by Randy Maugans

We need to keep being reminded of the staggering implications of the Blood Atonement of Jesus Christ, even as some come to steal it away.Those who continue to uphold two covenants…one for Jews and another for the “gentiles” fail to grasp the immense richness of the covenant which was divinely sealed by Christ Yeshua, as presented in the third chapter of Galatians:

“Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.“ -Galatians 3;16-18

This is not a new doctrine, but the fulfillment of one long ago prophesied by Daniel:

“ And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease…” -Daniel 9:27

The progression  from the “old” covenenant—a covenant of laws; to the new covenant of ONE LAW was rapidly made apparent to the early believers, though not without difficulty. The apostles of record in the scriptures all came to understand that something profound and unprecedented occurred at the Cross…a unified code defined by the very act of infinite love demonstrated by the Messiah. Even as he breathed his last breath as man, Yeshua proclaimed the END of dogma; of arcane laws which were perverted by men; and the closing of a breach which existed for millenia between the Father-God and his “other” children.

“ And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.  And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.” -Mark 15:37-39

Symbolically, this account of the last moment of Messiah’s earthly life gives us an open view into the  spiritual dynamics of the crucifixion: the “middle wall of partition” (Ephesians 2:14) between the priests and the people was torn; but more importantly, the partition between the Jews and the gentiles was likewise dissolved. Consider the testimony of the attending centurion (a pagan officer of Caesar) who grasped this concept, and so testified of its truth.

“That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies ;And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” -Genesis 22:17-8

“And to thy seed, which is Christ…” -Galatians 3:16

Indeed, the miracle of this ancient promise is that, as was then, even now there continues a “blindness” upon professed believers toward the totality of the Cross. That, in fact, the enlargement of the covenant was THE main point of both the ancient promise to Abraham, and the unifying work of the Savior toward all men. The “blindness” of Israel (Romans 11:15) is reflected in professing believers who decry that the gentiles have “stolen” the birthright of Israel.

“…blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” -Romans 11:25

In a tremendous role reversal the blind Jews now are the very Christians who claim that God is not finished with (physical/racial) Israel—when they, themselves, ARE spiritually part of the New Covenant Israel! Thus, the very hinge upon which they pin this so-called “unfulfilled work” lies in the terminus of the “fulness of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:25).

The order of progression was to the “Jew first, then the gentile”…and an act of spiritual conversion which will proceed until the tents of Israel are completely full. The “fulness of the Gentiles” completes the promise to Abraham—it does not recursively move back to any physical race, nor does it invoke some long delayed process; the process BEGAN at the Cross and has progressed toward the time when God completes His work in the Earth:

“A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.  And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off which trouble you.” -Galatians 5:3-12

This “offense of the cross”,  which is so referenced in Galatians 5, lies in the identifying aspect of the Jewish culture: circumcision, which was a unique sign given to the Hebrews by YAWEH through Moses (Exodus 4:26). This very hallmark of the Hebrew culture is now denigrated in favor of the ONE LAW given as a sign unto believers, both the Jew and the Gentile:

“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” -Galatians 5:3-14

This is not a “Pauline doctrine”, or an over-simplification of the new covenant; it was the exact same sign given by God, himself in the divine personage of his son, Jesus the Christ:

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” -words of Messiah in  John 13:35

Those who expect a revival of Jewish people at some future date after the Gospel has been fully sent to the nations (Gentiles) are, themselves the very same blind (spiritual) Jews to which the apostle Paul refers in Romans 11. An odd role reversal and a complete repudiation of the lop-sided doctrines of dispensational/dual covenant theology that is now held by these “blind” Christians who have not read scripture with eyes open.