The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel (Continued)

The inferiority of Law compared to Promise

We must also note that Paul added two further elements in explanation of the purpose of the Law, i.e. “it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator”. (Gal. 3:19) This additional clause is designed to show the inherent inferiority of the law in terms of the way it was given and administered, that is, through angels and a mediator. Paul’s meaning is clear: the law is not on the same par with the covenant of promise (that is the Abrahamic covenant) not only because it was chronologically limited but also because it was handed down by angels with a man acting as a go-between. The Hebrew text of Exodus chapter nineteen, which contains the scriptural account of the giving of the Law, does not refer to angels, but it does describe Mount Sinai as surrounded by thunder, lightening, a thick cloud, and billows of fire. (Exod. 19:16–19) Later Old Testament texts, notably the Septuagintal version of Deut 33:2 and Psalm 68:18 interpret these natural phenomena to mean that a large number of angels, the fiery hosts of heaven, accompanied God in his giving of the law at Sinai. The participation of the angels in the giving of the law was not merely a piece of pious Jewish folklore, for it is confirmed elsewhere in the New Testament[1]. Paul accepted it and repeated it not for the purpose of enhancing the law by associating it with the glory of angels but rather to indicate how superior ‘promise’ is to ‘Law’ since the latter required a creaturely mediation.

    The Law was not only mediated by angels but also Moses. The people themselves asked for a mediator. They said to Moses, you go to the Lord and relay to us what He says - we dare not come close. And in Pauline theology, Moses the mediator stands in contrast to Christ. As Paul explains more fully in 2 Cor. 3:7–18, the ministry or covenant negotiated by Moses was characterized by death and condemnation and it is “fading away”; on the other hand, the new covenant that Christ has ushered in is marked by life, justification, and a radiance of “ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

Paul did not intend to denigrate Moses as a person but rather to show again the transitory and totally inadequate character of the Law as a system of salvation. The Epistle to the Hebrews picks up on one of Paul’s favorite themes, that of servant and son, and applies them to Moses and Christ in precisely this way: “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house … but Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house” (Heb 3:5–6;). But there is more: Paul gives another purpose to the giving of the Law. It is tied up with the phrase, “it was added because of transgressions”. In other words it was to bring the realization that sin was exceedingly sinful. Those that break God’s law will suffer the curse. It was the case with Adam. He sinned and suffered the curse. But where there is no law there is no imputation of sin.[2]

More Next Time

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[1] cf. Acts 7:38, 53; Heb 2:2

[2] Rom. 5.13

The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel (Continued)

The Purpose of the Law

The Mosaic code with its commandments and judgments was designed, among other things, to be a finger-post to point the nation of Israel to their Messiah. Since Israel was to be a theocracy, incorporated into the code were the regulations regarding worship. There were instructions for the erection of a Sanctuary, the ordination of a priesthood, a description of the offerings they were to bring, and a diary of festivals that were to be celebrated when Israel was to come before the Lord and acknowledge His mercy and His grace. Besides the immediate purpose of regulating the worship of the individual Israelite and the nation as a whole, these also had another purpose. They too were to prepare them for their Messiah.

The Time Limit on the Law of Moses

If the Law was added until the seed came as Paul said, then this means that the Law had a limited duration. Just as it had a point of origin on Mount Sinai, so also it had a point of termination—Mount Calvary. ‘Seed’ is used as a name for Christ, echoing Paul’s earlier identification.  “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ”. (Gal. 3:16) So the age of the Law is over. This truth is a part of Paul’s theology. The texts, “you are not under law”, (Rom. 6:14) and “you … have become dead to the law through the body of Christ”. (Rom. 7:4) encapsulate his teaching on the subject. School is out – Messiah has come – childish things are to be put away. What this means is: “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes”. (Rom. 10:4) There was nothing wrong with the Law. The law was “holy, and the commandment holy and just and good”. (Rom. 7:12) But salvation could not come by the Law, because no-one could keep it.

