New Covenant

I have been spending my time lately in Ezekiel lately. I have preached for a long time that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament promise of a New Covenant. A Covenant that was denied for a time by Israel but confirmed in the Gentiles. I have said these things but to be honest I only had a passing knowledge of these things.

It was Ezekiel 36:24-28 that opened my eyes to this lack of knowledge.



" 'For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God."

Here was a clear presentation of much that I had been taught concerning the Covenant but never understood from where it came. From here we can understand why John was baptizing and the early Church understood it to be the sign of entering into the New Covenant (like circumcision before). He will cleanse us of our sins. He will give us a new heart that is receptive to God. Here we understand that God will give us a new spirit to enable us to follow his decrees. Likewise he promises to send his Spirit to lead us into righteousness.

This is further explained by Ezekiel 11:19-20 which seems to suggest that this heart he put within us will be "one heart." Which I take as being bound together in our affections for God and one another to follow God's decrees.

So much in such a small passage. A great deal of understanding granted to those who read. So it caused me to wonder. What else is there to be heard and seen. Would it not be profitable for all of us to understand these basic tenets of the faith and from where they can be preached in the Old Testament?

I would like to share a few of my findings in Ezekiel. I encourage you who read this to share any passages that God may lay on your heart. Especially as it ties into the New Covenant. But I will terry for a little while in Ezekiel. My next passage is from Chapter 16:60-62.

"Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. ⁶¹ Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both those who are older than you and those who are younger. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on the basis of my covenant with you. ⁶² So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD. ⁶³ that you may remember and be ashamed, and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done,” says the Lord GOD.’”

From this we understand that to come to God is to repent of our evil deeds (vs 61). There is also a prophetic uniting of the Church with Israel (vs 61-62). Each united with one another on the basis not of the old covenant but the new. Verse 63 points to the necessary atonement that is provided by God. As Christians we recognize that this comes from Jesus and his death upon the cross.

If you have further insights please feel free to post them. I hope that we can all grow together in the Lord.