At the present time Christians have fellowship with God via the New Covenant (or New Testament) in His blessed Son! Presently, Jews who believe in God but not in Christ (Jn 14:1) are in union with God but not in fellowship with Him, until their New Covenant has come (Jer 31:31; Eze 36:24-27). This is not to be confused with the Christians New Covenant. Israel’s final and “New Covenant” will be with God. Believers in Christ are recipients of the present “Everlasting Covenant” or “Covenant of Redemption,” between the Father and the Son, in that the Father brought the Son back to life for expiating the sins of believers in Christ!
I’m also aware that many if not most do not understand nor believe concerning Israel’s New Covenant, but that’s ok, since this information is not essential doctrine (teachings that must be believed in for salvation); yet “all Scripture is used “for instruction in righteousness”!
NC
I’m also aware that many if not most do not understand nor believe concerning Israel’s New Covenant, but that’s ok, since this information is not essential doctrine (teachings that must be believed in for salvation); yet “all Scripture is used “for instruction in righteousness”!
NC
Present Presence
We have the will of the Father as the source of our salvation, and the Son’s work as the efficacious means. There follows the no less indispensable witness of the Holy Spirit as the unfailing power of bringing our souls into the possession and knowledge of it all. Thus each person of the Godhead has His appropriate place and all contribute to this end as worthy of the Father, as needed by man (Father always first in all things; by the Spirit using the Life of Christ in us—NC).
“The Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them, then He adds, Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin” (Heb 10:15-18).
It is interesting and essential to observe how carefully Scripture avoids the error of assuming that the new covenant expresses our standing as believers (e.g. Israel’s new covenant with God – Jer 31:31-33; Eze 36:24-27 – the Christian’s covenant is between the Father and the Son, also known as the Covenant of Redemption. Christians are only recipients of this “Everlasting Covenant,” and have no part in this Covenant—NC). The Blood of it was shed; the spiritual blessedness of it is ours who now believe. But its strict and full import awaits the house of Israel and the house of Judah at a future day, as noted in Hebrews 8. Then all its terms will be verified; what the heart needs, and the mind, with full pardon—though neither Israel nor Judah has yet bowed to the Messiah (they will bow when they see Him again—NC).
But as the Savior’s work is done and accepted, so the Spirit attests the full remission of sins in His name: God will remember the sins no more for those that now believe. “Where this remission is, there is no more an offering for sin” (Heb 10:18). Such is Christianity in contrast with Judaism. It is founded on Christ’s sacrifice which has so completely taken away the sins of believers that no offering for the sins remain.
The Lord Jesus’ work avails much more. It gives present entrance “into the Holiest” (Heb 10:19). What took away our sins rent the veil; and those who believe are invited and have free access to the innermost sanctuary even now. Boldness to enter there on any pretension of our love or holiness, of nature or even divine ordinance, would be mere shameful presumption. Here it is calmly claimed for Christians, who are exhorted in the strongest terms to approach by faith the Father’s presence without a doubt or a cloud, now that their sins are gone. Boldness to enter there is due to the Blood of the Savior. Only unbelief hinders (nothing else can keep one from growing in Christ—NC). It is a new and living way which He dedicated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh (Heb 10:20). We honor Him by using it in the fullest confidence that it pleases the Father.
Nor this only: we have a great High Priest over the house of God (Heb 3:1) His is the title. He is Son over God’s house, which even Moses was not, but only a servant in it; and His house we are if we “hold fast” (Heb 4:14) our boldness instead of shirking or giving up. In heaven itself the Lord Jesus “now appears” before the face of the Father for us (Heb 9:24), who through His sacrifice have “no more conscious of sins” Heb 10:2), as He there is the proof that we are perfected (in position not in condition—NC) unbrokenly. He is above to maintain us, in spite of our weakness and exposure down here, according to the cleansing of His Blood and the nearness it confers.
Hence we are told to “approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb 10:22). Never could we deserve such a privilege. His glory and His work alone entitle us; but they do so completely, and we honor Him and appreciate His grace by approaching not with fear or hesitation but with a true heart in full assurance of faith. The Father Himself has wrought by His Son and in the Spirit that we might be fully blessed, even here, and enjoy already this access to Himself in the Holiest of All.
What and indignity religion puts on every person of the Godhead alike, on the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ, when it drags souls back to the dread and distance of Judaism (some believers tend to desire the Law - which is gone, more than grace; because grace is harder to understand due to the freedom we have in Christ, which many may think we do not deserve - 1Co 11:27, 29; Eph 4:1; Col 1:10; 1Th 2:12; 2Th 1:5, 11; Rev 3:4—NC)!
—Wm Kelly (1821-1906)
MJS daily devotional excerpt for Feb 22
“Don’t look at earthly difficulties. Saul said, ‘Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not. . . therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me’ (1 Sam. 13:11, 12). It is fatal to look around and at consequences, especially in times of crisis, for it will be impossible to be still, and wait God’s time for deliverance. Jesus came to them in the fourth watch of the night (Matt. 14:25). It is always His way. God is never behind time! However dark the path may be, wait; do not go before Him, don’t force yourself, like Saul. ‘The crisis demands action,’ we say! Nay, ‘dwell in stillness and wait for clearness’—wait until you are sure of the will of God, and leave the ‘Philistines’ to Him.” -T. A. S.
“Victory comes through the reckoning of faith and not through struggling and striving. ‘But,’ it may be asked, ‘are we not exhorted to ‘fight the good fight’? Yes, that is so, but you must please finish the text, ‘Fight the good fight of faith,’ and faith never struggles for victory. Faith stands in victory.” –MJS
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