indeed new and really nothing like the old with the exception of the language of the contract, which we’re going to get into here in a moment. The signs of the covenant are important because they serve as visible reminders of an invisible relationship between Yhovah and his people. They function as witnesses, memorials, identifiers, and continual testimonies of covenant obligations and promises. So why the signs and what are the signs? Well, as we look at Noah’s situation, we can see that Yhovah said, “I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” The rainbow was a universal sign, where Yhovah would never again destroy all flesh by a flood.

It was visible to all humanity and reminded mankind of both judgment and mercy. And certainly I when I see a rainbow in the sky, I personally recall this moment. I personally recall this promise. It’s very unfortunate that in our world today, Satan has hijacked the rainbow to symbolize homosexuality. But that’s what he does with everything that the father does. He twists it. He turns it into something that it was never supposed to be. For Abram in Genesis chapter 17, we see, “You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your for skins, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between me and you.” So for Abram’s covenant, the circumcision was the sign. Circumcision marked the covenant people physically in their flesh.

It represented separation, belonging, inheritance, and ultimately pointed toward the need for a circumcised heart. Okay. Well, what was the sign of the Sinai covenant? Exodus 31. Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. The Sabbath identified Israel as the covenant people sanctified by Yhovah. It continually testified that Yhovah is creator and redeemer and reminded Israel of covenant obedience and rest. So that’s the sign for the Mosaic covenant or the old covenant.

Well, what about David? 2 Samuel 7. When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seat after you who will come from your body and I will establish this kingdom and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. So in David’s case, the throne, the enduring throne was the sign of his covenant with David. Well, what about the new covenant? Have you ever stopped to consider for a moment what the sign of the new covenant was? Ironically, when you look at scripture, it’s just not as clear as it is, say, in Genesis 9 or 17 where it comes right out and says, “This is the sign of the covenant.” You won’t find that language as it pertains to the new covenant. So, what are the signs of the new covenant? Well, I think there could be several. Yeshua says in Luke 22, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” So, is the cup the sign?

I don’t think so. I think what’s inside the cup, the wine that represents the blood, ultimately the blood of Christ, is the sign of the covenant. It could be argued that the indwelling Holy Spirit that was promised could be seen as the sign of the covenant. Either one of those is awesome. Both of those are better. The new covenant is ratified through the blood of Messiah. The indwelling Holy Spirit becomes the seal and evidence of the covenant participation, writing the Torah upon the heart and empowering covenant faithfulness from within rather than merely commanding it externally. So from this point on, what I’d like to do is I’d like to start looking at the differences between the old covenant and

Contrasting the covenants

the new to help us come to a final conclusion perhaps. I’m not saying you have to agree with everything I present here today, but at least I’m I’m giving my thoughts, my two cents if as it were on whether or not this covenant that we are under at the moment is new or is it renewed? Is it happening now or is it happening at the second coming? We’re going to get into all of that. So, let’s look at some of the differences in the old and the new. First and foremost is the language of the contract. I mentioned a moment ago that with every contract, every covenant, there is language within the contract that stipulates what each party is responsible for doing to be a part in that contract. in Israel’s case is Exodus 19 where it says, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then that’s a condition just like there is in co in contracts. Then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people for all the earth is mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and holy nations.” Well, what did they say? Well, first and foremost, we need to understand that the language of the contract of the old covenant is Torah centric.

It is Torah central. His holy law given to his people to abide in to live accordingly. That was the language of the contract. He in turn would be their God and bless them and lead them and love them. Well, what happens? We all know what happened with Israel. Deuteronomy 5, it says they’re talking to Moses here. You go near and hear all that Yhovah, our God may say and tell us what Yhovah, our God says to you, and we will hear it and do it. That’s basically akin to a bride or a groom uttering the words, “I do in a marriage context.” So this is what they said.

We’ll hear it. We’ll do it. But just a few verses later, the father speaks and he says, “Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep my commandments.” So he heard their words, but he also knew that their heart wasn’t there. Their heart wasn’t ready. their heart wasn’t capable of truly doing what they agreed to. So even though they committed, we know because it’s history now that they didn’t obey. So under Sinai, the commandments were given, the people promised obedience, but they lacked the heart to sustained covenant faithfulness. How is the new covenant different from that very brief snapshot or picture of the old covenant? Well, ironically enough, we find the language of the contract not in the New Covenant or the New Testament, but in the Old Jeremiah 31:31-34, which is going to be central this verse to our whole discussion today. Behold, the days are coming, says Yhovah, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yhovah. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God. They shall be my people. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more. So the first thing that we should see here in the new covenant is that it is still Torah centric, still based on his laws given to his people who put their faith in Christ. The biggest difference here is that the Torah is not written on stone, but rather on our hearts and on our minds. Ezekiel goes on to say in chapter 36, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.” This is a very interesting four words in this prophecy because not only under the new covenant will the law be written on our hearts and minds, but there’s going to be a causing. There’s going to be a force.

