15 The Sabbath Typifies the Millennium
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The New Covenant
1Let us now inquire if the Lord actually gave the new covenant which He swore to our fathers that He would give to the people. 2He indeed gave it, but they were not worthy to receive it because of their sins. 3The prophet said,
“And Moses was fasting forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai, that he might receive the testament of the Lord for the people… And he received from the Lord two tables, written in the Spirit by the finger of the hand of the Lord.”
Based on Exodus 24:18; 31:18
4Moses received them and carried them down to give to the people. The Lord then said to Moses,
“Moses, Moses, go down quickly; for your people have sinned, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt.” Based on Exodus 32:7
6Moses understood that the Israelites had made molten images and he threw down the tablets of the covenant of the Lord and broke them into pieces. 7Moses received them, but the people were not worthy. How did we receive them? 8Moses received it when he was a servant[o], but the Lord Himself gave it to us, as the people of the inheritance, by suffering for us. 9He was manifest in order that at the same time they should fill up the measure of their sins; and that we, being made heirs by Him, should receive the covenant of the Lord Jesus. 10By His personal incarnation He was prepared for this purpose of redeeming our hearts from the darkness, which had already brought us death through the iniquity of deceit, and established the covenant with us by His word. 11It is written how the Father charged Him to deliver us from darkness and prepare for Himself a holy people. The prophet said,
“I, the Lord your God, have called You in righteousness, and I will hold Your hand and strengthen You. And give You as a covenant of the people, for a light to the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind, to free the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.” Based on Isaiah 42:6-7
13We know now why we were redeemed. Again the prophet said,
“‘Behold, I have assigned you to be a light to the Gentiles for salvation to all the ends of the earth,’ says the Lord your God who has redeemed you.” Based on Isaiah 49:6
“The spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me; He has sent me to preach the gospel to the humble, to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind[p], to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of recompense, and to comfort all that mourn.” Based on Isaiah 61:1-2
Commentary
The main idea of this chapter is that the covenant between God and the Jews was broken. Now the covenant is for all who trust in the Messiah, both Jews and Gentiles. This idea is taught constantly in the New Testament.
It gives the idea that Moses’ breaking the laws on Mount Sinai was a typological prophecy of the coming of the new covenant. One that Jeremiah describes,
“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33 KJV
Paul acknowledged God caused Moses to act strangely in order to perform typological prophecies in other situations as well. When Moses struck the rock, that action typified Christ (See 1 Corinthians 10:3). And when he put the veil over his face, it typified the coming new covenant (See 2 Corinthians 3:7-14).
The New Covenant
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