New Covenant – Sons of Issachar

320. The Signs of Jesus’ Coming

When you look at the beginning of Matthew 24, the chapter’s context is the question posed by the disciples to Jesus. They asked when these three things would happen: the destruction of the temple, the sign of His ‘coming’ (parousia = presence), and the end of the age (not the end of the world, but rather the end of the Old Covenant age, as Jesus brings an end to the Old Covenant).

These ideas are interconnected, and Jesus provides various signs of His parousia in this context. The ‘generation’ was that 40-year period and the ‘elect’ refer to Jewish believers who left Jerusalem, as Jesus had warned them. Leaving the earthly Jerusalem was also a symbolic act of leaving the Old Covenant and entering the New, the Heavenly Jerusalem. The ‘angels’ (angeloi = messengers) gathering the elect can be understood in the sense of human (and perhaps supernatural) messengers who had been sent out with the gospel during the period leading up to the end of the age; so ‘the elect’ are those who would be gathered during this time, the 144,000 of Revelation.

The lightning imagery can be interpreted in different ways. Firstly, it can mean that Jesus would come quickly at the end of that age, as lightning bursts suddenly. Secondly, the word lightning can also be translated as bright sunshine, which suggests that the light of the Gospel would be released during this period, as the messengers released that truth and the elect were gathered in.

All that Jesus says in this passage is perfectly consistent, but we may find the symbolism challenging to grasp fully due to our conditioning by modern teachings that associate these verses with the ‘rapture’ and the end of the world. But when Jesus talks about two in the field and one being taken, this is again a warning about the war and siege of AD 67-70 (nothing to do with a ‘rapture’), underscoring the importance of being alert and ready at that time. In the days of Noah there were those who were ready and entered the ark and those who were not ready and were lost: the same thing was true here. Of those who did not heed the warning to flee, some were ‘taken’ by the enemy army, and many were crucified and thrown into Gehenna during that period of the Siege of Jerusalem leading up to AD70.

Jesus’ parables have also been misinterpreted by the ‘rapture’ teaching. They are not analogies to be dissected for every detail, but rather stories used to convey a point. Terms like “outer darkness” and “weeping and gnashing of teeth” symbolise being outside the covenant and expressing anger towards the gospel: those who reject the light of the New Covenant dwell in darkness and respond with hostility.

Certain parables refer to the anticipation of Jesus’ first coming after a period of silence in prophecy. During this time, some were aware of the signs and awaited the Messiah, while others remained unaware or entrenched in a flawed religious system. When He did come they rejected Him, but then had a whole generation in which the light had gone forth, the messengers had gone out and the good news was being proclaimed. Yet still many rejected the good news and followed their old religious system rather than entering into what Jesus came to offer.

I can direct you to a whole blog post we wrote several years ago on the subject of the sheep and goats. In that parable Jesus was talking about nations, not individuals; and specifically about the treatment of the elect, the believing Jews, by their ‘brothers’ (the unbelieving Jews) during this time of covenant transition.

In reality, I believe it’s more important to seek the Father’s heart on these matters rather than attempting to dissect every scripture from a modern-day perspective. Understanding the nuances of Old Covenant language can be challenging, and without that context, passages may seem obscure.

Jesus cautioned his followers to flee Jerusalem when they witnessed certain signs, without even retrieving their coats. Historical records, such as the writings of Josephus, corroborate that Christians heeded this warning and fled to safety in the hills of Pella. While the entire region was impacted by the siege, those who followed Jesus’ advice were spared (‘saved’). The phrase ‘cut short for the sake of the elect’ indicates that even the survivors would be at risk if the tribulation continued. Ultimately, it did come to an end, signifying the conclusion of that age and its accompanying trials. We are not anticipating tribulation of this kind anymore!

Key takeaways

The signs of Jesus’ coming were for the first century believers, regarding an event in their future but in our past.

It is important always to seek the Father’s heart, rather than attempting to dissect every scripture from a modern-day perspective.

