Reactions

Recognising and overcoming our spiritual enemy

Murder outside church points to fresh hope for London community

A fatal stabbing took place just outside a north London church only days before I spoke there about Pentecost last Saturday.

The young man’s family had left a floral tribute beside the pavement and were being comforted by passers-by as we came out of church. Barış Küçük had been taken to hospital after an attack in the early hours of 1 June, but had simply lost too much blood. A man has been charged with his murder.

As in the Days of Noah

The harrowing scene was a stark reminder of the suffering Jesus went through in order to bring us life. And our prayer was that life and peace would emerge from the ashes of this terrible tragedy, the latest in a string of such incidents across the capital where knife crime has reached epidemic proportions.

Political activists were quick to blame cuts to policing, but this is a shallow analysis of the situation. We are living in times of violence compared to the days of Noah, which Jesus indicated would be a sign of coming judgment and of his imminent return (Luke 17:26-30).

There are all kinds of reasons for the murderous mayhem we are witnessing, but chief among them is a turning away from God’s laws, which successive governments have encouraged.

Is it surprising that knives are used freely on the streets when doctors and nurses, charged with our care, are engaged in the legal butchering of unborn babies every single day! We are reaping what we have sown. We have also too often allowed the guilty to go free, with murderers serving ridiculously short sentences before returning to our communities to wreak further havoc.

There are all kinds of reasons for the murderous mayhem we are witnessing, but chief among them is a turning away from God’s laws.

Scene of Reconciliation

This latest outrage occurred just a ten-minute walk from the former Haringey Stadium¹ which, in 1954, witnessed the only significant post-war turnaround in the fortunes of the UK Church. Tens of thousands had their lives transformed by the message of American evangelist Billy Graham, including a young Jewish lady, Helen McIntosh, who later guided me through my early Christian discipleship.

Crowds gather for a vigil to mark the untimely death of Barış Küçük, the latest victim of London's knife crime epidemic. Photo: Charles Mugenyi.It was appropriate too, therefore, that the church I visited stands on the edge of Stamford Hill, home to many Jewish people, some of whom came to hear my talk on Shavuot (Pentecost), a thoroughly Jewish feast which empowered the first disciples of Jesus to ‘turn the world upside down’ (Acts 17:6) with God’s commandments written on their hearts and not just on tablets of stone (2 Cor 3:3).

Pentecost is still available to turn this tense and troubled community around, and I pray that my friends at the church will help to bring the resurrection life of Jesus to the streets of Tottenham and Haringey.

It would certainly be the perfect place to witness the reconciliation between Jew and Gentile the Apostle Paul talks about in his letter to the Ephesians (2:14).

In writing to the Romans, he says both groups are steeped in sin and, in quoting the Old Testament, writes: “There is no-one righteous…no-one who seeks God…their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom 3:9-18).

A return of the fear of God that people felt at those Billy Graham meetings would bring new hope; I am told they used to arrive on train platforms singing hymns. So what is the remedy? How can such reverential fear be restored to communities that have forsaken God?

75 years ago a vicious enemy threatened our freedoms, but while our soldiers fought on the beaches of Normandy, much of the country fought on their knees as they responded to the King’s call to prayer. We must turn to God once more.

How can a reverential fear of God be restored to communities that have forsaken him?

True Freedom, New Life

Jesus, God’s Son, lived a perfect life on earth and was unjustly crucified. He became a substitute for us – for we have all sinned – and by trusting in his sacrificial blood, we are raised to new life and hope (Rom 3:23f).

Just as 33-year-old Barış bled to death through the cruel hands of his assailant, so Jesus bled, for us – and he was exactly the same age! In doing so, Jesus became the ultimate Passover Lamb, fulfilling the picture of how the enslaved Jews were freed from captivity in Egypt by daubing a lamb’s blood on the doorposts of their homes (as a result of which the angel of death ‘passed over’ them while striking the first-born of the host country who had stubbornly refused to let them go).

Whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, freedom from sin and darkness comes by marking your heart, figuratively speaking, with the blood of Jesus – which shows that you are placing all your trust for escaping God’s judgment and inheriting new life in what Jesus has done for you.

It will surely open up the ‘Red Sea’ and lead you into the Promised Land of peace and purpose. Not just for this life, but forever more.

Perfect Peace

As well as Pentecost, I also led a session on Job who, in spite of terrible trials, refused to relinquish his integrity and trust in God. One dear woman in the audience confirmed the reality of Job’s experience in her own life. Tragically, she had lost three sons – all in their twenties – and yet, through her faith in Jesus, she had managed to maintain perfect peace through all her troubles!

The Prophet Isaiah wrote: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusts in Thee” (Isa 26:3 KJV).

Notes

1 Now a shopping centre, accommodating the new religion.

...and does it matter? Part 2 of 3.

Editorial introduction: Following his opening article last week on scientific evidence for a Creator, Paul Garner looks at three more theological problems presented by an ‘old Earth’ model of history.

4. Thorns and Thistles Before Sin

An ‘old Earth’ model forces us to accept that ‘thorns and thistles’ have been around for hundreds of millions of years, long before humans appeared or sin entered the world.