Again, I repeat, the age of Law is over. So Paul interpreted the law eschatologically in terms of (i) its fulfillment and (ii) its cancellation, in the Messianic mission of Jesus. The Messiah “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us”. He took “it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross”. (Col 2:14)

This section of Galatians is brim full of this idea that Christ’s work on the cross brought an end to the Mosaic Law. Words like ‘until’; ‘before’; ‘no longer’; ‘formerly’; ‘but now’. Things changed with the coming of the Messiah and His death by crucifixion. To repeat, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes”. (Rom. 10:4)

While the Abrahamic covenant is eternal, the Mosaic covenant was for a particular purpose and ceased when that purpose matured.

More Next Time:

The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel (Continued)

First let me apologise - it has been several weeks since this blog was updated. This is because I have been unwell - but I am back at my desk now and can continue with our studies.

The Messiah and the Mosaic Covenant

When we considered the Mosaic Covenant we made some suggestions as to the purpose that God had in mind when He offered and signed it. But that was an examination of the subject from an Old Testament viewpoint. Now we are in the dispensation of grace we must consider if we have more light on the subject. The answer is ‘Yes’. If we ask, ‘what was His purpose?’ we have answers readily provided by the apostle Paul, a man personally instructed in the ways of God, for he asked and answered that very question.

“What purpose then does the law serve?” (Gal. 3:19) His immediate answer is in two parts. (1) It was added because of transgressions, and (2) till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made.

The Law was added because of transgressions

As the context in Galatians makes clear, the law Paul is referring to, is the Law of Moses, which was ‘added’ 430 years after the Abrahamic covenant. It was not added to alter the provisions of the Abrahamic covenant, but rather added in order to accomplish some supplementary purpose. This meaning is further clarified when we look at the parallel verse in Rom. 5:20: “The law was added so that the trespass might increase.” In the Roman letter the word for ‘added’ (pareisēlthen) means literally “came in by a side road.”  The main road is the covenant of promise—inviolate, irrevocable. The law does not lead away from the main road, but leads back to it. It points to the same destination.

The phrase, “because of transgressions,” can mean one of two things depending on whether the preposition ‘charin’, translated either “because,” or “on account of,” is given a causal (looking backward) or telic (looking forward) force. In the former case the Law would mainly have a preventive function. It this instance it would mean the Law was designed to curb or hold in check misdeeds that were already being done, in other words, to keep a bad situation from getting even worse. But if “because” is given a telic meaning, the opposite would hold true. The Law would have a provocative purpose, its function being not to prevent sins but actually to increase them, in other words, to make an already bad situation much, much worse.

The preventive and provocative functions correspond to the civil and spiritual uses of the law as developed by Luther. Luther suggested that God ordained civil laws for the purpose of restraining evildoers. Just as a rope or chain prevents a wild animal from attacking an innocent bystander, so too the law with its “thou shalt nots” and penal code prevents sinful humanity from going on a rampage and completely destroying itself. The civil use of the law helps to sustain human society. Luther referred to the state as the “left hand of God”. But as important as the civil use of the law may be for the ordering of human society, it is at best a stopgap measure completely unable to render one righteous before God. The chief and proper use of the law, Luther said, is its provocative function, actually to increase transgressions, to make a terrible situation even more desperate, and thus to reveal to human beings their sin, blindness, misery, wickedness, ignorance, hate and contempt of God, which would ultimately lead to death, hell, judgment, and the well-deserved wrath of God. As Paul wrote, “… by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20); it was added “because of transgressions” (Gal.3.19).

The Law was added until the Seed should come

The second main reason that Paul identified, is its use to prepare the Israelite nation for their Messiah.  Paul wrote – it was added until “the Seed should come to whom the promise was made” (Gal.3.19).