Eschatology of the Restoration of All Things

In the video Mike refers to this, his third book, which goes into a great deal of detail about eschatology and the background to the ‘rapture’ teaching.
Order the paperback from your favourite bookseller or get the ebook on our website.

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319. Face to Face with God

Mike Parsons –

I am not against miracles, and God still does them: He works to bring people into a relationship with Him. I have experienced all sorts of amazing things, like rolling around on the floor and laughing, being translated in the Spirit and more. These experiences were part of my journey, part of my coming of age, or maturing; but they did not change me in any dimension compared to encountering God face to face.

I can do anything I see the Father doing, and if that’s a miracle or a healing, then that’s great. However, I wouldn’t do it just because I thought it was something I should do. I am only going to function out of what I know the Father’s heart is expressing. I will ask Him and be directed by Him on every occasion, rather than just doing something.

I am not trying to put you off ministering healing or other miracles to people. I would not say you need to do it as ‘gifts of the spirit’: your spirit is quite capable of operating in those things. Discernment comes through training our senses to experience how to see in the spiritual realm, and obviously I am not against engaging in the angelic realm or any of those activities. I just feel we have to be careful that we don’t create another mediatorial system which people need to enter God’s presence.

Let’s bring people directly to God and let them experience God for themselves: then they will find the power of His presence and His love transforming their lives. There is no need for a mediator or a third party. We have to be careful that we don’t become the third party that other people become dependent on.

The prophetic movement has created a “you need to come and have us prophesy over you” mentality, rather than teaching people how to prophesy themselves. We mystics need to teach people to be mystics, to be able to live in intimacy with the Father, to have an experience of Heaven and Earth. In that way they can demonstrate God’s power and love in that way to others by leading them into an experience of Him, rather than doing things for them.

There is a real a danger in mixing the covenants, and mixing what was in the transition (between the old and the new covenants, in the first century AD) with what God wants for today: which is that Heaven is open, Jesus is the door; anyone can walk through that door at any time and experience God for themselves. Therefore they don’t need faith. Faith is the evidence of things not seen: I have seen God, therefore I don’t need faith. I experience Him. It’s His faith that I am living in, His faith in me. I live by the faith of the Son of God: who He says I am as a child of God. I don’t live by my faith in Him – that is all about works!

and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 NRSVUE).

How much faith do I have? And some of the healing ministry, especially the Word of Faith movement, was about generating faith. I live in an awareness of my sonship; therefore I don’t need to have faith. All those people in Hebrews 11 died in faith, having not seen the promises. You don’t need faith when you have experience. When I encounter God, that experience brings a realisation of what is true. That generates faith, if you like; but in what is true, not how much faith I’ve got in something.

I live by the faith of the Son of God; I don’t live by my faith in Him – that is all about works!

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318. Not the End of the World

Mike Parsons –

Understanding Realised Eschatology

Realised eschatology, for me, is also heading for an understanding of Christian universalism. The same scriptures Jesus referred to concerning hell (Gehenna) are in the same passage as those that speak of the end of the age – not the end of the world, but the conclusion of their Old Covenant age. People faced being cast into Gehenna if they remained in Jerusalem when the Roman armies invaded. They would be crucified, and a few hundred thousand were thrown into the literal Gehenna.

This is the concept of hell, as commonly understood in English. Of course, Christian Universalists would say hell is a different thing, and some deny its existence altogether. Personally, I see it as a place where those who haven’t come to know Jesus in life still have the opportunity to choose him after death – death is not the end of choice. Rather than a realm of punishment and torment, I see it as the fire of God’s loving presence which purifies and refines.

The scriptures that mention Gehenna portray it as a consequence of staying entrenched in the old covenant ways, not some future judgment scenario. It was a warning of a physical manifestation of death. Jesus warned his followers to flee Jerusalem when they saw certain signs: they understood this and ran to the hills, to find safety in Pella. By heeding his words, they were physically saved from the destruction that befell Jerusalem.

