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Many of the points that you raised I have covered in my answer to Pilgrim, so please have a look at that before you reply.
Yes, I know and after I [Linked Image] I read Pilgrim’s excellent reply, which will make my reply briefer.

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Moreover, the “new” in New Covenant does not mean “brand new.” You are wrong in your interpretation. The NKJV says, 'Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.' Hebrews was almost certainly written around 65 AD. The Temple sacrifices were still being offered, but they had no purpose now that the One perfect Sacrifice for sin had been offered. The OC was obsolete, and in AD 70 it vanished in a blaze.
Well, first the OC and the NC are eternally linked for they are everlasting covenants.

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Genesis 9:16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

Genesis 17:7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee.

Genesis 17:13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

Genesis 17:19 And God said, Nay, but Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him

Leviticus 24:8 Every sabbath day he shall set it in order before Jehovah continually; it is on the behalf of the children of Israel, an everlasting covenant.

Numbers 25:13 and it shall be unto him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.

1 Chronicles 16:17 And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a statute, To Israel for an everlasting covenant,

Isaiah 24:5 The earth also is polluted under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.

Isaiah 55:3 Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Isaiah 61:8 For I, Jehovah, love justice, I hate robbery with iniquity; and I will give them their recompense in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

Jeremiah 32:40 and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good; and I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.

Jeremiah 50:5 They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come ye, and join yourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten.

Ezekiel 16:60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.

Ezekiel 37:26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.

Hebrews 13:20 Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus,
How does a dispensationalist interpret the term “everlasting?”

Second, though the NC is a better covenant (Heb 7:22), has a better hope (7:19), with better promises (8:6), a more excellent ministry (8:6), a greater and more perfect tabernacle (9:11), a better sacrifice (9:23), a new and living way (10:20), and of course, has a greater and more excellent High Priest (8:1) these are the FULFILLMENT of the OC and NOT its replacement. God DOES NOT make errors! Did not Jesus say:

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Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished.

Luke 16:17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the law to fall.

Third, in your comments you have failed to realize that the law is divided into three parts: the (1) civil, (2) ceremonial, and (3) moral:

The ceremonial laws were shadows or types of that which was to come (i.e. the atonement of Christ) and thus are fulfilled in Christ. The book of Hebrews makes this abundantly clear. The civil law was given to Israel as a theocracy and they were shadows or types of the New Heavens and New Earth. The moral law (which did not originate on Mt. Sinai, but in the beginning), being the very expression of the nature of God cannot be made obsolete by the coming of Christ or your short history lesson above!

Fourth, does God still bring men to Christ? If the law is no longer in effect how does man know sin? The Scripture is clear;

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Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet:
Your Dispensationalism rids the Gospel of the very Gospel!

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To call the New Covenant a 'renewed' covenant as Matt McMahon does, is a travesty. It is the reality of which the OC was the foreshadowing (10:1). 'He takes away the first that He may establish the second' (10:9).
In reality there is only ONE covenant which God makes with His people. The NC is none other than the OC more fully revealed. The law which will be written in the hearts is none other than the law which has already been given. The promise was: "they shall be my people, and I will be their God" (Jer 24:7). Moreover, God's manner of dealing with His people has not changed in the NC. Promises such as recorded in Jer. 31:31-34 demand a response of faith, even as do the promises of Genesis 17 and Exodus 19 (compare Hebrews 11; Eph 2:8-10). In addition, there is a clear progress in the history of the covenant, which is also redemptive history. Jeremiah states, “Behold, the days come (progression prophesied), saith Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah (Jer 31:31). What was essentially given in the OC is given in fuller and richer measure under the NC. The NC is NOT “brand new” it is the fulfilling of the OC (just because something is fulfilled does not mean it disappears! When a glass is filled with water, the glass does not cease to be a glass <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/idea.gif" alt="" />). The OC is not replaced, but continues on in the fulfillment of the NC! Essentially, the reference in Hebrews 8:13 to the OC vanishing away is to the form and not to the substance. To understand it any different is to make a grave hermeneutical error.


Reformed and Always Reforming,