LAW DONE AWAY WITH? BIBLE COVENANTS EXPLAINED
Is the law done away with?
This 3-part study is aimed at digging into the common Christian belief that the law is done away with. We go below the surface to dig up the truth that is left untapped by Christian pastors teaching Gentile doctrines. We unearth this truth by using the method given to us by the Most High in Isaiah 28:9-13.
But before we begin, this is how we will be dividing our 3-part series of posts:
- First post (Bible Covenants Explained) looks at the nature of YAHUAH’S eternal covenants.
- Second post looks at what purpose the law covenant serves for a new covenant believer.
- Part 3 shows what part of the law is decayed and ready to wax old according to Hebrews 8:13.
With all 3 posts together, we should get a sound understanding as to whether the law is done away with.
So we begin the series by looking at how these covenants merge with each other one step at a time. Let’s begin.
OLD COVENANT DONE?
“Old Covenant is done.”
That was a comment on Facebook on a post I was following, and what prompted me to write this series. This is the common Christian concept, that the law is done away with because we now have a new covenant.
However, is this so? Does one covenant totally erase the previous covenant?
Interestingly, the mere fact that Christians follow any of the 10 commandments is a testament that one covenant does not totally replace another! If the 10 commandments were given in the old covenant, why then would we need to obey them today?
In fact, in the Bible, all covenants the Most High made were declared to be forever. So if all were forever, how can any be done away? If all were forever, how can any-one covenant end?
Forever means they never end, so when a new covenant comes, it simply means the new builds on the previous covenants. Indeed, it is like building a house.
You first have to lay a solid foundation, then build upwards. It is no different in scripture.
To prove this, let us look at a few eternal covenants in the Bible.
By the way, what you get from most Christians is that they believe there are only 2 covenants in the Bible. These are what they call the old covenant (the law) and the new covenant in the Messiah.
However, they are gravely mistaken and an understanding of the other covenants will open our eyes as to the fallacy that the Christian religion has sold us, that the law is either fully or partially done away with.
BIBLE COVENANTS EXPLAINED: COVENANT WITH NOAH
So let us start with the covenant with Noah, which was a covenant with the whole world.
Gen 9:12 And Aluah said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, FOR PERPETUAL GENERATIONS:
Perpetual generations? Perpetual actually means never-ending or never-changing.
So what is the sign of that never-ending, never-changing covenant he made through Noah?
The rainbow.
Gen 9:13-15 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Question: Do we not still see a rainbow in the sky? We sure do!
That means that the covenant is indeed everlasting and not done away. Proof?
Gen 9:16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the EVERLASTING COVENANT (neverending) between Aluahym and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
That covenant is of course, still in effect between YAHUAH and the whole world! Remember, there were several biblical covenants after that. Therefore, we just proved through the covenant with Noah, that successive covenants do not wipe out previous covenants.
By the way, this is grace. Grace is nothing new as some Christians would have you believe that grace is new under the Messiah. There is nothing new under the sun. Even though all flesh may deserve to be destroyed because of sin (the wages of sin is death), he promised not to destroy all flesh by a flood.
THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
So next, we go to the famous covenant with Abraham.
Gen_17:7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for AN EVERLASTING COVENANT, to be an Aluahym unto thee, and TO THY SEED after thee.
The Abrahamic covenant passed from Abraham to his seed (unto Isaac then Jacob) and is with the children of Jacob (Israel) forever! It never ends, even though there were covenants after that.
Instead of erasing a previous covenant, all successive covenants are to magnify the previous covenant. Look and see below that the covenant with Abraham was not forgotten.
Exo_2:24 And Aluah heard their groaning, and Aluah remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
Psa 105:7-9 He is YAHUAH our Aluah: his judgments are in all the earth. He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac;
If the covenant with Abraham was forgotten and replaced by this covenant below that he made with Isaac, would he have remembered his covenant with Abraham?
Gen_17:21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
But he never forgot his covenant with Abraham as Psa 105:7-9 above shows. This is because each covenant does not end, they are just manifested differently as YAHUAH magnifies everything for the grand climax in the Messiah. One covenant blends in with the other.
HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE PROMISE
If the covenant with Abraham was done away, why then would Sha’ul explain the covenant being fulfilled in the Messiah?
Gal 3:29 And if ye be Messiah’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
That promise was the promise made to Abraham in the covenant. Again, this proves the covenants continue forever, all coming to a crescendo in Messiah Yahusha.
