Discourse 103 – God’s New Covenant with all human beings.

God’s covenant with Noah and every living creature.

God’s covenant with Abraham.

God’s covenant with Isaac.

God’s covenant with Jacob (Israel).

God’s New Covenant with all human beings .

Is the "Day of the Lord" visible in the Pentateuch? / Interpretation Reggie Kelly, "The Mystery of Israel", 2010-10-15

God’s covenants, by Jacob Damkani. / The teaching of the Messianic Jews           Discourse 1111

God’s covenant with Noah and every living creature.

After the Flood, God said:

I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done

Gen 8,21 The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. 8,22 "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease." Gen 8,21-22;

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and established a covenant with them and with every living creature.

I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood.

Gen 9,8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 9,9 "Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; 9,10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. 9,11 "I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth." 9,12 God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; Gen 9, 8-12;

I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.

Gen 9,13 I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. 9,14 "It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, 9,15 and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. 9,16 "When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." 9,17 And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth." Gen 9,13-17;

This "bow in the cloud" is of course the rainbow, and we recognize from this text in Gen 9,13-14 that this "bow" was something quite new for Noah and his family. They had never seen anything of this kind before. So from this we can draw the conclusion that there had never been a rainbow on earth before the Flood.

If we now consider the physical prerequisites for this optical phenomenon in the atmosphere, we realize that a rainbow can always be seen when the sun, which is located at the back of the observer, shines on a rain cloud or curtain of rain to the front of him. The sun’s rays are refracted by the raindrops, breaking up the sunlight into all the colors of the spectrum, and these rays are then reflected back to the eye of the observer. The basic precondition, then, for the occurrence of a rainbow is the impact of the sun’s rays. So it follows that before the Flood there cannot have been any sunbeams falling directly upon the earth.

(See also Chapter 08: "The reorganization of heaven and earth.")

So this covenant of God’s applied not just to Noah and his descendants, but also, as we are told in Gen 9,10 above, to "every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth" ‒ and so to all biological life, all flesh of this world. But the promise of this covenant was restricted to a single event: God promised that there would not be another worldwide flood affecting all flesh of the earth. And so it has remained down to the present day.

God’s covenant with Abraham.

Abraham (Abram) was a descendant of Shem, the eldest son of Noah. The father of Abraham, Terah, lived with his three sons Abraham, Nahor and Haran in the city of Ur, in Chaldea (the region that is now the southern part of Iraq). In Ur Abraham took Sarah (Sarai) to wife, who however was barren. One day Terah took his son Abraham, Abraham’s wife Sarah and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran who had died by this time, and they left Ur to go to the land of Canaan.

But they only came as far as the city of Haran (north of Ur, in the great bend of the Euphrates) and remained there. After the father of Abraham died there at the age of 205, God told Abraham to emigrate from Haran to Canaan.

Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you

Gen 12,1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 12,2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 12,3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." 12,4 So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 12,5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. Gen 12, 1- 5;

The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land."

Gen 12,6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. 12,7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. 12,8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD.
12,9 Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev. Gen 12, 6-9;

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram.

Gen 15,18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. Gen 15,18;

I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of Canaan, and I will be their God.

Gen 17,7 "I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. 17,8 "I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."

17,9 God said further to Abraham, "Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 17,10 "This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. 17,11 "And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. Gen 17, 7-11;

As we see, God here established a covenant with Abraham and gave him the land of Canaan (today’s Israel) as a possession for his descendants. As Sarah was barren, she urged Abraham to have a child with her maid Hagar. Hagar gave birth to a son who was given the name of Ishmael. But in later years God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would yet have a son of their own. At 100 years of age Abraham begot his son Isaac, to whom the 90 year old Sarah gave birth. God promised each of Abraham’s sons that they would become a great nation. So Ishmael, the founding father of the Arabs, as well as Isaac, the founding father of the Jews, both being descendants of Abraham, have a claim to this promise of God’s of the land of Israel. And so they are still fighting over it up to the present day, instead of living in it together and at peace.

