The Flesh And The Spirit.....Two Covenants.

The freedom in the life of the New Covenant as opposed to the bondage of the Old Covenant. In reality the OC was done away with though in practice it is still alive and well. It is like a prisoner that was in a cell and chained and was let free but still chose to stay in his cell wrapped in his invisible chains. New covenant believer's for the most part remind me of this prisoner. They have been freed from the bondage of the law, But the law still holds them as its prisoner.

Gal 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

NC Christians because of Christ now have access to God and have freedom from the yoke of slavery that held those that were part of the old covenant. Do not take up again that which was done away with.

2Co 3:6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The law never was intended to give life because the law is like a mirror and when we gaze into it we see the reflection of who we really are.......Sinners! The law slays us all day long. When we look at the law it simply tells us how dead we are spiritually. It does not give life and did not give life in the OC. A yoke of slavery is not life. The OC was a promise of what would someday come. The NC is the reality of the promises that were made.

2Co 3:7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,
2Co 3:8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?

The glory on the face of Moses was temporary. It would and did eventually fade away. But the glory that Christ brings never fades away! His glory is not temporary but lasts forever and this glory rests upon the Church. Not on a building made with hands but upon the Body of Christ! His body is the glory that shines in this fallen and lost world and it bids them to come and taste to come and drink of His spirit and live forever! Come one...Come all...To Christ. The NC is the glory of God shining upon the whole earth.

2Co 3:9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.
2Co 3:10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it.

The ministry of condemnation had a glory that was limited..... though the ministry of righteousness...The receiving of His righteousness through the gospel has no limit. In this we understand that the OC was so limited and had such a heavy yoke that was carried with it to become a burden for the people of Israel. The NC is not a burden. It is a blessing. We as the Body Of Christ are blessed. How can we think or imagine of anything greater than what God has freely given to us. We should shine like polished jewels.

2Co 3:11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.
2Co 3:12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,
2Co 3:13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.

Moses knew what he had was slipping away and that was why he kept his face covered to keep the Hebrews from having doubt and fear. But now in this covenant that we live in the NC our faces are not covered and we are to be bold and without any doubt or fear. The Body Of Christ should be fearless. We can be bold because we have the fullness of God and we have His grace and mercy. Do not be ashamed of Christ my friends shout the gospel from the rooftops....The highways...and everywhere. Is the body of Christ bold as she should be? Do we live and breathe the gospel as we should? Is the gospel our bread of life and our sustaining force of life? It should be! I pray that it is.......

2Co 3:14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.
2Co 3:15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.
2Co 3:16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

The Jews still had a veil over their hearts even when the OC was slowly passing away and they had Christ in their midst. Can you see the power of a paradigm here? They were sitting in the prison even after the doors had burst open with a loud noise and their chains had fallen off. I fear that many are in chains and the OC paradigm holds them tightly and are prisoners even after they have been given freedom. It is sad when laws and formulas and idols and tradition continually keep people in bondage when they have been freed by a great and marvelous savior our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. We can live free and experience Christ fully now and experience Heaven fully now. Why can't we. We are now new creations in Christ and live in His wonderful kingdom. No! We not are waiting for the next thing to happen prophetically......We are living in what has already happened. Glory to God for this! Let God Be true and every man a liar. What is important to us today my friends what some person wrote in a book or what God has written in His book,,,,The Bible. Time to wake up!

2Co 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2Co 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

In the NC there is freedom , peace, understanding, kindness and love to just name a few that comes from being a part of the body of Christ. It seems as if the Body Of Christ is not aware of this to a large degree because it doesn't really appear to be on display as it should be. To be truthful this really breaks my heart. I don't write because I just want to write. I write because I want people to understand this and take a hold of this and experience the freedom that is exploding in my heart every day.......Ohhh...To know Christ! To experience this love and peace...Is there a greater thing in all the world? Nothing can be greater when you already have the greatest thing that there is. Christ!! Rip the veil from your heart and behold the glory of the Lord! The Lord is ready to move you from one degree to another...His power is a transforming power! And all this comes from the same power that raised Christ from the dead!! Come on rise up from your slumber! Brush the dust from His word and study it!

One Nation/all Nations.

"1: And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. 2: The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3: The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day" (Deut. 5).

The law was not given to us it was given to Israel.

1. The Garden Eden

God had two people at the beginning of creation. Adam and Eve. God had fellowship with them and covenant with them. They were the first people that God congregated with. Though Adam and Eve had rules to obey. Do not eat from the tree of knowledge or you will surely die(spiritually). They were not able to obey God and the ensuing punishment is that they were kicked out of the garden of Eden.

2. The Nation Israel

The nation Israel was a larger circle of God's people congregating in worship before Him in the temple. God's people had grown from two people and now there were thousands of people. But still this only included this nation of Israel. This was to be a bright city on a hill shining for the whole world to see but instead it was but another disobedient people. A people that ended up being a people that had more curses than blessings. But still God was faithful to them and when He sent them unto captivity He would eventually bring them out again back into Israel. Until AD 70 when He finally judged them permanently. The temple and the nation then faced a final and just judgement(Judging Israel as a nation) brought about by the hand of God. Today there is no covenant nation of Israel. Yes there are some people over there but they are not God's people because God's people are the ones who have faith in God and are justified by faith.

3. The Church

The Church is not a replacement of Israel it is an expansion of Israel. And it expanded to the whole world. This Israel that was a nation has become a world. The body of Christ has a freedom that never existed previously. Now God's people congregate before God all across the world. No limitations and no material city or material temple because we are part of the temple (We are living stones)and we are the city that came down from heaven. We are the New Jerusalem a city without boundaries and without limitations. We are not limited by tablets of stone because God has written His laws upon our hearts. We don't go to a temple or a building to see God....Because God is here in our hearts and we can meet with Him and talk to Him and it doesn't matter where we are. We don't have to send Moses to talk to Him for us...We can go ourselves because He lives within us. He is our Father and we are His children and we are loved by God. Consider yourselves living stones and consider yourselves precious in the site of God because He sent His Son into this world to die for you. Jesus was punished and beaten and finally crucified on the cross. For You!

The blood of animals/the blood of Jesus.

"23: It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24: For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 25: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; 26: For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Heb. 9).

In the OC they sacrificed animals continually. In the NC we have Christ as our sacrifice. Christ suffered once and then sit down on the right hand of God. Christ was sufficient for us forever. He was the perfect sacrifice and had the perfect righteousness to give us. This righteousness saves us and not only until next year but forever. Christ was more than just a lamb or a Ram or a bull He was the anti-type of them all....The Lamb OF God and it is the Lamb that God gave us that takes away the sin of the world. He finished the transgression. It is finished. And the Old Covenant is also finished. We are blessed with freedom and should live without fear. We are the giant oak tree that no one can cut down. The hard rains lash at it and winds blow and knock its limbs off.......But it still stands......We still fearlessly stand because God's hand holds us firm....We have no fear because God is with us and nothing can stand against God.