Our COVENANT GOD (Covenant -1) - 14/15 December 2017 - From the desk of Celia Joy Martins
The BIBLE TELLS us in Heb. 8:6-8 that MESSIAH has ACQUIRED a PRIESTLY MINISTRY which is as much superior (greater, bigger, higher, more excellent, loftier, exceptional, and more excellent than the OLD COVENANT - the AGREEMENT - of which HE IS THE MEDIATOR (the GO-BETWEEN) - the ARBITER (Referee, Judge, Negotiator, PEACEMAKER, the AUTHORITY) the AGENT (Representative, Instrument, the Cause) - MORE SUPERIOR AND MORE EXCELLENT because it is ENACTED AND RESTS UPON MORE IMPORTANT PROMISES.
Heb. 8:7-8 "For if the FIRST COVENANT HAD BEEN WITHOUT DEFECT, there WOULD HAVE BEEN NO ROOM FOR ANOTHER ONE OR AN ATTEMPT to INTITUTE ANOTHER ONE, however, HE FINDS FAULT WITH it - SHOWING its inadequacy (shortfall, shortage) - when HE said, 'Behold, the days will come, says YAH, when I WILL MAKE AND RATIFY A NEW COVENANT or AGREEMENT with the house of ISRAEL and with the house of JUDAH '.
:9 It will NOT be like the COVENANT that I MADE WITH their forefathers on the day when I grasped them by the hand to HELP and RELIEVE THEM and to LEAD them OUT from the land of Egypt, for THEY DID NOT ABIDE IN MY AGREEMENT WITH THEM, and SO I WITHDREW MY FAVOR and DISREGARDED THEM, says YAH.
:10 For THIS is the COVENANT that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says YAH, 'I WILL IMPRINT MY LAWS UPON THEIR MINDS, EVEN UPON THEIR INNERMOST THOUGHTS and UNDERSTANDING, and ENGRAVE THEM UPON THEIR HEARTS; and I WLL BE THEIR GOD and THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE'."
The COVENANT'S CONSEQUENCES:
BEING DISOBEDIENT to the COVENANT:
Ephesians 2:1-3, 11-12 says that IF we DISOBEDIENT to the COVENANT that was NEGOTIATED by YAHSHUA (for our sakes) - WE ARE DEAD in TRESPASSES AND SINS. We are then SONS/DAUGHTERS OF DISOBEDIENCE - CHILDREN OF WRATH - STRANGERS to the COVENANTS OF PROMISE - HAVING NO HOPE - living and being WITHOUT GOD in the WORLD.
On the other hand - BEING OBEDIENT:
Ephesians 2:4-10, Ephesians 2:18-22 says that IF WE OBEY the COVENANT OF YAHSHUA our MESSIAH, THEN we HAVE ACCESS to the FATHER (and are in ONE SPIRIT) - NO LONGER ALIENS AND STRANGERS, BUT FELLOW CITIZENS with the BELIEVERS AND ARE OF YAH'S HOUSEHOLD.
Again - THERE IS NO MIDDLE WAY - we are EITHER OBEDIENT - becoming CITIZENS of GOD'S HEAVENLY KINGDOM - our NAMES BEING WRITTEN in the HEAVENLY BOOKS - being ABLE to ACCESS the THRONEROOM boldly or we are DISOBEDIENT and being "DEAD" in our TRESPASSES AND SINS. Sons and daughters of DISOBEDIENCE - CHILDREN OF WRATH - STRANGERS to the COVENANTS OF PROMISE - HAVING NO HOPE - living and being WITHOUT GOD in the WORLD.
THE NEW COVENANT (NEW TESTAMENT) was MEDIATED by YAHSHUA FOR ALL MEN.
1 Tim. 2:4-6:
"There is ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN YAH AND MEN" ... HE became
"A RANSOM FOR ALL" ... and THROUGH MESSIAH - ABBA "DESIRES ALL MEN to be SAVED and to COME TO A KNOWLEDGE of the TRUTH"
Messiah's BLOOD is the BLOOD of the NEW COVENANT (Matt. 26:28)
His BLOOD was SHED for the WHOLE WORLD (1 John 2:2)
THE COVENANT (RATIFIED AND ESTABLISHED BY MESSIAH YAHSHUA ) APPLIES TO ALL:
John 3:16 "For YAHWEH God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten Son, so that whoever BELIEVES IN (TRUSTS IN, CLINGS TO, RELIES ON) HIM, SHALL NOT PERISH (come to destruction, be lost) but HAVE ETERNAL EVERLASTING LIFE."
YHWH'S PROMISE AND HIS OATH - HE HIMSELF MEDIATED: (Heb. 6:16-20)
:16 "Men indeed SWEAR by a greater [than themselves] and with them in all disputes the OATH TAKEN FOR CONFMATION IS FINAL [ending strife].
:17 Accordingly YAH ALSO, in HIS DESIRE to SHOW MORE CONVINCINGLY and BEYOND DOUBT to those who were to INHERIT the PROMISE the UNCHANGEABLENESS of HIS PURPOSE and PLAN, INTERVENED (MEDIATED) WITH AN OATH.
:18 THIS was so that, BY TWO UNCHANGEABLE THINGS - HIS PROMISE AND HIS OATH - in which it is IMPOSSIBLE FOR YAH EVER to PROVE FALSE or DECEIVE US, WE who have mighty INDWELLING STRENGTH and STRONG ENCOURAGEMENT to GRASP and HOLD FAST the HOPE APPONTED for US AND SET BEFORE us."
:19 NOW we HAVE THIS HOPE, as a SURE AND STEADFAST ANCHOR of the SOUL - it CANNOT SLIP and it CANNOT BREAK DOWN UNDER WHOEVER STEPS OUT UPON IT - a HOPE - that REACHES FARTHER AND ENTER INTO [the VERY CERTAINTY of the PRESENCE WITHIN the VEIL. (Lev. 16:2).
:20 Where YAHSHUA HAS ENTERED IN FOR US - in ADVANCE - a FORERUNNER having become a HIGH PRIEST FOREVER AFTER the ORDER - with the RANK - of MELCHIZEDEK. (Ps. 110:4)"
O ABBA, YAHSHUA AND SPIRIT THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU for NEGOTIATING for US - MAKING A WAY for us to come to YOU BOLDLY - UNASHAMED - INTO YOUR THRONEROOM - and DINE WITH YOU. Thank YOU our WONDERFUL MESSIAH for the PRIVILEGE TO BE YOUR OWN - to be CALLED "CHILDREN of the LIVING YAH". Thank YOU for LOVING US with YOUR UNCONDITIONAL - REDEEMING LOVE - SAVING US FROM OURSELVES. O BREATHE ON US O YAHSHUA - YOUR SPIRIT to BE ON US - IN US - DWELLING IN US - and HELP US TO WALK the GODLY WALK AT ALL TIMES. INTO YOUR HANDS we SUBMIT OURSELVES AFRESH TODAY - we YIELD to YOU COMPLETELY - we WAIT ON YOU!. In YAHSHUA HA'MASCHIACH'S NAME. Amen.