the One Covenant series
Fulfillment
by haRold Smith
a citizen of the Commonwealth (Ephesians 2:19)
"Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.' Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, 'Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?' Yeshua answered him, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. AND THE WORD THAT YOU HEAR IS NOT MINE BUT THE FATHER'S WHO SENT ME.
These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Breath of Life whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you'." John 14:21-26
"This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by YaHoVeH, so as to make the promise void. For if
the inheritance
comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but YaHoVeH gave it to Abraham by a promise." Galatians 3:17
"The friendship, the secret counsel of the Father, is for those who fear Him
and He makes known to them His covenant." Psalm 25:14
Since 325 CE at the Council in Nicaea, Christendom has been led to believe (as a result of various agendas of men) that "the Jews had their chance and blew it" and, as a result, the God of Israel wiped His Hands clean of all that had gone before, changed direction and, contrary to everything He has ever proclaimed about Himself, instituted a
"new" covenant (click on highlighted words to view content)
that did not require a behavioral assessment to come into His Presence. In the course of a few hundred years from the Resurrection, YaHoVeH went from being
a consuming fire
to a kindly, grandfatherly figure that mostly winks at the antics of mankind, giving them pretty much whatever they want because He loves them so much. And, now, because the Son has center stage, the Father also stays pretty much in the background - the way you would expect an elderly, grandfatherly figure to be. Consequently, what has been considered "the Old Testament" has now been replaced by this "new" one with the "old" now put out to pasture alongside "the law" and all that messy, legalistic "stuff" that caused the Israelites to incur His Wrath to begin with that we don't have to abide by any more. There is only one problem with that line of thought - it is not scriptural. As seen in the previous article, "testament" is an English transliteration of a Latin mistranslation of a Greek quotation of a Hebrew word.
While there are many covenants found in scripture, the Truth is - there is but
One Covenant.
that over-arches all the rest. Like a diamond and the Character of YaHoVeH, we find there are several facets to this Covenant; but, there is only One Covenant that has to do with YaHoVeH Himself, His Plan and His Purpose toward mankind -
to bring Life out of death
and to make that Life accessible to every one who would come to Him with a humble and contrite spirit
(Isaiah 57:15).
YaHoVeH's Covenant began the moment Adam & Eve chose to not remain in the provision of the
the Present Presence
due to their disobedience to His Word and discovered their nakedness (Genesis 3:6-11).
Immediately, scripture says,
the Father "clothed" them. YaHoVeH's actions following their disobedience reveal a restoration of His original intention of purpose -
a family bearing His Image to the rest of the world.
This Hebrew combination of
labash
(to clothe) and kethoneth
(garments) also appears in Leviticus 8:7
and Leviticus 8:13
describing YaHoVeH's instructions regarding the garments Aaron and his sons are to wear - those whom YaHoVeH sets apart (the definition of
"holy")
as priests. In immediately clothing Adam and Eve, He restored them both as
the first Hebrew
priests. YaHoVeH's purpose in Adam and Eve establishing
a Nation of Priests
was not set aside by their disobedience. It was through their disobedience that YaHoVeH's
pre-determined purpose
was restored in them when He re-girded their loins with His Truth
(Ephesians 6:14).
YaHoVeH then established His covenant with Noah in
Genesis 9:9.
and gave the rainbow as
a sign of the Covenant
by which He would be reminded to never again use the waters to destroy all flesh
(Genesis 9:12-15).
The Covenant was ratified before Abraham when YaHoVeH swore with Himself so that the covenant could never be broken by man's failure to remain faithful. The circumcision He commanded of Abraham was not the covenant but, rather,
a sign of the Covenant
(Genesis 17:11,
Romans 4:11).
When the children of Israel were brought out of bondage from Egypt, it was because YaHoVeH was reminded of a particular facet of His covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
(Exodus 2:24).
In this portion of the covenant, the blood smeared on the doorposts of their dwelling was
a sign of the Covenant by which Israel was redeemed - not by anything they had done to earn it, but by His Grace
(Exodus 2:24).