God’s covenant with Isaac.

Before Isaac was born, Abraham asked God to give his blessing to Ishmael. God gave him this blessing for Ishmael, and promised him that he would make Ishmael very fruitful and make him a great nation. But he went on to say that he would establish his covenant with Isaac, who was not yet born, and this would be an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.

Gen 17,18 And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before You!" 17,19 But God said, "No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 17,20 "As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 17,21 "But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year." Gen 17,18-21;

Isaac had two sons with his wife Rebekah. She gave birth to twins, of whom the second had his hand holding on to the heel of the first. The first was given the name Esau ("the hairy one"), the second Jacob ("heel holder"). Subsequent events showed that the position of the two brothers at birth was intended to have a symbolic meaning. On the one hand Esau set so little store by his birthright that he sold it to Jacob for a lentil stew. And then Rebekah succeeded, with her tricks and lies, in presenting Jacob to Isaac, now old, half blind and bedridden, as his son Esau. Thinking he had Esau before him, Isaac gave Jacob all his blessing, and so God’s covenant with Isaac was passed on not to Esau, the firstborn, but to Jacob.

But this could only happen because it was actually in accordance with God’s will ‒ as is revealed by God’s pronouncement to Rebekah even before the two children were born:

Two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.

Gen 25,21 Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived. 25,22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If it is so, why then am I this way?" So she went to inquire of the LORD. 25,23 The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger." 25,24 When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25,25 Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. 25,26 Afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them. Gen 25,21-26;

God’s covenant with Jacob (Israel).

Jacob went to Haran, to the brother of his mother and later father-in-law Laban, who had two daughters: Leah and Rachel. Jacob fell in love with the younger, Rachel, and agreed with Laban that he would serve him as a shepherd for seven years to win Rachel as his wife. After the seven years were up, the wedding took place ‒ but Laban deceived Jacob, substituting his elder daughter Leah under the veil and under the cover of darkness.

When Jacob discovered the deception on the following morning, he reproached Laban. But Laban said that the elder daughter should always be married before the younger, and offered to give him Rachel as his wife after the wedding week as well, if he would work for him for another seven years. So Jacob took Rachel as his second wife, and remained with Laban for another seven years.

Each of the two sisters brought a maid into the marriage ‒ Leah’s maid was Zilpah and Rachel’s was Bilhah. Leah bore children to Jacob, but Rachel was barren. Rachel was jealous of her sister because she gave birth to these children and she was unable to conceive. So she gave Jacob her maid Bilhah to be his wife, so that the latter might give Jacob children. And when Leah then later ceased to be fruitful, she too gave her maid to Jacob to be his wife so that she should bear him children.

But as Rachel then also became pregnant and bore two children, Jacob had twelve sons in all and one daughter (Dinah, the daughter of Leah).

Now there were twelve sons of Jacob.

Gen 35,22 It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now there were twelve sons of Jacob‒ 35,23 the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun; 35,24 the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; 35,25 and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali; 35,26 and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. Gen 35,22-26;

And these twelve sons of Jacob are the founding fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel, as Jacob was later called by God.

He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel;".

Gen 32,26 Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 32,27 So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." 32,28 He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed." 32,29 Then Jacob asked him and said, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And he blessed him there. Gen 32,26-29;

"You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." Thus He called him Israel

Gen 35,9 Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. 35,10 God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name." Thus He called him Israel. 35,11 God also said to him, "I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you. 35,12 "The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you." 35,13 Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him. Gen 35, 9-13;

When the people of Israel later came to Egypt and were compelled there to perform hard labor, God sent Moses to free them from the tyranny of Pharaoh. After Moses, with the help of God, had led them out of Egypt, three months later they came to Mount Sinai. Here God called Moses to the mountain and gave him the two tablets of the law, and instructed him to write down the commandments of the covenant. And this is the moment in time when God established his covenant with the people of Israel.

Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.

Ex 34,27 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." 34,28 So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Ex 34,27-28;

God’s New Covenant with all human beings.

