He raised his finger and exclaimed, “Very well then, let us get more comfortable as you teach me what you have learned!” He headed out the back door and was off to the house.
I set up our chairs in the backyard before he returned with the snacks, asking, “Do peanut butter cookies and pink lemonade sound good to you?”
“Absolutely!”
He took a drink from his glass before restating his original question, “Tell me, John, what is the New Covenant God has established with those who believe in Christ?”
The words appeared at the top of the board before he sat down to listen.
I grabbed a cookie, my glass, and stood up. I was being very Italian and overly dramatic, but it was my turn to have fun with him. I started pacing, doing my best Joshua imitation and began reciting from memory.
“You will find the answer in Jeremiah 31:31-34, “The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.””
Joshua jumped to his feet with applause. His cookie was half-eaten still protruding from his teeth. He quickly reached for it and began shouting, “Bravo! Bravo!” while laughing the whole time.
When I finished my presentation, I took a deep Victorian bow and returned to my seat.
Ultimately, the applause came to an end and he became more serious with his thoughts.
“John, you have done yourself a great service. Many Christians do not know this promise they have received from God. Unfortunately, if you don’t know what a covenant says, or even worse, are totally unaware that it even exists, it is very hard to remain faithful to that covenant. Keep these words from the book of Jeremiah close to your heart.”
“Thank you, I will do my best, but I have to admit that I’m not sure I know the full meaning of this covenant God has established. For instance, it says this is a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. How does that apply to me?” I raised my hands slightly in question.
Joshua took those long strides to the whiteboard and began to teach.
“I understand your confusion. Let’s examine this new covenant in more detail.” I could hear the squeak of his marker on the board as he provided an explanation for each line of the verses I had recited.
“Jeremiah 31:31-34- “The time is coming,” he read from his writing.
“This ‘time’ to which he refers is the time of Jesus. It was in the future for Jeremiah the prophet. The New Covenant went into effect after the death of Christ. If you recall, Jesus shed his blood to pay the debt that sin had created. He needed to fulfill the old law and covenant before the new law and new covenant could exist.
“Now, let us move on with examining this New Covenant.” He read the next line.
“Declares the Lord.
“This covenant is not something God takes lightly.” Joshua continued to write as he spoke.
“When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.”
I pointed to the board stating, “That’s the verse I was talking about.”
Joshua looked back at me with his reply, “I will explain how this covenant relates to you in just a minute, but first, we must revisit the past. If you remember, the house of Israel was from the lineage of Abraham. Abraham had a son named Isaac. Isaac had two sons named Jacob and Esau. One night, after wrestling with God in a dream, God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. Israel had twelve sons leading to the twelve tribes of Israel and eventually the nation of Israel. There was a time when the nation of Israel was living as a divided people. One part was called Judah and the other was known as Israel. Let’s look at the next line of the New Covenant before we go any further.
“It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant.”
He paused from his writing to ask the question, “Who did God take by the hand and lead out of Egypt and those people did not remain faithful to the covenant he had established with them?”
My answer was easy, “God took Moses by the hand and led his people out of Egypt, but eventually they turned on God and built a golden calf.”
“Correct! Therefore, which covenant is he talking about in this verse?”
I thought for a moment before I said, “It seems that God is reminding them of the old covenant he had established with Moses when he gave him the Law on Mount Sinai. You said it was called the Mosaic Covenant. That covenant was based on the law of sin and death. If you sinned, you would not be allowed to live forever with God in Heaven, but rather, you would die and be banished to Hell.”
“Excellent! It seems we are ready to continue.
“Though I was a husband to them.
“You see, God remained faithful to the covenant he made with man at that time. Unfortunately, mankind did not do the same with God. The children of Israel rebelled against him and told Moses they wanted to go back to Egypt and no longer follow God into the promised land. Do you remember this story?”
“Yep. Please continue.” I said and reached for another cookie.
He pointed to the sentence he had just written on the board as he spoke.
“Declares the Lord.
“Once again, John…God is not kidding.
“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time.
“Here, God is now talking of this New Covenant, which we are currently reviewing, that he made with the house of Israel after the time of Jesus’s sacrifice. Remember that a blood sacrifice was necessary to fulfill the debt of the old Mosaic Law. After that debt had been paid by Christ on the cross, God established a new law and this New Covenant with the children of Israel. If you recall, the children of Abraham living as the divided nations of Judah and Israel eventually became reunited as one nation known as Israel. This covenant pertains to that reestablished nation. However, all Gentiles, who believe in Christ, will also receive God’s promise as if they were Abraham’s children and a member of that reestablished nation. We spoke of this previously.”
He quoted from memory and wrote the next verse further down on the board allowing room for completing the verses for this New Covenant.
“Galatians 3:29—If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
“Tell me John, how does a Jewish person define himself as a Jew?” Joshua took a minute to eat part of another cookie and sip from his glass, while I pondered the question.
“Isn’t it because they are a descendent of the line of Abraham?” I replied with mild uncertainty.
“Yes! Jews are the seed of Abraham. It deals with inheritance and is a product of lineage. A Jewish person is a member of Abraham’s family, the father of the nation of Israel. They are the chosen people of God and can trace their lineage back to Jacob who was renamed Israel and from there, back to Abraham. This lineage is found in the physical. There are indeed physical Jews based on their genetic lineage with Israel. But God does not think only in the physical, he also thinks spiritually.
“Gentiles,