THE OLD & NEW COVENANTS, WHO WERE or ARE THEY FOR?

By Tuese Ahkiong

THE NEW COVENANT and asking some questions. Who was it for or is for? Is it still accessible?

Romans 9:4

THEY ARE ISRAELITES, and TO THEM BELONG the adoption, the glory, THE COVENANTS, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.

To whom did the covenants belong?

Hebrews 8 (ESV)

8 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ²a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. ³For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. ⁴Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. ⁵They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” ⁶But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as THE COVENANT HE MEDIATES IS BETTER, since it is enacted on better promises. ⁷For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion TO LOOK FOR A SECOND.

⁸For he finds fault with them when he says:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I WILL ESTABLISH A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL (Ephraim; northern kingdom) AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH (southern kingdom),
⁹not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
    on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
    and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
¹⁰FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL
    after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
    and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
    and THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.
¹¹And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
    and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
¹²For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
    and I will remember their sins no more.”

¹³In speaking of A NEW COVENANT, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

****Who does Yeshua establish the New Covenant with?

Who is called “MY PEOPLE?”

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (ESV)

²³For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, ²⁴and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “THIS IS MY BODY, WHICH IS FOR YOU. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup IS THE NEW COVENANT IN MY BLOOD. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

**When taking the bread, breaking it and saying to His Israeli Disciples who were under the first covenant, that “This is my body, which is for you” is Christ limiting his sacrificial offering of Himself to those under the old covenant, a New Covenant?
Christ came or returned in 70AD.

Luke 22:14-23 (ESV)

¹⁴And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and THE APOSTLES WITH HIM. ¹⁵And he said TO THEM, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover WITH YOU before I suffer. ¹⁶For I tell YOU I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”¹⁷And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and DIVIDE IT AMONG YOURSELVES. ¹⁸For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” ¹⁹And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given FOR YOU. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁰And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out FOR YOU is THE NEW COVENANT in my blood. ²¹But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. ²²For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” ²³And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.

***Is Christ Covenanting with the 12 Disciples in the sense of them representing The House of Israel who were under the Old Covenant? Is His body and blood given FOR THEM specifically taking them OUT of the Old and into The New Covenant?

Jeremiah 31:31-37

³¹“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND THE HOUSE OF JUDAH, ³²not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that THEY BROKE, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ³³FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

³⁵Thus says the Lord,
who gives the sun for light by day
    and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    the Lord of hosts is his name:
³⁶“IF THIS FIXED ORDER DEPARTS
    FROM BEFORE ME, DECLARES THE LORD,
THEN SHALL THE OFFSPRING OF ISRAEL CEASE
    FROM BEING A NATION BEFORE ME FOREVER.”

³⁷Thus says the Lord:
“If the heavens above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
THEN I WILL CAST OFF ALL THE OFFSPRING OF ISRAEL
for all that they have done,
declares the Lord.”

***Who does YHWH make a New Covenant with?

Galatians 4:21-27

²¹Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? ²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. ²³But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. ²⁴Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are TWO COVENANTS. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. ²⁵Now HAGAR IS MOUNT SINAI IN ARABIA; SHE CORRESPONDS TO THE PRESENT JERUSALEM, for she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶But the JERUSALEM ABOVE IS FREE, AND SHE IS OUR MOTHER. ²⁷For it is written,

“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.”

The Present Jerusalem are the unbelieving Jews of the 1^st century who equate to Hagar, The Law, the first covenant.

The Jerusalem above are those who are free, of the promise, The New Covenant, those who believe in Yeshua, The Messiah.

2 Corinthians 3:5-8 (ESV)

⁵Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, ⁶who has made us sufficient to be ministers of A NEW COVENANT, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

⁷Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?

The ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, The Old Covenant which was being brought to an END at the time Paul was penning 2 Corinthians.