Israel lived in accordance with these inherited commandments at the time when Jesus of Nazareth began his public mission. In view of his teachings, the scribes (and in particular the great majority of the Sanhedrin, the highest religious body in Israel, and its high priest Caiaphas) regarded him with deep suspicion. At this same period various shadowy figures had appeared claiming to be the Messiah, in order to provoke their followers to revolt against the Romans.

But neither were the statements of this Jesus of Nazareth in any way of a nature to attract the good will of the priestly community. They held that he spoke against the commandments of Moses and was leading the people away from the true faith. And from their point of view not only was this completely wrong ‒ the rabbis of past centuries had also made such drastic changes to the commandments of the covenant in their private interpretations, that in some synagogues sometimes the very opposite was now preached of that which God had actually dictated to Moses (e.g. in relation to the Sabbath).

And as is generally the case in such situations between people, when prejudices arise, nobody listens properly any more. The statements of the Lord were not scrutinized and analyzed in the light of Scripture, but were twisted and turned in such a way as to make them conform to the hearers’ own prejudices. Finally the Jews brought forward two false witnesses to claim that Jesus had said he could destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days.

But the actual reason for the condemnation of the Son of God was the following exchange between Jesus and Caiaphas, during Jesus’ interrogation before the Sanhedrin.

I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.

Mt 26,59 Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death. 26,60 They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward, 26,61 and said, "This man stated, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.’" 26,62 The high priest stood up and said to Him, "Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?" 26,63 But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, "I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God."

26,64 Jesus said to him, "You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven." 26,65 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, "He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; 26,66 what do you think?" They answered, "He deserves death!" 26,67 Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him, 26,68 and said, "Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?" Mt 26,59-68;

Based on all the texts which have come down to us in the Bible, today we are in a good position to assume that the supreme council of the Jews was not unaware of the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth ‒ that they knew he was the Son of God and the promised Messiah. These, after all, were the scribes, who had studied the scriptures more deeply than anyone else in Israel, so they must have had a very detailed knowledge, in particular, of the key theme of Jewish expectations, the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah.

This was in fact clearly confirmed by the Lord in his parable of the vineyard. In this parable God is the landowner, the Jewish scribes and the Sanhedrin are the vine-growers, the slaves of the landowner are God’s prophets and the vineyard is the people of Israel.

This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.

Mt 21,33 "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. 21,34 "When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. 21,35 "The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. 21,36 "Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them.

21,37 "But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 21,38 "But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 21,39 "They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 21,40 "Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?" 21,41 They *said to Him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons." Mt 21,33-41;

So we may well suppose that the Sanhedrin above all was aware of the consequences which would follow from the recognition of Jesus as the Messiah. They had led the people of Israel hitherto. They did not, admittedly, have the right to pass sentence of capital punishment ‒ this had been forbidden them by Rome. But in other respects the Romans did not much care what the Jews did among themselves. So the Sanhedrin exercised not just religious but also statutory authority in the country. And they had believed up till now that the Messiah would come as a mighty king who would free the country from the Roman occupation.

But this Messiah who had come had no power whatever. From their point of view, he was not capable of liberating Israel. Indeed he was not even able to liberate himself. Even those members of the supreme council who believed in his words clearly came in the end to the conviction that it would be better if the Sanhedrin continued to rule in Israel. In the last resort, after all, each one of them was personally affected. If this man really was the Messiah, they would have to surrender their power to him. So it would mean the end of their honor and glory as leaders of the people.

But even if we take all this into account, in the final result it was their lack of faith in God and overweening self-confidence which led to this fiasco on the part of the Jewish hierarchy. This is proved, not least, by the miracles which Jesus had performed, and which the scribes simply declared to be trickery, without investigating them at close quarters. No single person has ever been able either before or since to perform all these miracles. Given a modicum of good will, they should have been the best possible demonstration of the authenticity of the Messiah.

