Yea and Amen in Jesus

The promises of the Hebrew Bible are fulfilled in the Son of God and Messiah of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth, period.

The promises of God find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. “In him,” they find their “Yea” and “Amen.” The things that were once “hidden” are revealed in the life, words, death, resurrection, and exaltation of the Son of God, the one in whom all the shadows and types of the Hebrew Bible are actualized. All of God’s “mysteries” are laid bare in the Nazarene, especially in his Death and Resurrection.

[Cascade - Photo by Jonatan Lewczuk on Unsplash]

In the Messianic Era, the nation of Israel is not “replaced” by the New Covenant people of God. The original promise to Abraham to bless “all the nations” comes to fruition as Jews and Gentiles are united in Jesus to form one new people, “one new man”- (Romans 16:25, Galatians 2:28, 2 Corinthians 1:19-2:0):

• “You who were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off are made near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who made both one, and dismantled the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; that he might create in himself of the two one new man, so making peace” – (Ephesians 2:12-15).

In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus is presented as the promised Messiah who came to fulfill “all the Law and the Prophets,” and fulfillment in him becomes a key theme. What was “written” beforehand comes to fruition and finds its substance in the Nazarene - (Matthew 1:22, 2:15, 2:17, 2:23, 4:17, 5:17-20, 8:17, etc.).

In the Gospel of John, Jesus is the true Tabernacle in whom the unveiled glory of God resides. “Grace instead of grace” arrived in the “word become flesh.” Though the Law came through Moses, “grace and truth came to be in Jesus.” He is the true Temple, the place where the presence of Yahweh is found rather than in any building “made with hands,” whether in Jerusalem or anywhere else - (John 1:14-18, 2:19-21).

The time has arrived for the true worshippers to worship God “in the Spirit and truth.” The old limitations of holy space and holy time no longer apply. With his arrival, all debates about where to locate the Temple have become irrelevant - (“The hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father” - John 4:23-24).

Likewise, the ancient feasts of Israel find their significance in the Son of God. He is the true “living bread from heaven” that imparts life, not the manna given by Moses in the wilderness - (John 6:50-51, 7:37-39).

• “I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he will live forever, indeed, the bread which I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” - (John 6:50-51).

• “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water” - (John 7:37-39).

According to the Book of Acts, when the Day of Pentecost was “fully filled up,” the Spirit was poured out on the saints gathered “with one accord” in Jerusalem. Peter proclaimed it was the promised Gift of the Spirit predicted by the prophet Joel for “the Last Days.” The “Promise of the Father” was given to Jesus upon his exaltation, and therefore, he began to bestow it on his true disciples - (Acts 2:16-21, Joel 2:28-30).

THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM

Paul explained to the Galatians that Jesus came to “redeem us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse in our behalf.” This was so “the blessing of Abraham should come to the Gentiles” – (Galatians 3:10-14).

The covenant promises were to Abraham and his “seed,” and that “seed” is none other than Jesus of Nazareth. The original Covenant always envisioned the inclusion of the Gentiles, and this has been achieved through the Death and Resurrection of Christ.

The Law of Moses served as a “custodian” until the time of fulfillment when the “seed” arrived. But now, the time of “custodianship” has ceased. Jesus, the true “seed” of Abraham, is the “end of the Law for righteousness to all who believe” - (Galatians 3:19-25, Romans 10:4).

The Law was an interim stage between Promise and Fulfillment. The Son came in the “fullness of time” to redeem those who were under the Law. Consequently, for those who are “in Christ,” no longer can there be “Jew or Greek, bond or free, male and female.” Like debates over the location of the Temple, the old distinctions between Jews and Gentiles have become irrelevant. All who have “put on Christ” are one in him, and all of us who believe in Christ and follow him are “Abraham’s children, and according to promise, heirs” - (Galatians 3:26-29, 4:4-7, Colossians 3:11).

To again observe “days, months, seasons and years” as required by the Torah amounts to submission to the “weak and beggarly elemental spirits” that previously tyrannized us. If we make that mistake, we will exchange the Spirit of God and liberty in Christ for the death-dealing letter of the Law with its ever-present curse on all men who do not do all that it requires - (2 Corinthians 3:6-7, Galatians 3:10, 4:8-10, 5:1-3).

God has spoken with great finality “upon these last of days in His Son.” Previously, He spoke partially - Here a little, there a little. The earlier Word of God was true but promissory, preparatory, and partial. But now, He has spoken fully and definitively in Jesus, the only one who “achieved the purification of sins” – (Hebrews 1:1).

Christ’s priesthood surpasses the Aaronic priesthood. His sacrificial death achieved what no repeated animal sacrifice could ever do. Jesus is the guarantee of a vastly superior covenant, “one legislated on better promises” and based on his endless resurrection life:

• “By so much also has Jesus become the guarantor of a better covenant. And they indeed have been made priests many in number, because by death they are hindered from continuing. But he, because he abides forever, holds his priesthood unchangeable. Wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them” – (Hebrews 7:22-25).

If the first covenant had been “faultless,” there would have been no need for another, and this New Covenant has rendered the old one obsolete, including its sacrifices, calendrical observations, and other rituals - (Hebrews 8:6-13 – “He has made the first old. But that which is becoming old and aged is nigh unto vanishing away”).

The old system constituted “glimpses and shadows of the heavenly realities,” mere patterns of the real and now permanent originals:

• “Let no one, therefore, be disqualifying you in eating and in drinking, or in respect of a feast, new moon and Sabbaths, which were shadows of the coming things, but the substance is of the Christ” - (Colossians 2:9-17, Hebrews 8:1-7, 9:9-10, 9:23-24).

Both Jews and Gentiles receive their “introduction in one Spirit to the Father” through Jesus Christ, therefore, no longer are they “strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God” - (Ephesians 2:14-22).

The Body of Christ is composed of Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus who together are “resident aliens” and “sojourners” in this world, a people without a national homeland that possess the incorruptible inheritance of salvation and the promise of resurrection in the coming age.

The Apostle Peter strung together several appellations that originally applied to Israel but now are inherited by the Church of Jesus Christ:

• “But now, in Christ Jesus, you are the living stones being built up into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices well-pleasing to God, through Jesus Christ <…> You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a peculiar treasure,” a people that “at one time were a no-people but now are the people of God” - (1 Peter 2:4-10, Exodus 19:5-6).

The theme of fulfillment in Jesus is found throughout the New Testament. In him alone, “all the promises of God are Yea and Amen!” God defeated Sin and Death on the Cross, not on the altar of the Temple. The “mystery of God” that was hidden in past ages is revealed in His Son - (Romans 16:25, 2 Corinthians 1:19-20).

Since the substance of God’s promises is available in His Son to everyone who believes, and freely so, it would be foolhardy to return to the types and shadows of the old and incomplete revelation for knowledge about the Creator of All Things.

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SEE ALSO:

• Logos - The Living Word - (Jesus is the Word become flesh through whom the glory of God is revealed, the same Word by which God created all things)

• Revealing the Unseen God - (The fullness, grace, and truth of God are found in the Word made Flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, who alone has seen the unseen God – John 1:14-18)

• His Mysteries Revealed - (The mysteries of God previously hidden are revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, and especially in his death and resurrection)

• Grace and Truth - (The fullness, grace, and truth of God are found only in the Word made Flesh, namely, Jesus of Nazareth – John 1:14-18)