The New Testament - 1
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
So, tonight we’re going to start a new short series on an important topic:
The New Testament.
In the passage I just read
We can see that Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant.
What is the difference between a Testament, a Will, and a Covenant.
We touched on this briefly in our series on Hebrews
But, the words are essentially all the same in the underlying Greek Text.
In English, the words will and testament implies that nothing must be done by the inheritor.
Whereas the word Covenant can sometimes come with conditions.
So, which is the correct English word?
New testament, New Will, or New Covenant.
Well, when we look at the New testament,
It is about God’s Gracious gift to us.
So, it seems like at first that nothing is required on our part
How can salvation be a gift if the giver requires something from the recipient?
So, this is perhaps why some translations perfer to use the word “Testament” as opposed to “Covenant”.
However, while grace is a free gift, not everyone will receive that gift.
The same is actually true about a will and testament.
While there is no requirement to pay or earn what you inherit in a will and testament,
There is a requirement that you be a valid heir.
When a father died
The whole world could not show up at the probate office
and collect an inheritance
Only his children, or whomever he specified in his will.
If a rich man dies and decides to leave all his money to nephew
There’s nothing the wife and children can do
If the will and testament excludes them.
So, there are conditions to a will and testament
namely, that you be included as a valid heir in the will.
So, IMO, the word Covenant expresses that validity of an heir
better than the word Testament.
Because the free gift of grace is available to anyone that wants it
However, not every person will satisfy the requirements
to collect that inheritance.
The satisfaction of the requirements to collect our inheritance
is essentially a condition of the covenant with God.
So, in this short series
We will look at what the new testament aka new covenant is
and what is is not
We will explore elementary topics surround the new testament
such as, the gospel, the atonement, sacrifice, reconciliation, and redemption.
We will look at the qualifying factors of a valid heir to the new covenant.
Such as belief, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We will spend a lot of time in the book of Acts
but we will start by looking into what the OT says about the NT.
What the OT says about the NT
What the OT says about the NT
There were many prophecies about the NT in the OT
And there were many types and shadows
Or, as we have learned before
Patterns that outline something that will happen later
First, we will explore some of the prophecies
and then we will explore some of the patterns.
Prophecies about the NT
Prophecies about the NT
The first prophecy in the Bible about the Messiah is in:
Gen 3.15
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
This was a promise that was given to Eve
In fact it was a covenant
She would bear children for the Earth
and that process would cause her pain
But in return, one of her future offspring
Would crush the head of the serpent who deceived her.
This promise began to be fulfilled at the cross
but at then end of time
Jesus will completely crush Satan.
This very old prophecy is connected to the NT.
It was here, that despite their fall
There was a promise of future redemption.
Through a man named Jesus Christ.
God, manifested in the flesh.
As time marched on, God made other covenants with and promises to mankind that was interwoven with the future fulfillment of a NT.
Some of the clearest prophecies are ones such as:
Jer 31.31-34
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.
33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
This is covenant language here.
You shall be my people
and I will be your God
That’s a very common way that the Bible speaks about covenant
Another way is the phrase “Called by my name”.
Or “Called by the Lord”.
We see that covenantal language in Joel chapter 2
and this is an indication that we are talking about the future NT.
28 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
Is is from this very passage here
That the Apostle Peter preaches from verbatim
in Acts chapter 2
During the first NT sermon.
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people,
This is a prophecy from Isaiah
Which details perfectly how the Gift of the Holy Spirit
operated in Acts chapter 2, 10, and 19.
And this is exactly how it still happens today
hundreds of years later.
The word “tongue” just means another language
and…
The word “to” is actually a Hebrew word that means:
Through or from.
So, it could say,
For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak THROUGH this people,
The Inclusion of the Gentiles
The Inclusion of the Gentiles
A Gentile is anyone that is not a Jew.
The first covenant, the OT
Was only between God and the Jews.
However, the prophets also foretold
That the NT would include those who are not Jews.
19 O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.
20 Can man make for himself gods? Such are not gods!”
21 “Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the Lord.”