The covenant was refreshed before YaHoVeH's People at Mount Sinai with the instruction to remember the Sabbath,
a sign of the Covenant which, by their behavior in heeding, would signify their sanctification in Him
(Exodus 31:12-18).
This covenant of Light was reaffirmed through the kingship of David,
a sign of the Covenant that through His seed would come the fulfillment of the promise of the covenant where Life would be brought out of death
(1Kings 11:34-36).
This Covenant was culminated in Yeshua by which
His birth
was given as
a sign of the Covenant of its fulfillment
(Isaiah 7:14).
The indwelling of the Spirit of YaHoVeH falling on the Day of Shavuot is
a sign of the restored Covenant fulfilling the Promise of the Father He determined in the beginning
(1Corinthians 14:22,
Isaiah 28:11).
The covenant was necessary because what we give ourselves to is
what we serve
and we are taught from YaHoVeH in Torah that what we serve is what we worship
(Deuteronomy 11:16
and upheld by Yeshua in Luke 4:8).
Sin is determining what is good without YaHoVeH's sign - that equates to self-righteousness. The Covenant was necessary to restore to the Family of YaHoVeH that place of
echad
(Hebrew for being "one or unity") with the Present Presence that was lost through the worship of
self-determination.
- the same determination that distanced
Adam and Eve from the union of echad - the presumption that something was lacking in YaHoVeH's provision and, therefore, should be made up for by our own effort. The result was emptiness, a leanness to the soul, as opposed to the abundance that comes from being in the Presence of LIFE
(Psalm 106:13-15).
YaHoVeH does not need help from anyone to fulfill His Plans and Purpose.
There is only one Kingdom spoken of in scripture -
the Kingdom of YaHoVeH.
That Kingdom is occupied by YaHoVeH's family - the Hebrew family of Jacob (who was
renamed "Israel").
These are the
irrevocable
heirs to the Promise of YaHoVeH. That Promise was to restore the pure blood of the Kingdom to YaHoVeH's family as it was in the beginning with
the first Hebrew,
Adam; thus restoring the relationship of echad with YaHoVeH as it was in the Garden. The blood of YaHoVeH's family had been corrupted by disobedience to His Words, thus causing
a separation
from echad with Him. The eight survivors of the flood, Noah and his family, were
descendents of
and carried the corrupted blood of the first son of YaHoVeH's family, Adam. Therefore, every person on the repopulated earth today carries with them that corrupted blood - impure, but still carrying a "spark" of connection to the Creator enabling everyone to hear the Voice of YaHoVeH calling them back into His Kingdom once that spark is ignited within them at some point in their life.
Anyone,
whether naturally born or adopted
(grafted)
into YaHoVeH's Hebrew family of Israel, is allowed entrance into the Present Presence by keeping the Covenant contained in YaHoVeH's Words. Until Yeshua's restoration of the Kingdom, however, that relationship had only been
external
- it was not echad. Yeshua's purpose for being sent as
the Kinsman Redeemer
to YaHoVeH's family of Israel was to redeem the common corrupted blood He, too, carried as a natural born Hebrew from the first Hebrew, by exchanging it with the Pure Blood from YaHoVeH's Breath of Life Yeshua's life-less body received in the tomb to restore the relationship of echad with His Father that had been lost through the separation. Yeshua's exchange of His corrupt blood with the Pure Blood of YaHoVeH was the means, the vehicle of by which YaHoVeH used to open the protal through which that transference of blood
internally
could take place in all who received Yeshua as the Hebrew Messiah to Israel and kept the Words of His Father.
The English word "covenant" is translated from the Hebrew word
beriyth,
formed out of the root word barah. According to Professor Samuel Lee's Hebrew Lexicon
(p.93),
it simply means "an eating together, as in a banquet" (as was the custom among Hebrews when entering into a covenant -
Genesis 31:51-54,
2Kings 6:23).
A covenant is the seal of a promise between those joined by league to anyone
(see the similarities evoked in Communion).
The Life is in the Blood and, like a cancer of the blood, the self-determination that had seeped into the blood of this people that YaHoVeH had fashioned after Himself had to be cut away before the initial provision of the abundance of Life in His Presence could be restored
(Leviticus 17:11).