Signs

All that being said, I believe God introduces concepts like this to steer the church back to first principles, into a deeper relationship in which we experience Him intimately, face to face. Once we do, we no longer need the signs which pointed us towards this reality.

Experiential connection

In my preaching of the gospel, I aim to introduce people to Jesus in a way that facilitates a tangible, experiential connection with the Father. It is only through this intimate relationship that someone can truly understand and experience God’s unconditional love, find spiritual healing and wholeness, and embrace their identity and inheritance as a child of God. I believe God is gradually weaning us off an over-reliance on healings and miracles, so we can live in mystical experience with Him. This shift is not about abandoning miraculous manifestations altogether but that we use them for the purpose of outworking what God is doing in the earth.

We have the ability to govern and rule, to establish the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. This process begins first within our own lives, then thorough our lives, and ultimately leads to the creation of places on earth which do not operate under the government of earth but under the government of heaven. There will be no sickness there, no disease, no lack, no poverty: nothing contradictory to the fullness of life as children of God.

Cultivating relationship

In the Mystic movement, there is a shift away from seeking outward manifestations like healings towards cultivating a deeper relationship with God in which health and wholeness naturally flow, and the focus is no longer on individuals performing healing. God is our healer.

Early Christians underwent a profound shift in their understanding of God, moving moved away from viewing Him through the lens of an outdated religious and political system. Instead, Jesus revealed God as love incarnate, challenging their preconceptions and inviting them into a relational encounter with the Father. He came to undo their whole understanding of God from an Old Covenant mentality. This shift from a legalistic mindset to one grounded in relationship and experience to which Jesus is the door, empowered them to operate in sonship, seated in heavenly places, and to manifest the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

The God that we know

When we are introducing the reality of who God is, we do not need to do so through miraculous healing, but through introducing the God that we know. They can experience the God that they will then know, and then they can enter into that life themselves. Now I am not saying there are not amazing things. I have done all sorts of transrelocation, time miracles and other things; but in the purposes of outworking my relationship with God, not to prove who God is or to demonstrate to others how good God is. I can help them experience God themselves, so they are not dependent on me testifying by doing anything like that.

Key takeaway

Preaching the gospel is about leading people to encounter the God we know, so that they can embark on their own journey of discovering His love and life-changing power for themselves.

Want to learn more about ‘happy’ or realised eschatology? Get Mike’s book The Eschatology of the Restoration of All Things from your favourite bookseller, or download the ebook from our website at https://eg.freedomarc.org/course/eschatology-ebook

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299. PSA Sounds Nothing Like Jesus! (Penal Substitutionary Atonement [1])

Mike Parsons

Penal substitutionary atonement refers to the doctrine that Christ died on the cross as a substitute for sinners. God imputed the guilt of our sins to Christ, and he, in our place, bore the punishment that we deserve (Theopedia).

Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA) Theory faces a significant challenge when we consider it in the light of Jesus’ life and teachings. There is a stark disparity between PSA and the person of Jesus, who is the incarnation of God and the very image of the Father. PSA appears to align with the Old Testament perception of God from a Hebrew standpoint rather than embracing the New Testament revelation embodied by Jesus.

PSA’s assertion that God cannot be in the presence of sin (due to His holiness) may resonate with evangelical doctrine. But in that case, none of us could be in God’s presence and He would not be able to even look at us. The idea that God turns His back on the world is nonsensical. And if God could not be in the presence of sin, then surely Jesus could not be either? And yet He spent time around prostitutes, tax collectors and sinners!

PSA also says that God cannot forgive sin without some form of punishment, contradicting Jesus’ consistent demonstration of unconditional forgiveness. Even on the cross, when He was undergoing punishment (by men, not by God) Jesus forgave without demanding punishment for anyone: “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.” PSA argues that God’s standard of justice is higher than ours and demands payment. In reality, it is we who demand payment, in the religious systems we have created.