The biblical term ‘thorns and thistles’, used in Genesis 3:18, seems to be a ‘catch-all’ that embraces all plants with thorns, spines and prickles.¹ Botanically speaking, these terms have different meanings. Thorns are derived from shoots and spines from leaves or some part of a leaf. Both contain plant vascular tissue. Prickles are derived from the outer epidermis of the plant and do not contain vascular tissue. Plants with these features are known in the fossil record at least as far back as the Lower Devonian Period, conventionally 419-393 million years ago.

Lower Devonian examples include the spiny species Psilophyton princeps,² Drepanophycus spinaeformis³ and Sawdonia ornata⁴. Spiny cacti⁵ and prickly roses^6,7 date back to the Eocene Epoch, conventionally 56-34 million years ago. But the existence of these plants long before there were humans runs counter to the biblical claim that thorns and thistles were brought forth only as a result of human sin.

Genesis 3:17-18 tells us that the ground was cursed because of Adam’s sin, and that his life subsequently became one of sweat, sorrow, hardship and toil. From that time, thorns and thistles have been a constant reminder of the curse that God pronounced.

Thorns before sin...or as a result of sin?The connection between thorns and thistles and human sin is illustrated most graphically in the crown of thorns that adorned Christ at his crucifixion, as he bore the curse in our place (Matt 27:29; Mark 15:17; John 19:2, 5). But how can thorns and thistles symbolise the effects of the curse if they were around for hundreds of millions of years before Adam sinned, and were a normal part of the world that God described as “very good” (Gen 1:31)?

5. No Adam and Eve Ancestral to All Humans

Fifth, we would have to accept that there was no first human couple, and that humans were not all descended from Adam and Eve.

Modern humans have a fossil record that can be traced back a very long way - according to conventional dating methods. The first modern humans are thought to have appeared in Africa around 300,000-200,000 years ago.^8,9 Some of their descendants are thought to have migrated out of Africa as early as 177,000 years ago,¹⁰ followed by a more lasting dispersal event beginning about 74,000 years ago.¹¹ Modern humans then spread along the southern coastline of Asia, reaching Australia by about 65,000 years ago,¹² Europe by about 45,000-40,000 years ago^13,14 and the Americas by about 24,000 years ago.¹⁵

So even if we consider only members of our own species (Homo sapiens), there is no way that all humans alive today could be descended from one man unless Adam lived at least 300,000-200,000 years ago.¹⁶ This is problematic, given that a straightforward reading of the biblical genealogies (e.g. Gen 5:1-32, 11:10-32) indicates that Adam lived about 6,000 years ago.¹⁷

How can thorns and thistles symbolise the effects of the curse if they were around for hundreds of millions of years before Adam sinned, as a normal part of God’s ‘very good’ world?

Even if the genealogies are incomplete, as some argue, the amount of time that can be inserted into them is extremely limited. Since the fathers listed in Genesis 11 had their sons at age 35 or less, about 300 missing generations would be needed to add even 10,000 years to the chronology.

To extend the date of Adam’s creation back to 200,000 years we would have to insert 6,000 missing generations – clearly an absurdity in genealogies that together contain only 20 generations! And the problem gets worse if we consider earlier members of our genus to be descendants of Adam too. Homo ergaster and Homo erectus have a fossil record going back almost two million years!¹⁸

An alternative is to locate Adam much more recently in history, say less than 20,000 years ago. This is more in line with the biblical genealogies, but it would mean that Adam could not be the ancestor of most people living today, for the simple reason that humanity was already widely dispersed across the globe by that time. This runs counter to the biblical claim that Adam was the first man (1 Cor 15:47), Eve the mother of all living (Gen 3:20) and that all humans that have ever lived arose from this one, primordial couple (e.g. Acts 17:26).

It also raises disturbing questions about the spiritual status of the Homo sapiens that lived before Adam. Did they bear the image of God, or were they animals? And what about the people alive today that are descended from those other Homo sapiens, and not from Adam? If Adam was not the first man, but only one among many, the implications are startling and far-reaching.¹⁹

6. No Worldwide Flood

Sixth, we would have to accept that there was no worldwide flood within human history.

Lifesize ark built to Noah's specifications (Kentucky, USA).

Assuming the standard geological time-scale, most of the sedimentary rocks, with their enclosed fossils, were deposited in the hundreds of millions of years before humans made their first appearance. It logically follows from this premise that these sediments could not be the product of a global flood within human history.

Furthermore, the sediments that were formed since the first appearance of humans in the fossil record show no signs of having been deposited in a global flood. They mostly represent the deposits of ‘normal’ environments such as lakes, rivers and shallow oceans.²⁰ Thus, there is no place in the standard chronology for a global flood. In fact, even a geographically local but anthropologically universal flood cannot be accommodated unless the Flood was a very long time ago, since we have already noted how widely distributed humans have been for many tens of thousands of years according to conventional dating.

The biblical genealogies do not allow us to place Noah so far back in history, and in any case the idea of a local flood runs counter to the many lines of biblical evidence that point to a global flood.²¹ Others have suggested that the Flood may indeed have been global, but that it left no trace in the geological record. But a geologically ‘tranquil’ global flood is a contradiction in terms, and there is no evidence in the fossil record that human populations were ever wiped out by such an event.

