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PAGE 73
(i) THE NEW COVENANT
THE BIBLE is the
Book of the Kingdom of God, and teaches
us that it has already once existed for 1024
years under Moses, Joshua, the judges, and
Kings. With the exception of the two years
of Ishbosheth's reign, it was a united kingdom
for 92 years of this millennium under Saul,
David, Solomon, and the first four years of
Rehoboam. From the fourth of Rehoboarn it was
governed by two dynasties. Ten of its tribes
were ruled by kings whom they set up over themselves
without regard to the authority of Jehovah
to whom the kingdom belonged (Hosea 8:4). Thus
they raised the standard of rebellion, and
rejected the sovereignty of the House of David,
which God had chosen to be the royal house
of his kingdom as long as the sun and moon
should endure throughout all generations.
This usurped royalty of Ephraim, or of the Ten Tribes, continued
256 years; but Judah yet ruled with God, and was faithful
with the Most Holy (Hosea 9:12), whose dynasty of the family
of David they still continued to acknowledge. In the sixth
year of Hezekiah, king of Judah, the Ten Tribes were "removed
out of God's sight" (2 Kings 17:18), that is, they were
driven out of His land or kingdom, and the Tribe of Judah
only remained.
In a few years, however, Judah became unmanageable. "The
chief of the priests and the people transgressed very much
after the abomination of the heathen; and polluted the temple
of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the Lord
God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, continually
and carefully sending; because he had compassion on his people,
and on his dwelling place: and they mocked the messengers
of God, and despised the words and misused his prophets until
the wrath of Jehovah arose against his people, till there
was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of
the Chaldees" (2 Chron. 36:14-17). This event happened
134 years after the removal of Ephraim out of his sight, or
390 years from the rebellion against the house of David; so
that during 474 years of this millennium of the kingdom of
God, David and his lineal descendants reigned over the House
of Judah.
The kingdom of God thus brought to a temporary conclusion
has never existed since under the sovereignty of
a king or kings of the house of David. Its existence
ceased even as a Commonwealth during the captivity
in Babylon which lasted seventy years. At the end
of this period the kingdom reappeared in Judea;
but it was no longer governed by Jewish monarchs
exalted to the throne either by God or the people.
Jehovah (Yahweh) permitted his kingdom to be subject
to the lordship of the Gentiles, until the end of
430 years from the burning of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar.
For 122 years after the interposition of the Roman
senate, God's kingdom was ruled by Jewish princes
of the tribe of Levi, that is, until the Gentile
of Idumea, named Herod, became king in Jerusalem,
in the 37th year of whose reign Jesus, the Son of
God and of David and the rightful heir of the throne
of Jehovah's (Yahweh's) kingdom, was born King of
the Jews.
From the commencement of Herod's reign till the destruction
of Jerusalem and the temple, a period of 111 years, the kingdom
of God was possessed by the Gentiles; in other words, Israel
did not possess the kingdom. From the knowledge of this fact,
the reader will be well able to appreciate the force of the
question put by the apostles to Jesus after his resurrection,
and as a result of their conversation for forty days upon
the subject of the kingdom, saying, "Lord, wilt thou
at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts
1:6). They knew that he was "The Restorer"; (Isa.
58:12) and believing that "all power was given unto him
in heaven and upon earth", (Matt. 28:18) they thought
the time had certainly come for the Restoration of all things
to Israel spoken of by all the prophets from the days of Moses
(Dent. 30:1-10). This supposition prompted the question.
But they were too fast. Messiah the prince having come, the
kingdom could not be "restored again to Israel" so
long as the Mosaic Covenant continued in force. This must
be "changed", the kingdom must be suppressed and
desolated, and Jerusalem, the city of the Great King of Israel,
be trodden under foot of the Gentiles until their times be
fulfilled. They had forgotten these things, and that the kingdom
of God was not immediately to appear under the sovereignty
of the Son of Man; but that he was first to take a journey
into a far country, where he was to be detained until "the
times of the restitution", called also "the Regeneration",
should arrive (Luke 19:11-12; Acts 3 :21; Matt. 19:28). In
the year 74 after the birth of Jesus the kingdom was broken
up, and the Mosaic covenant trampled, under foot -- not
finally abolished, but temporarily suppressed, that it may
be "changed" in certain essential and highly important
particulars.
