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Why the Old Covenant? — 7 Comments

  1. Brother, I cannot tell you what a blessing this post was to me. Your explanation of the covenants of the Bible have opened my eyes and heart to God's love for His people of all generations and His desire for a deeper relationship with me.

    thank you,
    David Roundtree
    Waycross, GA

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  2. Thank you for the quotation from the book Steps to Christ. It gave me an explanation for someone who really needed it.
    Dean Saunders, Midrand, South Africa

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  3. Some people think we have to deal away with the old testament events and focus much in the new testament events but one clarificationj i want to make is that there is link between the two therefore we dont have to neglect none of them.

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    • Joseph, I don't believe anyone is casting off the Old Testament or any part of it. The point that I am making is what Hebrews says, "But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises" (Heb 8:6 NKJV).

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  4. I'm 70 years old. My parents were Seventh-day Adventists before I was born. I attended Adventist schools and dozens of Adventist "evangelistic" meetings. Over and over, I heard Adventist clergy say there was nothing faulty with the old covenant. There was only something faulty with Israel's response to it. That statement was even included in a Sabbath School lesson guide.

    After many months of prayerful study of Hebrews, the only way I could make sense of it was to understand the old covenant to BE Israel's promise to obey.

    Our efforts to obey fall in the same category as our promises to obey.

    Long ago, I decided it is better to do the right thing for the wrong reason than to do the wrong thing. The value of an old covenant relationship with the Lord is that, eventually, most Christians realize that we cannot become like the Lord "with his help". That realization drives some people to a despair from which there is no recovery. But we ARE instructed to be perfect. So how is that accomplished?

    Perfect obedience cannot be achieved but it can be received. It is every bit as much a gift of God's grace as forgiveness is a gift of God's grace. Forgiveness is imputed righteousness. Obedience is imparted righteousness.

    Under the old covenant, our relationship with the Lord is based on our promises. Under the new covenant, our relationship with the Lord is based on his promises.

    Many Christians say that our relationship with the Lord is based on what he has done.

    One of the great contributions of the advent movement to the Christian church is the teaching that our relationship with the Lord is based on what he DOES--what he has done, what he is doing and what he has promised to do but has not yet done.

    What the Lord has already done IS important. Without that, the rest of the gospel would be moot. But there is more to the biblical gospel than what Jesus has already done.

    Please help spread the word.

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