And yet Jesus, after all, had never excluded the Jews. He had only announced that God was establishing a new covenant in which both the Jews and the Gentiles would have the possibility of salvation. Many statements of the Lord’s prove that he addressed his words to the Jews first of all. In the following passage for example (Jn 10,14-17), he refers to the Jews as "sheep of this fold" and then announces that he has other sheep as well who are not of this fold, not of Israel in other words ‒ namely the people of the Gentiles who will come to the Christian faith. And he adds, "They will become one flock with one shepherd."

I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

Jn 10,14 "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 10,15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 10,16 "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. 10,17 "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. Jn 10,14-17;

God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth

1Tim 2,3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 2,4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2,5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 2,6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. 1Tim 2, 3- 6;

As we can see from many other passages in Scripture as well, in the past Israel and the Gentiles had different paths to God but now, since the Son of God became a man, there remains only one way open to both of them ‒ that of faith in Jesus Christ and his vicarious sacrifice for our sins. But this has not been understood by many Jews right down to the present day. And worse than that, they despise the one shepherd, their Messiah, as an impostor and blasphemer and so reject the entire New Testament ‒ as becomes clearly apparent in the following interpretation by Reggie Kelly, a Christian commentator from Minnesota, USA.

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

So Reggie Kelly sees the coming Day of Lord as a kind of turning point, involving on the one hand the end of the "times of the Gentiles" and the restoration of Israel as a nation, and its return to the land of Israel as a result of the Second Coming of Christ on the other. And here we definitely have to agree with him. But the corollary is then also true ‒ that according to Scripture, Israel will remain in the Diaspora up till this future point in time, and so its willful return in the year 1948 was not the gathering of the nation by God, as the Jews invariably claim. And what is even more of a problem is that Israel will have to be scattered once more, in order for these prophecies of the gathering to be fulfilled.

The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God.

Deut 30,1 "So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the LORD your God has banished you, 30,2 and you return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, 30,3 then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. 30,4 "If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. 30,5 "The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 30,6 "Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live. Deut 30, 1- 6;

This text from Deut 30,1-6 is also cited by Kelly, completely correctly, with reference to the "new heart" which God has promised to the people of Israel. But we can also see in this very passage important indications of the conversion of Israel and its return to the land. Deut 30,1 prophesies that all the blessing of the old covenant, and all the curse as well, will come upon Israel ‒ because, as we are told in the preceding chapter (Deut 29,25), "they forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers".

And then verse 30,1 continues: "When (...) you call them to mind in all nations where the LORD your God has banished you, and you return to the LORD". So according to these prophecies Israel will convert while still being scattered among all the nations, still in the Diaspora, in other words. The temporal sequence, then, is not return and then conversion ‒ as those who argue for the "1948 gathering" claim ‒ but rather first conversion, while still in the Diaspora, and only after that the return to the land of Israel.

But then Kelly thinks that in this event ‒ the conversion and return of Israel ‒ we can also see the beginning of the "New Covenant" of Jer 31. We can agree with him here to a certain extent, in view of the fact that this statement and the prophecy cited earlier from Deut 29,25 ("Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers") simultaneously confirm that up to this point of conversion and return Israel will be separated from its God ‒ because they have forsaken the old covenant and the new covenant, in Kelly’s opinion, is yet to come; but his view that this then will be the New Covenant is not in accordance with Scripture.

This view of things easily suggests itself if biblical exegesis concentrates almost exclusively on the Old Testament. If we take a look at Kelly’s biblical interpretations on his website, we find there a vast quantity of biblical quotations, but only two or three from the New Testament. Yet that is the place where, as he could have found, the question of the New Covenant actually makes its appearance. At his last supper with his disciples, the Lord gave them the following revelation:

This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.

Lk 22,19 And when He had taken some bread and 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."
22,20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. Lk 22,19-20;

Now it might be argued that this is the New Covenant for the Christians, but not for the Jews. But this is not the case. The disciples were not "Christians" at that time. They were Jews, and the children of Jewish parents. And the Lord says to them: "the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you". Of course it is correct that this promise was to be valid for all Christian believers from the Gentiles as well. But first of all it was offered to the Jews.

