1 because they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. Before Christ, if a Jew did not walk closely according to the Law of Moses, he was disregarded by God. If a Jew walked closely in accordance with Law, he could receive deliverance from sin, salvation; however, that salvation and perfection could be lost, as it was by David and Asa. So Christ the Light in every man that comes into the world, by tasting death for every man, Heb 2:9, brings grace and truth to every man Tit 2:11, John 1:17, which if they obey, leads to their salvation, whatever their past sins. God gave every man Christ the light in their hearts to believe in, and if they obeyed what the light showed them, with persistence in waiting for more direction, any man could become free of sin to attain salvation, become a son of God, enter God's kingdom while still on earth, and attain unity with Christ and God; this was the good news of Jesus' gospel. And Christ offered a forever cleansing and perfection, eternal, never to be lost.
But just as the Jews disregarded their covenant, so has Christianity disregarded the new covenant of light and grace: the wonderful gift of grace through faith to be led to a holy life. Instead they have made grace a license to sin, they have made the blood of Jesus a unholy thing, they have disregarded even the basic laws on every man's heart, they have denied man's fallen nature in need of restoration to the image and righteousness of God, and have thus used Christ to promote sin, lawlessness, iniquity, and evil. This is not just a breakage of the covenant, it is the complete prostitution of God's covenant to become its antithesis, totally serving Satan and sin, despite what their lips claim.
How much more severe a punishment, do you suppose, will be thought worthy for one who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has acted with spite [contempt] to the Spirit of grace? Heb 10:29
For there are certain men who have crept in unnoticed, written about long ago, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lawlessness and wantonness, a license for immorality; and deny and disown our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 1:4
The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, and broken the everlasting covenant. Isa 24:5
Because of this horrible twisting of evil to good, law to lawlessness, sin to righteousness, light to darkness, love to lust, humility to pride, etc., God is about to move against the people of the earth, as he did in the time of Noah:
See the footnotes to Isaiah 24 for more on what is about to happen.
2 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they will be to me a people. The new covenant is of light, life, and grace. So that man might believe God and the truth, God has given every man who comes into the world the light, Jesus Christ, who quietly and anonymously tries to show us the truth about our evil conduct; this anonymous teaching is the beginning of grace that has appeared to all men. If we receive the teachings and turn from evil, we get more of his wisdom and teachings, more of his grace. If God then sees that we are sincere, he will give us a taste of his wonders, establishing our hunger for more. To satisfy that hunger we must seek God. To seek God, we wait on God. To wait on God is to persistently sit in humble silence, listen for his voice and words, watch for his revelations, hear his commands, and then obey Him; only those who heed and obey Him receive eternal salvation. Heb 5:9
The words he speaks to us are spirit and life, imparting the life of God to us as his spoken words are engrafted into our heart. These words are teachings and commands; those commands become laws that he puts into our mind and writes them into our heart. The Spirit by grace destroys the sins from which we repent, and when we have completely mortified the sinful nature on the inward cross of self-denial, we have died to the law of sin and death, made free from it by the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.
If we believe what the light shows us, if we believe what we hear spoken, then we believe in Jesus and are believers; and with persistence in waiting, by grace through faith, we are delivered from all sins. The new covenant differs much from the old, but its principal difference is that the grace of being freed from the bondage of sin, is received by belief and obedience to what we see or hear revealed and spoken by the light and word in our hearts, which is faith as defined in the Bible. Those commands we hear or see revealed that command us to change our behaviors, (to repent), are laws put in our mind and written in our heart and are added to the inner law on every man's heart. From the Word of the Lord within: "When you have heard the dead words in the Bible and recall them, heed what is said; always obedient to His commands. You must obey every law the Spirit establishes."
Grace came, does come, and will come by Jesus Christ. John 1:17. There was grace before Jesus' appearance on the earth, as mentioned in the Old Testament There was salvation before Jesus came to the earth; there was salvation by grace through adherence to the law. Jesus made grace available by faith without works of the law; but not a faith that Jesus is the Son of God, instead the faith that is authored and grown to perfection by Jesus as you hear him speak to you from within your heart that you might obey it; that is the word of faith the Apostles preached, which words are engrafted, (written), into your heart.
The old covenant was laws written in stone, outward; the priests were to read the words of the Law, to be heard by outward ears. The new covenant is inward: I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts. The new commands are from the word and light of the Lord, heard and seen from within a man, in his heart: The word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach. Rom 10:8. This word of God, within a man's heart is heard by your soul's ears: So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Rom 10:17. This word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Heb 4:12.
Further on Christ the light, the mediator of the new inward covenant: I will hold your hand, I will keep you, and give you for a covenant to the people, for a light to the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison house. Isaiah 42:6-7. And thus said the Lord, in an acceptable time have I heard you, in the day of salvation I have helped you; I will preserve you and give you for a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, Isaiah 49:8. And the Lord said: It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation to the ends of the earth. Isaiah 49:6. And the Gentiles will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Isaiah 60:3. If we receive and obey that light to the end, we receive all the promises of God.
Now concerning the inward Christ: In him was life; and the life was the light of men,.. which is the true Light that enlightens every man who comes into the world. John 1:4,9. So the Light of Christ is in every man and of the true measure of the gift of God, given to every one to profit withal. 1 Corinthians 12:7. And Christ said: believe in the light, that you may become children of the light (John 12:36), so believing in the light, you become a child of the light. As Jesus said: "I am the light of the world [every man]. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of Life," John 8:12; "I have come as a light into the world [every man], so that whoever believes [depends on, trusts, obeys] in me should not abide in darkness." John 12:46 . To believe, is to believe what the word and light in your heart reveals to you. If you believe, you heed and obey. And being made perfect, he [Jesus] became the author and source of eternal salvation to all those who heed and obey him, Heb 5:9.
Peter said: And we have the prophetic word [what you hear within when listening] firmer still. You will do well to pay close attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dismal (squalid and dark) place, until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises (comes into being) in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19. Paul said: God has commanded the light to shine out of darkness, and has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And John said: But the anointing that you have received from him abides in you, and you do not need any man to teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you all things, and is truth, and is no lie; and even as it has taught you, abide in him. 1 John 2:27. The mystery of the ages, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col 1:26-27.
Now the Old Covenant focused on outward observation of rules, laws, ordinances, rituals, etc. The New Covenant of Christ is inward, focusing on the circumcision of the heart, the cleansing of the heart, the purifying of the heart, the purifying of the soul — so that the cleansed, purified believer can be united in a spiritual marriage with Christ's spirit; to form an entirely new creature, with a new heart and spirit, and renewed mind united with Christ and God in union, living in their light, walking by their promptings and energizing, no longer living by their wills, but to the will of God.
George Fox's several writings on the Old and New Covenants available on this site:
A Testimony concerning the Blood of the Old Covenant, and the Blood of the New Covenant.
A DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE NEW COVENANT AND THE OLD
A clear Distinction between the Old Covenant, or Old Testament, and the New Covenant, or New Testament; and how Christ has abolished and taken away the First Covenant and Testament, and established the Second . (Deep Explanation!)
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