The Eternal Holy Contract

There is a timeline that should be foremost in our minds when we consider the writings in the New Testament. This timeline spans human history. It begins with the first sacrifice. We find that sacrifice in this amazing provision: "And Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them." With this the pattern is established, the principal of sacrofice revealed. Also revealed, the eventual clothing we will need will come from the sacrifice God provides.

These skins covered the nakedness of Adam and his wife. However, in the park before eating the forbidden fruit, they walked with God and did not perceive their nakedness. Likewise, God had no problem with their condition. After the fall, they were condemned to perish, and could only walk with God outside of the place where the tree of life grew, and the water of life flowed. But they could still exist, and see God.

This physical deal, one where man offers to God innocent acceptable animal life as a sacrifice, became the core of the Hebrew existence. God would lead them, deliver them from their enemies, provide a land of their own. They would observe the commandments of God, and live by those, loving God and worshipping only Him.

This is the picture in the physical, historical realm of God's real purpose. That purpose is to have man with walk with Him in the park. In the place where the river of life flows. To love God and choose life with Him forever. Now, the old contract, the physical one, led up to the fullness of time when God became a man and walked among us, to bring about the new contract.

Jesus is the contract Himself. He made the offer to those under the old contract of entering into the true kingdom. He displayed the reality of this New Kingdom through works. Likewise He foretold of God wrapping up the old contract once the new was established.

When He was delivered up to the place of execution and died, He signed in blood the new contract. It was the blood that signified the innocent life of the sacrifice, and that blood cleansed all that it touched. Under the old contract, the blood needed to be sprinkled around in a special place. But the new contract established has no physical requirement.

A extreme legalist could argue that the blood from Jesus that touched the dirt, outside the city, nowhere near the temple, means the "Holy Land" is that place, and if you are on some other continent, or planet for that matter, you can't accept the sacrifice. But the purpose in the crucifixion was not to establish a new physical location for man to be in the presence of God. It was to provide a way for man to enter into God's Kingdom completely.

Now, there is a period of time between the signing of the new contract and the tearing up of the old. Furthermore, how would God tear up the old? What would signify that? This is a question that causes much discord among those who hold to one favorite doctrine over another. But we shall refrain from promoting any specific doctrine. Just the simple picture.

Jesus said "As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in which there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." He was speaking of the temple in Jerusalem. The physical place specified in the old contract where God would make His presence known under the conditions of that contract.

Clearly with the new contract there would be a removal of the old, and as a sign of that transition Jesus proclaimed the destruction of the promised location of God's presence under the old. Now, there is no temple standing today. It was destroyed. Regardless of how or when, the act occurred. This is a fundamental fact.

As a side issue, generally with the establishment of the promised King, a new temple would be built. A place of worship, of wonder, where God revealed his presence. In physical picture this event actually happened under the old contract. Arguably more than once. But in reality this occurred after the execution of Jesus. He "raised it up" after three days. The new temple is the magnificent Body of Christ. It is a living temple, a permanent fixture that can never be destroyed.

So we have a period of time when the old temple remained standing, but the new temple was already founded. Imagine the pressures and questions of a believer during this time. Jesus prophesy of the physical temple's destruction would have been ridiculed by Jews, as it had not happened yet. And believers would have been anxiously waiting for that judgment to be handed down. This would have been a huge divisive issue between those who believed in Christ and the Jews.

This time period would have been a extremely tumultuous one for the new churches in practicality. Into this context we have the rest of the New Testament. From the beginning of Acts to John's vision, the world was in flux. God had established a New Kingdom, a New Temple, under a new covenant. He had yet to physically fulfill the prophesy, the destruction of the signs of the old contract.

Every part of the texts from Acts on is intimately associated with this context. Every writer would have been fully aware of the coming destruction. Every intended recipient of the texts would have known of the prophesy. Some anxiously awaiting the coming judgment. Others justifying the prophesy with interpretations and new doctrines.

This prophesy would have been latched onto by many as proof or disproof of Jesus as the Messiah. And the temptation of the believer to want judgment! The temple represented the very people who delivered Jesus up for execution! All of these attitudes and perceptions must be forefront in our minds when reading the New Testament. It is crucial to a clear understanding of God's will today.

Why link it to the Eternal Will? Because He is doing the same thing today as then, building the New Kingdom. Filling the New Temple with the righteous Saints. Growing the Body of Christ unto the fullness of all time. These are the deep themes that surround us, motivate us in our faith.