We must be aware that the Lord knew that the Jewish Sanhedrin was going to reject him, condemn him to death and hand him over to the Romans to be crucified ‒ and that his Father, the God of the Jews, who had sent his Son for the salvation of the Jewish people, would punish this deed of blood severely. That is also the background to the Lord’s prophecy, when his disciples drew his attention to the beauty of the Temple:

Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.

Mt 24,2 And He said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down." Mt 24, 2;

After the Jews had discarded him, our Lord knew that the Father would likewise discard the Jews. Consequently in the year 70 AD both the Temple and the city of Jerusalem were completely destroyed by Titus’ Roman troops. But without the Temple and without the sacrificial altar, the most important commandments of the Old Covenant ‒ that is to say, the many sacrifices, and above all the sin offering whereby every Israelite of the Mosaic faith could receive forgiveness of his sins from God ‒ could no longer be fulfilled. Since then, over the last two thousand years all Jews, unless they have come to believe in Jesus Christ, have died without any forgiveness of their sins. And so they have been assigned to eternal damnation in accordance with both Christian as well as Mosaic law. And this too was prophesied to the Jews by our Lord:

Unless you believe that I am He (the Messiah), you will die in your sins.

Jn 8,24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins." Jn 8,24;

At this point in time the Israelites abandoned the covenant with God, and lost their God. And just a little later God then expelled the entire people of Israel from their land and dispersed them among all the nations.

But in the above prophecy by the Lord we not only recognize the punishment which has fallen upon the Jews ‒ we can also see the exit route which God has left open to them. The Lord Jesus says: "Unless you believe that I am He" (in other words, the Messiah). And here again, of course, he was speaking to Jews. This makes it quite clear that at the time God abandoned the Jewish people, because of its unpardonable act of blood, but his grace has still offered them an exit route: if the Jews believe that this Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah and the Son of God, then they are saved.

This is because they will then no longer need any Temple, altar or animal sacrifice, but can present God with this vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God for their sins and so obtain forgiveness. They have been justified through grace, and can, as righteous persons, stand before their God and pray to him.

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Rom 10,4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 10,5 For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. 10,6 But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: "Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), 10,7 or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)." 10,8 But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart"‒that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 10,9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

10,10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 10,11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed." 10,12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 10,13 for "Whoever will call on the name of the LORD will be saved." Rom 10, 4-13;

But now we have been released from the Law.

Rom 7,6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. Rom 7, 6;

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.

Rom 3,21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 3,22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 3,23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 3,24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 3,25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 3,26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Rom 3,21-26;

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

Yes indeed, final security in the land of Israel is the clear identifying feature of the Old Covenant. So the fulfillment of this covenant can on no account be moved forward to the present time. Today Israel has no security in dwelling in its land. Only in the Millennium, in the Thousand Years Kingdom of Peace of the Son of God, will Israel dwell there with security and never again will they learn war (Isa 2:4). This security in the land is also referred to by Ezekiel in Eze 39,26:

When they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid.

Eze 39,25 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name. 39,26 "They will forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid. 39,27 "When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many nations. 39,28 "Then they will know that I am the LORD their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer. 39,29 "I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel," declares the Lord GOD. Eze 39,25-29;

(See also Chapter 10: "The Millennium.")

But for other reasons as well, we need to take a very close look at this passage. In verse 39,27 it is written: "When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies". This is the genuine gathering of Israel by its God, and here God says himself that he has gathered them from the lands of their enemies. In the year 1948 the Jews were not gathered from the lands of their enemies. Quite on the contrary, people were not that enraptured with the Jews and so were happy to get rid of them by sending them to Palestine but the Jews had very few enemies at the time, and definitely did not come from the lands of their enemies.

It then goes on, in verse 39,28: "Then they will know that I am the LORD their God because I made them go into exile among the nations". So it was God who made them go into exile among the nations. Not even in the Nazi period were the Jews forced into exile in Germany, let alone in any other countries. They had all been living for decades, if not centuries, in these countries already. And so this forcing into exile ‒ as well as the subsequent gathering together by God ‒ must still lie in the future. For all these reasons it is apparent that the above prophecies do not refer to the "1948 Gathering", as some people like to argue, but rather to the future gathering of Israel by God in the Last Days.

