Reply to Greg re The Covenant that was confirmed

There have been many 5 Doves’ posts over the years referring to the confirmation of Abraham’s Covenant. Therefore, it appears that the Christian Community is unaware that it was actually Jeremiah’s Covenant , (for the forgiveness of sin, Jeremiah 31:31–34) that Jesus came to confirm! This confirmation was achieved in the middle of the 70^th Week in Daniel’s Prophecy (Dan. 9:24–27), by Jesus’ sacrificial death when he made his soul an offering for sin. (Isaiah 53:10a)

I am attaching an excerpt from my Book – The Curse and the Covenant – (below) which I hope will be informative, and I hope to make the whole book available—for free—on the Five Doves site at Easter. At 188 pages (in its original book form) it can be read easily in a day. I am also sending in a separate post, one of the Appendices called, A Comparison of God’s Principal Covenants, for your information.

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. (Jeremiah 31:31)

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 neighbour, 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. (Jeremiah 31:33–34)

Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince,there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks…

And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off,but not for Himself…

Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. (Daniel 9:24, 25b, 26a and 27a)

As portrayed in the Prophecy of Seventy Weeks, the New Covenant with many, can only be confirmed when Messiah is cut off in a sacrificial act of atonement for the sins of all Israel, and for the sins of Gentiles. The phrase cut off is derived from Strong’s Hebrew word No. 3772, karat, which means ‘to cut off, cut down, to make a covenant/agreement’ and it implies the cutting of a sacrificial animal to confirm a covenant.[i]

Thus, in the middle of the special seventieth sabua ‘7 years’ (that had been purposely reserved for instituting the New Covenant for Daniel’s people, and for the holy city Jerusalem) Messiah would be cut off to become The Covenant! His willing compliance to confirm the Covenant by bearing the sins of the nation had already been described and prophetically forecast by Isaiah in his four Servant Song passages (Isaiah 42:1–4; 49:1–6; 50:4–7; and 52:13–53:12), the last of which is partially quoted below.[ii] (Bold text added)

For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgression of My people He was stricken. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When you make His soul an offering for sin…

He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities…

Because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:6b, 8b, 10a, 11, 12b)[iii]

Isaiah’s Holy Spirit derived foresight—noticeably recorded in the prophetic past tense—reveals that the New Covenant was activated by cutting off from the land of the living, God’s righteous Servant, Messiah, (just as described in the Prophecy of Seventy Weeks); thus confirming that the New Covenant is the supreme and everlasting covenant provided by God, which never needs to be repeated. For this reason it freely offers forgiveness for sin to all who believe in Jesus Christ, both Jew and Gentile alike!

Intriguingly, during His last supper with the disciples (before His death), Jesus’ acted out what he was about to accomplish the following day. He showed them how the old Mosaic covenant (embedded in the Passover Feast), would soon be superseded by the New Covenant in his blood.[iv]

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take eat; this is My body.’ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.’

Within hours, He would become the paschal Lamb of God. At the very moment Jesus was cut off from the land of the living, His sacrificial death and His outpoured blood confirmed the New Covenant. The animal sacrifices being killed at the same time—via the priestly rituals exercised in the Temple in Jerusalem under the old Mosaic Law—were instantaneously made ineffective, obsolete, and totally redundant. Other parallel events proved this to be so!

[i] It means ‘To cut a covenant or make a covenant; a figure of the act of ceremonially cutting an animal into two parts, with an implication of serious consequences for not fulfilling the covenant.’ There is no suggestion that the word ‘covenant’ relates to a peace treaty being instigated with Israel by the anti-Christ, which is then broken later on, (as proposed in dispensationalist teaching)!

[ii] Isaiah’s four recognised Servant Song Passages are: Isaiah 42:1–4; 49:1–6; 50:4–7; and 52:13–53:12. They were written about 740 BC, a century before Cyrus, the king of Persia, conquered Babylon. Although Judaism rejects the application of these ‘servant’ passages to Jesus Christ, and (instead) applies them to Israel, the New Testament clearly directs Isaiah’s words at the ministry of Jesus in Matthew 12:15–21. Jesus Himself claimed he was the anointed One described in Isaiah 61:1–2a, when He quoted Isaiah in Luke 4:16–19 at the beginning of His ministry. The passages relating to Isaiah’s ‘Servant’ certainly describe sufferings similar to those Jesus endured during His arraignment, trial, and crucifixion.

[iii] The death of Jesus Christ as the sacrificial Lamb of God meant that He was the substitute sacrifice for the whole House of Israel (as well as the Gentile nations who were included in the New Covenant). This makes the New Covenant operational and available for all who believe Jesus Christ was Messiah/the Son of God, and accept Him as their Saviour.

[iv] Christians celebrate the New Covenant via Holy Communion.

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