Yet today, many Christians are preoccupied with doctrines and physical things. What do I mean? Well, take the Zionists. They believe that a new physical temple needs to be constructed, then a bunch of other things happen, then the end of the world or whatever. Absolutely outside of God's will! Why? Because he cares not for any particular place. The New Contract has been established, and if you believe in Jesus, you believe in the new contract. If you believe in the new contract, how can you think God acknowledges anything else? Truly believing that Jesus is the Messiah means you believe He fulfilled the old contract. There is no need for anything else, and nothing man can do now will in any way bring the old contract back.

A thousand temples could be constructed, matters not one bit to God if you believe in Jesus! Jesus is the new contract, the new King, the source of eternal life, the eternal temple. If you are looking for something else, some physical signs, some world events that fits your doctrine or interpretation, you have not acknowledged the full establishment of the new contract. This is critical to spiritual growth. Jesus is the Word of God, the new contract. He has established it, and done away with the old. To believe in Jesus, yet not live in the provisions of the new contract, all the while waiting for world events to 'prove' some doctrine or other is a spiritual conflict that will hinder your growth.

I believe that the New Testament is a unique collection of writings. There could be many other writings, many other texts. Yet the Spirit led men to accept these as beneficial to the believer, fundamentally containing spiritual content. Why are there no accounts of the fulfillment of Jesus prophesy? Why are we 'left hanging' so to speak? It is a function of time, context, and spiritual reality. The fulfillment of the prophesy, the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem was obvious. There was no need to have proof after the fact. We should be the same. Do you need proof of the new contracts validity? Do you question the tearing up of the old contract? The believer who walks in the spiritual reality of the New Kingdom needs no sign to prove the dissolution of the old contract. The experience of worshipping in the New Temple is proof in and of itself.

These questions strike at the heart of believing in Jesus as the Messiah. If you believe He was the Messiah, you must understand what that means. The Messiah was the savior of the Hebrew, the fortold deliverer. The one to come and fulfill the promises God made to His people. He did that, by fulfilling the law, by being the perfect sacrifice. Once that act occurred, the old contract was completed. Over, ended, finished, no longer operational. There is no physical temple that can be built that God will inhabit anymore, if you believe in Jesus.

Furthermore, if you are somehow waiting to enter the Kingdom, waiting for the Son of Man to come, waiting for God to come and take you away, you do not truly believe Jesus words. You can enter the Kingdom NOW! Don't wait for Him, go to Him right now and ask for vision. The new contract is established, ready for each of us to partake in. There is no need to fixate on the old, or be confused about interpretations of biblical prophesy. If you walk in the spiritual reality of the New Kingdom, you will not have any desire for speculation about the fate of the world of man.

Now, there will be a day of judgment, a end to all things. How about in a couple billion years? Why not? And for God, who sees the beginning and end of the universe, that day is today. Yet it is foolish men who want to know and see God's judgment of the world, usually based on what man thinks is correct and just. Man wants to be part of the picture, part of something bigger than himself. Many modern apocalyptic doctrines are just that, fantasies of man to delude themselves into being part of something big, something monumental. Yet even in their grandest fantasies, with plagues and curses, Antichrists and temples, they come nowhere near the reality of the New Kingdom.

Experiencing the New Kingdom is beyond man's imagination. And it is available now, not some perpetually re-postdated rapture of man's imagination. God desires us to walk with Him, where He is, forever in His presence. And the door is open for anyone to enter. Doing this, and understanding that the reality signifies the completion of the old contract, will open your eyes to see God in a fuller way. You will want to read the texts all over again with this vision.

Keep the timeline in mind, God interacted with the Hebrews based on the old contract, which was a picture of the full reality to come when Christ appeared. The new way was established by Jesus, and the old contract was fulfilled and torn up. The proof of God's judgment upon those who rejected the new contract and grasped onto the void old contract was the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. This happened within a generation.

Since that time, nearly seventy generations have passed. In each generation there have been those proclaiming the end of the world. There have been many Christians who have believed in doctrines which we would instantly see as preposterous. There have been those striving to see the Body of Christ in its fullness, and there have been those who drift away into frozen religiosity. All the while, the faith has grown. The community of believers has perpetuated, increased. Time itself reveals God's will to grow the Body of Christ.

If we can see these things clearly, there will be few distractions. With the increased vision of Christ, there is more faith, more impetuous to do the work which will build up that Body. Act on what you see, walk in the new contract, in the living kingdom. It has been established for all, to last for eternity. There is no need to focus on anything else, any other doctrine is just a distraction from the real work.

All thanks to the King of Kings who leads us in the pursuit of His perfect Body. The worship of a simple broken man is insufficient for the King, fill me with perfect worship, worship born of eternal life so I may praise You with praises worthy of the Eternal King.