From Old to New Covenant: They key to understanding the Bible

Information about the change from Old to New Covenant

The basic message of the Bible is very easy to understand and shows us the most beautiful reality there is: God lives among us, He is right here with us. That was the original purpose of creation: God wanted to share His love with people. He made the earth and gave it to Adam to reign over it. When sin entered the heart of Adam and Eve the intimate fellowship they had with God was lost. Since then man lived apart from God. Only a few rare prophets had some sort of communication with Him, but most of humanity was without His love, without His voice, without His presence. Like a huge nation of orphans.

In the Old Covenant – or the Old Testament – we see that God was separated from His people, in a stone temple. When people wanted to worship Him, they had to travel to an earthly city called Jerusalem, also made of stone. The will of God was written on stone tables.

Everything was stone in the Old Covenant. There was no life in that. God was not among men.

Throughout the Old Testament God sent His prophets that promised an amazing new time, in which everything would change. No longer would God be separated from men, no longer would men wander around like orphans and lost sheep. No longer would there be a physical distance between God and His people. In this new era, God would once again be among us. This new era would begin when the Savior, the Messiah, would come. He would forgive the sins of the people, and open the way to become beloved sons and daughters of the heavenly Father. No longer orphans, but royal sons and daughters of the highest King. He would give us our true identity.

Before this new era could come forth, the old first had to pass way. The central elements of this old era were the stone elements: the stone city of God, Jerusalem; the stone temple and in there were the stone tablets with the lawe. Everything was stone, dead, earthly. outside of the hearts of men. This had to disappear. In Matthew 23 and 24 Jesus Christ announced the total destruction of these elements. Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed. That would be the end of the old age of the old covenant. That world would disappear and Christ would begin a brand new era: the era of the Spirit. In this new covenant God is no longer in a stone temple, but now we His people, are His dwelling place, by the Spirit. He makes you and me to be His house. All of us together form a new city of God, in the Spirit, in which God reigns and  from where He spreads His salvation to the rest of mankind. His law is now written in our hearts by the Spirit.

So we transferred from STONE to SPIRIT.

In this new covenant there is a new kingdom, that we can see, enter and experience only by the Spirit of God. It does not come with observation, it is not on a location on earth, it is in our hearts. This is true worship, because God is Spirit.

So in short: God created us to dwell among us. In the garden of Eden He walked with Adam and Eve. Sin destroyed that and Jesus Christ restored it. God is once again among us.

The time period between the Old Covenant and the new was called the end times, the last days, the end of the ages. It was a short period of a few years in which Jesus Christ was not among His people and they were still in the last phase of the Old Covenant. The stone city of Jerusalem and the stone temple – the central elements of the old covenant – were still standing. The spiritual powers of the old age were still in full force. During this time of transition, the first Christians were severely persecuted by the Jews who rejected Jesus Christ and His new kingdom.

During this difficult waiting period, Jesus Christ and the apostles constantly encouraged the first church: Hold fast what you have, because the Lord is coming soon.

During His ministry Jesus Christ had constantly promised that He would come during the lifetime of the first Christians. It would not be long. That was their hope during their trials and tribulations, under the cruel Jews who rejected their Messiah. The Jews wanted a political kingdom and a military Messiah, who would drive out the Romans and make Israel a powerful earthly nation.  Jesus however said the new kingdom of God, the new era that had been promised by the prophets, was not of this world. It is in the Spirit in our hearts.

No outwardly religion but inner transformation. He makes us a brand new creation.

Just as Jesus Christ promised Jerusalem and the temple were indeed destroyed during that first generation of Christians. The same Jews who murdered Jesus Christ were also the ones who saw Him coming on the clouds to judge them. That was the time of God’s wrath, the judgment of God. You can read much more about this in the in depth study about the Second Coming.

When Jerusalem was destroyed, Jesus Christ appeared with His angels on the clouds of heaven, as the king who executed judgment over Israel, because they had murdered all God’s prophets. He came as the Lion of Judah, to judge Israel. That was the end of the Old Covenant.

The appearance of Christ was described in great detail by may historic accounts of the Jews, Romans and early Christian Church fathers. Everything Christ had prophesied happened. You can read these impressive historic accounts here.

When Christ appeared on the clouds, He also began His reign in the new kingdom that He had announced during His ministry. He had said that the kingdom was at hand, which means it was about to happen and indeed a short time after He announced it, it broke loose with full force. The Old Testament ended and the era of the New Covenant was launched.

Jesus Christ is ow King in this invisible kingdom that is experienced in the Spirit of God. Christ had said that it would begin small, as a mustard seed or a little bit of yeast but eventually it would become the largest bush and the yeast would transform the whole bread. In history we see that this indeed happened: Jesus started with a handful of true followers, now there are hundreds of millions of Christians worldwide. The first Christians changed ever society where they came and started the first schools, hospitals, orphanages, caring for the poor, and so much more. They stopped cannibalism, human sacrifice, witchcraft and they taught the people to worship the God of love. Entire nations and continents became Christian!

In the 19th century however a false teaching erupted in the Church, through John Darby and C. I. Scofield. They denied the kingdom of Christ and His presence among us and told the entire evangelical church worldwide that we all have to wait for a political, visible kingdom of God in military Israel. That will be the real fulfilment of God’s promises. This radical denial of the kingdom and the person of Jesus Christ, was spread all throughout the evangelical churches worldwide through a Study Bible that Scofield launched. He was financed by Jewish Freemasons. The result was that the Church stopped marching forward with transforming society and most Christians withdrew from society, waiting for something the church had never talked about before: a so called rapture.

Instead of being the transforming force that changes the world, the Church became the most irrelevant entity in our world, waiting to be raptured away.

The Spirit of God is now bringing the church back to the authentic biblical message of Jesus Christ. His kingdom is not visible and will never be visible. It is a heavenly dimension that we experience in the Spirit. It is in our hearts. Never will Christ sit in a stone temple in political Jerusalem, to rule the earth. We are now His temple and He reigns from within us, through His Spirit of love and power. Never will He destroy God’s entire creation, because the earth will be inherited by the meek! His kingdom is not of this world, but it is in the Spirit of God.

Yet, it does transform the whole world, like yeast that transforms the entire bread. Throughout history we indeed see how Christianity has dramatically transformed many nations, from within.

The following overview is meant to help bring the Church back to Jesus Christ and His king om. that is in the Spirit. Stop waiting for a visible, military kingdom in political Israel. Don’t wait for an easy escape out of this world, but become a force of transformation, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Please share this with the Body of Christ so we can become once again the great army of love, healing, deliverance and breakthrough that we are.

An in depth bible study about the true biblical meaning of the Second Coming of Christ can be found here. Please take some time to read it, with the Spirit of God as your teacher, who will reveal to you what is truth.

May His presence fill all of us and change our world, from within, by the Spirit of God. Not by might nor by power but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

In Christ,
David Sorensen