Now the giving of the Law was strategically located at the birth of the nation - at the time when they enjoyed full freedom from slavery and when they had tasted the full effect of the power of God. They had been removed from the immediate influence of Egypt, especially the idolatry, and were, at that time, most open to new ideas. In other words, as a nation, they were in their infancy, and they could accept God as their Father, indeed God said, “Israel is My son, My firstborn” (Exod. 4:22). And like an infant they had to trust God to feed them and to lead them. This idea of Israel being a nation in its infancy is very important. As such it was necessary for it to be placed under a tutor, and the Law is described as such, a schoolmaster that had been commissioned to fulfill one main purpose - to lead them to Christ, their Messiah, the ‘Seed’. All activities, all lessons, all events, indeed the sum total of their education was to be directed to that purpose (Gal.3.24).

Here is a nation that is to be trained. The whole penal, social and sacerdotal code was designed to impress upon them that (i) sin brings punishment; (ii) social injustice will not be tolerated (iii) but God is merciful and the mercy of God is always available. The calendar was so ordered that every member of every generation received full instruction on how to be a member of God’s society. Moreover, if they learned their lessons well, they would be permitted to be instruments in God’s hand, to demonstrate to the other nations of the world, the benefit of being subject to the rule of the beneficent God of Israel.

More Next Time:

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The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel (Continued)

The Messiah and the Abrahamic Covenant.

The Abrahamic Covenant was very wide ranging. Through Abraham it promised three main benefits – blessings (which must be assumed to be both spiritual and material), a multi-national posterity and a homeland for the Hebrew nation. All this was to be achieved through a ‘seed’, a line that would be fathered by Abraham and continue through his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob. The Land Covenant elucidated further the Jewish homeland element in the Abrahamic covenant (including the material blessings that would accrue to the inhabitants); the Davidic Covenant brought a further limiting element to the ‘seed’ aspect in conjunction with promising wide ranging influence; while the New Covenant identified the spiritual section of the blessings promised.

The Covenant Summarized

 

Any Messianic claimant would need to have the appropriate ancestry – of the seed of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, of the tribe of Judah, of the family of David but not through Jeconiah.[1] Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God and Israel’s Messiah, had impeccable lineage. He was of the stock of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the tribe of Judah. It is true that Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus, did come through the line of Jeconiah and was therefore disqualified, but he was not the father of the Messiah. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit. This means that His birth fulfilled the most difficult and mysterious condition suggested by the T’nach – He was born of a virgin. In Genesis 3.15 the mysterious conqueror of Satan would be the ‘seed of the woman’. Jesus, a true seed of the woman, qualified to fill that description. Moreover, Mary’s lineage, which now becomes critical since she is His only earthly parent, is given in full in Luke’s gospel, and satisfies every condition, even to being of the family of David without being tainted by the curse on Jeconiah’s lineage. Although Isaiah had said centuries before the birth of Jesus, that a virgin would conceive, it is only in hindsight we are able to see that ultimately there was only one with the necessary qualifications to be the Messiah of Israel, that is, the Son of God who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, and a true ‘seed’ of the woman. Jesus of Nazareth is the Immanuel[2] of Isaiah’s prophecy, the ‘Seed’ of Abraham,[3] the ‘Seed’ and Son of David[4] and Son of God.[5]

