God lovingly gave Israel a covenant. It was primarily a covenant of laws. Even when we examine the 10 commandments we find seven "you shall not" and one “You shall have no". There is nothing to indicate anything about love in the 10. They were all about duty. I have searched scripture and as of yet I have not found any verses that tell me that the 10 were about love. David loved the law as did many of God's chosen, but no one said that the law was about love. Deut and Lev contain laws about loving others and of course Jesus quoted those verses. Jesus
did give us a new command just as recorded in scripture. I pray you believe all that is written.
Love others as I have loved you. He loves us so much He gave His life for us. We are to do the same for others. Ours, from Jesus, is a covenant of love. There is nothing in the old covenant remotely like the new command Jesus gave
us. If you cannot comprehend this then I am beating a dead horse.
No, you cannot have that understanding from what I wrote. Please stop trying to second guess what I write.
Jeremiah was relating to Israel that God would give them a new covenant not like the one He gave them at Sinai. He didn't mention that it would also be with Gentiles. That does not indicate that he lied does it? Israel was very exclusive and had Jeremiah been given the whole fact they would have been livid.
Okay, try nullifying this one:
Mark 16:15
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
God shed His blood for all mankind, but before He did He gave us a new command:Jn15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17
This is my command: Love each other.
Oh but Jesus did in fact give us a "new" commandment:
John 13:34
“
A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
There is absolutely nothing in the old covenant that equals this command. John in 1Jn 3 19-24 tells how we know we belong to the truth. It is plain, simple and to my knowledge cannot be disputed. Notice he doesn't include a bunch of laws from Torah. 19
This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23
And this is his command: to
believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to
love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Lulav, those are the commands of God that are given to Christians. Notice John didn't write as God the father commanded Israel to follow. Why do Messianics insist that we are under commands that were given exclusively to Israel? If we believe and love we know we belong to the truth. John didn't tell us to observe Torah did he? John plainly states what the commands are in those verses. He surely didn't lie to us did he? Why do people try to second guess where in other passages where he writes "commandments" he is referring to the 10 commandments? That is adding to scripture and when people try to make others believe he is referring to the 10 they are misguiding and bearing falsehood.
I do hope you are not trying to relate those verses specifically to the 10 commandments. The 10 were just the tip of the iceberg of how we are to relate to God and our fellow man. The love laws happen to be found in the book of the law.
Leviticus 19:18
“‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but
love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
Deuteronomy 6:5
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Wow! We who accept Jesus as our personal Savior are not His disciples?. I agree He was speaking to His disciples, but we could use that excuse to most of what is written concerning what Jesus said. I don't buy that as an excuse not to take to heart His words. I am His disciple.
I am having a problem with your thought. Lets go back and see what it does say:
Heb8:5....... This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” 6 But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.
7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.
I cannot twist that scripture to read that the new covenant is but the rewarmed old covenant.
AS I quoted 1John 3 it would appear that the contract was not amended. It is an entirely new. We KNOW we belong to the truth..... Jesus lived out the contract with Israel and said it was finished. the new contract with all of humanity is the Royal law of love. Jn 13:34, James 2:8
We certainly do disagree with that point. Jesus didn't "make a way", He fulfilled it, He lived it in Israel's stead. Israel broke the covenant time and time again until finally God disbanded the agreement. There is no Sinai covenant. It was broken and it no longer exists as covenant. It is finished. Jesus didn't do it, He didn't come to abolish it. He didn't have to, Israel took care of that. It is not ours to do Lulav, it is not ours to do.
With what I am about to write is not judgment. I can only relate what I have observed and what I can personally attest. I am only looking at one part of Torah as an example of "keeping". Over several years I took account of my weekly Sabbath "keeping" and each time I came away wanting. I, like Israel, failed in my attempt to do all the Sabbath required. I was not alone. We all had the same problem, failure. Jesus, in His infinite wisdom, recognized our dilemma and gave us a new and better covenant, one that doesn't have a bunch of rituals given only to Israel. I truly believe you have no heads up on "how to keep it" any better than all who have tried before. Jesus new covenant is not about rituals given to Israel, it is all about love given to all humanity.
Did you mean to use the word "will" rather than "has"? I would write "completely" before new. Actually I fail to agree with your analysis completely. Hebrews tells us it is a new and better covenant not a warmed up old covenant. Question: since Jesus made the covenant available to all mankind ( I hope we have established that He did) why would He require people to observe requirements meant only for Israel? Take the feast days for an example, they were related to Israel only. We can go deeper into that subject if you like, but I hope you understand. Even the weekly Sabbath related to Israel's flight out of Egypt as the reason for it. The Chinese didn't experience this event, so it would not have much meaning to them would it?
Morality never ceases. Anything concerning our relationship with God and our fellow man is forever. Anything concerning rituals given only to Israel certainly would not be part of our covenant with Jesus.
I like bugkiller's answer to that one.
I enjoyed the discussion. At least now you know what is in my heart. I have no animosity toward anyone trying to serve Jesus or mankind the only way they know how. However, none of us are so wise that we can ignore the Holy Spirit speaking to us through whatever media He chooses.