HE WILL REMEMBER THE LAW COVENANT EVEN TODAY WHILE WE ARE IN CAPTIVITY (AND CLAIM TO BE IN THE NEW COVENANT)
Lev_26:45 But I will for their (the children of Israel’s) sakes remember the covenant (the law) of their ancestors (while they are in captivity), whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their Aluahym: I am YAHUAH.
Thousands of years later after the covenant with Abraham, YAHUAH remembered this covenant.
Yet, when he delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, he gave them this (another covenant)…
Exo_31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath THROUGHOUT THEIR GENERATIONS, FOR A PERPETUAL COVENANT.
The Sabbath covenant with Israel never ends: it is perpetual. But let me not digress. Was the Abrahamic covenant forgotten?
Rom 9:7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Sha’ul was still explaining how that covenant was manifested in our time (through belief in the Messiah). It was NOT done away with. All the biblical covenants are eternal and are merely transposed or magnified in successive covenants.
THE SABBATH COVENANT
So let’s go back to the Sabbath covenant. The Sabbath covenant is perpetual, which means it is FOREVER. However, it is not for everyone, but only for the children of Israel and those strangers (gentiles) who wish to join to YAHUAH by cleaving to the house of Israel (Isaiah 56:6-8, Isaiah 14:1-2).
Exo_31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath THROUGHOUT THEIR GENERATIONS, FOR A PERPETUAL COVENANT.
Notice very carefully, the Sabbath covenant is also a part of the law but still described by YAHUAH as a separate covenant (for a perpetual covenant). However, we see it here in Torah (the law) as part of the law covenant:
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Is the Sabbath done away in our new covenant?
Heb 4:9-10 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest (Greek: sabbatismos) for the people of YAHUAH, for whoever has entered YAHUAH’s rest has also rested from his works as YAHUAH did from his.
Bottom line? All covenants work together. One does not wipe out the other. The newer covenant merely magnifies the previous one and parts of each covenant fuse together to bring us to the covenant in the Messiah.
BIBLE COVENANTS EXPLAINED: TORAH (THE LAW)
Now he also gave us Torah (instructions/the law). This is the most famous covenant from the Tanakh (old testament) and the ones most hated by those in the religion called Christianity:
Deu_29:1 These are the words of the covenant, which YAHUAH commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.
Notice in Deuteronomy 29:1 above, that there were 2 covenants? The first was the law and the second was another covenant that brought them into the bond of the law covenant before they entered into the land of Israel.
By the way, the same thing will happen to those in the new covenant. We will enter into the new covenant through belief in the Messiah (repentance and baptism), but cannot enter the promised land until we are brought into the bond of the covenant. Here Ezekiel prophesied it.
Related: Are we in the new covenant?
Related: Is water baptism necessary?
Eze 20:37 And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:
Is the law done away with? There is nothing new under the sun. Bottom line? All covenants work together as part of YAHUAH’S grand plan for mankind. They do not replace each other.
THE LAW COVENANT IS FOREVER FOR ALL GENERATIONS
Now, is the law covenant stated as being forever like all the previous covenants we just mentioned? Or was it only for a time until the new covenant was to come, then it was to come to an end?
Deu 29:29 The secret things belong unto YAHUAH our Aluahym: but those things which are revealed BELONG UNTO US AND UNTO OUR CHILDREN FOREVER, THAT WE MAY DO ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LAW.
See that proof that it is forever? The law (that is revealed to us) belongs to their children forever. So wherever the children of Israel are today, they must obey the law forever.
That is why the children of Israel in the last days are in captivity for the sins of their fathers. They are scattered worldwide according to prophecy and under bondage, under the curses of the law for the sins of their fathers (Deuteronomy 26:15-68). This will be until they will be redeemed and brought back into the land of Israel (Jer 16:9-21).
The law is forever. How is it then that the feast of tabernacles will be kept in the millennial reign of the Messiah (Zech 14:16-19)?
The law is forever.
THE NEW COVENANT
What’s more, the new covenant is with the children of Israel ONLY (will show scriptural proof below). The new covenant is actually given to make us obey the law covenant. Understand that carefully. THE PURPOSE OF THE NEW COVENANT IS TO GET US TO OBEY THE SO-CALLED OLD COVENANT (THE LAW).
Therefore, ask yourself, is the law done away with?
So let us give you proof lest you say we are giving you our opinion.
Now we know that YAHUAH does nothing before revealing it to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). Therefore let us see the prophecies of what the new covenant will entail.
Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith YAHUAH, that I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
The new covenant is grossly misunderstood by Christians (who have been) led astray by Gentile teachings in the Christian religion.
The new covenant is not for everybody, but for the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In other words, it is with the whole house of Israel.
