Scripture Reading
13 Therefore, having girded your minds for action, being sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
14 As obedient children, not being conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance,
15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your conduct;
16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
17 And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your sojourn,
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your futile conduct inherited from your forefathers,
19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. (1 Peter 1:13–19, LSB)
Introduction
Review:
Paul wrote,
25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25, LSB)
The importance of the Lord’s last meal with His disciples is directly linked to the importance of the New Covenant.
As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, Jesus is “our Passover,” a statement of monumental importance.
“our” = the church, believers, Jews and Gentiles who believe in the Messiah.
Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, also was sacrificed. (1 Corinthians 5:7, LSB)
He is not the Passover Lamb of the Exodus.
His blood “speaks better than that of Abel,” and the Passover lamb of the Exodus.
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,
23 to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22–24, LSB)
The blood of Christ, which is a reference to His death, which was a predetermined death “instead of” the death for the sins of the elect, accomplished more and was from a better Man than even that of Abel.
“…saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.” (Luke 9:22, LSB)
22“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God did through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—
23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put Him to death.
24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. (Acts 2:22–24, LSB)
What was the result of His death?
1. His death justified the sons of God.
- 45“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45, LSB)
- 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore, I will divide for Him a portion with the many,
And He will divide the spoil with the strong;
Because He poured out His soul to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:11–12, LSB)
2. His death pleased the Father.
- 16 “And I have other sheep, which are not from this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.
18 “No one takes it away from Me, but from Myself, I lay it down. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” (John 10:16–18, LSB)
- But Yahweh was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If You would place His soul as a guilt offering,
He will see His seed,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of Yahweh will succeed in His hand. (Isaiah 53:10, LSB)
1. His death condemned Satan.
- And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.” (Genesis 3:15, LSB)
- 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.
11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their witness, and they did not love their life even to death. (Revelation 12:9–11, LSB)
1. His death confirmed the New Covenant.
- 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh,
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
15 And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the trespasses that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:13–15, LSB)
- 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no authority to eat.
11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.
12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. (Hebrews 13:10–12, LSB)
1. His death was the means of the resurrection.
- 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, (1 Corinthians 15:3–4, LSB)
- 20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus,
21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, by doing in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20–21, LSB)
The hidden plan of God, although hinted at in the OT, was that the Lamb of God, the Son, would be put to death in a particular fashion (crucifixion), with a particular means (betrayal), and by particular parties (Jewish leaders).
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our transgressions, according to the riches of His grace
8 which He caused to abound to us in all wisdom and insight,
9 making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him
10 for an administration of the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth in Him. (Ephesians 1:7–10, LSB)
Therefore, the purpose of God was that the Son would pay the death penalty on behalf of men, such that He could rescue them from death, the penalty of Adam’s sin.
This leads us into the final consideration of the plan of God regarding the New Covenant:
- The New Covenant is the very core of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- The New Covenant unites the OT and the NT.
- The New Covenant clarifies who Israel is.
4. The New Covenant clarifies who the church is.
5. The New Covenant is the only covenant made with Israel which forgives sins.
6. Without the New Covenant, all the elect would remain in their sins.
The Incognito Ministry of the Messiah
And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was. (Mark 3:12, LSB)
And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. (Mark 7:36, LSB)
And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that some food should be given to her to eat. (Mark 5:43, LSB)
The Lord established in His ministry the constant order to hold back from telling the people Who He was.
This meant that He was not wanting the people to know about Him as Messiah, but only that He would do the works of the Messiah letting people to draw the conclusions based upon that.
This was so that the true nature of the leadership of Israel would become evident, thus leading to the crucifixion, the necessary death of the New Covenant Lamb of God.
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, saying, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.
21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. (Matthew 16:13–21, LSB)
Have you ever wondered why Jesus would say this?
It is because of the requirement that He would draw out the murderous hearts of the leadership, their jealousy, by His works, and drive them to the murder that would 1) seal their eternal damnation, and 2) secure the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb.
36 “But the witness I have is greater than the witness of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness about Me, that the Father has sent Me.
37 “And the Father who sent Me, He has borne witness about Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.
38 “And you do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent. (John 5:36–38, LSB)
This death, produced by the jealousy of the leadership of Israel as they witnessed His works, instead of snuffing out His influence, secured the atoning sacrifice for the sins of Israel and Gentiles…forever!
Therefore, His kingdom was secured by His death and resurrection, but not through the nation of Israel, although the Mosaic Law is the keep component in fulfilling that kingdom promise, which was communicated in the Abrahamic Promise.
His Kingdom, then, has been taken away from the nation of Israel, and given to the nations of the world!
The Parable:
33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey.
34 “Now when the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit.
35 “And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third.
