The Everlasting Covenant - 11.1 New Covenant Reference

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11.1 New Covenant References
by Hubert F. Sturges, www.everlastingcovenant.com, March 2009

Topics:
    1. Chronology of the last years of Judah
    2. Chronology of the Captivity
    3. No Remedy:
    4. Jeremiah’s Prophesies
    5. God did not Forsake His People
    6. The Term, “New” Covenant
    7. Old Testament Prophesies of Restoration
    8. Ten Commandments Called the Covenant
    9. Heart Religion in the Old Testament
  10. Earth to be Prepared for Jesus’ Coming
  11. Covenant Terms
  12. Covenants Through History
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1. Chronology of the last years of Judah are as follows:

 King Time Ruled Dates  
                    Josiah 31 years 639-609 bc Last good king of Judah
  Jehoahaz 3 mos. 608 bc Captive to Egypt
  Jehoiakim 11 years 609 bc Temple vessels, Royal family captive
  Jeoaiahchin 3 mos. 597 bc 10,000 chief men to Babylon
  Zedekiah 11 years 597 - 586 bc most remaining Jews captive
  Gedaliah ? mos 586 bc few remaing Jews to Egypt

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2. Chronology of the Captivity and the Restoration
         First siege of Jerusalem
  605 bc Jehoiakim 3rd yr. Daniel 1:1-3 Temple vessels, Royal family captive
  604 bc Jehoiakim 4th yr Jeremiah 25:1, 3 Second siege of Jerusalem
  597 bc Jehoiachin 2 kings 24:8-16 10,000 chief men taken captive (1)
  587 bc Zedekiah 10th yr. Jeremiah 32:1 Jerusalem destroyed, people captive
  586 bc Zedekiah 11th yr. 2 kings 25:2-8 Jerusalem falls, most Jews captive (2)
         
  536 bc Decree of Cyrus 2 Chronicles 36:22 Temple repair begun  (3)
  520 bc Decree of Darius I Ezra 6:14, 15 Temple finished 515 bc
  457 bc Decree of Artaxerxes Ezra 6:14; 7:27 Wall finished, work on temple
  (1) Eze 1:1-3; 33:21; 40:1 (2) Jeremiah 52:5, 12 (3) Ezra 1:1; 5:13

see Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 3, p. 90-103; vol. 2, p. 160
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3. No Remedy:

“Til there was no remedy”
The following verses picture the up and down experience of Israel leading to the captivity. The phrase “till there was no remedy,” is of special interest. This raises the question of the unpardonable sin. At what point does God “let a person go?” An illustration in real life is in doing cardio-pulmonary resuscitation in the Emergency Department of a hospital. When should the team stop attempting to resuscitate the patient?

The answer is that after all modalities have been used that might be effective, and there is no response, then the procedure must be stopped.

Another aspect is that when a person has cut off all the avenues that God can use to reach him, there is nothing more that God can do.  Those avenues include friends and relatives, the pastor and the church, the Bible, Gospel literature, the Holy Spirit.  We don't realize what we do when with a critical complaining spirit we begin to cut off these avenues of reaching God (John 16:12-15; Mark 3:28,29; Ephesians 4:30).

God is longsuffering and merciful. But when it comes to the place where there “is no response” and the soul of the person is “dead” He has to stop and let him go his own way.

    15 “And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:
    16 "But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.
    17 “Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand” (2 Chronicles 36:15-17).

See Enns, Paul: The Moody Handbook of Theology for another viewpoint regarding the Throne of David; and an article on What is the Palestinian Covenant?  www.gotquestions.org
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4. Jeremiah’s prophesies

Jeremiah prophesied 40 years from about 626 - 586 bc
    see also Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4, p. 346-349

Some will say he wrote in the 4th year of Jehoiakim, or about 604 bc
Some will say it was about 10 years after the captivity, or about 596 bc
Others will simply say it was 586 bc.
The important aspect of all these dates is that these messages and the promise of a New Covenant came shortly AFTER the captivity had begun.

In 586 bc, Nebuchadnezzar deposed Zedekiah and destroyed Jerusalem. Gedaliah was appointed king over the remainder.  He was soon slain by renegade forces in the remnant of Judah. These forces were in turn slain by others, who took Jeremiah and went into Egypt. At this point, Jeremiah drops from view (Jeremiah 41 - 44).
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5. God did not forsake His people, even during the Captivity. 
He would renew His covenant with them (Jeremiah 31:10-38; Ezekiel 36:21-38; Zechariah 1:12, 17; 2:12) including the promised blessings (Jeremiah 33:3; 6:26; Ezekiel 36:8-15). All that had been promised might yet come to pass if they would only love and serve Him (Zechariah 6:15)...

The covenant promises were to meet “fulfillment in large measure during the centuries following the return of the Israelites form the lands of their captivity. It was God’s design that the whole earth be prepared for the first advent of Christ, even as today the way is preparing for His second coming.” (White EG: Prophets and Kings, 703, 704)
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6.  The term, “New” Covenant is mentioned just once in the Old Testament in Jeremiah 31:31-34. The word “covenant” is referenced 254 times in the Old Testament, only a portion of these refer to the everlasting covenant. In the New Testament we find “covenant” eighteen times, twelve of these in Hebrews.

