Chapter – 50 ‘Yosef teaches on the Obsolete’
Yosef was in his study early; thinking about a sermon he wanted to teach; it had been on his mind for several weeks. It was something that he would never have thought to speak on in the past, but it was time. He was born a Jew and the Mosaic Covenant was a truth that ALL the older legalistic Jews were willing to take to their grave; so-to-speak. The OLD had a hitch in it when reading Jeremiah 31:31-33. The prophet speaks about a newer covenant for Israel. He had read it several times and it kept haunting him; did it mean Moses teachings should be totally put on the back burner? Yosef thought, “Hebrews chapter 8 repeats the words of Jeremiah; why would that be? Sometimes scripture repeats itself to get a point across.”
He opened his study bible to Hebrews and noticed he had verse 8:13 highlighted in yellow. The newer covenant of Christ as our High Priest supersedes the old Mosaic covenant which included many-many additional Sundry laws. Christ is the CROSSOVER POINT from the OLD to the NEW High Priest. The old way was legalistic with rules that people could not meet. The new with Christ is FAITH and God’s Grace; nothing to do with SHALL or SHALL NOT. Yosef noticed that he had 9:15 written in the border. [Christ is the mediator of the NEW covenant.] He also had 10:9 written along the border. [HE takes away the first to establish the second or NEW.] The eternal atonement comes from the blood of Christ, God the Son; not that which is temporary; that of a goat coming once a year. At the bottom of the page Galatians 3:15-29 was written; ‘check it’ was written beside it.
Something he needed to remember was that Christ was the fulfilment of prophesy’s written in the OLD; that the Mosaic LAW had a need for its day; in fact for about 1400 years. The OLD had some wonderful Jewish history with many-many life lessons for all of mankind BUT there is nothing taught to the sinner about being BORN AGAIN or SAVED. So, in today’s world, how does a practicing Jew find their way to heaven? His thought was, “Someone has to tell them; how else could it be done.” Even the OLD told an allegory about God divorcing Israel in Jeremiah 3:6-10. WHY? Were they that unfaithful? Before you can divorce someone you must be married to them. The NEW covenant scriptures tells of a newer bride for God the Son; it is the Church; those who have been SAVED through Faith because of God’s Grace.
Didn’t Jesus teach that ALL who were weary and had a heavy heart could ‘come to him’? Matthew 11:28? When you are sick, you need the doctor; so when you are spiritually sick, you need the medicine of Doctor Jesus. It is true; some people use drugs and alcohol to help reduce their inner suffering. They think just as the secular world thinks. But how do you find true JOY? Yosef thought, “It has to come from within. The only way it can come from within would be to have the Holy Spirit coming from within a person’s mind or soul.” [Often called, “From the Heart.”]
Yosef stood and walked toward his small bookcase and reached for his CONCORDANCE; there was something else he wanted to ponder over. Isaiah was where he thought the verse was he wanted. After a few moments he found it. It was 52:15; it read that the exalted Servant would ‘cleanse’ many nations, not just Israel; that others would come to understand the ‘thoughts of God’. Yosef wanted the followers who attended the CENTER to understand that Christ, who became God in the flesh, who in verse 53:10 rendered himself for the sinful guilt of mankind when HE became the sin sacrifice for MANY.
It was the Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, once judgmental toward the Christian, who was chosen by God to take the New Covenant, the Gospel, to the Gentiles. It was written in Acts 9:15-16. Then later he was named, Paul, the Apostle. He was the one who took the message to the heathen; where many of them accepted Jesus as their Messiah. Saul was the one who had observed the OLD covenant but then God, through Christ, showed that the Circumcision, the Sabbath, the Civil LAW, the Ceremonial LAW, and even the Tithe were legalistic, which was a part of the OLD. The NEW was Faith, Hope, & Charity; GIVING was to be generous because you wanted too [2 Cor.9:6]. The NEW is repentance and believing the Gospel [Mark 1:15]; then confessing Christ as your Savior, with your own mouth [Matthew 10:32-33]. Yes, the NEW was the true WAY down the narrow path to the heavenly portal, the pearly gate.
“Jesus is the name my friend Jeff used when he introduced Messiah to me. Wasn’t Jesus the name I used to introduce the Lord to several soldiers back on the battlefield,” he was thinking?