God has had no organized kingdom upon earth since its overthrow
by the Roman power. The kingdom in the sense of its territory
is where it always was; and its children, or subjects, "His
people Israel", are to be found in every land, still
in hope that the time will come when the kingdom will be restored
again to them; and "God will subdue the people under
them, and the nations under their feet"; for they do
not forget the testimony that "the kingdom shall come
to the daughter of Jerusalem", and that "the nation
and kingdom that will not serve Zion shall perish; yea, those
nations shall be utterly wasted" (Psa. 47:3; Micah 4:7-8;
Isa. 60:12). The Heir of the kingdom is at the right hand
of the Divine Majesty; and his joint-heirs, the most of them,
mouldering and sleeping in the dust, with a few surviving
stragglers still existing in the Protestant section of the
globe, enduring reproach and tribulation in the hope of its
speedy and triumphant restitution.
These are the dissolved and scattered fragments of the kingdom
of God. Their reunion is a matter of promise, and consequently
of hope. The Gentiles must be expelled [from] the territory;
the twelve tribes must be replanted upon the land; the sleeping
heirs of the government must be awaked, and the living believers
in this kingdom changed: and to effect all this, God's Heir,
the Restorer of the Kingdom, must come and subdue all things
to himself. When these things shall come to pass, God will
have "accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people" (Dan.
12:7), that is, their power shall be no more scattered, but
shall be restored to them: and He will come whose right the
kingdom is, and God will give it him (Ezek. 21:27).
Having thus presented the reader with a few ideas concerning
the kingdom that he may have something tangible and definite
before his mind when we refer to it, we shall proceed now
to make a few remarks to the inquiry, What is a covenant?
The kingdom as it was, and the kingdom as it is to be, although
the same kingdom, is exhibited in the scriptures under Two
Covenants, or constitutions. But before adverting more particularly
to these it may be necessary to say a word or two in answer
to the inquiry, "What is a Covenant?"
It is a word of very
frequent occurrence in scripture, and the representative
in our language of the Hebrew berith. In
English, covenant signifies "a mutual agreement
of two or more persons to do or forbear some act or thing".
This, however, is not the sense of the word berith when
used in relation to the things of the kingdom. Men's
compliance or acceptance does not constitute the berith of
the kingdom a covenant. It is a covenant whether they
consent or not, and is enforced as the imperious enactment
of an absolute king. It points out God's chosen, selected,
and determined plan or purpose, entirely independent
of anyone's consent, either asked or given, and is equivalent
to a system of government fixed by the Prince, and imposed
on the people without the slightest consultation between
them. Accordingly, what is called the covenant in one
place, is denominated the law in another. As, "He
hath remembered his covenant for ever,
the word which he commanded to a thousand
generations; which covenant he made with
Abraham, and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a
law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant".
(Ps. 105:8-10) "These are the words of the covenant which
the Lord commanded Moses to make with the
children of Israel. Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the
man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant which
I commanded your fathers." (Deut.
29:1; Jer. 11:3) It is evident from this that covenant
and law are used as synonymous and convertible terms.
The statements of the New Testament conduct us to the same
conclusion. It may be proper to remark here that a berith,
or covenant, is expressed in Greek as diatheke.
This is the word used in the Septuagint as the translation
of berith.
The beriths, diathekes, or covenants
of the kingdom of God are absolute decrees, which make, or
constitute things what they were, and what they shall be.
Hence "the Builder and Maker (or constitutor) of all
things is God": (Heb. 11:10) "for whose pleasure
they are and were created". (Rev. 4:11) But though these
covenants are absolute, and the necessity to observe them
imperative on all who are placed under them, they are replete
with blessings to Israel and the nations, being founded upon "exceeding
great and precious promises". (2 Pet. 1:4) Hence, they
are styled "the covenants of promise" (Eph. 2:12).
