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Israel Watch
ISRAEL WATCH
August 2010
THE EVERLASTING COVENANT
By
Dr. David R. Wood
We at Eastern Gate Ministries International
greet all of our partners and friends in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. God
bless every one of you that take the time to come to this website and read these
articles. I praise God all the more for those of you that take a moment to tell
me that you have read it and have been encouraged, strengthened and
enlightened. To God is all the glory. God gets all the glory, as it is from
God that all revelation flows. Praise His name!
This teaching will focus primarily on the
everlasting (or eternal) covenant God has with Israel, the Jewish people, and
the Church, those in Christ Jesus. The Church of Jesus Christ has not replaced
the Jew, God’s first covenant people, in any way. God has an eternal covenant
with both the Jew and the Christian. If it were not for the Jewish people there
would be no Church. If it were not for Abram (later named Abraham by God) there
would be no church, no Messiah. This covenant starts with Abram and includes us
all.
Genesis 12:1-3 (KJV)
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram,
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house,
unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great
nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a
blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless
thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the
earth be blessed.
God tells Abram that he will establish him as a
great nation, later called Israel and through him, Abram; all families of the
earth would be blessed. That is the Jew and the Gentile together. We have
separate but joined covenants. One can not exist without the other. Later God
speaks to Abraham and reaffirms that this is an eternal covenant for the
physical offspring of Abraham through Isaac and the spiritual offspring through
Jesus.
Genesis 17:7 (KJV)
7 And I will establish my covenant
between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an
everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
The first part of the above verse is speaking
to the physical offspring of Abraham through Isaac and the latter part is
speaking about Jesus (“and to thy seed after thee.”). Oh, praise the Lord!
Paul confirms this in his letter to the Galatians.
Galatians 3:16 (KJV)
16 Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to
thy seed, which is Christ.
The following passage lets us know that
salvation became possible for all people (including the Jew) through the Jewish
peoples. However, God did not discard them in the process. God forbid! They
remain His chosen people! This should comfort us because it speaks of the
infinite mercy of God and His absolute inability to break covenant.
Romans 11:25-29 (AMP)
25 Lest you be self-opinionated
(wise in your own conceits), I do not want you to miss this hidden truth
and
mystery, brethren: a hardening (insensibility) has [temporarily] befallen a part
of Israel [to last] until the full number of the ingathering of the Gentiles has
come in,
26 And so all Israel will be
saved. As it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will banish
ungodliness from Jacob.
27 And this will be My covenant (My
agreement) with them when I shall take away their sins.
28 From the point of view of the
Gospel (good news), they [the Jews, at present] are enemies [of God], which is
for your advantage
and benefit. But
from the point of view of God’s choice (of election, of divine selection), they
are still the beloved (dear to Him) for the sake of their forefathers.
29 For God’s gifts and His call
are irrevocable. [He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He
does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He
sends His call.]
We in the Church must never be haughty or
prideful concerning our place in Christ Jesus. The Scripture is clear that our
salvation came through Abraham. The culmination, was fully brought to fruition
by our Lord Jesus (a Jew) when He paid the price on the cross and took His blood
to the mercy seat of Heaven establishing the everlasting covenant with us
(Genesis 17:7), the Church.
Galatians 3:13-14 (KJV)
13 Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed
is every one that hangeth on a tree:
14 That the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the
promise of the Spirit through faith.
Galatians 3:27-29 (KJV)
27 For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all
one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if ye be Christ's,
then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
We are linked today and for eternity with
Abraham and all his seed. All of his seed are the Jewish people and the
Church. Many might argue that Arabs are also the seed of Abraham through
Ishmael and Esau. However the Scripture is clear that they are not the seed of
promise but of the flesh, therefore not spiritual seed or partakers of the
covenant with Abraham or Jesus.
Romans 9:8-13 (KJV)
8 That is, They which are the
children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the
children of the promise are counted for the seed.
9 For this is the word of
promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
10 And not only this; but
when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
11 (For the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God
according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
12 It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger.
13 As it is written, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated.
The Scripture is clear; the promise has come to
the Jewish people and the Church from Abraham to Isaac then to Jacob and finally
Jesus. Abraham is the father of us all (Jew and Christian).
Romans 4:16 (KJV)
16 Therefore it is of faith,
that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all
the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the
faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
The Scripture is clear that we are to honor (honour
old English) our father, so I guess that means we are to honor Abraham. Of
course, we do not honor Abraham above Jesus or God the Father no more then we
are to honor our earthly fathers above God. But we are to honor them none the
less. To honor means to respect, treat with deference, to venerate, to rise in
our thinking to a place of distinction, to speak of their goodness, and to treat
with civility. This word honor is the same as glory which is always visible in
the natural. Our duty of honor not only applies to our thought and speech
concerning Abraham and the patriarchs to follow, but our thoughts, speech and
actions concerning modern day Jews who may be a part of our lives or we make a
part of our lives.
Exodus 20:12 (KJV)
12 Honour thy father and thy mother:
that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
You should recognize this passage as the fifth
of Ten Commandments. Five is the number of the grace and goodness of God. Ten
is the number of responsibility. By grace through faith we have a
responsibility to walk out the goodness of God through obedience to the Word of
God. It seems clear to me at least that our honoring of Abraham “the father of
us all” is clearly linked with the length of our lives and whether we dwell in
the land which God has given us. This is a teaching all in itself, but it is
clear that in order to have the fullness of life (Romans 15:25-29) you must not
only honor your physical father and mother but Abraham and by extension all
Jews. In order to enjoy the fulness of the covenant we have in Christ Jesus, we
must honor the Jewish peoples everywhere.
Remember;
Galatians 5:14 (KJV)
14 For all the law is fulfilled in
one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
James 2:8 (KJV)
8 If ye fulfil the royal law
according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do
well:
Your neighbor is anyone that is not
you.
Until next time;
Psalm 122:6-9 (KJV)
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
7 Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy
palaces.
8 For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be
within thee.
9 Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.
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