Walking in the Renewed Covenant

Walking in the Renewed Covenant
by Lynn Ridenhour
March 20, 2000

For the most part, we’ve got it all wrong. I’m talking about our artificial divisions of the Bible; specifically, our perceptions of the Old & New Testaments, or covenants. Most Christians believe God divided scripture into two covenants—old & new. He didn’t.  In fact, both the Greek and Hebrew words for "new" is not "new," but "renewed"—as in a renewed moon every month. It’s the same moon, but it’s renewed.  Likewise, it’s the same word used in Ephesians 2:15 for "the new man." It’s--the renewed man. The same applies for the words, the New Jerusalem.  It’s the renewed Jerusalem.  And it’s the Renewed Covenant as spoken by Jeremiah.  And what a marvelous covenant it is:

"…Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a [re]new[ed] covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah…" --Jer.31:31

The Hebrew words that Jeremiah uses for "new covenant" are "Brit Ha Hadashah—the renewed covenant. There are two Greek words for "new:"  neos and kainen.  Neos means "new" and kainen means "renewed."  It’s the latter meaning which appears every time the Renewed Covenant has been translated as "New Testament."

Then what’s going on? What are those twenty-seven books of the Renewed Covenant—Matthew through Revelation—really saying?  What’s their central message?  The question is:  what did the renewed covenant renew?

The Renewed Covenant, if you will, "renews" and fulfills IN US the previous five covenants!

O, the glory of it all! As I said, there’s no "old" and "new" covenants. God made six covenants with Man: the Noetic, the Abrahamic, the Mosaic, the Israeli, the Davidic, and the Renewed. And none of the previous covenants were fulfilled in us, yet God commanded His people to keep His covenants, and each covenant had its own peculiar benefit(s). In the Noetic covenant, for instance, God promised Man He would not destroy the earth again (Gn.9:9). In the Abrahamic, God promised Abraham an everlasting covenant—a specific land (Gn.15:18), the land of Israel which He himself drew the borders. In the Mosaic covenant (Ex.19:5), God gave his people, Israel, the Torah which He wrote their ethical borders. In the fourth covenant (Deut.28-30), God warned Israel about the blessings and curses arising from the Mosaic covenant. In the Davidic covenant, the fifth covenant, God promised King David an eternal kingdom reigning under King Yeshuah.

As said, none of these covenants were kept.  Man did not fulfill the 613 external commandments of the Torah. Thus, the covenants were broken—starting with Adam & Eve. However, via the Renewed Covenant, Jesus Christ, our Lord & Savior, came to this earth, kept all the commandments—and the spirit of those commandments—then took up residence in us through the Holy Spirit, thereby restoring & renewing IN US the benefits of those five precious covenants God made with Man.

And what are those precious benefits?

God’s strategy is to restore the Garden of Eden with a "second Adam," the Bridegroom marrying a "second Eve"--His Bride, the Church. The two are to reign as King and Queen over an eternal Kingdom, a kingdom headquartered in a land where His moral order now rules supreme. The Noetic covenant furnishes the security within that order. As His bride, we’re to no longer concern ourselves about future destruction, self-annihilation.  Noah’s covenant is now in force upon the earth. No more fear of man destroying his neighbor.  What the politicians could not offer (peace in the earth) the restored covenant offers and fulfills. The Abrahamic covenant gives the King & Queen a land. The Israeli covenant offers the blessings of peace & prosperity.  The Mosaic furnishes the moral borders of their kingdom with law & order.  And finally, the Davidic covenant promises to the King & Queen a kingdom that’s eternal this time.  Never to be taken away.

This is all "very real."  There will be an actual restored Garden of Eden.  There will be real peace & prosperity that covers the earth.  There will be a Bride & Bridegroom in the earth—a second (collective) Adam & Eve presiding in their restored garden. They will be known as Kings & Queens in the earth.  Israeli blessings flow.  And, finally, this time around, as said, the paradisiacal kingdom is eternal.

(As a side note, this is an appropriate place to mention why the above blessings & benefits cannot be "spiritualized."  The nature of these covenants restored will not permit it.  Jesus Christ died on the Cross to restore these five covenants. And covenantal benefits are both temporal and spiritual.)

Now we’ve come to the crux of the matter, as far as I’m concerned.  We’ve come to the reason why I am a "latter-day saint." Question:  why was the Christian community at large so hostile to Joseph Smith and his followers during his day? Because Joseph claimed that Latter-day Saints were really latter-day Israelites.  Such a claim brought the wrath of the church down upon our prophet and his followers.  Nevertheless, Joseph’s claim is true.  According to Jeremiah 31:31-37, Heb.10:16,17, and Romans 11, as believers in Jesus Christ, we have become "citizens of Israel" grafted into the Jewish tree of Romans 11.  Again--this is not a "new" covenant.  It’s a compendium of the previous five covenants.

It is new, however, in the sense—such a thing is entirely unheard of.  Jesus Christ, by taking up residence in the believer, not only instructs the believer concerning the Torah, but He fulfills those instructions in the believer.  He commands, then provides the power to fulfill the command.  That’s unheard of.  Jeremiah, the prophet, said it well:

"…Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a brit ha Hadashah/renewed 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 bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake…But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel; After those days saith the Lord, I will put my law (be kirbam—close to them) and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people." --Jer. 31-33

Note the word translated "inward parts."  That’s a mistranslation.  The Hebrew word is "close to them."  The Holy Spirit—which is the Spirit of Christ—would one day become their Comforter, their guide, and come close to them.  He would become their constant companion, thereby writing the laws of God upon their hearts.

Another important point:  Romans 11 is the "Who’s Who" of the Olive Tree in God’s eyes.  The Restored Covenant was made to Israel, not the Church!  The roots of the tree are the Jewish patriarchs and prophets, the trunk and some of the branches is the nation of Israel, the Jews, and most of the branches are the Church. There is no Jewish tree on one side and a Gentile tree called "the Church" on the other.  Judiasm and Christianity are not "two separate religions" as we’re led to believe, but the two are a spiritual continuum of the same tree.  Paul states it thus.

In these last days—from1830 on—the institutionalized church is depicted as a mere branch.  God is restoring his covenants with latter-day Israel.  How, you say?  First, the Rabbi Yeshuah "filled" the Torah (Mt.5:17) with His Holy Spirit.  He is the Walking Torah. "…think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets," says Jesus. "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil…" The word is "plerosai," to fill. He "filled up" the law. Where?  Inside us. When we receive the Rabbi Yeshuah as our Lord and Savior, as He is inside us, the Torah is inside us.  And the covenants (all 5 of them) are "filled" within us.  That means--their benefits are also filled within us.

That’s the Renewed Covenant.