One of them is styled "the Covenant from Mount Sinai";
and the other, the Covenant from Jerusalem which is above
and free (Gal. 4:24-27). The Sinai Covenant is synonymous
with the Jerusalem Covenant which now is, that is, as it existed
in Paul's day; while the other covenant is the Jerusalem Covenant
which is to be; and because Jerusalem, which is now "desolate",
will then be "free", and "above" Jerusalem
in her greatest glory under the Sinai Covenant, she is styled ano,
that is, above, higher, or more exalted; and is "the
mother of all" (Gal.4:26) who believe the things of the
kingdom of God, which will come, or be restored to her, when
as "the city of the Great King" (Matt. 5:35) she
shall have awaked from her present nonvinous inebriation,
and have put on "her beautiful garments" (Isa. 51:21;
52:1).
Strictly speaking, the Sinai Covenant, although based on promises,
is not one of "the covenants of promise" (Eph. 2:12)
Paul refers to in Ephesians. These are the Covenant of promise
to Abraham, and the Covenant of promise to David; both of
which are elemental principles of the Covenant of the Free
Jerusalem, which is to "go forth from Zion" in the
latter days (Isa. 2:3). The Sinai covenant is styled "the
first", the one to be hereafter proclaimed to Israel, "the
second", although the latter is more ancient than the
Sinai law in promise by 430 years, yet as a national berith constituting
the kingdom of God in its civil and ecclesiastical appurtenances
under Messiah the prince and the saints, it is second in the
order of proclamation to the Twelve Tribes. The promises of
the first covenant, which was added to the ancient covenant
(Gal. 3:19), were the blessings of Mount Gerizim consequent
upon their hearkening to the voice of Jehovah (Yahweh) their
God, (Deut. 28:1-14). In these there was no promise of eternal
glory and life; of an everlasting individual and national
inheritance of the land; of universal dominion under Abraham's
Seed; of everlasting righteousness from one atonement; and
of no possible evil coming upon them as a nation. On the contrary,
the promises were accompanied with terrible threatenings,
which have resulted in all the curses of Jehovah (Yahweh)
pronounced upon them for not observing to do all his commandments
and statutes.
But the Second Covenant of the kingdom of Israel is established,
or ordained for a law, upon better promises; and is therefore
styled "a better covenant" (Heb.8:6). It abolishes
the remembrance of national offences every year. Under the
Sinai covenant these accumulated notwithstanding the yearly
atonement, until the magnitude of its guilt crushed the nation,
and caused its dispersion into all the kingdoms of the earth,
as at this day. The better covenant, however, promises to
Israel a great and everlasting amnesty for all past national
transgression (Jer.31:31-34), not by virtue of the sacrifice
of bulls and goats, which cannot take away sins, offered up
by a sinful priest of the order of Aaron; but by a purification
that shall be vouchsafed to the repentant tribes, issuing
forth from "a fountain opened to the House of David and
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness";
by the blood of which Jesus has entered into the presence
of Jehovah (Yahweh) himself, a High Priest of the tribe of
Judah, consecrated after the power of an endless life, who
will then have appeared the second time, having returned from
the Most Holy to proclaim to his nation that God has been
merciful to their unrighteousness, and will henceforth remember
their sins and iniquities no more (Zech. 13:I; Heb. 9:24;
7:16; 9:28; Ezek. 36:25-28).
This great national reconciliation being consummated, and
the Twelve Tribes grafted into their own olive again, they
will then enjoy the better promises of the second Covenant.
A new heart, and a new spirit they will then possess. They
will be God's reconciled people, and He will be their God.
He will call for the corn and increase it, and lay no famine
upon them; and they shall receive no more reproach among the
nations. Their land that was desolate will then be as the
garden of Eden. Jerusalem will be a rejoicing, and Israel
a joy. Their lives shall endure as the days of a tree, and
they shall wear out the works of their hands (Isa. 65:17-25).
These are a few incidents of the national blessedness that
awaits Israel, when the kingdom of God shall be restored to
them, and established in the second millennium of its independence
under the New and Better Covenant.
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