But the further arguments of Reggie Kelly are very dubious. He writes:

"However, for the covenant to be fulfilled in its full scope, it is not enough that only a remnant receive a new heart and a new spirit (Eze 11:19; 36:26), because the presence of a godly remnant was never sufficient to keep the nation from backsliding and going again into exile."

Here he is evidently referring to biblical passages like Isa 10,21, and clearly thinks that this prophecy would be untrue because a "remnant" would not be sufficient to keep Israel from backsliding.

A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

Isa 10,21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. 10,22 For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, Only a remnant within them will return; A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. 10,23 For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, the Lord GOD of hosts will execute in the midst of the whole land. Isa 10,21-23;

Here two things are to be noted. First of all, when we read the context of these passages, we recognize that this remnant is not a body of the "elect" within the nation of Israel, as Kelly clearly assumes. On the contrary, as the statement that "destruction is determined" clearly indicates, these are just those people who are left after the catastrophes of the Day of the Lord (the Day of the Wrath of the Lord/The reorganization of heaven and earth) ‒ in other words, simply survivors. There just will be then very few people left on earth. They will multiply again subsequently and at a later stage there will again be many human beings living on earth, but at this point it will just be a small remnant ‒ of the Jews, as of the Gentiles.

(See also Chapter 08: "The reorganization of heaven and earth.")

(See also Chapter 09: "The return home of the redeemed.")

And so Kelly also misunderstands the outpouring of the Spirit of God, as it is described for us in Isa 44,3-5 in greater detail:

I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring and My blessing on your descendants.

Isa 44,3 ‘For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants; 44,4 And they will spring up among the grass Like poplars by streams of water.’ 44,5 "This one will say, ‘I am the LORD’S’ And that one will call on the name of Jacob; And another will write on his hand, ‘Belonging to the LORD,’ And will name Israel’s name with honor. Isa 44, 3- 5;

Just because Kelly anticipates these events of the Last Days by placing them in the present, even he can hardly imagine that today’s Israel, even as a result of the outpouring of the Spirit of God, would not still be capable of repeatedly falling away from its God, and so he argues as follows: "because the presence of a godly remnant was never sufficient to keep the nation from backsliding and going again into exile."

Quite apart from the question which suggests itself here what kind of power Kelly concedes to the Spirit of God, if he sees such a risk still prevailing ‒ he would have had the opportunity of recognizing, here above all, that this gathering will only take place in the future and not in our own time. But because on the one hand he anticipates the prophecies relating to the future of Israel by applying them to the godless Israel of the present day, and on the other ‒ as we will see shortly ‒ relegates the New Covenant in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which has already existed for two millennia, into the future, after the Great Tribulation, he is faced with a dilemma. His scriptural texts fail to match up, from the back to the front, and so he is even compelled to call in question the power of the Holy Spirit.

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

(See also Discourse 61: "Is the Great Tribulation identical with the Day of the Lord and the Wrath of God?")

Apart from the fact that, based on our most recent understanding of the matter, the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord are two separate occurrences of the Last Days and occur at different times, Reggie Kelly has here clearly misunderstood something quite basic. Rom 1,17 does not refer to the righteousness of the Lord, as he presents it, but rather to the righteousness which is attributed by God to all Christian believers because of their faith (in Jesus Christ: Rom 3:22; 4:5; 9:30; Gal 3:11;) and the grace of God (Eph 2:8) accordingly granted to them.

But the righteous man shall live by faith.

Rom 1,16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 1,17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith." Rom 1,16-17;

When Kelly says, "His (Christ’s) righteousness, in contrast to all human righteous, is alone sufficient to meet all the demands of the covenant, and so preserve the nation in the Land forever", this is certainly correct in theory, but it completely misses the biblical reality. It is not Christ who must fulfill the covenant, but rather the Jews. For a better understanding of these implications, we had better define here what righteousness is, and more importantly, what a righteous person is.