Who are the “us” that were made ministers of a New Covenant of The Spirit of life? Paul, The Apostles and Disciples…

Hebrews 8:13
When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

Hebrews was written in the 1st century around 64-68AD just before the complete removal of the Old Covenant in 70AD at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.
This is why it is written that the old covenant is becoming obsolete and ready to disappear.

Hebrews 9:15

Therefore he is the mediator of a NEW COVENANT, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

Who was under the first covenant? ISRAEL
Are people today under the first covenant? NO
Who transgressed the first covenant? ISRAEL
Can one transgress a covenant that has passed away? NO

Hebrews 12:18-24

¹⁸For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest ¹⁹and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. ²⁰For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” ²¹Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” ²²But YOU HAVE COME to MOUNT ZION AND TO THE CITY OF THE LIVING GOD, THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM, AND TO INNUMERABLE ANGELS IN FESTAL GATHERING, ²³AND TO THE ASSEMBLY OF THE FIRSTBORN WHO ARE ENROLLED IN HEAVEN, AND TO GOD, THE JUDGE OF ALL, AND TO THE SPIRITS OF THE RIGHTEOUS MADE PERFECT, ²⁴and to Jesus, the mediator of A NEW COVENANT, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

***The book of Hebrews was written to Hebrew or Israeli Christians in the 1^st century. This passage says that they come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, The Heavenly Jerusalem and to Jesus, the mediator of a New Covenant.

Ephesians 2:11-13

¹¹Therefore remember that at one time you GENTILES IN THE FLESH, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— ¹²remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from THE COMMONWEALTH OF ISRAEL AND STRANGERS TO THE COVENANTS OF PROMISE, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Who were the gentiles?

How can a gentile be a “gentile in the flesh?” Aren’t they already uncircumcized?

How can an Israeli be a “gentile in the flesh?” By being uncircumcised!
Who was separated from Christ (their Messiah)?
Who was alienated from The Commonwealth of Israel?
Who was strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world?
How can one be separated, alienated and strangers to the covenants of promise (promised to who?) unless one was first in a relationship?

THE SCATTERED TRIBES or THE LOST SHEEP OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL or THE DIASPORA

YHWH made covenant only with Israel

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2023/08/yhwh-made-covenant-only-with-israel.html?m=1

MORE READING MATERIAL:

Who were THE DIASPORA? THE ELECT? The fullness of GENTILES that Paul spoke of? Who were those YHWH CALLED NOT MY PEOPLE? Are people today elect like Reformed Calvinist folk think they are? Here’s a RED PILL to who the Bible identifies as the elect!

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-diaspora-were-elect-remnant-of.html?m=1

THE LOST SHEEP OF ISRAEL were NOT Samoans, Mexicans, Indians, Filipinos, Koreans, Irish, English…. but Israelites, duh!!!

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-lost-sheep-of-israel-were-not.html

People in the 21st century pick up an ancient book and assume it’s written to them when it is not. It was written to the ekklesia in Rome Corinth Galatia; Timothy Titus Philemon... in the 1st century

THE BIBLE IS ISRAEL’s STORY!

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-bible-is-israels-story.html?m=1

Ancient Israel Only - Simplified. https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/04/ancient-israel-only-simplified-by-mb.html?m=1

26 POINTS THAT [ISRAEL ONLY] STANDS ON REGARDING THE PROMISES AND COVENANTS

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/07/26-points-that-israel-only-stands-on.html?m=1

1 According to Scripture, one cannot be a Christian without the Indwelling Holy Spirit.

2 The Holy Spirit was promised to a specific group of people in the last days (30-70AD).

3 Therefore, there are no more Christians. https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/05/after-70ad-no-one-has-holy-spirit-here.html?m=1

NOT ONE PERSON TODAY HAS THE HOLY SPIRIT Here are some facts about the HOLY SPIRIT

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/05/after-70ad-no-one-has-holy-spirit-here.html?m=1

Is The Holy Spirit still indwelling people?

https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/05/after-70ad-no-one-has-holy-spirit-here.html?m=1