If your life is not in jeopardy for what you
believe, you’re probably on the wrong side!
“Indeed, all who want
to live a godly life united with the Messiah Yeshua will be persecuted.” (2Tim 3:12)
It is what you actually believe that determines how you walk out your faith,
“but avoid stupid controversies, genealogies,
quarrels and fights about the Torah; because they are worthless and
futile.” (Titus 3:9)
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Please Note: Nothing on this website should be taken as anti-Church. I am not anti-anything or anyone. I am only pro-Torah, pro-Truth, and pro-Grace. Sometimes the Truth upsets our long-held beliefs. Why isn’t my theology consistent throughout this website?
[Explanations of rabbinic citations are HERE]
Developing a
Systematic Messianic Theology
“The purpose of careful theological formulations is not to put barriers in the way of people who are seeking salvation, but to define clearly the truths upon which genuine [Biblical] faith rests, so that people will not be misled by false doctrines.” [Bowman]
The New Covenant
Adapted in part from
http://doctrine.org/covenants-of-israel/
accessed 30 August 2016. Used with permission.[1]
“Here, the days are coming,” says ADONAIיְהוָ֥ה (Yehovah), “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra’el and with the house of Y’hudah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, violated My covenant, even though I, for My part, was a husband to them,” says ADONAI. “For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra’el after those days,” says ADONAI: “I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be My people. No longer will any of them teach his fellow community member or his brother, ‘Know ADONAI’; for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest; because I will forgive their wickednesses and remember their sins no more.” (Jer. 31:31-34)
Therefore, say that Adonai ELOHIMLord יְהוָ֥ה
(Lord Yehovah) says this: ‘True, I removed them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries; nevertheless, I have been a little sanctuary for them in the countries to which they have gone.’ Therefore, say that Adonai ELOHIM says this: ‘“I will gather you from the peoples and collect you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give the land of Isra’el to you.” Then they will go there and remove all its loathsome things and disgusting practices, and I will give them unity of heart. “I will put a new spirit among you.” I will remove from their bodies the hearts of stone and give them hearts of flesh; so that they will live by My regulations, obey My rulings and act by them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God. (Ezek. 11:16-20)
- For I will take you from among the nations,
- gather you from all the countries,
- and return you to your own soil.
- Then I will sprinkle clean water on you,
- and you will be clean;
- I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness
- and from all your idols.
- I will give you a new heart
- and put a new spirit inside you;
- I will take the stony heart out of your flesh
- and give you a heart of flesh.
- I will put my Spirit inside you
- and cause you to live by my laws,
- respect my rulings and obey them.
- You will live in the land I gave to your ancestors.
- You will be my people,
- and I will be your God.
- I will save you from all your uncleanliness.
- I will summon the grain and increase it,
- and not send famine against you.
- 30 I will multiply the yield of fruit from the trees
- and increase production in the fields,
- so that you never again suffer the reproach
- of famine among the nations.
- Then you will remember your evil ways
- and your actions that were not good;
- as you look at yourselves, you will loathe yourselves
- for your guilt and disgusting practices.
- Understand,’ says Adonai ELOHIM,
- ‘that I am not doing this for your sake.
- Instead, be ashamed and dismayed for your ways,
- house of Isra’el.’
“Adonai ELOHIM says, ‘When the day comes for me to cleanse you from all your guilt, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the ruins to be rebuilt. The land that was desolate will be tilled, whereas formerly it lay desolate for all passing by to see. Then they will say, “The land that used to be desolate has become like Gan-‘Eden, and the cities formerly ruined, abandoned and wasted have been fortified and are inhabited!” Then the nations around you that remain will know that I, ADONAI, have rebuilt the ruins and replanted what was abandoned. I, ADONAI, have spoken; and I will do it.’
“Adonai ELOHIM says, ‘In addition, I will let the house of Isra’el pray to Me to do this for them: to increase their numbers like sheep — like flocks of sheep for sacrifices, like the flocks of sheep in Yerushalayim at its designated times, in this degree will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am ADONAI.’” (Ezek. 36:24-38)
The New Covenant is a sovereign covenant which guarantees national Israel a converted heart. It in no wise replaces the Mosaic Covenant which Israel failed to keep, rather it augments the former covenant through the power of Ruach HaKodeshthe Holy Spirit. In addition to the Torah written on tablets of stone and parchment, the Torah will also be written on the hearts (i.e., innermost being) of the Israelite people. Whereas the Torah written on scrolls informed HaShem’s people how the righteous should conduct themselves, the Ruach HaKodesh will give them the power to conduct themselves in righteousness.
