One Covenant

We were always taught that there were two covenants with God: one of works and the other of grace. Paul revealed a little secret: Holy Scripture was always about grace! Furthermore, this grace was always through Jesus Christ, and grace was always for everyone.

The Jews rejected Jesus Christ when he was crucified. Paul dusted his feet from them, and began to preach to the Gentiles. The noun Gentile is used in practice as anyone who is not a Jew. By definition it includes barbarians or pagans. The Jewish people were God's chosen to bless. He did so with prosperity, and the Savior who came to the world by Abraham's seed. Ironically, Abraham is father of both Jews and Gentiles. One group obeyed God's Law, at their whim of course, and the other had no law.

Throughout history, the Jewish people fornicated with other gods. God knew they wouldn't abandon Him, and become pagans, and they didn't. The Jews took other gods besides God. Adopting other religions into one is called syncretism.  Most of the kings of Israel and Judah, not only attempted to serve God but Baal as well. God became jealous of His people. Finally, with the diaspora, they learned their lesson: they finally served JHVH alone, but served Him in a pagan manner - in obedience but without love.

In fact, this "lesson learned", to have no other gods before Him, became a barrier. The Hebrew people saw Jesus as another god, and steered clear of Him, and still do.

Let me give an example. Pagans appeased their god Molech by burning their infants in his belly. The Canaanite word for Molech means my king, and refers to the various gods of the pagan nations. Essentially, Molech is pictured as a standing bovine creature with an furnace in his belly. It appears to honor the same golden calf which the Hebrew people danced around after the Exodus. The Jews always seem to return to Egypt - sin, so to speak, for their rival God. Molech required obedience.

Appeasing Molech did not include love. However, the Hebrews were faithfully obedient. They were as pagan as the pagans, and with infant sacrifice as barbaric as Planned Parenthood!  It seems obedience was ingrained into them, and they always failed to get past their works, and be loving. God never wanted His people to obey out of fear. It was love He wanted and expected!

With Adam, God made one rule: Essentially, He said, "If you love Me, obey this one command - do not eat of the other tree!" Mankind could not even obey one command, showing a lack of love for God. The Hebrew people still continue their feeble attempts at obedience, but fail to love God in a way that He expects. God calls this loving Him with our all!

We were created to love God. That is our purpose. The creation was never about obedience because God could have made automatons to do His work. He created us in His image with His three substances: mind, body, and spirit. That is how he desires our love:

Jesus said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." (Matthew 22:37).

The soul is the container for God's Holy Spirit, the mind what we think about God and is the source of our free will, and the heart is our humanity which is signified by our flesh or bodies. In other words, we are to love God with our all! He expects that! It is our reasonable sacrifice to present to Him our all. (Romans 12:1). How do we make the sacrifice? We show our love of God by obedience (John 14:15). The difference between mere obedience because of commands, and obedience because we desire it, is the emotion of love. It's actually love which is our reasonable service. The state of the mind is what counts. It is our purpose. Are we willing to obey God out of love or is it only out of fear? Willingness is the difference, Are we giving our free will to sin over to God to crucify?

There is no difference in the old covenant (the Old Testament), and the new covenant (the New Testament). Both were based on the grace of God, Him providing the sacrifice for all for all time.

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

It was Jesus all the time! It was He who walked in the cool of the evening in the Garden, and His Voice which spoke to Adam and Eve. It was pre-incarnate Jesus who shed innocent blood which covered their shame. John Chapter 1 testifies to this.  Holy Scripture was always about Jesus. Where was He? Always there with His creature - saving them.

The biggest difference between the old and new covenants is this: the patriarchs of old looked forward to Jesus being the redemption for their sins, and in the new covenant the disciples looked backward on Jesus's sacrifice. The believers in both eras depended on the same grace - the shedding of blood by Jesus! In the old covenant, Jesus shed the blood of animals, and in the new, His own blood! Both were by grace. Hence, salvation was never by works but by grace.

Paul spoke often of this mystery:

Romans 16: 24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. 25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: 27 To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever.

Jesus Christ was the mystery of God. He was kept secret since the world began, and Paul revealed Him, as John did also. Jesus who was once Mind and Spirit was made manifest in the flesh. Hence, Jesus became just like us, or more correctly, because of God's foreknowledge, we were made in the image of Jesus!

Since Jesus was with mankind in the beginning, what was he doing? He was saving by grace. Adam, being convicted, tried to cover his own sin, but Emmanuel stepped in and shed innocent blood for him. He was saved by grace, and that he did not deserve!

When Abraham obeyed God by his willingness to sacrifice his only son to God, his obedience was counted as faith!  (Hebrews 11:8). Scripture tells us to have the faith of Abraham. The new covenant ties into the old. Rather than present our only heir as a dying sacrifice, we present ourselves a living sacrifice. (Romans 12:1).  Abraham's reasonable service was to sacrifice his only (remaining) son. Ours is to sacrifice our will for God's will.

Mankind received free will by the grace of God. We are capable of exercising that liberty with which we are created. As such, we are free to sin! However, if indeed, we are new creatures, being born-again, the desires of the creatures are different. The old one loved sin, the new one loves obedience.

Just as Abraham obeyed and was credited with faith, our own works validate our faith.

Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

The assurance of salvation is if our will is in unison with God's will. It should be if we sacrificed it as was our reasonable service. Part of the mystery of God, is that it is our will that he wants, and has always wanted. By submitting this non-tangible faculty to God, we get off scott-free with all the sins which we ever committed. Our will to sin is turned over to God, and His Holy Spirit helps us with the sacrifice!

In summary, salvation was always by Jesus, for everyone, and was always by grace. There is but one covenant, and there has never been another. The mystery of God solved.