Covenant Heirs

With the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the blessings for all nations of the Abrahamic Covenant commenced.

The “Promise of the Father” is the Gift of the Spirit, which the Apostle Paul links to the Abrahamic Covenant. The promises made to the Patriarch are fulfilled in the New Covenant inaugurated by Jesus Christ. The bestowal of the Spirit on his Assembly on the Day of Pentecost marked the commencement of the “Last Days,” the Age of the Spirit when the promises of God are achieved. Because of his Death and Resurrection, Gentile believers become full heirs of the Covenant along with believing Jews.

Paul equates the “Promise of the Spirit” with the “Blessings of Abraham.” The original Covenant always envisaged the inclusion of the Gentile Nations, a point he uses when arguing for the acceptance of Gentile believers in the Assembly without the rite of circumcision, dietary regulations, or observing the Hebrew calendar.

[Argentina - Photo by Jonatan Lewczuk on Unsplash]

All men and women who belong to Jesus become “Abraham’s seed, Heirs according to promise.” “In Christ,” the old distinctions between “Jew and Gentile” no longer apply. The inclusion of the Gentiles is not an afterthought. It was always pivotal to the Abrahamic Covenant, and the Gift of the Spirit is received from faith and not “from the works of the Law” - (Genesis 12:1-3, Galatians 3:1-14, 3:29):

• “In whom, you also are hearing the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also believing, were sealed with the Spirit of the promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance, for the redemption of the Acquisition, for his glorious praise” - (Ephesians 1:13-14).

The Spirit is the “earnest” or pledge that guarantees our participation in the inheritance. The references in the passage from Paul’s Letter to Ephesians to “inheritance” and “acquisition” allude to the territory promised by God to Abraham - “I will give to you and your seed all the Land of Canaan for an everlasting possession” - (Genesis 17:8).

Paul thus connects the Gift of the Spirit to the Covenant, including its promise of territory. Likewise, Jesus called the Gift of the Spirit the “Promise of the Father,” and before his Ascension, he commanded his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received the Spirit. Thereafter, they would become his “witnesses to the uttermost parts of the Earth” - (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4).

In his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, Peter declared that the outpouring of the Spirit fulfilled the prophecy of the Book of Joel - “In the last days, God will pour out His Spirit on all flesh.” The presence of the Spirit demonstrated that the “Last Days” were underway. This period must continue until the return of Jesus at the end of the age - (Genesis 17:7-10, Joel 2:28-32, Acts 2:38-39).

The Gift of the Spirit is how men and women receive the “Blessings of Abraham.” By the Spirit, men from every nation find themselves blessed with faithful Abraham, heirs of the promises, and members of God's One Covenant Community. The Spirit also empowers them to be Christ’s Witnesses on Earth - (Genesis 12:3, Acts 1:6-9, 3:25, Romans 4:13).

The actualization of the promises began with the outpouring of the Spirit on Christ’s Assembly. Since then, every man and woman who receives the Gift becomes a “child of Abraham,” and therefore, the old boundaries that previously divided Jew from Gentile are inappropriate in the Body of Christ - (Galatians 3:27-29).

THE NEW COVENANT

The Mosaic Legislation itself anticipated the need for something beyond the Law. The Torah could not complete what God began with Abraham. Inevitably, the nation of Israel disobeyed and violated the Covenant.

However, after chastisement and repentance, the nation would “return to Yahweh and obey His voice.” The God of Abraham would gather His people from all nations and “circumcise their hearts to love Him” - (Deuteronomy 30:1-6).

The themes of renewal and the circumcision of the heart were taken up centuries later by the prophet Jeremiah. God fully intended to “make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah,” but not like the one legislated at Mount Sinai.

With the outpouring of the Spirit, God began to write His laws on the hearts of His people, and the promised circumcision of the heart is now actualized in the Body of Christ as men and women join the Church through faith in Jesus - (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 8:6-13).

The Book of Ezekiel added the aspect of the Spirit to the promised “New Covenant.” When Yahweh gathered the children of Israel, He would put “a new spirit” in them, and thereby He would “cause them to walk in His statutes.”

Moreover, the Book of Ezekiel combines the promises of the Spirit, the circumcised heart, and the New Covenant. The covenant promises are linked to and dependent on the receipt of the Spirit by the saints, Jewish and Gentile believers alike, and not ethnicity or nationality - (Ezekiel 36:16-28, 37:25-28, 2 Corinthians 3:1-6).

• “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, <…> For you all are one man in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then are you Abraham's Seed, Heirs according to promise” - (Galatians 3:27-29).

Consistently, the New Testament applies the Abrahamic promises to the Gift of the Spirit granted freely to Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus, and the Bible labels it the “Promise of the Father” and the “Blessing of Abraham.”

Since the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, the Gift of the Holy Spirit has become the identifying mark of the One People of God rather than circumcision or physical descent from Abraham. Both Jewish and Gentile followers of Christ become full Heirs of the Covenant because of the “faith of Jesus Christ.”

The Spirit provides us with the power to walk in the New Covenant and so we may now keep the “righteous requirements of the Law” and proclaim the Good News of God’s Kingdom and Salvation “to the ends of the Earth.”

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SEE ALSO:

• One New Man - (By his death and resurrection, Jesus formed one covenant community - One New Man - based on faith in him, not ethnicity or nationality – Ephesians 2:11-22)

• The Gift of the Spirit - (With the outpouring of the Gift of the Spirit, beginning on the Day of Pentecost, the blessings for all nations promised to Abraham commenced)

• Jews and Gentiles - (The equality of Jews and Gentiles before an impartial and just God is pivotal to Paul’s Gospel. They stand or fall before Him on the same basis)

• Héritiers de l'Alliance - (Avec l'effusion de l'Esprit le jour de la Pentecôte, les bénédictions pour toutes les nations de l'Alliance abrahamique ont commencé)