The biblical claim is that Adam was the first man (1 Cor 15:47), Eve the mother of all living (Gen 3:20) and that all humans that have ever lived arose from this one, primordial couple.

Was the Original Creation “Very Good”?

Big questions confront us as we consider the logical consequences of embracing the old-Earth chronology. Perhaps the biggest is whether a world replete with death, agony, sickness and disease for hundreds of millions of years is compatible with the biblical description of a world that was “very good” in the beginning. If physical death was not the consequence of human sin but a normal part of the world from the outset, then what are the implications for our theology of Christ’s atonement and bodily resurrection?

Some may be tempted to say that the ‘death’ attributed in the Bible to Adam’s sin refers only to ‘spiritual’ death. But if that were the case, why was it necessary for Christ to suffer and die physically in order to save us?^22,23 Others will perhaps say that the death and suffering of animals for millions of years before the first appearance of humans is of no theological consequence because the death brought by Adam’s sin applied only to humans. But this is to downplay what the Bible says about animal suffering and death, which is connected to human sin in many passages.²⁴ And problems remain even if we consider only human death and suffering.

Consider Neanderthals, for instance. Neanderthals, whose fossil remains are conventionally dated to 250,000-40,000 years ago, are known to have suffered from bone fractures,²⁵ arthritis,²⁶ dental abscesses,²⁷ infectious diseases²⁸ and abnormalities arising from malnutrition.^29,30 One Neanderthal individual appears to have sustained crush injuries and head trauma, perhaps from a rock fall; he was probably also blinded in his left eye.³¹ Another shows evidence of widespread degenerative joint disease, as well as a rib fracture and loss of teeth.³²

Stringer and Gamble write that “evidence of injury or disease in some form or another is found in almost all reasonably complete adult Neanderthals.”³³ Are these Neanderthals descendants of Adam, suffering the effects of the Fall? If so, Adam must have lived a very long time ago - much further back than even the most generous interpretation of the biblical genealogies would allow. But if these Neanderthals lived before Adam, what are we to make of their cultural continuity with modern humans? Neanderthals are known to have manufactured stone tools and bone implements,³⁴ worn jewellery^35,36,37 and buried their dead.³⁸ In fact, genome sequencing has revealed that Neanderthals and modern humans interbred with one another.³⁹ Most modern Europeans and Asians have some Neanderthal genes – are Europeans and Asians the offspring of bestiality?

It is also important to note that all these problems apply as much to the old-Earth creationist model as to the theistic evolution model (both defined last week). If we accept the standard geological time-scale, we must abandon much well-established biblical theology.

Conclusion: Only the Young-Earth Model Explains the Data

It seems to me that we can only make sense of both the biblical and the scientific data if we are ready to question the standard time-scale and embrace the shorter chronology proposed by the young-Earth model. According to young-Earth creationism, the world was created in six days about 6,000 years ago.

From this perspective, the fossil record is a witness to the thousands of years of biblical history, not to the hundreds of millions of years of the old-Earth model. In fact, in the young-Earth model much of the fossil record is considered to have formed during the worldwide Flood in the days of Noah.⁴⁰

Is a world replete with death, agony, sickness and disease for hundreds of millions of years compatible with the biblical description of a world that was “very good” in the beginning?

The death, agony, sickness and disease evidenced in the fossil record is thus a snapshot of what the world was like at the time of that global judgment, not what it was like at the time of Creation. And the fossil record of humans is telling us a story not about human origins but rather about the patterns of human migration and dispersal after the Flood.⁴¹ In other words, in young-Earth creationism it is not our theology of the goodness of Creation or the atonement that we must re-think, but our scientific interpretations - specifically our understanding of the geological record and its millions-of-years time-scale.

Undoubtedly this is a radical proposal, one that requires many aspects of Earth history to be carefully re-considered. In fact, it is so radical it raises an obvious and pressing question: is such a wholesale re-envisioning of Earth history scientifically viable? Is it really credible to contemplate an Earth history spanning only thousands, rather than millions of years? What about the ‘mountains of evidence’ said to favour an old Earth? These are very good questions and I shall seek to address them in my next article.

References

1 Catchpoole, D, 2012. A thorny issue. Creation, 34(3):52-55.

2 Lang, WH, 1931. On the spines, sporangia, and spores of Psilophyton princeps, Dawson, shown in specimens from Gaspé. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 219:421-442.

3 Rayner, RJ, 1984. New finds of Drepanophycus spinaeformis Göppert from the Lower Devonian of Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 75:353-363.

4 Rayner, RJ, 1983. New observations on Sawdonia ornata from Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 74:79-93.

5 Chaney, RW, 1944. A fossil cactus from the Eocene of Utah. American Journal of Botany, 31:507-528.

6 Becker, HF, 1963. The fossil record of the genus Rosa. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 90:99-110.

7 DeVore, ML and KB Pigg, 2007. A brief review of the fossil history of the family Rosaceae with a focus on the Eocene Okanogan Highlands of eastern Washington State, USA, and British Columbia, Canada. Plant Systematics and Evolution, 266:45-57.

8 Hublin, JJ, Ben-Ncer, A, Bailey, SE, et al, 2017. New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens. Nature, 546:289-292.

