No what ?
Heb. 13:20 —ESV
“¶ Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,”
Are you agreeing this is speaking of the New covenant ?
Denying ?
If agreeing Christ is the great shepherd of the sheep
Does he Shepard just some that are his or all ?
If denying what blood is in view here ?
I can see now why you do not have any idea about the letters and the words in the scriptures and why you cannot understand them. You have either not ever read the OT or have not believed what you have read. Obviously from your comments you think there are two covenants only and it is an either/or proposition. I made the comment earlier that time and God dealing with humanity began with your birth and God is speaking only to you.
Have you ever heard of the Abrahamic covenant which God entered into with him in the beginning of the third millennium of history and then attached an addendum onto it, called the Mosaic covenant, or the Law of Moses, four hundred and thirty years later, this being 1500 years before the New Covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ. The covenants establishes principles of divine dealing over men. I actually quoted a passage to you already from Ga 3 that demonstrates this in such simple terms that only the most darkened eyes can not see.
The principle that God had been dealing with Israel, the physical seed of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, was the principle of the written law, with Jehovah as their God. No gentiles were governed by God under this system. The system consisted of moral, civil, and ceremonial laws. They, the gentiles, were governed by the principle of human government in their own nations, and still are today. This system separated Israel from all the other nations of the world and was a source of enmity between them. The law of Moses as a covenant was added by God for a limited period of time in order to accomplish a certain purpose and would end when it was accomplished. The Abrahamic covenant, OTOH, was foundational and eternal and will never end, although there are parts of it that even now lacks fulfillment. The fact that God added the law should not be a signal that the Abrahamic covenant was now void. This is what I quoted to you in Ga 3.
The principle - works of the law, efforts of the flesh
The principle - faith in Jesus Christ, a response from the heart
Just read this passage and see if this makes any sense to you in this context.
Galatians 3
King James Version
3 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Ga 6-9 a reference to the Abrahamic covenant from which comes the blessings to the nations. The Galatians were gentiles.
6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
Contrasting the principle of works under the law because it could only condemn.
10 For as many as are of
the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by
faith.
12 And
the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
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.
The law of Moses, which is a covenant, can not be imposed upon gentiles for salvation because it could not justify, only condemn. The promise of salvation, identified in this chapter as receiving the Spirit of Christ, which we know was poured out from Christ death on the cross and received by those who have faith in him.
Next he confirms the eternality of the Abrahamic covenant, which is the source of the promise of salvation to the nations and all people.
15 Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
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.
17 And this I say, that
the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after (
after the Abrahamic covenant),
cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. (the covenant of law cannot disannul the promise of salvation in the Abrahamic covenant, he says)
18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. (IOW, it cannot be earned by working, it is a gift)
Since that is true, why try to work for it?
Following is the reason from God that he attached the Mosaic covenant to the Abrahamic covenant that promises life.
19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It (
the Mosaic covenant)
was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. (
How long is it going to be in effect as an operative principle of divine dealing with Israel? we are told it will be in effect UNTIL the Jesus comes and brings another principle into play, faith)
20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
(the promise, life, righteousness and the Spirit are all synonyms here)
22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise
(see the synonyms above) by faith of Jesus Chri
st might be given to them that believe.
23 But
before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which s
hould afterwards be revealed.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
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.
Our salvation goes back to Abraham, not Moses.
I do not know why or if God calls preachers into the ministry that does not know anything about his word and does not believe the words he gives us to express his great truths. Every word above that I have quoted from God is true and they are not hard to understand. For Christians to not know anything about the covenants of God is a serious matter if they are attempting to influence other men.
All God's unconditional OT covenants to Israel were confirmed with an oath.
Abrahamic - For when God made promise to
Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
Land Covenant -
Deuteronomy 29:12 That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his
oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day:
Davidic -
Psa 89:3 I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, 4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
Acts 15:14 Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.
15 And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,
16 After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
19 Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
It is becoming increasingly obvious that it is not that some people cannot understand but they will not understand because they will not believe words and accept the context in which they are spoken.