There has never been any question that Jesus was a Jew, a true son of Abraham.[6] He was circumcised on the eighth day[7] and redeemed according to the Law.[8] Both his mother and step-father were Hebrews with a long and honorable lineage.  In addition, His dress, His actions, His teaching, all testify to the thorough Jewishness of His person. He was law abiding in the sense that not only did He act in a responsible manner as a member of the community but He also did what was required to fulfill the Law of Moses. There are some Scriptures that teach us that He wore the appropriate clothes. In the episode where a woman needed a healing touch, she decided that if she could reach the hem of His garment she should be cured. The Greek word is ‘kraspedon’ sometimes translated ‘fringe’. The Hebrew equivalent is ‘zizith’.  What is in view here are the fringes woven on to the outer garment that was worn by Jewish men. These fringes were four blue tassels worn in obedience to the injunction of the Law in Numbers 15:37–41 and Deuteronomy 22:12. Matthew again refers to them in 14:36 and 23:5. They consisted of four threads passing through the four corners of the garment and meeting in eight. One of the threads was longer than the others. It was twisted seven times round the others, and a double knot formed; then eight times, then eleven times, then thirteen times. The thread and the knots stood for the five books of the Law. The idea of the fringe was two-fold. It was meant to identify a Jew as a Jew and as a member of the chosen people, no matter where he was; and it was meant to remind a Jew every time he put on and took off his clothes that he belonged to God. Jesus had these fringes on His clothes.

We also know that He celebrated the feasts according to the instructions laid down in the Pentateuch. We have record of His visits to Jerusalem for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread and we know He attended the Temple at the Feast of Tabernacles. Indeed, Jesus Himself said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” (Matt. 5:17) And that fulfillment was more than just being an obedient law abiding Jew - the will of God required Him to fulfill all that the Law required for the salvation of the Hebrew nation. This included all that the Pentateuch designated for the expiation and propitiation of sin; and all that was designated for the cleansing and purification of the sinner. Moreover, His death had to be accomplished in such a way that all prophecies and types laid down in the T’nach, which relate to the designated sacrifices, were satisfied perfectly. The designated sacrifices being – the Passover Lamb, the Lamb of the Sin Offering, the Offerings of the Day of Atonement and the Red Heifer, etc. When Jesus said it was laid on Him to ‘fulfill the Law’ ‘fulfill’ was used in its fullest sense.

So it was that Jesus was the ‘fulfillment’ of all that the Law was designed to accomplish. He was the only fully, Law abiding Hebrew that ever lived, and therefore the only One who could ultimately deliver the Jewish nation from the bondage of the Law.

There is a yet more vital element to this aspect of the proper lineage. Others also claimed to be descendents of Abraham but Jesus added yet one more qualification. Only those who did the will of God could be counted a true descendent of Abraham. John the Baptist implied it first. He said, “do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones”. (Matt. 3:9; Luke 3.8) In other words, he indicated that the proper ancestry was insufficient in itself; they needed to be fulfilling the revealed will of God, which, in the context of the Baptist’s preaching, was to repent and receive Jesus as their Messiah. The essence of this is repeated in the debate between Jesus and His Jewish listeners in John 8.38-45. But the will of God for the Messiah was to complete the mission for which He had been commissioned. This means that there could only have been one claimant to the title of Messiah, the One sent by the Father.  

What is the sum of this? that if Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah is to be upheld, He not only had to have the right lineage but also has be a faithful Son of Abraham and do the will of God. This He did. He said, “I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me”. (John 5:30) and, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work”. (John 4:34) That He was successful is evident. In His life He had the confirmation by the three Bat Kohls, the essence of which was, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17; cf. 17.5; Mark 1.11; 9.7; Luke 3.22; 9.35; John 12.27,28). And after His death He had the vindication of the resurrection for it was God who raised Him from the dead.[9]

More Next Time:

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[1] Jer.22.24-30

[2] Isa.7.14 ; Matt.1.23

[3] Gal.3.16; Heb.2.16

[4] Also called ‘seed’ in Acts 13.22,23; Rom.1.3; 1 Tim.2.8; but ‘Son of David’ in Matt. 1.1; 9.27; 12.23; 15.22; 20.30,31; 21.9,15; Mark 10.47,48; Luke 3.31; 18.38,39;

[5] Matt.8.29; 14.33; 27.54; Mark 1.1; 3.11; 15.39; Luke 1.35; 4.41; 8.28; John 1.34; 1.49; 3.18; 9.35-37; 11.27; 20.31; Acts 8.37; 9.20; Rom.1.4; 2 Cor.1.19; Eph.4.13; Heb.4.14; 1 John 4.15; 5.5,10; Rev.2.18

