The Covenant stream – God builds a people

1. The Covenant stream – God builds a people This slide deck does not seek to answer the question “why covenant”? t

2. The Covenant stream – God builds a people Quite simply God chooses to interact with His creation through covenant t

3. The Covenant stream – God builds a people This slide deck, rather, seeks to illustrate how the key covenants interact with each other t

4. The Covenant stream – God builds a people This slide deck, rather, seeks to illustrate how the key covenants interact with each other ...... and thereby to better understand how “Enlargement Theology” works in practice t

5. The Covenant stream – God builds a people There is a sense in which covenant, like any formal agreement, has a purpose, a direction and a destination

6. The Covenant stream – God builds a people There is a sense in which covenant, like any formal agreement, has a purpose, a direction and a destination That is why we show it as an arrow symbol here

7. The Covenant stream – God builds a people There are four key covenants related to God’s salvation purposes:

8. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Abraham Covenant The Moses Covenant The David Covenant The Messiah Covenant These four are each closely associated with the spiritual and physical history of Israel

9. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Abraham Covenant The Moses Covenant The David Covenant The Messianic Covenant Through Israel God has a plan and a design that brings blessing to all Mankind, whether Jew or Gentile

10. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Abraham Covenant The Moses Covenant The David Covenant The Messianic Covenant Each covenant is directly associated with Jesus the Messiah – but we will not fully explore that aspect in this slide-set.

11. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Abraham Covenant The Moses Covenant The David Covenant The Messianic Covenant We can almost say that each covenant adds progressively “finer detail” to God’s overall salvation plan.

12. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Abraham Covenant Through Abraham, God will create a great nation Genesis 12:2-3; also Gen 12:7; Gen 15:5-7; Gen 22: 16-18; Exodus 3:8; Ex 3:17; Ex 6:6-8.

13. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Moses Covenant The Hebrews will become a Nation of Priests, to the blessing of the entire world Exodus 19:5-6; Exodus 20 (all); unlike the Abraham and David covenants, this one is conditional on obedience. Exodus 34:10ff sets out the conditions applicable.

14. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The David Covenant God promises to David that he will, forever, have a descendent reigning upon his throne 2 Samuel 7:13-16; see also 1 Samuel 16:13; Also 2 Samuel 7 (all) and 2 Samuel 23:5 .

15. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Messianic Covenant God points towards what the role and the office of Messiah will be > in Jeremiah we learn what the Messiah will be > in Ezekiel we learn how God will bring life from death > in Isaiah we learn who this Messiah will be

16. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Messianic Covenant God points towards what the role and the office of Messiah will be The Scripture passages confirming this are too numerous and diverse for this short slide set

17. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Messianic Covenant God points towards what the role and the office of Messiah will be These and other covenants are plotted as a Table in e.g. “The Prince of Peace” (see Glory to Glory Publications)

18. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Messianic Covenant God points towards what the role and the office of Messiah will be We will simply summarise here: the promise of a “new covenant” that will vastly enlarge upon the older Moses covenant, is expressed in Jeremiah 31: 31-40

19. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Abraham Covenant The Moses Covenant The David Covenant The Messianic Covenant With these four covenants we can see that God has an inter-linked Salvation plan that involves ..................

20. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Abraham Covenant The Moses Covenant The David Covenant The Messianic Covenant .... a global family with people from every nation ‘adopted’ to be a part of God’s wider, enlarged family

21. The Covenant stream – God builds a people Within this salvation plan – to build a family that will enjoy God’s blessings forever - we can begin to see how the four key covenants work together ........

22. The Covenant stream – God builds a people Abraham – a mighty nation Moses – a nation of priests David – a mighty king Who reigns forever Messianic – the Messiah will be a King, Who will also be the suffering servant

23. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Abraham Covenant The Moses Covenant The David Covenant The Messianic Covenant We can perhaps begin to see, in a simple way, that these are different aspects of God’s Salvation plan

24. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Abraham Covenant The Moses Covenant The David Covenant The Messianic Covenant So which covenant is “enlarged” so as to encompass and bless all mankind?

25. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Abraham Covenant The Moses Covenant The David Covenant The Messianic Covenant In one sense all four key covenants are enlarged to encompass all who place their faith and trust in Jesus

26. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Abraham Covenant The Moses Covenant The David Covenant The Messianic Covenant But we might say that “operationally” it is the Abraham covenant that is truly enlarged ..........