9 Richter, D, Grün, R, Joannes-Boyau, R, et al, 2017. The age of the hominin fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and the origins of the Middle Stone Age. Nature, 546:293-296.

10 Hershkovitz, I, Weber, GW, Quam, R, et al, 2018. The earliest modern humans outside Africa. Science, 359:456-459.

11 Appenzeller, T, 2012. Eastern odyssey. Nature, 482:24-26.

12 Clarkson, C, Jacobs, Z, Marwick, B, et al, 2017. Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago. Nature, 547:306-310.

13 Higham, T, Compton, T, Stringer, C, et al, 2011. The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe. Nature, 479:521-524.

14 Benazzi, S, Douka, K, Fornai, C, et al, 2011. Early dispersal of modern humans in Europe and implications for Neanderthal behavior. Nature, 479:525-528.

15 Bourgeon, L, Burke, A and Higham, T, 2017. Earliest human presence in North America dated to the Last Glacial Maximum: new radiocarbon dates from Bluefish Caves, Canada. PLoS ONE, 12(1):e0169486.

16 And even then, it is claimed based on studies of modern genetic diversity that the ancestral population size of Homo sapiens cannot have been lower than about 10,000 individuals. See Venema, D, 2010. Genesis and the genome: genomics evidence for human-ape common ancestry and ancestral hominid population sizes. Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, 62:166-178.

17 Garner, P, 2009. The New Creationism: Building Scientific Theories on a Biblical Foundation. Evangelical Press, Darlington, pp66-70.

18 Wood, B, 2005. Human Evolution: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp84-93.

19 Lloyd, S, 2017. Chronological creationism. Foundations, 72:76-99.

20 For example, in England and Wales, deposits assigned to the Pleistocene (conventionally dated from 2.58 million years ago to 11,700 years ago) include scattered outcrops of glacial and interglacial sediments and cave deposits. See Boulton, GS, 1992. Quaternary, pp413-444 in Duff, PMD and Smith, AJ (eds), Geology of England and Wales. The Geological Society, London.

21 Lloyd SJ, 2014. Flood theology: why does Noah's flood matter? Origins, 59: 4-8.

22 Lloyd, S, 2009. Christian theology and Neo-Darwinism are incompatible: an argument from the resurrection, pp1-29 in Finlay, G, Lloyd, S, Pattemore, S and Swift, D, Debating Darwin. Two Debates: Is Darwinism True & Does it Matter? Paternoster, Milton Keynes.

23 Lloyd, see ref. 19, pp86-89.

24 As we have already noted, this connection is evident in the Flood account but is seen also in the Passover narrative (Ex 12:12, 29) and in the fate of the animals in Nineveh (Jon 3:7-8, 4:11), as well as many other passages. It also provides the basis for the Old Testament sacrificial system.

25 Berger, TD and Trinkaus, E, 1995. Patterns of trauma among Neandertals. Journal of Archaeological Science, 22:841-852.

26 Dawson, JE and Trinkaus, E, 1997. Vertebral osteoarthritis of the La Chapelle-aux-Saints 1 Neanderthal. Journal of Archaeological Science, 24:1015-1021.

27 Brothwell, DR, 1959. Teeth in earlier human populations. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 18:59-65.

28 Fennell, KJ and Trinkaus, E, 1997. Bilateral femoral and tibial periostitis in the La Ferrassie 1 Neanderthal. Journal of Archaeological Science, 24:985-995.

29 Guatelli-Steinberg, D, Larsen, CS and Hutchinson, DL, 2004. Prevalence and the duration of linear enamel hypoplasia: a comparative study of Neandertals and Inuit foragers. Journal of Human Evolution, 47:65-84.

30 Barrett, CK, Guatelli-Steinberg, D and Sciulli, PW, 2012. Revisiting dental fluctuating asymmetry in Neandertals and modern humans. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 149:193-204.

31 Trinkaus. E, 1983. The Shanidar Neandertals. Academic Press, New York.

32 Stringer, C and Gamble, C, 1994. In Search of the Neanderthals. Thames and Hudson, p95.

33 Stringer and Gamble, see ref. 32, p94.

34 Hayden, B, 1993. The cultural capacities of Neandertals: a review and re-evaluation. Journal of Human Evolution, 24:113-146.

35 Radovčić, D, Sršen, AO, Radovčić, J and Frayer, DW, 2015. Evidence for Neandertal jewelry: modified white-tailed eagle claws at Krapina. PLoS ONE, 10(3):e0119802.

36 Finlayson, C, Brown, K, Blasco, R, et al, 2012. Birds of a feather: Neanderthal exploitation of raptors and corvids. PLoS ONE, 7(9):e45927.

37 Welker, F, Hajdinjak, M, Talamo, S, et al, 2016. Palaeoproteomic evidence identifies archaic hominins associated with the Châtelperronian at the Grotte du Renne. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 113:11162-11167.

38 Hayden, see ref. 34.

39 Pääbo, S, 2014. Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes. Basic Books, New York, pp185-195.

40 Garner, see ref. 17, pp194-208.

41 Garner, see ref. 17, pp226-238.

God's character is unchangeable and absolutely dependable; this we learn through his covenants with his people. It is the task of the prophet to be an agent of God's covenant promises - but what does that mean?