Because one of the facets of this diamond of YaHoVeH's Essence is Truth, the
sin of the fathers
is resultantly passed to subsequent generations until that sin is stopped, atoned for. The way, the manner, by which it is passed is through the blood. This sin infecting the purity of the blood originally breathed into the patriarch father Adam, had also infected the entire lineage - until it came to Yeshua. He stopped the sin of self-determination by living a life of behavior of obedient
selfLESSness;
thus, He was able to keep His Blood pure -
the exchange required
to redeem the corrupt blood of His Family. Stopping generational sin is accomplished in the same manner Yeshua exampled - He did not do it anymore, not allowing that sin to go forward.
In Israel, the Feast of
Shavu'ot
is celebrated every year (what has been re-named and re-defined as "Pentecost" in Christianity). It is no accident, coincidence or happenstance that it was on this very day approximately 1500 years earlier, the Ten Words of YaHoVeH (what has come to be known as "Commandments"), the definition of the Essence of the Nature and Character of YaHoVeH was given to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai - written in stone and accompanied by fire. This is the day recorded in
Acts 2:1-4
when the Covenant YaHoVeH swore by Himself was fulfilled
(Genesis 22:16-17,
Hebrews 6:13-15),
for it was on this day that the same words originally given in stone and accompanied with fire were now able to be written on the hearts of those who would embrace Him for Who He Says He Is - BUT THEY ARE STILL THE SAME WORDS WITH THE SAME ACCOMPANIMENT OF FIRE. Only this time, it was just
the manner of delivery
that had changed. This particular Shavu'ot spoken of in Acts was the epochal event in the annals of mankind. What made it epochal was that on this day the God of Creation, who had previously made His abode in the heavenlies, changed His Residency to abide, make His dwelling place in the hearts of men. Heaven is YaHoVeH's Throne and when Yah-Ho-Veh (which means
the Present Presence)
moved His Throne, heaven moved with Him
(Isaiah 66:1,
Matthew 5:34-35),
The Essence of His Nature and Character as expressed in
Exodus 34:1-7
was now etched on the beings of men willing to fashion and conform their lives after Him, thus fulfilling His Promise to restore what had originally been purposed in the Garden of Eden -
a people
who would present this Light of His Being by their behavior to the world
(Jeremiah 31:31-34).
It is basic but very essential to understand what it means to
dwell in the earth
or to dwell in heaven. When Yeshua said he dwelt in heaven, He was referring to
a state of being.
He had His feet planted firmly upon the earth, but in reality his place of habitation was IN HEAVEN
(John 3:13).
His home was with the Father whose living quarters, whose abode, is in the realm of heaven. Yeshua said in
Luke 17:20-21
that realm is within or among those embracing His Life. What was "new" regarding the Covenant was not the underlying purpose the Father had determined from the beginning, but the manner by which that purpose was delivered - the Spirit of YaHoVeH dwelling within those who embraced Yeshua as Messiah
(there is no "Holy Spirit"
found in the original wording of scripture).
And a ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Yeshua said to him, "Why do you call me good?
No one is good except YaHoVeH alone.
You know the commandments:
'Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness,
Honor your father and mother'. " Luke 18:18-20
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One has to wonder about this exchange between Yeshua and a ruler who addresses Him as "good teacher" and then asks him what he must do to inherit eternal life. Yeshua does not answer his question immediately but first questions the ruler about his calling Him "good" and qualifying His question by stating that only YaHoVeH is good. Only then does He go on to address the ruler’s question. There is something suspicious here, something missing in the translation (and its underlying Greek) which was there implicitly in the original Hebrew exchange. It seems like it would be a good (!) thing for someone to address Yeshua as a good teacher. Yet, Yeshua questions the ruler about calling him "good" (which is not exactly the same as calling him a good teacher) and says that only YaHoVeH is good. That Yeshua was a good teacher is unquestionable and far as a general understanding of the meaning of goodness, He was definitely a good person. YaHoVeH is good also. But, there is something else going on in this exchange as Yeshua then goes on to quote the commandments found in
Exodus 20:1-17.