[6] Matt.1.1

[7] Luke 2.21

[8] Luke 2.22

[9] Acts 13.30, 34; 17.31; Rom.10.9; Gal.1.1; Eph.1.20; Col.2.12; 1 Pet.1.21

The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel (Continued)

The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel

Sinclair Patterson wrote: “Take away from Christianity the name and person of Jesus Christ and what have you left? Nothing! The whole substance and strength of the Christian faith centres in Jesus Christ. Without Him there is absolutely nothing.” This is also the case with the Covenants of Israel. Without the Messiah, there would be no true seed of Abraham through which the Abrahamic Covenant could be realized. Without the Messiah there would never be any single individual Israelite who could have fulfilled the Mosaic Covenant. Without the Messiah, the Land of Israel will never be fully recovered for the Hebrew nation. Without the Messiah there will never be a righteous reign by one of David’s line, and without the Messiah there could never be a New Covenant providing forgiveness of sins and a new heart of obedience for the Jewish people.

Let us state clearly, the Covenants of Israel have held the nation together. Without the Covenants they could easily have lost their individual identity when dispersed among the other nations. It is the covenants that have molded their identity and been at the heart of their history. They have controlled its people, and given them purpose. For them, they hold the revealed will of God - how they should act, where they should live, what their future is. They give the nation its purpose and form. They are glue that holds the Jewish race together. The substance and strength of Israel rest in their Covenants with God, and the Messiah is the substance and strength of the Covenants.

Because the Covenants themselves are inter-twined and each one either progresses from the previous agreement or supplements it, it is difficult to consider them in isolation. Similarly, when we look at the relationship of the Messiah to the Covenants we will have difficulty in treating His relationship with each covenant separately, which means we will inevitably have to repeat some truths more than once when they apply in more than one instance.

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The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel (Continued)

The New Covenant - Its Purpose and Effect

The Jeremiah text implies it is a covenant that was designed to replace the Mosaic Covenant which was described as being ‘broken’.  The Jewish nation had been under the Mosaic economy for a considerable time, and no doubt could not envisage a day when the Law would not apply, but one fact is clear – because of the weakness of the flesh the dispensation of Law did not succeed in its main aim - to prepare the nation to receive her Messiah. That a conditional covenant should be replaced because one of the parties to the covenant could not fulfill her part of the contract is quite reasonable. Especially as it is to be replaced by a new covenant which essentially was unconditional, inasmuch as the terms laid down, placed the responsibility for the fulfilling of the covenant on one party only, and that was the party that had been faithful to the previous covenant. The Lord Himself would take responsibility to ensure Israel kept the Law by engraving its demands on the hearts of His people and then indwelling them Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit to provide the motivation, energy and ability to keep it. This is new for old, and the new is so much better, so much more comfortable, so much more fruitful, so much more God-glorifying and so much more satisfying.

The promise of this new covenant was a clear indication that God is faithful to His earlier promises for it envisages a time when the Abrahamic Covenant would be fulfilled in its entirety.  The New Covenant gives an assurance to Israel that their future is safe in the hands of their God, that there is no way He has forgotten them and that they remain, as always, engraved on the palms of His hands.[1]

The question naturally arises here – if the New Covenant is to replace the Mosaic Covenant because Israel had broken the conditions of the Covenant, what law is envisaged in these prophecies? YHWH described it as ‘My law’; ‘My statutes’, ‘My ordinances’. What laws, statutes and ordinances prevail under the New Covenant? They are best described as the laws of the Messiah. Jesus Himself described them as “My commandments”. (John 14.15,21; 15.10,12) The motivation for keeping these commandments is love of the Savior. “If you love Me, keep My commandments”. (John 14:15) In this way the Jewish believer would reflect the attitude and relationship that exists between the Son of God and the Father. “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love”. (John 15:10) And love is at the heart of the Messiah’s law. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another”. (John 13:34) It is a high standard – to love as Christ loves – but with His command He provides the enabling – the indwelling Holy Spirit. “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever”. (John 14:15-16) Again, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him”. (John 14:23) This is part of the mechanics of the operation of the New Covenant, where He promised to put His law in Jewish hearts.

