The Nehemiah Covenant

Monday, May 16, 2011: from Nehemiah 10:29-31

The Nehemiah covenant

1.     Observe and do all the commandments of the Lord and His ordinances and His statutes

2.     We would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons

3.     Not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day

4.     Forego the seventh year’s produce and the exacting of every debt

Which, among these, were commandments, ordinances and statutes? Commandments,1a, 3; ordinances, 2; and statutes, 4. (You may disagree: choices are not absolute)

Tuesday, May 17, 2011: from Nehemiah 10:32-33

Monetary offering ordinance

5.     One-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God

a.      For the showbread,

b.      For the regular grain offering,

c.      For the regular burnt offering of the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the set feasts;

d.     For the holy things,

e.      For the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and

f.       All the work of the house of our God

Do the words ‘service’ and ‘work’ have different connotations? Yes, service implies the priestly functions while work represents the other things needed by the priests to perform their duties.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011: from Nehemiah 10:35-37a

Firstborn/firstfruit offering ordinance

6.     Bring the firstfruits/firstborn

a.      Firstfruits of our ground

b.      Firstfruits of all fruit of all trees

c.      Firstborn of our sons and our cattle, herds and flocks (written in the Law)

d.     Firstfruits of our dough

What is the implication of the prefix ‘first’? God desires first place in our hearts.

Thursday, May 19, 2011: from Nehemiah 10:37b-38

Miscellaneous offering ordinance

7.     Offerings

8.     Fruit from all kinds of trees

9.     New wine and oil

10.  Tithes of our land

a.      (The Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God)

Are tithes different from offerings? Yes, tithes meant tenth, while offerings went beyond this value.

Friday, May 20, 2011: Galatians 5:1 – 3 (NKJV)

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.

Are we to keep the whole Law? The Law is an entanglement, a yoke of bondage. We are free of the Law in Christ. He paid all the just demands of the Law for those who believe in Him.

Jeremiah Prophecies about the New Covenant

Monday, September 27, 2010: Jeremiah 31:21 – 22 (NKJV)

“Set up signposts, Make landmarks;

Set your heart toward the highway, The way in which you went.

Turn back, O virgin of Israel, Turn back to these your cities.

How long will you gad about, O you backsliding daughter?

For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth— A woman shall encompass a man.”

What does ‘created a new thing on earth’ imply? Just what it says: Christ was born to a virgin.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010: Jeremiah 31:31 – 32 (NKJV)

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

When the Bible says that a day is coming, is this now about the past or future? Coupled with the previous verses in the same chapter, Jesus Christ would state, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. (Mark 14:24). But Israel has not yet accepted it as a nation.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010: Exodus 20:1 – 3 (NKJV)

And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.

Deuteronomy 4:12 – 13 (NKJV)

And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice. So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

What was the old covenant that Israel and Judah broke? The Ten Commandments.

Thursday, September 30, 2010: Jeremiah 31:33 – 34 (NKJV)

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. 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.”

Why will the people of Israel and Judah Know God? God will have forgiven their iniquity and will remember their sins no more. This implies belief in Jesus Christ.

Friday, October 1, 2010: Matthew 22:36 – 40 (NKJV)

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Can a person love one he/she doesn’t know and has never met? No.