Yosef looked at his notes and wrote several verses at the bottom of his outline; he wanted to include them in his message at proper times when he needed an example. One thing would never change; the MORAL LAW of God was an eternal covenant to all of mankind; it was ‘to LOVE’.
Jesus is the CROSSOVER point from the OLD priest to the NEW eternal Priest; he is also the CROSSOVER point from the sinful to the justified. Yosef put the bible on the shelf and a great inner feeling came over him. It was like the Spirit of God was upon him. He had tears flowing and was crying but it was very refreshing.
Have you ever had that feeling?
Attachment – Scripture reference
Jeremiah 31:31-33. “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. 33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. [Written to the Sons of Israel. Here is a question for all of us. Did I become a ‘Son of Israel’ when grafted as a branch, to the eternal Vine?]
Hebrews 8:4-13. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. 8 For finding fault with them, He says, “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, When I will effect a new covenant With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; 9 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers On the day when I took them by the hand To lead them out of the land of Egypt; For they did not continue in My covenant, And I did not care for them, says the Lord. 10 “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 minds, And I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, And they shall be My people. 11 “And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ For all will know Me, From the least to the greatest of them. 12 “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.”
13 When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. [A Question – what is the context or meaning?]
Hebrews 9:15-16. For this reason HE is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 16 For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. [Was the covenant God made with Moses just temporary; only good until the eternal High Priest, Jesus, shared the Gospel of God, the ‘Good News’, with mankind OR was the OLD covenant still good, only the High Priest the one who was NEW?.]
QUESTION – The Mosaic LAW consisted of Civil, Ceremonial, and the Moral teachings; the first two have become obsolete. God’s MORAL LAW to mankind is never ending and it is eternal; isn’t it?
Hebrews 10:9. Jesus saying; Father I came to do your will; sacrifices and offerings for SIN were not your will…….then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” HE takes away the first in order to establish the second. [The OLD covenant was repeated over and over without the power of the Holy Spirit; the new was the shed blood of ‘God the Son’; it was done one time effective until the ‘Day of the Lord’.]
[Christ Jesus is the CROSSOVER point between the OLD and the NEW.]
Matthew 11:25-30. 25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that YOU have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. 26 Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in YOUR sight. 27 All things have been handed over to ME by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
[If you are SAVED; that is born again; you can claim this scripture; are you?]
The same person who wrote Hebrews 8:13 and 9:15, also wrote Hebrews 1:1-14 and Hebrews 5:5. Who was it? The author was ‘God the Holy Spirit’ convicting the writer of this Epistle and also those of Genesis thru Revelation.
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NOTES – Scripture – New American Standard Bible [NASB]
Acts 7:8 – 8 And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. [This is an example of obsolete; it was only given to the Jews pre Christ, not Gentiles per Acts 15:1, 23-29.]
Hebrews 9:15 – 15 For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance
Hebrews 10:20 – 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,
Hebrews 10:24 – 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.
Hebrews 13:20 – 20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, [Christ blood is the new covenant]
1 John 2:7-8 – 7 Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. 8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. [LOVE is the commandment. It covers a multitude of sin.]
Luke 5:36-37 – 36 And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. [The New cloth represents the NT and you cannot patch it into the OT Mosaic covenant of the Ceremonial LAWS.]
1 Cor. 11:25 – 25 In the same way Jesus took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. [The NEW is thru Christ blood and death; the OLD is thru the OT Ceremonial Law & obsolete; why would Christ bleed and die IF the OT Law was still in effect?]
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Intent of the Law – The Abrahamic covenant is superior to the Mosaic Law per the notes of McArthur, the Theologian’s, notes. The Apostle Paul wrote the following through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 3:15-29 – 15 Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring too many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. 17 What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. [Per the Apostle Paul, Abraham was talking about the Christ who was yet to come; the seed.]
19 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. 20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one. 21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. 22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. [Christ is ‘the seed’ and HE is the one who supersedes the Law of Moses. Moses, in his time, was obedient to the words that God gave him as the Prophet of Israel.]
23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. [The LAW was the tutor for what was yet to come, which is atonement and salvation thru CHRIST. The LAW has become obsolete; the tutor was used prior to GRACE; but legalism within the Mosaic LAW has been superseded if you believe scripture says what it means in Hebrews 8:13. Legalism & Grace are at odds.]
DG