There’s going to be something that’s causing you and I to actually walk in his statutes. I can certainly attest from my own life the day when I finally turned my attention to the totality of the law, the totality of the scriptures and not just the New Testament. When I turned my attention to his ways, there was without question an intense yearning in my heart for wanting to learn as much as I could. I I couldn’t stop seeking out the truth of his scriptures, in my case, the Old Testament, because as I’ve said many times, I was pretty much Old Testament illiterate beforehand. But there’s no question that I felt this undeniable urge to want to know more, to want to understand better. And I think all of you would probably share the same story that you found yourself looking, searching, wanting to understand. Well, that is the direct result of this prophecy in Ezekiel 36. It’s happening now. It’s not happening in the future.

It will happen in the future in its fullness where we will fully be walking according to his law, having incorruptible bodies and no longer tempted by disobedience. That’s surely coming. But for the moment, we all feel this desire, this urge to know more, to know him. How else can I follow him? What else can I obey so that I can draw near to him? Again, not for the purposes of our salvation. We just want to know. And I think that’s a direct result of Ezekiel’s prophecy there in chapter 36. He’s causing us to walk.

The Hebrew is bashi or telu. I think I’m saying that right. It’s not merely an encouragement or an invitation to walk. The grammar expresses active causation by Yhovah himself. In Ezekiel 36, Yhovah promises more than merely influencing or encouraging obedience. The Hebrew phrase translated cause you to walk comes from the verb assa meaning to make to accomplish or to bring about combined with halak meaning to walk or to live one’s life. The statement literally carries the sense that I will make it happen that you walk in my statutes. In Hebrew thought, walking refers to one’s covenant conduct and daily way of life. Therefore, the promise of the new covenant is that Yhovah will place his spirit within his people and actively bring about faithful obedience from a transformed heart.

So, those are

Inauguration vs consummation

my thoughts on Jeremiah 31. First of the two big reasons I believe people use to claim that we are in a quote renewed covenant. Well, what’s the second one? I think the second one is probably this. Some argue that because the Mosaic covenant function as a marriage covenant, the new covenant cannot yet fully be in effect since the marriage supper of the lamb does not occur until Yeshua returns. In this view, believers are presently in a state of betroal and awaiting the final consummation of the marriage. And the interesting thing about this position, it is both true and false. It is true in regard to the consummation of the new covenant but false in regard to the inauguration of the new covenant. The new covenant has already been established through the blood of Messiah though its full marriage fulfillment awaits his return.

So I wanted to compare a few things here. what’s happening in this present age as it pertains to the new covenant and what might be happening in the coming age as it pertains to the new covenant. Well, we already looked at Luke 22 where Yeshua says, “This cup is the new covenant, my blood which is shed for you.” He doesn’t say, “This cup will be the new covenant.” Future tense. No, present tense. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. And of course, we know they all parttook of that cup. Hebrews 8. But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry. Has meaning in the past when at his death on the cross. That’s when he obtained this more excellent ministry.

What is this more excellent ministry? Well, he goes on to say, “In as much as he is also mediator of a better covenant which was established on better promises.” So here in Hebrews 8, we can see a present ministry, a present better covenant. He goes on to make it clearer in chapter nine. For this reason, he is the mediator of the new covenant. How? by means of his death. How else should we read that? How did he become the mediator of this new covenant? By his death. Not by his second coming.

By his death for the redemption, for the transgressions under the first covenant. 2 Corinthians 3, Paul speaking. Our sufficiency is from God who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant. When is Paul going to be a minister of the new covenant? Is he a minister of the new covenant now or was he then or is he going to be in the future when the new covenant is finally consummated? No, he was then, as are we now, ministers of this new covenant. Well, let’s look at the coming age. Again, going back to Jeremiah 31:34, we see this curious verse that I think is again fuel for a lot of people thinking that uh the new covenant isn’t here yet. It simply says, “No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, ‘ Know yehovah, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them.” That is something that people look at and go, “Well, that’s not happening right now.” The reason you’re even here listening to someone like me is because that’s not happening right now. We still need teachers.

We still need people to teach us about the father. So then that means the new covenant isn’t here. Is there a reasoning? Well, I’m I hope to show you in the in the next few slides here how we should better understand what’s happening in Jeremiah 31. They turn to Revel Revelation 19 pointing us to the marriage of the lamb that is going to be coming. And so the new covenant can’t be in effect until then is the argument.

