So shouldn't a man consider how God's Laws were received, and how sins were forgiven, prior to this New covenant?
How did the people receive God's Laws in the OT? Wasn't it through the Levitical Priesthood?
In a sense, yes. Through Moses, a Levite.
Heb. 7:
11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that "another priest" should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
How are God's Laws received now? For me, somehow I have been given the Oracles of God into my own home, my own hands, and can read them with my own eyes, ponder them with my own heart. I no longer have to go find a Levite Priest to "Read Moses" to me on the Sabbath Days, as it was in the Old Covenant. How did this happen? Did I do something to make this happen? Did my dad or granddad do something to make this happen? No, we were born into a world in which God's Laws were already available to us, "Apart" from the Levitical Priesthood Law.
God's Law has already been given. For the born-again God's Law has been put inside their inner parts and written on their hearts. Now, God's Law leads and guides the believer from within, on fleshly tables of the heart. God's Law IS the Holy Spirit who now leads and guides the born-again from within, not from without which was one time written on stone. But one still needs to read God's Law written on parchment, papyrus, and paper. Now it is also digital. But it is important to have a good translation, one whose words are equal to the Word written on your heart. But God does not leave His people comfortless. Living epistles.
I am undecided if God's Law is written on one's born-again heart when they become born-again or written there when they have become conceived. Having God's Law written when conceived would establish ownership even before one is born. God has stacked the deck in His favor.
Am I not then, in God's New Covenant?
The New Covenant began with the advent of the Holy Spirit of Promise PROMISED TO ISRAEL when three thousand Jews and mixed heritage Jews were born-again. Although there were some from Jerusalem the majority based upon the languages spoken were from Gentile lands.
8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
Acts 2:7–11.
There may have been several hundred thousand of Jews, Samaritans, mixed heritage Jews living in Jerusalem and in Israel, but there were millions of Jews and mixed heritage Jews living in Gentile lands.
And what about how sins were forgiven in the Old Covenant. Was this not also through the Levitical Priesthood? Was I not required to present the blood of a goat to a Levite Priest, who would then perform sacrificial "Works of the Law", as it is written:
Lev. 4:
29 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering. 30 And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar. 31 And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour unto the LORD; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.
But I am no longer required to take a goat to a Levite Priest for forgiveness. My Priest is the Jesus "of the bible", God's OWN Begotten Son, not even a Levite. And HE offered HIS OWN Blood to God, once and for all, for my sins. So God Himself, has provided the atonement for me in the world I was born into. Did I, or my dad or granddad have anything to do with this? NO,
we were born into a world in which God's Atonement was already available to us, "Apart" from the Levitical Priesthood Law.
Atonement was already available before God created heaven, earth, and man. God knew that in creating man he would be sinful, missing the mark, created fallen short. But atonement was already accomplished in the heavenly Tabernacle before creation. And it was this same atonement that allowed God to create a sinful man to begin with.
Truly the Jesus of the Bible, is the Prophesied Messiah and High Priest of God who fulfilled the Prophesy of the New Priesthood "After the Order of Melchizedek", AKA, the New Covenant.
Yes, Because, as it is written:
Mal. 2:
4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. 5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, (Ex. 23:26) and was afraid before my name. 6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. 7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is "the messenger of the LORD of hosts".
8 But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. 9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
And therefore:
Heb. 8:
6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent "ministry", by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8 For finding fault with them, (Corrupt Priests of the Levitical Priesthood who led God's People astray) he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
This is not true, according to what is actually written in the Oracles of God.
Ex. 12:
48 And when a stranger (Non-Jew) shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. 49 One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
Ishmael and Esau were not inheritors of the promise, and they were still circumcised. They were still Abraham's seed. The stranger does not immediately mean "non-Hebrew." Abraham's seed was everywhere through Ishmael and Esau to name a couple.
Who says they are non-Hebrew? Abraham's seed was everywhere by the time the Hebrews in Egypt were in the millions. Ishmael had 12 sons. There could have been millions of Abraham's seed through Ishmael in the land when the Hebrews were delivered.
The bottom line is this, the Abraham Covenant is described in Genesis 12, 15, and 17. Consider this the original contract. There are no non-Hebrew Gentiles in this covenant and once the Lord left off making this covenant then the covenant became closed. God added nothing in chapter 18 onward, and Abraham could not add anything after. There are no amendments to the original covenant. It was closed.
22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. Genesis 17:22.
Closed.
God has already clearly shown you that HE is "No respecter of persons". That "DNA" has nothing to do with His Acceptance of men. It's what men "DO" that determines if they are "Home born" or not, or have "Faith" or not. I just posted God's Own Inspired Words that clearly show this from God's Own Words. If the foundation of your religious philosophy rejects, ignores or omits these important Biblical Facts about His Laws, His Righteousness, His Judgments, then the entire lump is leavened, just as the Pharisees, who professed to God, and believed they were Abraham's Children, when they were actually children of satan.
Faith is not a requirement of Abraham or of his seed. Circumcision is. And God IS a respecter of persons:
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And
the LORD had respect unto Abel [the person] and to his offering:
5 But
unto Cain [the person] and to his offering he had
not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell., Genesis 4:4–5.
25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and
God had respect unto them. Exodus 2:25.
That should settle the question.
Please consider David's and Paul's words which describe men who reject God's judgments and laws and go about instead, establishing their own righteousness.
Rom. 3:
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17 And the way of peace have they not known: 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Please also consider the very Words of the Christ spoken to those men who were Israelites by blood claiming to be Abraham's children and God's People.
John 8:
39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would "do" the works of Abraham. 40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. 41 Ye do "the deeds" of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. 42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
You are right about "Israel" being God's Chosen People. But you are wrong, horribly wrong about what makes a man, "an Israelite".
An Israelite is of the seed of Jacob whom God named Israel.
God made promise to Abraham that his seed would be like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. That's billions and billions of Abraham's seed who have been born and died in covenant.
Covenant is covenant. A promise is a promise. If one of his descendants dies in disobedience or sin does God void His promises to send this Hebrew to "hell" and eternal separation from God? He can't and He doesn't. Their names are written in the book of life of the lamb slain from [before] the foundation (creation) of the world (Rev. 13: 8.)
While studying the question of Judas Iscariot, whether he was a true son of Abraham or not, if he was elect of God or not. And while studying I learned something from Strong and the meaning he gave to the Greek word "apoleia" translated "perdition." It means "ruin." But it has three senses: physical, spiritual, and eternal "ruin." When Jesus marked Judas as a son of perdition, or ruin, I found that his ruin was physical since he committed suicide in obedience to the Law of Moses. If anyone is a seed of Abraham and a seed of Jacob to boot, they are covered by the covenant. God will not break a promise to Abraham or God is a liar. The 3000 who died when Moses destroyed the golden calf were Abraham's seed. They died physically. They didn't die (ruin) spiritually because they were not born-again and when one is born-again God creates a human spirit in the believer and the person is restored to a trichotomy - body, soul, human spirit. They didn't die ("ruin") eternally because for that God would have to break his promise to Abraham and to the Son and the Spirit.