When will this covenant be fulfilled? It will be fulfilled when all the sovereignly established covenants will be fulfilled – in the Millennial or Messianic kingdom. Yeshua ratified the new covenant during the Passover Seder on the evening prior to His arrest and crucifixion (Matt. 26:28). While Yeshua ratified the New Covenant, its fulfillment remains unrealized. The leaders of the generation of Israel to whom Yeshua ministered rejected Him as Messiah and King and delayed the fulfillment of the covenant.[2] The current generation of Jews are beginning to repent (i.e., return to HaShem and His Torah) and experience its fulfillment. This generation (Rom. 11:25-29) marks the beginning of the soon-coming time when all Israel experience the fulfillment of all the other covenants — Abrahamic, Mosaic, Land, and Davidic — in the Messianic Kingdom.
The New Covenant is made “with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,” not with the entity called “the Church.” So does the “Church” have a relationship to it? Not corporately (that is, not the “Church” as a whole), but only those individual non-Jewish Believers in Messiah who have taken hold of their rights to become citizens of the Commonwealth of Israel. The following are references to the New Covenant in the Apostolic Writings: Matt. 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20, 1Cor. 11:25 (cf. 1Cor. 10:16-17), 2Cor. 3:6, Heb. 8:8-13, Heb. 9:15, Heb. 12:24.
The passages in Jeremiah and the passages in the Apostolic Writings clearly state the New Covenant is made with Israel. The term “Israel” always refers to national Israel (i.e., the Jews). Since the Mosaic covenant was made with Israel alone it makes sense that the New Covenant is also made with Israel alone. Rav Sha'ulthe Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians that the covenants were to and for Israel alone (Eph. 2:11-12).
It must be remembered, however, that when HaShem made the Mosaic covenant at Sianai there were well over a million Gentiles (mostly Egyptians) in the “mixed multitude” at Sinai with Israel, and as part of Israel they accepted the “Yoke of Torah” as did the Hebrew nation. If those Gentiles who were part of Israel became partakers in the Mosaic Covenant, then Gentiles who are part of Israel will also become partake of the New Covenant. However, outside of their relationship to Israel, Gentiles have no part in either covenant.
There is a terrible misunderstanding that the Apostolic Writings teach that the Church was a “secret” entity, that God kept it a secret until He revealed it to and through the apostle Paul. Yeshua said that His ministry was to Israel, i.e., to Jews only (cf. Matt. 10:5; Matt. 15:22-24; cf. Rom. 15:8). He came to the nation of Israel to present himself as King and announce the Kingdom of God (Matt. 3:1-3; Mark 1:14-15). Had the the leaders of the nation repented and accepted Him, the Messianic Kingdom would have been established in the first century.[3]
Because of the unbelief of its leaders (not of the myriads of citizens who accepted Him), the Kingdom as a political entity was delayed until sometime in our near future.
Most of Christendom has been taught that God’s purpose for national Israel has ended, but this idea found nowhere in the Bible. The Scriptures declare that Israel’s purpose continues according to God’s sovereign plan. Israel has a past history and a future destiny. Neither Yeshua nor the Apostles ever had any intent to create a new religion separate from “corrected Judaism.” Rather, redeemed Gentiles are supposed to be citizens of the Commonwealth of Israel, just as the “mixed multitude” was a part of Israel during and after the Exodus. (Please see “The Model for the Messianic Community.”)
The provisions of the New Covenant are that Israel will be restored to her land as a nation. That was fulfilled on May 14, 1948 (Isa. 6:68). That national Israel will possess all of the land that was promised in the original land grant has yet to be fulfilled with Messiah returns.
The New Covenant provides that the descendants of AvrahamAbrahan, Yitz'chakIsaac, and Ya'akovJacob will be returned to their homeland from all parts of the earth. Israeli authorities have specifically identified a remnant from each of the 12 Tribes who have returned to Israel. In the decade from 2010 to 2019 alone, 255,000 Jews returned to Israel from 150 countries in the Diaspora.[4] At some time in the near future, I am convinced that every Jew in the Diaspora will be miraculously transported to Israel. (This is, in fact, my understanding of the so-called “Rapture.”)