The God whom the prophets of Israel proclaim is a God of order and settled purpose. There is nothing haphazard or uncertain about him. He is unchangeable and in consequence absolutely dependable. This attribute of his character is demonstrated by the way in which he relates himself to people, either as groups or as individuals (but always for the benefit of the whole), by means of covenants.

This is underlined by the division of the Christian scriptures into two sections that we call the Old and New Testaments (or, alternatively, covenants). An important aspect of the ministry of the prophet in the Bible as a whole and in the church of today is that of being agents of the covenant.

The Lord is the God of order and settled purpose. There is nothing haphazard or uncertain about him.

All Biblical Covenants Spring from the Divine Initiative

God's Covenant with Noah

When God decided that the whole of mankind had corrupted itself beyond redemption and must be destroyed by a flood, he said to Noah, "But I will establish my covenant with you, and you (and your family) will enter the ark" (Gen 6:18). After the flood had come and gone God spoke again to Noah and said, "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you...never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life" (Gen 9:9, 15).

This covenant was conceived by God himself. It was universal in its scope, unconditional in its nature, and formulated entirely at God's initiative. Man had no part in it, except to enter the ark. In his second letter Peter draws his readers' attention to the flood of Noah, saying "the world of that time was deluged and destroyed...the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment" (2 Pet 3:16-17).

An important aspect of the ministry of the prophet in the Bible and today is that of being agents of God's covenant.

Part of the solemn responsibility of today's prophets is to declare the coming destruction of the heavens and earth, when the very elements will melt in its heat. The tragedy of Chernobyl illustrates this ancient prediction. But the ultimate outcome of God's covenant is to be "a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness" (2 Pet 3:13).

God's Covenant with Abraham

The Hebrew word berith, which is translated 'covenant' in the Old Testament, means 'to cut' and gives rise to the expression 'cutting a covenant'. In order to confirm his covenant with Abram God told him to bring sacrificial animals and birds, to cut the animals in half and to arrange the birds opposite one another, leaving a path between the sacrifices. After dark that evening "a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram" (Gen 15:17-18).

In the more usual and secular use of this covenant-cutting ceremony, the two parties would have walked together between the divided animals. In effect they would be saying, "I would rather die like these offerings than break my word" (Jer 34:18). But this further illustration shows that in the matter of covenants the initiative is always with God. Abram did not walk between the pieces - he was sound asleep - but was assured of the divine promises to him through seeing God (symbolised by fire) pass through the sacrificial offerings.

God promised Abram possession of the land of Canaan, the multiplic¬ation of his descendants, and the blessing of all families of the earth through his seed (Gen 12:2-3, 15:18, 17:8). The sign of this covenant was circumcision, and those who refused it would lose their share of the blessings God had covenanted to Abram's descendants. But his promise would be fulfilled in perpetuity. God's purpose concerning the people and the land still holds good today, even though centuries have elapsed since the promise was made.

God promised Abram and his descendants possession of the land of Canaan, and this promise still holds good today.

God's Covenant with Moses and Israel

It was when the Children of Israel were in captivity in Egypt that God renewed his covenant with them through Moses. "I have heard the groanings of the Israelites...and I have remembered my covenant...I will take you as my own people...and I will bring you to the land I swore to give to Abraham" (Ex 6:5-8). It was not because the Children of Israel pleased their God that he gave them such wonderful promises, but because he loved them and had determined to save them (Deut 7:7-9).

As Moses commented, "He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands" (Deut 7:9). At Sinai Moses ascended the mountain to hear God say, "I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now, if you will obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession" (Ex 19:4-5). But certain demands were made of those God had chosen as his special people. They were to be holy, just as he is holy, and they were to be obedient to all his requirements as laid down in the book of the Covenant (Lev 19:2; Ex 24:7-8).

When God renewed his covenant with the Children of Israel through Moses, he gave them wonderful promises and also laid out his demands for them as his chosen people.

Part of Israel's obligation to God in response to his sovereign activity on their behalf was to observe the sabbath: "The Israelites are to observe the sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant" (Ex 31:16).

God's Covenant with David

On one occasion, when at war with King Jeroboam of Israel, King Abijah of Judah expressed his understanding of the divine purpose to his adversary by saying, "Don't you know that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants for ever by a covenant of salt?" (2 Chron 13:5). Salt, specified for use with all the Levitical sacrifices, stands for permanence and incorruption. hence its use here to stress the unending reign of David and his descendants.

In its ultimate reference, the covenant with David is Messianic. For the Messiah is to be the embodiment of the covenant, as is expressed by Isaiah when he said, "I will make you to be a covenant for the people" (Is 42:6; 49:8). Jesus is the one in whom all the promises of God are "Yes!" (1 Cor 1:20).

God's Covenant with Levi

Scripture contains no record of any covenant with Levi, but Jeremiah and Malachi do contain references to such an accord. "If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night...then my covenant with David my servant - and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me - can be broken" (Jer 33:20-21).

