The Two Covenants — Part 1

In the world of professing Christianity exists mass confusion regarding God’s laws — his commandments, and how they relate to salvation, eternal life in the Kingdom and family of God.

By understanding the place of the Old Covenant in God’s plan, and how it relates to the New Covenant, much of this confusion, if not all of it, can be replaced by an understanding of the vital importance of obedience to the commandments of God in terms of salvation, as well as temporal happiness and blessings for all, and how they apply today.

“The Two Covnants — Part 1” audio recording by Rod Reynolds, COGMessenger is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The Two Covenants — Part 5

In previous articles in our Two Covenants series we’ve discussed the relationship between the Old and New Covenants, and reasons why the Old Covenant was given.

To review, we’ve discussed the concept that the Old Covenant was a type of the New Covenant. It was given as an introduction to living spiritual principles. But as it was a shadow, or type or figure of the New, it was not the full reality of what the New Covenant encompasses. For example, the sacrifices under the Old Covenant were among other things a type of Christ’s sacrifice, but they were not the reality of the sacrifice itself.

Reasons for the giving of the Old Covenant that we discussed included:

(1) The Separation and preservation of a people for God.

(2) A tutor or schoolmaster pointing to Christ.

(3) A form of knowledge and truth.

(4) To teach the nature and effect of sin.

(5) To reveal the need for the Holy Spirit.

Later in this article our focus shifts to the New Covenant.

But first, we will briefly list some other important reasons for the giving of the Old Covenant in addition to the five already discussed. This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but will furnish food for thought.

Continue reading

Picturing the Firstfruits of God’s Spirit

In this message, Rod Reynolds discusses why the Feast of Pentecost is significant to Christians, and why it is an important Holy Day to observe. The annual Holy Days, Festivals and even the weekly Sabbath are set aside for a purpose, and each of these days fits in with God’s plan of salvation for humanity. Through these special days, we have the opportunity to learn wonderful details about God’s plan.

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The Two Covenants (Part 3)

As we’ve seen in previous installments of this series, the overall reason for the giving of the Old Covenant was because of transgressions – sin – lawlessness (Galatians 3:19). “Why then was the law [the Old Covenant] made? God gave it… because so many people were doing what was wrong” (Galatians 3:19; Bible in Worldwide English version).

But within that overall framework, there are at least five major reasons for the institution of the Old Covenant that we find in Scripture. Let’s examine these five reasons now one at a time: Continue reading