36 “Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them.
37 “But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 “But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’
39 “And they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?”
41 They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,
‘The stone which the builders rejected,
This has become the chief corner stone;
This came about from the Lord,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation, producing the fruit of it.
44 “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
45 And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.
46 And although they were seeking to seize Him, they feared the crowds, because they were regarding Him to be a prophet. (Matthew 21:33–46, LSB)
The Son came into the world, and the world did not receive Him-neither the Jews nor the Romans.
The end result was that the Son would be killed, and made to look like the enemy of the world.
This death, seeming to be the execution of a failed insurrectionist, in realty secured the atonement needed to accomplish the plan of God.
This death, as described for the last 6 weeks, has a vast array of accomplishments.
Not the least of which is the creation of a following known as the “church.”
The New Covenant clarifies who the church is.
It is this following that Jesus came to create.
17 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. (Matthew 16:17–18, LSB)
The church is a group of people, chosen before the foundation of the world, who will inherit the promise to the Son, i.e. sonship.
The means by which these people will become sons and daughters is the sacrifice of the Man, Christ Jesus, satisfying the Father, and permitting their own justification.
This group, then, is different from Israel in that, unlike Israel, it has received the benefits of the New Covenant.
Israel has not received the promises of the New Covenant because they have not confessed their sins, as John the Baptist, and Jesus Christ, commanded them to do.
Therefore, the New Covenant is experience of the church, and not Israel.
13 and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the consequence of what was being brought to an end.
14 But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is brought to an end in Christ.
15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart,
16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. (2 Corinthians 3:13–16, LSB)
One of the clearest distinctions, if not the most clear, between the church and Israel is that the church has received the benefits of the New Covenant, and Israel has not.
It is really that simple; that basic.
The New Covenant is the only covenant made with Israel which forgives sins.
33 “But this is the covenant which I will cut with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh: “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
34 “And they will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares Yahweh, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:33–34, LSB)
The previous covenants with Israel (Abrahamic, Priestly, Mosaic, Davidic) do nothing to take away sins.
8 The Holy Spirit is indicating this, that the way into the holy places has not yet been manifested while that first part of the tabernacle is still standing,
9 which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience,
10 since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, requirements for the body imposed until a time of reformation. (Hebrews 9:8–10, LSB)
Sin is the symptom of a spiritually dead person.
In order to make a worshipper clean, he must become perfect in conscience, and in order to do that, he must become new since he is dead to God.
This power to re-create the dead person is simply the work of God to join a spiritually dead person to Jesus Christ in His death.
It is also the work of God to join the spiritually dead person to Jesus Christ in His resurrection.
This power is inherent to the New Covenant.
NOTE: Jeremiah 31 does not tell us HOW God is going to accomplish this work of 1) forgiveness of sins, 2) indwelling of the Holy Spirit, 3) making a new heart (Ezekiel 36).
But, we now know that all these things are accomplished by the death of Jesus Christ.
6. Without the New Covenant, all the elect would remain in their sins.
As stated, there are no arrangements, with Israel nor anyone else, in which a person who is dead to God would be made alive to Him.
The only means by which God can accomplish His eternal purpose is by forgiveness of sins.
And the only means by which He can forgive sins is if someone die in the place of the sinner.
The Death of the Mediator
15 And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the trespasses that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
16 For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. (Hebrews 9:15–16, LSB)
We learn that the requirements of the Old Covenant were that the agreement was made, and Israel failed to follow through.
That created a binding to the agreement from which Israel could not release herself.
Therefore, in order to realize the Abrahamic Covenant, sins had to be forgiven, but they could not be forgiven in a vacuum.
Rather, sins had to be forgiven of the guilty by means of the death of the innocent, and thereby the death of the guilty.
3 Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died has been justified from sin. (Romans 6:3–7, LSB)
THIS IS HOW WE HAVE BEEN JUSTIFIED-WE DIED, IN AND ALONG WITH, HIM!
“Christ’s death alone is the ground of our justification, and when we make that our own by faith we are united with Christ—united with him in his death, united with him in his burial, united with him in his rising again, united with him in life.”1
Not only has the Passover Lamb died, but we, previously dead to God (in Adam), died in union with Him.
12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13 And you being dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him, having graciously forgiven us all our transgressions.2 (Colossians 2:12–13, LSB)
The reality, when God made the promise of the New Covenant to Israel, all the while knowing that they would not repent, and all the while knowing what He would do, He then took those promises to Israel and have given them to the church, Gentiles.
Further, the mystery of the kingdom is that we are united with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection.
This is unique to the church, and is not what will happen to Israel in the future.
25 of which I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God given to me for you, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God,
26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints,
27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:25–27, LSB)
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