Jer 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith YAHUAH:
Notice the law covenant to which he is referring pertaineth to the Israelites (their fathers). There is only one people who he brought out of the land of Egypt: the children of Israel. The covenants (except the Noahide covenant) belong exclusively to Israel:
Rom_9:4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of Aluahym, and the promises;
…and the Messiah came for them:
Rom 9:5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom (Israelites) as concerning the flesh Messiah came, who is over all, Aluah blessed for ever. Amen.
Mat 15:24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
The new covenant will be different from the previous covenant:
Jer 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel (NOT WITH EVERYBODY); After those days, saith YAHUAH, I WILL PUT MY LAW IN THEIR INWARD PARTS, and write it (the law) in their hearts; and will be their Aluahym, and they shall be my people.
See that?! He will put the law in our inward parts. That is what the new covenant is all about. It is not a license to sin (to ignore or break the law). It is actually WRITING THE LAW in our hearts.
As prophesied therefore by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 42:21,
THE LAW IS THEREFORE MAGNIFIED IN THE NEW COVENANT.
Indeed common sense must tell us that if we break the law we sin, because:
1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
We will look more closely at the connection between the law and sin in part 2 of this series.
IS THE LAW DONE AWAY WITH?
So the law is done away with? YAHUAH forbid!
The law will simply be transposed and now written on our hearts. Indeed, if it was done away, why would YAHUAH have to write it in our hearts?
The reality is that it has been magnified, it has been transposed and hence now more spiritually discerned, so we walk in the Spirit! That is why Sha’ul said:
Gal_5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
And that is what Sha’ul means by walk in the Spirit!!!
Gal_5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
It is the Spirit that leads us through a good conscience because the laws are written in our hearts.
EZEKIEL’S PROPHESY
Now, more proof that the law is not done away with in the new covenant? Here Ezekiel speaks of the same thing as in Jer 31:32-33 and this is what he says:
Eze 36:26-27 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, AND CAUSE YOU TO WALK IN MY STATUTES, AND YE SHALL KEEP MY JUDGMENTS, AND DO THEM.
Now ask yourself, where did these statutes and judgments come from that we are going to walk in through the new covenant?
The law!
The Most High has been doing a work from of old, building on his covenants, magnifying the previous covenant with the new one. That is why it was prophesied that the Messiah will magnify the law.
You cannot show me any prophecy that says they Most High will destroy, abolish, remove or replace the law. However, what do we find?
THE LAW MAGNIFIED INSTEAD OF ABOLISHED
Isa 42:21 YAHUAH is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; HE (Messiah Yahusha) WILL MAGNIFY THE LAW, and make it honourable.
That is what the new covenant is all about. It is not about replacing the previous covenant(s), it is about magnifying them! That is why the Messiah could say…
Mat 5:17-18 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Heaven and earth have not passed so NOTHING shall pass from the law. Why?
The law is magnified through the Messiah who fully preached and lived it and gave us the spiritual intent in the sermon on the mount and other places (such as when he showed the Pharisees how to keep the Sabbath: it is good to do good on the Sabbath). It is therefore NOT done away!
GENTILE DECEPTION AND THE RELIGION OF CHRISTIANITY
But let me stop here. We have been grossly deceived by the Gentile religion called Christianity, but it was promised that we would be deceived through religion by the Most High:
Deu 28:64 And YAHUAH shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone (includes the gods of Christianity).
This is the deception of this religion that brainwashes its followers through its false, hypocritical church system. They say the law is done away with, yet they reach into the law and pick out what suits them. So they choose tithing because it validates their robbery of people in their false institutions called churches.
The reality is that the law covenant tithing is transposed into the new covenant and is now manifested in giving to brothers and sisters who have need, as one is led, not under compulsion as is the church tithing. See 2 Cor 9:7, Acts 4:32, Acts 4:34-35).
See: Why has the Most High allowed us to be deceived in the religion called Christianity? on Israel Awaken!
THE LAW DONE AWAY WITH? COVENANTS MERGE INTO EACH OTHER, NOT REPLACE EACH OTHER
So the covenants never replace the previous ones by writing them off! Rather, the previous covenants all merge into each other.
This shows the true power of YAHUAH TSABA’OTH and the fact that he never changes. Because saying the old covenant is done away is saying he made mistakes, and that he changes. But what does the scripture say?
Ecc 1:9-10 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
Mal 3:6 For I am YAHUAH, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
In our next post (Part 2), we are going to look at what part the “old” covenant plays in the new covenant. Let’s go to part 2.
This is just the first of a 3-part series. All 3 posts work together to give a better understanding so check out:
