Sunday Sept. 3 2017
God works in covenants, all throughout Scripture. He establishes several which all work together towards His goal of a Holy Heavenly Nation.
There is one covenant in particular that is of special importance:
In the Beginning, God Establishes an EVERLASTING COVENANT that cannot be broken. It was established between Father and Son, who are two yet ONE. Both being perfect and completely unified with each other, this covenant would never be voided because neither party would violate the terms of it.
The Father and the Son would both perfectly fulfil the terms of this covenant forever. It was sealed by the death of Jesus on the Cross, and its benefits began to be distributed at His resurrection.
Rev 13:8 GNV
Therefore all that dwell upon the earth, shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of that Lamb, which WAS SLAIN from the beginning of the world.
He was slain before time began. Meaning, the Father and the Son had already established the EVERLASTING COVENANT based on that sacrifice, long before that sacrifice would actually occur.
Note that The Father and the Son had already established the details of the Everlasting Covenant, long before the world began.
Matthew 22:1-2 ESV
1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son,
John 17:4-5 GNV
4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
5 And now glorify me, thou Father, with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
BEFORE the world was.
Genesis 9:16 GNV
Therefore the bow shall be in the cloud, that I may see it, and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living thing, in all flesh that is upon the earth.
Genesis 17:7 GNV
Moreover, I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
Hebrews 13:20 GNV
The God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting Covenant,
Later, in the Old Testament God established a Covenant With Israel, after delivering them from bondage in Egypt - This was The First Marriage Covenant at Mount Siniai. And it was between God and Natural Israel. The purpose of this covenant was to establish a people through which to bring forth a Messiah. It would also serve to show how much better the New Covenant would be.
Deuteronomy 4:13 GNV
Then he declared unto you his covenant which he commanded you to do, even the ten commandments, and wrote them upon two Tables of stone.
Deuteronomy 5:2 GNV
The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
Deuteronomy 5:3 GNV
The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers only, but with us, even with us all here alive this day.
The First Marriage Covenant was eventually broken (nullified) by Israel who violated the terms of the covenant. They were without true, whole-hearted repentance. After centuries of calling to them to turn back, and their refusal, God decided to divorce them.
Jeremiah 31:32 GNV
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, the which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord.
God divorces Israel in recognition that the old covenant, the first marriage, has been broken by Israel. They were steeped in unrepentant unfaithfulness and idolatry. This divorce was sealed by their deportation to Syria (Assyria/Ninevah). They would never return home.
Through their unfaithfulness to the Faithful God, they broke/nullified the covenant.
Jeremiah 3:8 GNV
8 When I saw, how that by all occasions rebellious Israel had played the harlot, I cast her away, and gave her a bill of divorcement: yet her rebellious sister Judah was not afraid, but she went also and played the harlot.
Thus we know:
A) Covenants CAN be broken if one of the parties violates the terms of that covenant and refuses to repent.
B) Divorce in itself is not a sin, since God has used divorce Himself. He cannot and does not sin. He is holy, faithful and righteous. It is a last-resort provision in case there is a violation of a covenant where no true lasting repentance can be seen or found. If a covenant is broken and there is no lasting repentance, divorce can be used... because the covenant was already broken.
C) The Everlasting Covenant cannot be Broken because both parties are flawless and completely unified with each other. The Father and the Son are ONE. (John 10:30) The Everlasting Covenant represents the Second Marriage, the marriage between the Lamb and the New (Heavenly) Jerusalem.
God kept a remnant of Israel in the tribes Judah and Benjamin, for the sake of His covenant to David's house. That everlasting covenant, the new one, would be fulfilled by Jesus Christ, the greatest son of David.
God promises to remarry the House of Israel through a new covenant.
Hosea 2:19-23 GNV
19 And I will marry thee unto me forever: yea, I will marry thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in mercy, and in compassion.
20 I will even marry thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord.
21 And in that day I will hear, saith the Lord, I will even hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth,
22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel.
23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her, that was not pitied, and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people. And they shall say, Thou art my God.
That new covenant is the EVERLASTING COVENANT between FATHER and SON from before the foundation of the earth. It was CONSUMATED at the CROSS of Jesus.
John 19:30 GNV
Now when Jesus had received of the vinegar, he said, It is finished, and bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
Through Jesus Christ, any Israelite or Gentile can come be a part of HIS NEW BRIDE, the NEW JERUSALEM. Jesus Christ the Son of God, is the Husband of the New Jerusalem (The Bride). Jesus Christ is ONE WITH THE FATHER (John 10:30).
Thus, Hosea 2:19-23 is fulfilled in Jesus Christ's marriage to the New Jerusalem. This is the Second Marriage, and unlike the first, it is ETERNAL because the covenant was between two persons who are UNIFIED, SINLESS and FLAWLESS.
Hebrews 6:16-18 1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)
16 For men verily swear by him that is greater than themselves, and an oath for confirmation is among them an end of all strife.
17 So God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the stableness of his counsel, bound himself by an oath,
18 That by two immutable things, wherein it is impossible that God should lie, we might have strong consolation, which have our refuge to lay hold upon that hope that is set before us,
Revelation 21:9-14 GNV
9 And there came unto me one of the seven Angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come: I will show thee the bride the Lamb’s wife.
10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and an high mountain, and he showed me that great city, that holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
11 Having the glory of God, and her shining was like unto a stone most precious, as a jasper stone clear as crystal,
12 And had a great wall and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve Angels, and the names written which are the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.
13 On the East part there were three gates, and on the North side three gates, on the South side three gates, and on the West side three gates.
14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the Lamb’s twelve Apostles.
There are three in Heaven, The Father God, Jesus the Word, and the Holy Spirit. These three are ONE (Triune). (See 1 John 5:7 in the Geneva Version or King James Version)
Jesus is married to New Jerusalem.
Jesus is God and Saviour:
2 Peter 1:1
Simon Peter a servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to you which have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Any person, Israelite or Gentile, who wants to be a part of the Bride, must come through the DOOR, Jesus Christ. (John 10:9). Through Jesus Christ, any person may enter into the NEW COVENANT. This new covenant is EVERLASTING, and it culminated in a SECOND MARRIAGE, a permanent and eternal one.
God Bless!
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