The English word "God" in this verse is translated from the Greek word
theos
whose definition is "a god or goddess, a general name given to deities". But, since the Greeks worshipped multiple deities, we see this cultural influence overwriting the translation of the Hebrew name, elohim (also translated as "God" in
Psalm 45:6)
which also means, "gods in the ordinary sense; but also rulers, judges, divine ones". By restating the words from the Tanakh (OT) that define YaHoVeH's Holiness, from the Hebrew perspective these words were originally written in, Yeshua is saying there is only one Who is
Holy
- YaHoVeH.
It was this epoctual event the 120 saints gathered to wait upon for 10 days in the Upper Room following Yeshua's instruction
(Luke 24:49,
Acts 1:4-5).
It occurred on the Feast of Shavu'ot after the 50 days of the counting of the Omer beginning on the Day of Unleavened Bread after Pesach (re-named Passover) when Yeshua was presented before the Father as the offering of the First Fruit, thus satisfying all the requirements of the Feasts. After which, He appeared to the eleven and as many as 500 faithful - visibly living among them for the next 40 days before going to the Father
(Acts 1:3,
1Corinthians 15:5-8).
There are only two places where scripture says Spirit breathed on men. The first is
in Genesis
with Adam and the second was with the disciples immediately after Yeshua was resurrected as Spirit, saying while breathing on them, "receive
the Breath of Life".
It was the actual Spirit of YaHoVeH (Who Is Holy) that was imparted to those eleven as a pre-cursor to what happened on Shavu'ot. This is that same Breath of Life Yeshua said He would send us, because He went to the Father - thus
fulfilling
the Covenant of YaHoVeH as He said He was sent to do
(Luke 4:43,
John 14:26,
John 15:26).
His Resurrection opened the portal through which would come the means to infuse us with
the Power
which, by the embrace of His Life, we are afforded the opportunity to enter into
echad
(Hebrew for "one") with the Present Presence
in the same manner as did our elder brother, Yeshua
(John 1:12,
Acts 1:8).
Scripture tells us the baptism into the Spirit of YaHoVeH was the singular evidentiary event that would now be accessible to those of YaHoVeH's Family who would embrace Yeshua as His Promised Messiah
(not the world
- Acts 10:44-47,
Acts 19:1-7).
Scripture also tells us this Truth is something we must ask for and seek after to receive
(Luke 11:13)
and, having asked, believe that He has given it
(Hebrews 11:6,
Mark 11:24,
Luke 11:9-13).
Today, there are two factions within the Kingdom of Israel, the family of YaHoVeH - those who keep the Covenant of YaHoVeH and receive Yeshua as the Hebrew Messiah to Israel, thereby becoming members of His Body as the Bridegroom; and those who keep the Covenant of YaHoVeH but have not yet recognized Yeshua as the Messiah even while, at the same time, believing in and looking for the appearance of that promised Messiah. These latter are the betrothed of YaHoVeH -
the Bride.
When Yeshua is revealed to them as that Messiah, those who accept Him will become echad with Him as He is with the Father - as those of His Body have already become. The New Jerusalem is a depiction of the culmination of that marriage between these two factions.
The Good News of the Gospel
is, through the fulfillment of the covenant the Father began with Adam and completed in Yeshua, that through the shed blood of Yeshua, the Kingdom of YaHoVeH has been restored in the earth right now, today, as it was originally in the Garden, giving you and I the opportunity to become partakers of the Divine Nature by having the fullness of Spirit
dwell within us.
We can be echad
with YaHoVeH, the Creator of the universe,
just as
Yeshua is.
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Fulfillment, a discussion
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"But when the fullness of time came, YaHoVeH sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under Torah,
in order that He might redeem those under Torah,
so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are (His) children, YaHoVeH has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father'!" Galatians 4:4-6
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The One Covenant Series
Part One, A History
Part Two, What's New?
Part Three, Fulfillment
Part Four, the Flaming Sword
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???Questions???
Please feel free to email me at harold@hethathasanear.com.
While not claiming to have all
the answers, it would be an honor to partake with you of what Spirit is uncovering.
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