According to Malachi, "'I have sent you this admonition so that my covenant with Levi may continue,' says the Lord Almighty. 'My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him'" (Mal 2:4-5). "But you have turned from the way and...violated the covenant with Levi" (Mal 2:8).

God's covenant with David emphasised permanence and incorruption, and heralded the coming Messiah who would embody all God's promises.

As is the case with all the foregoing examples of biblical covenants when God's people or his chosen individuals violate his covenant, judgment falls on the covenant-breakers, but his covenant promises stand firm.

God's Covenant with His Prophets Today

We live at a time when many of the promises of Scripture have already been fulfilled. One such fulfilment was the arrival of the forerunner, 'my messenger' (Mal 3:1), in the person of John the Baptist. It was immediately followed by the appearance of the King himself, the One for whom all had been looking. Before he was crucified, Jesus explained what was going to happen to him when he spoke of the blood of the covenant at the institution of the Lord's Supper.

We have seen examples of a covenant being established by the shedding of blood, and rejoice that the death of Jesus releases God's promises to all mankind. But there are millions of people in all parts of the world who still do not know that God has fulfilled all his intentions and that eternal salvation is available for all who believe.

This is what makes God's covenant gift - the Holy Spirit and the word of God to his church - so important. "'As for me, this is my covenant with them' says the Lord. 'My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever,' says the Lord" (Is 59:21).

Millions of people around the world still do not know about the eternal salvation available to them – which is why God's covenant gifts to the Church of his Holy Spirit and his word are so important.

Tasks of the Agents of the Covenant of God

1. To Proclaim the Covenant Purposes of God, Past and Present

As God's agents proclaim his purposes today, they will be able to ensure that his people do not pin their hopes on human effort but on the sovereign, unfailing power of the Almighty. So many churches now seem to be operating on a purely human level instead of manifesting the mighty power of God, which is his covenant gift to us and to all believers. They should be listening to and appropriating for their use the very words of God himself.

2. To Encourage and Correct God's People as the Prophets Did

God's agents can find help in fulfilling their task today, as they study their predecessors' obligations under the first covenant. Their role was:

• to remind the people of God that Jehovah's is an everlasting covenant (Is 55:3; 61:8; Jer 32:40). The final verse states. "I will never stop doing them good."
• to reassure God's people that they will never cease to be a nation before him. "He who appoints the sun to shine by day...the moon and stars to shine by night...the Lord Almighty is his name: only if these decrees vanish from my sight will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me" (Jer 31:35-36).
• to tell them that God is with his people. "This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear" (Hag 2:5).
• to require that the Lord's people face up to the demands and duties of the covenant. "The Lord said to me, 'Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem: listen to the terms of this covenant and follow them'" (Jer 11:6).
• to blow God's trumpet as a reproof to his people for breaking the divine covenant and thereby despising his oath (Is 24:5; Hos 8:1; Ezek 16:59, 17:19).

As well as speaking to the people for their good, the agents of the covenant played their prophetic role fully by interceding for them and by speaking to God on their behalf. "Remember your covenant with us and do not break it" (Jer 14:21). There is no better place nor more suitable an occasion to meditate on the blood of the covenant than at the Lord's Supper. This is where Jesus operated as the chief agent of God's covenant when he said, "This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many" (Mark 14:24).

God had remembered his holy covenant, as Zechariah had prophesied (Luke 1:72). All that had gone before finds its fulfilment at the holy table. There is no place for chance or uncertainty in our God's way of working. What he plans he carries out. How reassuring and worthwhile it is to be his agents!

First published in Prophecy Today, Vol 6, No 4, July/August 1990.

Our God is a covenant-keeping God. But what do all the covenants in Scripture mean for Christians today?

Having spent several weeks considering the separation of the Christian Church from its Jewish roots, we move on this week to look at the fruitfulness that becomes evident when we recover our rooting. In this study we consider the most important principle, handed down through the nation of Israel: the Covenant with the One True God.

One New Man

When it comes to connecting back into the true roots of our faith and bearing fruit as a consequence, where do we start? One of the starting points, as discussed in a previous study, has to be Romans 11 - the unifying metaphor of the olive tree wherein there is one body of believers - some grafted in, being unnatural branches. That's one starting point. Another is Ephesians 2:12-22:

...at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

In this brief passage of the Bible many themes intertwine. There is the principle of the one new man, which expresses the unity that God intends among the body of his people. Originally, that body was the nation Israel - called out from the world for God's purposes. Into that covenant body come Gentiles, by faith in Jesus.

This raises many new questions, especially where the passage talks about abolishing an enmity in the flesh of Jesus. What is that enmity? What was it that happened on the cross in order that there could be reconciliation within him of people from all nations? Did it take away the Old Testament and bring in the New? Did it take away teachings that had failed, in order to replace them with teachings that would succeed, or should we look more deeply behind the scenes of these challenging verses to see just what is happening?

Living Temple, United Body

God did not suddenly take away the scriptures of what we call the Old Testament - those precious scriptures that the Hebrew people call the Tanakh, the scriptures of the Covenant Nation even before Jesus came to this earth. He did not take them away but instead made them a foundation for what would follow. He did take away the division that was in the Temple whereby Gentiles could not enter in. He made himself the cornerstone of the new and living Temple – his people.

