Compelling Love

In a recent article, writer Jack Kinsella summarizes the Gospel as follows (slightly paraphrased):

“God, who is eternal, stepped out of eternity and into space and time in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. Jesus Christ, knowing our inability to save ourselves, lived a life acceptable to God in our place. Having no sin debt of His own, He then suffered the penalty due for sin on our behalf. Having paid our sin debt for us, He declared, “it is finished” and sat down at the Father’s right Hand.”(http://www.bibleprophecyblog.com/2011/08/emperor-jack-first.html)

The life, death and resurrection of Jesus, Yeshua, confirmed a new covenant with the people of God, as described in Jeremiah 31:

Jeremiah 31 (NKJV)
“…33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul also writes of this new covenant of the Spirit, and of the true liberty of those who are led by the Spirit:

2 Corinthians 3 (NKJV)
4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers [servants] of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

In Ezekiel 11, Yahweh declares he will give his people one heart and put a new spirit in them, “that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them”:

Ezekiel 11 (NKJV)
17 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”’ 18 And they will go there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there. 19 Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

In Luke 22, after his last Passover with the disciples, Jesus took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”

Luke 22 (NKJV)
14 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. 15 Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”

In 1 Corinthians 11 (NKJV), Paul encourages believers when breaking bread together to do so in remembrance of Jesus, Yeshua who gave his life for us, establishing the new covenant in his blood.

1 Corinthians 11 (NKJV)
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

Hebrews 9 describes the supreme effectiveness of Christ’s sacrifice for all who believe in him, establishing the new covenant in his blood:

Hebrews 9 (NKJV)
11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— 26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul describes our worthy response to this supreme sacrifice of Jesus, Yeshua establishing the new covenant:

2 Corinthians 5 (NKJV)
14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, 8/29/2011