We  use the following terms to discuss the covenant,  but they are little used in the Bible:
    New Covenant  –   Jeremiah 31:31; Hebrews 8:8, 8:13; 12:24
    New Testament –  Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 9:15
    Old Covenant  –    none
    Old Testament –    2 Corinthians 3:14
    First Testament –   Hebrews 9:15, 18

The ten commandment law is declared by God to be the covenant (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:9,11,15). The “Ark of the Covenant” is referenced forty one times in the Old Testament, largely because the ten commandments written on two tables of stone were put inside.
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7. Old Testament Promises of Restoration were given in anticipation of their return from captivity. (See Isaiah 10:24-34; 14:1-7; 27:12, 13; 40:2; 61:4-10; Jeremiah 16:14-16; 23:3-8; 25:11; 29:10-13; 30:3-12; 32:7-27; 37:44; Ezekiel 34:11-15; 37; Amos 9:10-15; Micah 2:12,13; etc.) Also see article, “12.0 Covenants Through History” ....

Between the return from Babylon and the rejection of the Messiah, Israel was to have its second and final opportunity as a nation to cooperate with the divine plan. (see Jeremiah 12:14-17; Daniel 9:24; and “The Covenant Mandate” articles #13.0 and 13.3)  Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4, p. 31-32.
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8. Ten Commandments Called the Covenant.
    Exodus 34:28  And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
    Deuteronomy 9:9  the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you,
    Deuteronomy 9:11  the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.
    Deuteronomy 9:15  and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. 
Were kept In the ark:
    Deuteronomy 10:2  I will write on the tables ... and thou shalt put them in the ark.
    Deuteronomy 10:5  I ... put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be,
    1 Kings 8:9  nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, ... when the LORD made a covenant
    2 Chronicles 5:10  nothing in the ark save the two tables ... when the LORD made a covenant.
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9. Heart religion in the Old Testament

    Genesis 3:15   “I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed.”
    Deuteronomy 5:29    “O that there were such an heart in them, that they .. keep all my commandments.”
    Deuteronomy 30:6    “The LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart,... to love the LORD thy God.”
    Psalm 37:31    “The law of his God is in his (the righteous’) heart;”
    Psalm 40:8    “I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.”
    Psalm 51:10    “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
    Isaiah 1:17    “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings...”
    Isaiah 51:7    “The people in whose heart is my law; ...”
    Ezekiel 11:19    “I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:”
    Ezekiel 36:26    “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you:"
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10. Earth to be Prepared for Jesus’ Coming
       “It was God’s design that the whole earth be prepared for the first advent of Christ, even as today the way is preparing for His second coming...
       “By the Babylonish captivity the Israelites were effectually cured of the worship of graven images.  After their return, they gave much attention to religious instruction and to the study of that which had been written in the book of the law and in the prophets concerning the worship of the true God.  The restoration of the temple enabled them to carry out fully the ritual services of the sanctuary.  Under the leadership of Zerubbabel, of Ezra, and of Nehemiah, they repeatedly covenanted to keep all the commandments and ordinances of Jehovah.  The seasons of prosperity that followed, gave ample evidence of God’s willingness to accept and forgive; and yet, with fatal shortsightedness, they turned again and again from their glorious destiny, and selfishly appropriated to themselves that which would have brought healing and spiritual life to countless multitudes.”
       “The restrictions which God had given, forbidding intermarriage between His people and the heathen, and prohibiting Israel from joining in the idolatrous practices of surrounding nations, were so perverted as to build up a wall of partition between the Israelites and all other peoples, thus shutting from others the very blessings which God had commissioned Israel to give to the world.
       “At the same time the Jews were, by their sins, separating themselves from God.  They were unable to discern the deep spiritual significance of their symbolic service.  In their self-righteousness they trusted to their own works, to the sacrifices and ordinances themselves, instead of relying upon the merits of Him to whom all these things pointed.  Thus ’going about to establish their own righteousness,’ they built themselves up in a self-sufficient formalism.  Wanting the Spirit and the grace of God they tried to make up for the lack by a rigorous observance of religious ceremonies and rites.  Not content with the ordinances which God Himself had appointed, they encumbered the divine commands with countless exactions of their own devising.  The greater their distance from God, the more rigorous they were in the observance of these forms.”   White EG: Prophets and Kings, 704-705, 708-709

See also Jeremiah 32:37-40 The covenant upon restoration
and Ezekiel 36:24-28 the people given a new heart at the restoration
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11.  Covenant terms:
Covenant is referred to 272 times in the Bible, 254 times in the old testament. The ark of the covenant is referred to forty times in the old testament, and once in the new. While the concept of “covenant” is well developed in the old testament, there is no discussion of more than one covenant.

The term “my covenant” is used in the Bible fifty one times, forty nine times throughout the Old Testament. This included four times with Noah, ten times with Abraham, and eleven times with Israel before they crossed the Jordan.  “My covenant,” occurring fifty one times in the Bible, suggests a covenant exclusively made by God, yet offered to mankind. This also is consistent with the everlasting covenant given to Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, and at Sinai.

In the new testament, “covenants” (plural) is mentioned three times, old testament once and first testament twice, and no mention of “old covenant.” New covenant is found four times, three are in Hebrews. New testament is present six times, all in the new testament. Covenant issues are discussed extensively in Paul’s epistles, and in Hebrews chapters 8-10.
   

12. Article #12.0 Covenants Through History.
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