01 TBC Study Guide- Welcome

A. Personal History

• As a 16 year old teenager God drew me to Himself and gave me an abiding love for his word.

  for the next 14 years or so, including a three year residential Bible School, I heard many fine servants of God, faithful teachers of his word.

  but as far as I can recall I never heard any reference to the New Covenant other than during the celebration of the breaking of bread, Sunday by Sunday

  • 1 Cor. 11:25 NKJV

    “In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”” (1 Cor. 11:25 NKJV).

• GW North - Ezekiel 36

  “For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep mine ordinances, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations. Then shall ye remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.” (Ezek. 36:24–31 ASV)

• There followed 40 years of personal Bible Study, Meditation and preaching in the Bible

  with a constant thrill of discovery as verses of scripture and whole Bible books began to click together.

  As I preached and taught, requests for sermon notes, and "something in print" began to come. I was eager to write something but somehow there was never enough time.

  About 10 years ago, I decided the time had come and I settled to write for a couple of hours each day. My excitement grew in the daily adventure of exploring the New Covenant. The book "The Better Covenant" was published... and the journey of discovery continues. According to the Amazon comments it has been welcomed, but I know some have found it a 'bit heavy', which is my reason for this series of 'broken bread' Bible studies.

B. Introduction to the book

Dedication and acknowledgments

• Andrew Murray

  "The Two Covenants"- Andrew Murray

  The New Covenant may become to us one of the windows of heaven through which we see into the face, into the very heart, of God

  Blessed is the man who truly knows God as his Covenant God; who knows what the Covenant promises him; what unwavering confidence of expectation that secures, and all that terms will be fulfilled to him; what a claim and hold it gives him on the Covenant-keeping God himself

  Too many a man who, has never thought much of the Covenant, a true and living faith and it would mean the transformation of his whole life. The full knowledge of what God wants to do for him; the assurance that it will be done by an Almighty Power; the being drawn to God Himself in personal surrender, and dependence, and waiting to have it done; all this would make the Covenant the very gate of heaven. The Holy Spirit give us some version of its glory.

  Andrew Murray "The Two Covenants" 1898

Forward: JohanCompanjen - Presdient Emeritus Open Doors International

• RB Preface

  The New Covenant is one of my passions. It is the controlling model for my understanding of the Scriptures. From the time that I glimpsed the pattern of "the two covenants" the book began to be a cohesive expression of Gods plan for salvation. That discovery excited me; it's still does. If any of what you are about to read is at all incoherent you can put that down to my excitement; in some states we see much more than we can ever say.

C. The Book

• What is the central theme of the book?

  "The 'New Covenant" promised through the prophets, glimpsed throughout the Old Testament scriptures, revealed in the life and ministry of Christ and secured by his 'baptism' on Calvary, has arrived. His death 'signed' the New Covenant document and he sent the Holy Spirit as his personal 'Executor' to initiate the New Covenant in the lives of those put their trust in Christ. A baptism in Holy Spirit and fire would fuse rugged individuals into one body, and New Covenant communities would mirror the One Church in heaven and earth. The New Covenant would result in a New People, with New Clean Hearts,

  In a single sentence; "the New Covenant, represents a genuine paradigm shift in which Old Things have passed away and all things have become New"

• The rear cover

  The final hours of Christ's pre-Calvary life focused on the themes of a New Passover, a New Kingdom and a New Covenant. This New Covenant stands in stark distinction to the Covenant enjoyed by the saints of the Old Covenant. it is said to be ‘new’ and ‘better’ and ‘more glorious’ but for many if uniqueness has become unclear. Perhaps its determining features can be expressed best in the contrast implied in the statement “…but you know him (the Holy Spirit) for he dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:17

  The conscious reception of the indwelling spirit is the point of entrance into this New Covenant. This receiving of the Spirit effects the work of regeneration and fulfils the promises of the new covenant made by the Old Covenant prophets in which they see a new and different covenant when old things would pass away and all things become new. This powerful regeneration/baptism in the spirit takes a man out of Adam and put him into Christ thereby creating a new man with new powers and new instincts.

  This book examines the implications of these 'fulfilled' Bible promises for a true understanding and practice of daily living in "The Better Covenant".

D. Chapter 0 - The artist's palette - Bible language

• 1 Cor 10:11

  “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Cor. 10:11 NKJV)

  1. all these things happened - a reliable historical record

  2. examples - GK: tupos - example, pattern, type.

  3. they were written for our admonition - recorded as a 'warning' for 'us'

• What does a word mean?

  • Usage

    meaning is determined by 'usage' not origin or English Dictionary definitions

    Context, context, context

    at your mother's knee

  the palette illustration

  "bible words don't have definition; they have histories"

• What does 'Covenant' mean?

  it's a deliberate legal agreement

  it takes (at least) two parties to make a covenant

  each party has 'benefits' and 'obligations'.

  more than a promise

  it creates a relationship (or a legal entity)

  True New Covenant Christianity is more than a promise, more than an experience, it is a union/relationship

• Why is 'Bible based Christianity' a 'New Covenant'?

  • Ex. 6:2–8 ASV - Promise of the Sinai (Old) Covenant

    “And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah I was not known to them. And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their sojournings, wherein they sojourned. And moreover I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments: and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God, who bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land which I sware to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for a heritage: I am Jehovah.” (Ex. 6:2–8 ASV)

  • Heb. 8:7–9 NKJV - The Broken Covenant

    “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.” (Heb. 8:7–9 NKJV)

  • Jer. 31:29–34 ASV (Promise of the New (Calvary) Covenant

    “In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith Jehovah. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith Jehovah: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.” (Jer. 31:29–34 ASV)

• Gathering the artist's colours for our palette

  In the next few studies we will add our colours to the palette. We will need to add several shades and colours to get the ideas of the New Covenant onto our palette, but if we can succeed in that effort we will begin to see why Christ said the New Covenant was 'in/by' his blood. And why AM wrote..

  • Andrew Murray

    "The Two Covenants"- Andrew Murray

    The New Covenant may become to us one of the windows of heaven through which we see into the face, into the very heart, of God

    Blessed is the man who truly knows God as his Covenant God; who knows what the Covenant promises him; what unwavering confidence of expectation that secures, and all that terms will be fulfilled to him; what a claim and hold it gives him on the Covenant-keeping God himself

    Too many a man who, has never thought much of the Covenant, a true and living faith and it would mean the transformation of his whole life. The full knowledge of what God wants to do for him; the assurance that it will be done by an Almighty Power; the being drawn to God Himself in personal surrender, and dependence, and waiting to have it done; all this would make the Covenant the very gate of heaven. The Holy Spirit give us some version of its glory.

    Andrew Murray "The Two Covenants" 1898

E. Second Thoughts? Further personal study

• Second Thoughts: General-

  1. Were there any 'aha' moments? Underline them or jot them down in a notebook.

• Second Thoughts? Specific to this study: Study 01 - Welcome

  1. Section D. events, types and warnings? How many other such 'BIble' types come to mind?

  2. Section D. What does the word Covenant imply? How many ingredients can you list?

  3. Were there any statements you would like to discuss or challenge? Visit the Biblebase Discussion Forum and look for "The Better Covenant" discussions