A righteous person is a person who keeps all the commandments of God. And so Christ, who fulfilled all the commandments of God ‒ even to the extent of suffering death on the cross ‒ was an absolutely righteous person, and his righteousness was righteousness in its perfect form. The absolutely righteous God calls for this kind of complete righteousness from all his servants and faithful. Anyone who does not keep God’s commandments is condemned by God to death. But the righteousness of human beings can never be perfect, and so all human beings are deserving of death.

For the wages of sin is death.

Rom 6,23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 6,23;

But God loves humanity, and so, in the Old Covenant, allowed the Israelites to sacrifice the life of an animal instead of having to give their own lives for their sins. As a result, the Israelites had all their sins forgiven and they regained, as righteous persons, access to God in prayer and in their lives. But then God sent his Son to earth as a human being. In order to satisfy God’s absolute righteousness once and for all, Jesus Christ offered up his life on the cross as a sin offering for all the sins of all human beings.

From this time on there was no longer any righteousness in accordance with the Law ‒ instead, we only have righteousness through grace as a result of faith in Jesus Christ and his vicarious sacrifice for the sins of all human beings. Our Lord Jesus Christ was the "Lamb of God" who gave his life for the sins of the world. And it was he too who with his sacrifice concluded a New Covenant with humanity.

This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.

Lk 22,19 And when He had taken some bread and 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." 22,20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. Lk 22,19-20;

And so when Reggie Kelly writes:

"His (Christ’s) righteousness, in contrast to all human righteous, is alone sufficient to meet all the demands of the covenant, and so preserve the nation in the Land forever. This is the righteousness that the gospel reveals (Ro 1:17)."

- we can detect three errors of interpretation:

o  To begin with Reggie Kelly is here patently invoking the Old Covenant, which has long been a thing of the past. This covenant does not any longer exist!! Since the death of the Son of God on the cross, only the New Covenant in His blood applies to all human beings ‒ both Jews and Gentiles. In this New Covenant there is just one requirement ‒ faith in this Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah and the Son of God, and in his vicarious sacrifice for our sins. Whoever believes in this will be led onto the right path by the Spirit of God.

I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will never die. 

Jn 11,25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 11,26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" 11,27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world." Jn 11,25-27;

o  And this New Covenant, established two thousand years ago, is that same New Covenant which has already been announced in the Old Testament ‒ e.g. in Jer 31 ‒ and which Kelly in the above passage attempts to relegate, incorrectly, to the time after the Great Tribulation, when he writes "that the time that the New Covenant would be established with Israel is AFTER the ’time of Jacob’s trouble’.".

Exactly the same proof that these two promises from the Old Testament and the New Testament (Jer 31:31-34 and Lk 22:20;) are identical is provided by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Letter to the Jews), in chapters 8 to 10 (Heb 8:1-13; 9:1-28; 10:1-39). According to Scripture there is no "New Covenant" after the Day of the Lord ‒ rather this New Covenant has been around a long time already, for the last two thousand years, only Israel has not yet come to realize it. This is God’s New Covenant with all human beings in the blood of his Son.

o  And secondly, of course it is not Jesus Christ who must fulfill the requirements of this covenant, as Reggie Kelly writes ‒ this is rather expected of us, as Christian believers. We must believe in him and his redeeming sacrifice on the cross, in order to have our sins forgiven by God, so that then ‒ although we are sinners ‒ we may be able to stand before God as righteous persons sanctified through grace, may be able to pray to him and to have the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

o  And finally we are forced to the conclusion, with some surprise, that Kelly sees the content of the gospel in the righteousness of the Lord: "His (Christ’s) righteousness... is the righteousness that the gospel reveals". Since Jesus Christ is God, and the righteousness of God, according to Scripture, is absolute, naturally Jesus’ righteousness is equally absolute. But that is not the gospel. The gospel ‒ the "good news" ‒ is

