5.3 Obsolescence of the Old Covenant

The New Testament further explained the obsolescence of the Old Covenant. It is important to grasp this concept. 2 Corinthians 3 compared the Old and New Covenants. It began by saying that the New Covenant consists of ink written on tablets of human hearts.

3 2 Corinthians 3:1-3

1 Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you?

2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men,

3 being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh.

Paul emphasizes that those in Christ become sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, reemphasizing that the Spirit gives life, unlike the letter of stone tablets that produce death.

3 2 Corinthians 3:4-6

4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God,

5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God,

6 who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Finally, Paul indicated how the superior glory of the New Covenant far exceeded that of the Old Covenant.

12 2 Corinthians 3:7-18

7 But if the service (aka, ministry) of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face, which was passing away,

8 won't service (ministry) of the Spirit be with much more glory?

9 For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

10 For most certainly that which has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses.

11 For if that which passes away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

12 Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech,

13 and not as Moses, who put a veil on his face, that the children of Israel wouldn't look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away.

14 But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in Christ it passes away.

15 But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.

16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

18 But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.

Turning away from the Mosaic covenant removes the veil so that we can fully behold the glory of the Lord, transformed by the Holy Spirit into the image and character of Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:1-11 makes this even clearer:

2 Romans 8:1-2

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don't walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.

Once again, we see that freedom is based on following the law of the Spirit and not the law of sin and death.

9 Romans 8:3-11

3 For what the law couldn't do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;

4 that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

6 For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;

7 because the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God; for it is not subject to God's law, neither indeed can it be.

8 Those who are in the flesh can't please God.

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn't have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.

10 If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

11 But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Galatians 4:21-27 further contrasts these two covenants represented by the earthly Jerusalem and by the Jerusalem on high:

7 Galatians 4:21-27

21 Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don't you listen to the law?

22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the servant, and one by the free woman.

23 However, the son by the servant was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise.

24 These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar.

25 For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children.

26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

27 For it is written, "Rejoice, you barren who don't bear. Break out and shout, you who don't travail. For the desolate have more children than her who has a husband."

Galatians 4:25-26 should hit home with us in very practical terms. It introduced the Jerusalem of this earth as a city of bondage that corresponds to the law of sin and death, while the Jerusalem on high is our mother - she is the free woman of the law of the Spirit. This Jerusalem on high is also the New Jerusalem. (Note that the New Jerusalem was and has been in effect since Paul wrote Galatians.)

This is the fulfillment of what Jesus told the Samaritan woman was going to happen in John 4:21-24:

4 John 4:21-24

21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father.

22 You worship that which you don't know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.

23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers.

24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

The modern church has a split personality. It does not understand the difference between the two Jerusalem's. It thinks that Psalms 122:6 still speaks of the earthly Jerusalem.

1 Psalm 122:6

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Those who love you will prosper.

At one point, it did refer to the earthy Jerusalem, but when the covenant of peace obsoleted the old covenant, greater peace and glory were found in our mother on high, the New Jerusalem.

The same is true of modern Israel. Many believe that there is a land covenant with Israel and that it is exclusive to those of Jewish descent. Why promote the Old Covenant in the face of the New? The New consists of the Greater Glory of knowing Jesus as Lord and experiencing divine peace in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 11:26-27 describes how all Israel will be saved based on their sins being removed, which was already accomplished on the cross, inaugurating the New Covenant:

2 Romans 11:26-27

26 and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, "There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

27 This is my covenant with them, when I will take away their sins."

Let us return to where we left off in Galatians 4:28-31:

4 Galatians 4:28-31

28 Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise.

29 But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.

30 However what does the Scripture say? "Throw out the servant and her son, for the son of the servant will not inherit with the son of the free woman."

31 So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant, but of the free woman.

The two Jerusalem's are mutually exclusive - you cannot have both. Galatians 5:1-6 makes this very clear when it comes to circumcision:

6 Galatians 5:1-6

1 Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don't be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

2 Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing.

3 Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

4 You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.

5 For we, through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness.

6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision (or any other Old Testament law), but faith working through love.