Next Time : The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel

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[1] Isa. 49.15,16

The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel (Continued)

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

The New Covenant

There is another covenant in the T’nach, the New Covenant. It was to be made with the nation of Israel. While it was known to Isaiah it is Jeremiah that provides the greatest detail. It is not a covenant that was in place in Jeremiah’s time or applied to Jeremiah’s generation, but Jeremiah prophesied of the future when God would make this new covenant with the people of Israel. The detail is given in the 31^st chapter of his prophecy. “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— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jer. 31:31-34)

This text references two covenants - the Mosaic Covenant, the one which the Jewish nation had broken, and a New Covenant. The wording clearly establishes that the New Covenant, like the Mosaic Covenant, was to be made with the Jewish nation, identified as ‘the house of Israel, and the house of Judah’. This was confirmed by Isaiah. He wrote: “The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” Says the Lord. “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”(Isa. 59:20-21) That this Isaiah text refers to the New Covenant is confirmed in Paul’s letter to the Romans, for he referenced the Isaiah quote when he wrote: And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” (Rom. 11:26-27)

These connected texts promise the regeneration of the Jewish nation under the implementation of a New Covenant, essentially because in it is the provision for the forgiveness of the sins of the nation, “from the least of them to the greatest of them”. This is a great improvement on the Mosaic Covenant; because that was only able to cover sins, not cleanse them. This aspect of the New Covenant is of the highest quality and the widest application.

In respect of the wideness of the application, there is a startling statement included in the Covenant, revealing that when the house of Israel and the house of Judah come into the full blessing of this Covenant, it will be a time when every member of the race will enjoy the fruits of salvation, for “no more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” To put it a little more plainly, Jeremiah prophesied of a time that was still future to him when every member of the Jewish nation will have been saved.

That the blessing will be of the highest quality is evident for God declared, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Their sins and iniquities will be forgiven and forgotten. Hallelujah! While it is Jeremiah that provides the clearest description of the New Covenant, Isaiah had already indicated the blessing that it would bring to the Jewish people. He relayed the word of the Lord. “For I, the Lord … will make with them an everlasting covenant. Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, And their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, That they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed.” (Isa.61:8,9)

The quality of benefit that will be enjoyed by those that come under the New Covenant is described in terms of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Jeremiah quotes the Lord as saying, “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts”, and Ezekiel brings the message, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances”. (Ezek. 36:27) Under the Mosaic economy the Spirit of the Lord came upon individuals for special and particular tasks. We have already remarked on the Spirit of the Lord leaving Saul and coming upon David. But the general population did not have that privilege. In this new dispensation, all of Israel, every individual Jew, will be indwelt by the Spirit of God. Joel, speaking of that day, uses the wide descriptor “all flesh” (Joel 2.28), that is, all Jewish flesh, without distinction and without exception. The failure to keep the Law will not arise; every Jew will be empowered to live righteously.

Ezekiel, who prophesied at a time when the Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed, provides some further intelligence. Inasmuch as the future blessings for Israel were to be anchored on earth, with a return to the Land under a Davidic king in accordance with the two covenants that provided for those benefits, it seems right and proper that the greatest blessing that God could provide would be to dwell amongst them. The Mosaic Covenant provided for a Tabernacle ‘that I may dwell among them’ (Exod.25.8). The Davidic Covenant provided for the Temple to be built. The New Covenant will provide for the presence of God upon earth in a future Temple. “Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people." (Ezek. 37:26,27)