Now, this was actually first told to Abraham
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Here, we see that God always intended to bless all the families of the earth
through the family of Abraham - the father of the Jews.
In fact, his name at this point was still “Abram”
Which means, father.
But later, God changes his name the “Abraham”
Which means, “Father of Many Nations”.
So, he’s our father too
Even if we are all gentiles
10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
6 “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,
6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
8 The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”
11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.
This inclusion of the Gentiles was fulfilled first in Acts chapter 10
And then we see that in the end,
there are many people
from many nations
that come together and worship Jesus in heaven
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
Patterns of the NT
Patterns of the NT
Ok, let’s look at some patterns of the NT
That are found in the OT.
There are also know as types
And they are also referred to as “shadows”
Because the foreshadow the future event
They are not exactly like the future event
Just like a shadow is not exactly like the object that casts it.
Noah’s Flood
Noah’s Flood
In the flood story
We find these elements:
An issue of Sin
A solution of Grace
A judgement of Wrath
The whole word was full of sin
And the solution that God decided on
was the end the reign of sin with a world-wide flood.
The only one who was righteous was Noah.
So God gave Noah detailed instructions
on how to be saved.
Noah had to follow those instructions exactly
and Hebs chapter 11 calls that obedience - Faith
7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
So, that obedience saved him.
20 who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared. In it a few—that is, eight people—were saved through water.
21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
The word “corresponds” is “antitypos” in the Greek.
It is where we get the word “antitype” from.
Which means, “something that is represented by a symbol”.
So, the flood is an antitype of baptism.
Or like I said earlier, a shadow, or pattern, or symbol of it.
So, the water saved Noah while simulaneously burying sin.
And Peter says, in the same way, or after the same pattern
Baptism now saves you.
How?
First he tells how baptism doesn’t save us,
and then he tells us how baptism does save us.
Baptism does not save us by washing dirt from our body.
It isn’t a bath
It isn’t something that cleans you up on the outside.
Instead…
Baptism is a spritual event that cleans you up on the inside.
Baptism is a pledge of good conscience toward God.
And it is through that pledge that baptism now saves you.
Red Sea Crossing
Red Sea Crossing
Another prominent pattern from the OT
Is the Red Sea Crossing
In this story we have several elements
that foreshadow the NT elements
We have Egypt which represents slavery to sin.
The passover lamb which foreshadows the cross
and also foreshadows repentance
We have the red sea crossing
which represents the burial of Jesus
and the baptism of us
We have them coming out the other side of the red sea
which represents the resurrection of Jesus
and also infilling of the Holy Spirit for us
And we have the crossing of the Jordan
40 years later, which to me represents the Second coming
and the promise of eternal life.
Just like Peter connected the flood to baptism
Paul connected the red sea crossing to baptism
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
3 and all ate the same spiritual food,
4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.
The Tabernacle
The Tabernacle
Another very prominent pattern of the NT
That is found in the OT
Is the tabernacle itself
The altar - repentance
The Laver of Water - baptism
The Holy of Holies - Gift of the Holy Spirit
When did the NT Start?
When did the NT Start?
In our opening text, we read…
15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Then, in the next verse, we find:
16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.
17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.
So, the new will or testament, or covenant
Could not go into effect until the death of Jesus.
So, the page before Matthew Chapter 1 might say:
New Testament
But, in reality, the New Testament
Could not go into effect until Jesus died at the end of Matthew.
This is why it says in…
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
“The Law” is a reference to the Law of Moses
and it is talking about the Old Testament there
BEcause, guess what?
The OT does not begin at Gen chapter 1 either.
It starts in Exodus.
There were many covenants between God and Mankind
Including the one in Gen 3.15 that we read earlier
and many of them overlapped each other
Such as the covenant with David about his throne lasting forever
That covenant weaves the Old and New Testament together
and even extends into eternity.
This is a very elementary concept
And yet scholars and theologies and famous preachers
will ask, “Why didn’t the thief on the cross need to be baptized?”.
…