Above all here Kelly should have referred ‒ especially for the Jews ‒ to the connection between the Pentateuch and the real content of the gospel. The prophecy of this New Covenant, through the sacrifice on the cross of the Son of God, is already present after all in the Pentateuch, in Num 21,4-9:

If a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

Num 21,4 Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey. 21,5 The people spoke against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food." 21,6 The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 21,7 So the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us." And Moses interceded for the people. 21,8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live." 21,9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. Num 21, 4- 9;

And our Lord Jesus Christ did in fact indicate to the Jews and scribes of his own time ‒ as in the following passage to Nicodemus ‒ that this very ancient prophecy was on the point of being fulfilled:

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

Jn 3,14 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 3,15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 3,16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 3,17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 3,18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Jn 3,14-18;

And with that he again confirmed what he had told them repeatedly:

I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

Mt 5,17 "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. Mt 5,17:

So it would be important even in our own times to make it clear to the Jews that the covenant in which they still believe no longer exists, seeing that it was dissolved by God two thousand years ago. The proof of this is the destruction of the Temple and of the altar in Jerusalem. So the high priest can no longer enter the Holy of Holies every year with blood which he offers for himself and for the strayings of his people. And Jewish believers have no longer had the possibility, since that time, of having their sins forgiven in accordance with the commandments of the Old Covenant in such a way that their prayers would once again be heard by God.

For this reason Jesus Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

Hbr 9,11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; 

9,12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

9,13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 9,14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 9,15 For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. Heb 9,11-15;

This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD.

Hbr 10,10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 10,11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 10,12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of GOD, 10,13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. 10,14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. 10,15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, 10,16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put my laws upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them," (Jer 31,33) He then says, 10,17 "And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." (Jer 31,34) 18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin. Hbr 10,10-18;

I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.

Isa 28,14 Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, 28,15 Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception." 28,16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. Isa 28,14-16;

The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone.

Ps 118,16 The right hand of the LORD is exalted; The right hand of the LORD does valiantly. 118,17 I will not die, but live, And tell of the works of the LORD. 118,18 The LORD has disciplined me severely, But He has not given me over to death. 118,19 Open to me the gates of righteousness; I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to the LORD. 118,20 This is the gate of the LORD; The righteous will enter through it. 118,21 I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me, And You have become my salvation. 118,22 The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. 118,23 This is the LORD’S doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. 118,24 This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it! Ps 118,16-24;

Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘the stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone’?

Mt 21,42 Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘the stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone; this came about from the LORD, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 21,43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. 21,44 "And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust." 21,45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. 21,46 When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet. Mt 21,42-46;

But the Jews do not have to wait ‒ as Kelly thinks ‒ for the New Covenant until the time of the Great Tribulation. This New Covenant has already been around for two thousand years, and all they have to do is to accept it. Jesus Christ has become the cornerstone of belief in God the Almighty, and the New Covenant in his blood is the one and only possible path of salvation. When Israel accepts this New Covenant in Christ Jesus, God will no longer remember their sins and will implant his laws in their hearts and write them in their minds. This is confirmed by the Holy Spirit, as set down in the Epistle to the Hebrews referred to earlier.

And when Christ comes, and the remnant of Israel see him whom they have pierced and weep bitterly over him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn, then it will be this same covenant of forgiveness through grace, and not any other covenant, which Israel will enter into. (Isa 14:1; Jer 31:33-34; Eze 16:60; 37:26; Heb 8:10-12;)

They will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

Zech 12,10 "I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. Zech 12,10;

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

Always assuming that Kelly really means what he writes, his definition of the gospel is quite simply wrong. He writes here:

"The revelation of the day of the Lord solves only part of the dilemma. It still did not explain what would come to light with the glorious revelation of the mystery of the gospel. The gospel reveals the atonement."

Whatever else the gospel may reveal to us, what the entire New Testament understands by the euangelion, the "good news", is salvation by grace through the vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God for the sins of all human beings. ‒ That is the mystery of the gospel. How is it possible to avoid mentioning it, as Kelly does here?

God’s covenants, by Jacob Damkani. / The teaching of the Messianic Jews           Discourse 1111