Jesus did not abolish the Old Testament scriptures but instead made them a foundation for what would follow.

The metaphors merge and interchange as we try to imagine the picture of a united body with Jesus at the centre, bringing in the New Covenant. We must understand what this means. Even though the word 'New' is used, it is still a part of one continuing plan of God. In fulfilment of all the covenant principles he is bringing together one family from all the nations – it is a family and a community. This is the one new man to whom he has given the Holy Spirit so that we might all come into that unity.

Identity Crisis

These are important principles for us to consider carefully, but which also shed light on an identity crisis in the Christian Church. Who are we? We must look beyond both the historical Jewish response and the historical Christian response to reassess this, whilst also restoring our understanding of the relationship between the Church and Israel. There is much to learn and relearn from the life and history of the Jewish people to be put into the context of our scriptures.

The 'New' Covenant is part of God's continuing plan to bring together one unified, Holy Spirit-filled family from all nations.

We are seeking an authentic, biblical response to who we are as the Covenant People of God – one that unites Jews who have accepted Yeshua as Messiah with believers from the Gentile world, into One New Man. Let us look for a biblical response for that unifying purpose of God in our day, and then we can begin perhaps to bear the fruit of which we are talking.

The Covenant Purpose of God

There are at least five main aspects of God's covenant purposes in Scripture. That may seem strange to those who think there is just an old covenant and a new covenant – a two-stage plan. That is a misconception. Indeed, the word covenant is not just used once or twice in Scripture - it is used over and over again. Just as God has many facets to his character, so different aspects of his covenant purposes were given at different times and with different emphases. Within these different emphases, there is one overriding purpose.

United Community

There is a sense in which the covenant purposes of God began before the creation of the world. God had covenant principles in his heart at the time of the creation of the universe, when he created people like you and me. Indeed, before Creation there was a family and a community of angels in heaven. The created order became an extension of God's kingdom, not an entity on its own.

We do not know all there is to know about angels and demons, nor do we know everything about the oneness of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There was a fall of angels – we know that from Scripture. Satan leads a legion of fallen angels – we know that too and feel its impact in the world today. There are also worshipping angels - a community in Heaven. The scriptures begin with what seems to be a plural word for the One God (Elohim is a Hebraic plural). Father, Son and Holy Spirit existed together in community - the most united community possible - before creation.

God's covenant purposes began before the creation of the world – the created order became an extension of his kingdom, not a separate entity.

We see in this sense of united community the deep purpose of God that transcends even the created universe and the time that it will exist. There is a greater purpose here - a greater end God has had in view since before creation – than most of us have realised. It is greater than the 'Old' covenant with Moses and greater than anything that we have experienced on this earth.

Covenant Principle 1: Life and Provision Until the End of Days

The first easily identifiable covenant references in the Bible come at the time of Noah. At the time of Adam and Eve there was a fall but God did not intend this to be permanent. All mankind came into this fallen situation and, indeed, men and women went further and further from God until, at the time of Noah, came the judgment of God. A catastrophic flood shows us what the consequences of sin really are, but all was not lost - even then. God made a covenant with Noah which appears in Genesis 6:18 and 9:9:

But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark - you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female...

God promised that there would never be a flood of this proportion again. Mankind should have changed after Noah - we might have expected Noah to start a new generation who would no longer sin. That is not the case; the case is that mankind's sins have equaled those of people before the flood, but God had made a covenant promise. He had promised that never again would he wipe out mankind with a flood. So, despite sin, the covenant remains.

Since the flood, mankind's sins have equaled those of people before – but God's covenant promise to never flood the earth again remains.

Perhaps we can begin to feel the sad heart of God as we consider these things. Here is God who is absolutely pure and holy - a holiness we have never experienced in our own lives, absolutely clean and pure - nevertheless, promising that he will overlook sin to a certain degree, preserving the earth, and for a certain purpose, namely to complete the whole covenant plan.

Later he told Noah and his family that there would be seed time and harvest, winter, spring and summer - all the seasons will come and go, and there will be food on the earth for all generations - it will be a place in which you can live until the end of time. There will be an end, and there is coming a new heaven and a new earth, but in the meanwhile - that promise is part of God's overall covenant plan.

Covenant Principle 2: God's Unconditional, Costly Commitment to Us

The next easily identifiable focus on the covenant is at the time of Abraham. In Genesis 17 we read:

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly." Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

As we study the covenant made with Abraham, we see cost. There is the cost of the animals - the covenant was cut and blood was shed. It was a great commitment done in a very dramatic way. God overshadowed Abraham who was in a deep sleep - it was an awesome time that we can picture from the description in the scriptures.

Something new happened in the mystery of God's purposes and Abraham became the central father figure for the covenant from then on. This covenant was unconditional. God swore with an oath as he bound himself to the promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations - not just of one nation, Israel. He gave a promise to Israel, the physical offspring, including a land promise to them.

God bound himself by costly, unconditional oath to make Abraham father of many nations.

This parallels, to some extent, aspects of the covenant with Noah, where there was to be a practical provision from God – a land to live in. Israel, the physical nation, had God's special call until, later, the call went out to all nations to add to those from Israel who lived by faith, making up one Covenant community in fulfilment of the eternal promise to Abraham.