Dualistic prophecy

But like Jeremiah’s prophecy in chapter 31 where we see dualistic prophecies, many other prophecies are dualistic in nature, fortelling both the near future and the far off. Let me give you some examples. The kusheen. What does that mean? The first legally binding stage of marriage in ancient Hebrew culture in which a man and a woman were covenantally joined to one another. Though the marriage had not yet been physically consummated or fully realized in dwelling together in the kasheen. In the traditional marriage arrangement there were two stages. betroal, which was a legally binding covenant relationship, something that you and I might call engagement, so to speak, and a full marriage consummation and dwelling together. Look at what Matthew 1 says. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. So what do we see here? We see the verbiage, the usage of two things that seem to be in opposition to one another. Is she engaged? Is she married? Is he the betrothed or is he the husband? Well, he’s both. According to biblical culture, in this stage, the covenant was already valid. Which stage?

The betroal stage. The bride was already legally bound to the groom. Separation required a formal divorce. Yet, the final wedding feast and full union still awaited. There’s a lot that we can learn from this because it plays directly into this whole idea of the new covenant. This is why both realities of the new covenant can exist simultaneously in scripture. What do I mean by that? Well, there is a present reality. Believers already have covenant participation.

They have forgiveness. They have the spirit. They have the Torah written on their hearts. While there is yet a future reality of the new covenant, the kingdom, the resurrection, the glorification, the full union, and ultimately the marriage supper that still awaits completion. So, we have both of these happening at the same time. And there’s a lot of scriptures or a lot of topics I should say that point to this dual nature of prophecy or in this case the dual nature of the new covenant. The kingdom is already present. Luke 17. But Matthew 25 says, “Yet it is still in the future.” Believers are already saved according to Ephesians 2. yet full salvation.

Well done, good and faithful servant. It doesn’t happen until the future when our salvation is finally secured. Romans 13:11. Eternal life is already possessed according to John 5. Yet resurrection life is in the future. 1 Corinthians 15. So we can see this duality in relation to the new covenant and certainly in prophecy. And that’s what I want to look at here now. Duality in prophecy. In Luke 4 at the beginning of Yeshua’s ministry, he is handed the scroll of Isaiah and he reads, let’s read what he read.

When he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Why did he stop there? If you know Isaiah 61, that’s just a fraction of the chapter. That’s just a fraction of the paragraph. Why did he stop there? For this reason, the very next verse talks about the day of vengeance of our God which he did not come for in his first coming. There is duality of prophecy in that chapter, in that section of scripture. There’s a huge prophetic gap between those two statements, between those two realities. And the same exact thing can be said about Jeremiah 31.

When you look at it colorcoded the way I’ve given you it to you, then you can see that the first part of that prophecy is all talking about things that are happening in our lives today versus those things that will happen in the future. So just like Isaiah 61 and other chapters in the Bible like Matthew 24 and others, we can see several times in scripture in the course of one discourse, in the course of one saying both near future and far future prophecies exist together. How can we know that’s the case for Jeremiah 31?

Final conclusion

Well, in Romans 2:14, Paul is talking about these Gentiles coming into the faith, who did not have the law before they came to faith. Now, they’re doing things in the law. And he comes right out and says, “When they are doing things in the law, they show the work of the law written on their hearts.” This can only be a fulfillment of the first part of Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36. So we know that this is happening right now in the awakening in people’s lives, in people’s hearts, turning their attention to the ways of Yhovah for the first time and obeying him for the first time. Yet in the blue section of Jeremiah 31, its completion, its ultimate completion is yet to come. I hope you can see this. I hope you can understand it when you look at the two covenants side by side. And we’re not going to go through all of these, but just take a quick look and look at the radical differences between the two. It cannot be a renewed covenant.

My personal opinion is when someone calls the new covenant a renewed covenant, it somehow cheapens the price that Yeshua paid on the cross, it somehow takes the power away from that moment and all of human history that led up to it. Look at some of these differences. Where the Torah is written, we’ve already looked at. Moses mediated the old. Yeshua mediates the new. Animal blood ratified the old. Yeshua’s blood ratified the new. Levitical priesthood in the old. Yeshua’s priesthood.

Melzdc in the new. Repeated sacrifices in the old. One perfect sacrifice forever. It goes on and on and on. There’s I I could have actually made three slides of this information, but I just didn’t have the room or the time. No. What does Jeremiah say? Not according to the covenant that I made with their f with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand. Not.

It’s not like the old covenant and certainly not a renewed Mosaic covenant. No, it is not renewed. It is new. So, let me end by saying this. As I say in all of my lessons, these are my thoughts. This is how I see it. I am sure I’m going to get a lot of feedback, a lot of people wanting to argue the fact. That’s fine. We can do that as long as long as we do it in love.

But I had to make this video twice today because the first one didn’t get recorded. So, unfortunately, there will be no fellowship at the end of this lesson because we really did have some great fellowship. It was awesome, but a mistake on my part prevented it from being recorded this time around. So, I’m putting this together so we can have it up so we can have people refer to the slides and to the content the best they can. But I hope you have a great day. I hope you have a great Shabbat. May you be blessed.