27. The Covenant stream – God builds a people The Abraham Covenant The Moses Covenant The David Covenant The Messianic Covenant To Abraham was given the promise of a mighty nation – and Disciples of Jesus are “adopted” by Him to be a part of that spiritual nation, which encompasses both believing Jew and believing Gentile

28. The Covenant stream – God builds a people It is the apostle Paul who provides that wonderful metaphor of in-grafting to the olive tree root in Romans chapter 11 (Rom 11:17) So how does this work, “operationally”?

29. The Covenant stream – God builds a people So how does this work, “operationally”? We can think of the “grafting-in” as a point of continuity with the past, as well as a point of discontinuity

30. The Covenant stream – God builds a people Abraham Moses David Messianic Four covenants coalesce towards God’s ultimate purpose – a Chosen People amongst every tribe and tongue (Rev 5:9 and Rev 7:9)

31. The Covenant stream – God builds a people We repeat our question, how does this work, “operationally”? Abraham Moses David Messianic Keep in mind continuity and discontinuity ......

32. The Covenant stream – God builds a people historic point of in-grafting Abraham Moses David Messianic

33. The Covenant stream – God builds a people historic point of in-grafting Abraham Moses t David Messianic resurrection crucifixion

34. The Covenant stream – God builds a people historic point of in-grafting Gentiles grafted - in Abraham Moses t David Messianic resurrection crucifixion

35. The Covenant stream – God builds a people We can say with certainty that those who place their faith and trust in Jesus, that those who receive Jesus as Lord and as Saviour ............. t New Covenant Era are grafted-in to the four key covenants. The contours of the covenants remain the same, but the Abraham covenant (to become a great nation) and the Moses Covenant (to become a nation of priests) is enlarged so that all of True Israel inherit these blessings

36. The Covenant stream – God builds a people In a very real sense the four key covenants remain unchanged by the reality of the promised new covenant ....... t New Covenant Era The Bible (actually the Tanakh) anticipates this new era, and foretells the inauguration of a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31)

37. The Covenant stream – God builds a people historic point of in-grafting Gentiles grafted - in Abraham Moses t David Messianic resurrection crucifixion

38. The Covenant stream – God builds a people evidenced by repentance and baptism historic point of in-grafting by faith, through Grace Gentiles grafted - in Abraham Moses t David Messianic resurrection crucifixion

39. The Covenant stream – God builds a people God creates a people “chosen” (elected) in His Son A priesthood of all believers This is a “nation” of priests, grafted-in to true Israel No more priests No more Temple Gentiles grafted - in discontinuity Abraham Moses t David Messianic resurrection crucifixion

40. The Covenant stream – God builds a people historic point of in-grafting Gentiles grafted - in Abraham Moses t David Messianic continuity Messianic covenant continues (conditional) The Chosen People are a nation of priests (conditional on obedience) Moses covenant continues (conditional) Ex 19:5-6 Abraham covenant continues - Gen 12:2-3 (unconditional) David covenant continues - 2 Sam 7:13-16 (unconditional) * Jeremiah (what) – Jer 33 (all) * Ezekiel (how) – Ezek 37 (all) * Isaiah (who) – Isaiah 52-53

41. The Covenant stream – God builds a people We can perhaps usefully summarise these diagrams and thoughts in this way ...... t

42. The Covenant stream – God builds a people historic point of in-grafting Gentiles grafted - in t New Covenant Era resurrection crucifixion

43. The Covenant stream – God builds a people Two other phrases help us to understand God’s over-arching Purpose in the relationship of Israel to that “enlarged” People that is the sum-total of all those who place their trust and faith in Jesus ........ t

44. The Covenant stream – God builds a people Phrase 1 “The commonwealth of covenant” This reminds us that there is a corporate sharing. As Ephesians 2:14 tells us, God’s purpose is to make “one new man” out of believing Jew and believing Gentile (see all of Ephesians chapter 2:) t

45. The Covenant stream – God builds a people Phrase 2 “The commonwealth of Israel” This reminds us that there is a destiny associated with Israel in which all Mankind has a ‘stake’. The King James Bible usefully renders this ....... .... at that time ye 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: t (Eph 2:12)

46. The Covenant stream – God builds a people We conclude with this summary thought: non-Jewish disciples of Jesus are indeed grafted-in to the covenant promises, sharing the same family and the same destiny as Jewish disciples of Jesus. We are grafted-in to the root (Rom 11:17). That root in a very real sense emerges from the key covenants which we have explored. It is in the “commonwealth” of Israel that non-Jewish disciples of Jesus find their family and their ultimate destiny. t

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