HaShem promised in the New Covenant to “multiply the yield of fruit from the trees and increase production in the fields.” “The land that used to be desolate has become like Gan-‘Eden, and the cities formerly ruined, abandoned and wasted have been fortified and are inhabited!” In 1945 the land of Israel was almost totally either desert of swamp. Today Israel produces nearly one-third of all produce consumed in Europe. The cities of Israel are among the most modern in the world, and Israel is a world leaders in all scientific endeavor.
The voluminous Wikipedia entry “List of Jewish Nobel laureates” states that “as of 2017, Nobel Prizes have been awarded to 902 individuals, of whom 203 or 22.5% were Jews, although the total Jewish population comprises less than 0.2% of the world’s population. This means the percentage of Jewish Nobel laureates is at least 112.5 times or 11,250% above average.”[5]
The New Covenant promises that His people will turn from their sin back to Him and His Torah, and that He will write His Torah on their hearts. At approximately the same time as the Israeli Six-Day War in 1967, at the very time that Jerusalem was being liberated from Gentile domination for the first time since being overrun by the Romans in 70 CE, there arose almost simultaneously three centers of Messianic Jewish awareness: one in Florida; one in Ohio; one in the San Francisco Bay area. This was the miraculous birth of the modern Messianic Jewish movement, as hundreds of thousands of Jews are coming to recognize Yeshua of Nazareth as their promised Messiah. They have been joined by hundreds of thousands of non-Jews who are chosing to identify with the God, the people, the land, the covenants, and the Torah of Israel.
Those within the Movement generally describe themselves as Jewish and non-Jewish followers of the Jewish Messiah Yeshua who have united for the common purpose of breaking down the barriers which have so long divided the Body of Messiah. The Jewish members of the movement desire only to retain their precious heritage and traditions while embracing their Messiah; the non-Jewish members desire to claim their status as full members of the Commonwealth of Israel and the family of Avraham, Yitz’chak, and Ya'akov into which they have been “grafted” and adopted by faith in Israel’s Messiah. (Rom. 11:17-24) Like the mixed multitude at Sinai, they are taking upon themselves the “Yoke of Torah” and through the power of Ruach HaKodeshthe Holy Spirit they are having the Torah written on their innermost being.
We are undoubtedly seeing the “birthpangs” of the Kingdom of God on earth and the soon ultimate fulfillment of the New Covenant. In a near-future day, national Israel will enjoy both spiritual and physical blessings of the New Covenant in the Messianic Kingdom. The spiritual benefits include a new heart (innermost being) on which the Torah is written, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sins, and full knowledge of the ADONAI through His Messiah. The physical benefits of the covenants HaShem made with Israel will begin with a national repentance (Matt. 23:39). Eretz Yisra'el (the Land of Israel) will stretch from the Nile to the Euphrates River (Gen. 15:18). Jerusalem will be the capital city of the world (Deut. 28:13) and Yeshua will physically reign as King of the whole earth from His throne in Jerusalem as King as David’s greater son (Zech. 14:9).
1. From that website: “©2002 Don Samdahl. Anyone is free to reproduce this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold.” Much in the original article was based on anti-Semitic Replacement Theology and other gross errors of Church interpretation, but much of it was solid and the outline was too good to not be of very good use. There is much in the original article that I personally disagree with, and I have commented on significant disagreements. [BACK]
2. We need to take this lesson to heart: Hashem holds the nation responsible for the actions of its leaders. Just as the kingdom was delayed due to the actions of Israel’s leaders, so will HaShem hold the people of America (and other nations) responsible for their actions against the State of Israel and against the God of Israel. [BACK]
3. When the Scriptures refer to “Israel,” they always refer either to the political entity (national Israel) or to ethnic Jews – the physical offspring of Ya'akov (Jacob) — plus those of the “mixed multitude” of Gentiles who affiliated themselves with the God, the people, the covenants, and the land of Israel. Thus, “Israel” in Scripture is also a technical term for the physical descendants of Jacob and those adopted into that family, i.e., Israel. No Scriptural basis exists to support a theology that states that “the Church” is the new Israel or that the Church has supplanted or replaced Israel in God’s plan. [BACK]
4. Source: www.israel21c.org/255000-from-150-nations-moved-to-israel-in-2010-2019/,
accessed 15 August 2020.
[BACK]
5. Source www.cjnews.com/living-jewish/nobel-prize-and-the-jews,
accessed 15 August
2020.
[BACK]
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ANXIOUSLY WATCHING FOR MASHIACH’S RETURN,
SPEEDILY AND IN OUR DAY. MARANA, TA!