Covenant Principle 3: Our Response and its Consequences

The covenant with Abraham best summarises God's overall covenant purposes - an unconditional, personal commitment from God. The Abrahamic Covenant came before the time of Moses and was set in place before all those further lessons that God taught through him. What God brought through Moses, therefore, is in the context of what he had already promised to Abraham. In Exodus 34 we read:

And He said: "Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst.

God was beginning to call for a response from his people. Already he had made an unconditional statement of what he would do, but now he was drawing forth a response from the Nation of Israel. He was to be their God, the one true God, and they were to have no other gods before him. The conditions of blessing and curse in the land of promise were also given. These conditions did not take away from the overall, unconditional promises of God given through Abraham, but there were now to be consequences for obedience and for disobedience for the nation.

The covenant God brought through Moses was in the context of that brought through Abraham. It did not take away from those unconditional promises, but added in consequences for obedience and disobedience.

We are all to learn from this, not just Israel. Through Israel we learn that we cannot achieve righteousness through our own efforts. That is why he called Israel – to be a representative nation, knowing God's righteous laws. Sin still needs a remedy. Laws will not be enough. Israel as a whole failed just as we would fail, but nevertheless, God has made Israel special and will not forsake them even though they failed.

Covenant Principle 4: Salvation from David's Line

A fourth stage in the outworking of the covenant plan comes at the time of David. Psalm 89 is a very relevant passage for this:

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, "Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: 'Your seed I will establish forever, And build up your throne to all generations'.

Here we see the relevance of covenant again, a covenant made with the line of David, promising a future king. We later understand that the seed is the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Yeshua Ha-Mashiach.

It is not the first time we see this prophecy. Jacob prophesied over Judah and foresaw the coming of the Messiah. Other Messianic promises are scattered through Scripture. In fact, as we read Scripture we see that it all ultimately points to Jesus. Nevertheless, here, in very clear detail, a covenant is made with David. There will be a king who will come from the nation of Israel, the tribe of Judah and from the line of David.

Covenant Principle 5: A Covenant by Faith

The need of mankind was shown through Israel's reaction to God's covenant through Moses. The heart of mankind was shown - the heart of fallen man, studied through the history of this small nation Israel. God's purposes are stated clearly through Moses in the laws and principles by which a people should live.

Another way had to be revealed, because even when they know right from wrong, people will fail because of their sinful nature. Therefore, with the covenant promise to Abraham in mind, a better provision was made. It was promised through Jeremiah - in Jeremiah 31:

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 that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

The term 'new covenant' is first written here, as a promise to Israel and Judah. The context of Ephesians 2 is Jeremiah 31. God centred the New Covenant on Israel, sealing his family as those who will live by faith in Jesus the Messiah. Those who came to faith from the Gentile world join an already-existing community of faith going back to Abraham. The word 'new' refers to a new way that God will make sure that he has a people according to the promise he made with Abraham and according to the provision for the ongoing lifespan of this earth he made through Noah.

The context of the 'New' Covenant is the fulfilment of the 'Old' Covenant: God is providing a new way to bring together his covenant people according to the promise made to Abraham.

One Overarching Plan

God is calling one people out. He did not give up on mankind when Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden, but kept going with what he purposed - and because he purposes it he sealed it with a covenant and an oath made most profoundly to Abraham, which then overarches all of history, so that all who will can be gathered into this one covenant family.

In our day we need to look at this and rediscover who we are as we look back to where we separated from our roots – and as we look forward to the repair work to be done, as well as to our witness to a world that needs to know who God's people are.

We do not join the covenant family through the rituals of Judaism, but by faith. Indeed, the rituals of religion in and of themselves do not ensure membership of the community of God. Nevertheless, the root of our faith was manifest first in the faithful of Israel and we receive their heritage when we join the one family. In Isaiah 66 we read:

I will set a sign among them; and those among them who escape I will send to the nations: to Tarshish and Pul and Lud, who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the Lord out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem," says the Lord, "as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites," says the Lord.

Surely the sign referred to in this passage was the sign of Messiah's coming. After that came the gathering from all nations. Israel was still in the heart of God, central to the covenant community - without compromise to his principles - together with those from the nations who would come in by faith.

Every Tribe and Tongue

The final picture of the covenant is in Revelation 7 where we see some from every tribe and tongue - among them some from every tribe of Israel, and then some from all the tribes of the world. That is the end point of the covenant promise, when all are gathered into that one family.

All are gathered around the throne worshipping the Saviour, Jesus the Christ, Yeshua Ha-Mashiach. Through our studies we must understand that only in him is the unity that identifies who we are, the covenant people of God.

The final picture of covenant is the whole family of God, gathered around the throne worshipping the Saviour. Only in Jesus is true covenant unity to be found.

For Reflection and Comment

How is God's covenant with Abraham to be seen as one integrated whole into which Gentiles can also be called by faith?

How are we to see God's covenant with Israel in the light of his overarching covenant purposes that pre-date creation itself?

Next time: Torah Foundations

Series note: 'CIJ' (Christianity, Israel and the Jews) is a study series about the relationship between the Church and its Hebraic heritage.