Jesus challenged prevailing Hebrew notions of justice rooted in violence and retribution. He urged a shift from an “eye for an eye” mentality to a radical perspective of love, turning the other cheek and extending kindness to enemies. Genuine forgiveness harbours no resentment against enemies; and God, in His mercy, holds nothing against mankind. Let us allow the discrepancy between PSA and Jesus’ person and teachings to prompt a critical re-evaluation of our theological perspectives, to ensure we are aligning with the profound love and forgiveness exemplified by Jesus, even if this challenges the preconceived notions deeply ingrained in our theological traditions.

To be continued…
This is intended to be an occasional series on PSA theory.
The video above is taken from a longer one already available on YouTube:
Discover the Chariot of Ascension | Unconditional Love (18)

H/T Bryan Finley

Key takeaway

Love and forgiveness: God, in His mercy, holds nothing against us – and never has. Let’s ensure we are aligning with His profound love and forgiveness as exemplified by Jesus, even if this challenges our preconceived religious notions.

Recent posts from Freedom ARC

298. Revealing the Function of the Earth Shield
297. Most people don’t want to know God – and I wouldn’t either!
296. A New Perspective on the Millennium (2)
295. A New Perspective on the Millennium (1)
290. Discovering the Reality of Salvation

Our Patreon patrons give a small amount each month and can join us for our monthly group Zooms, get exclusive or early access to Mike’s teaching and enjoy further patron-only benefits. Or you can use the blue button to support our work with a one-time gift*.
Thank you!Note: This donation is securely handled through PayPal but you do not need to have a PayPal account yourself to make a one-time donation.
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297. Most people don’t want to know God – and I wouldn’t either!

Mike Parsons

God never does anything bad; that is the devil. Unfortunately, Christianity has often conveyed a distorted view of God, so that most people don’t want to know God – and I wouldn’t either, if that was what He is like!

The Old Testament introduced a system of sacrifices and offerings, which God never desired. Some Old Testament prophets even spoke against sacrifices and offerings, challenging the traditional belief that God mandated them. The confusion arises from perceiving God as angry in the Old Testament and happy in the New – and many contemporary prophecies still depict an angry God, which only perpetuates the confusion. The root of this misunderstanding is the pathway of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which presents a false representation of God. When Adam and Eve went their own way, God sought to meet and reconcile with them, not to destroy them.

The problem lies in our reliance on the Bible for understanding God, rather than personal experience. The authors of the New Testament wrote from their experiences with God, not theoretical perspectives. Our focus should be on hearing God’s voice today through personal, intimate relationship, rather than relying on interpreting a book written for a different time and another people. We have the promise of hearing His voice directly, so we can enjoy a current, dynamic, intimate connection with God.

Key takeaway

The authors of the New Testament wrote from their experiences with God, not theoretical perspectives. Our focus should be on hearing God’s voice today through personal, intimate relationship.

Recent posts from Freedom ARC

296. A New Perspective on the Millennium (2)
295. A New Perspective on the Millennium (1)
290. Discovering the Reality of Salvation

296. A New Perspective on the Millennium (2)

Mike Parsons

The concept of a future millennial time period was not embraced by the early church fathers; and of those who authored the Bible, only John explicitly mentions it. The discussion around a literal Millennium gained traction only after the compilation of the biblical canon, when the Book of Revelation became a part of it. The Temple was still standing when the Book of Revelation was likely written around AD 66. Subsequently, as prophesied by Jesus in Matthew 24, it was destroyed by the Roman armies that surrounded Jerusalem.

I personally do not adhere to a belief in a literal Millennial period. The ‘second coming’ events described in the scriptures seem to point to a specific historical context rather than a distant future. We are currently in the period of the restoration of all things, during which the kingdom of God is filling the Earth. This perspective reassures us for the future; and eschatology, the study of the end times, becomes somewhat of an oxymoron. In reality, there is no end to the increase of God’s government and peace.

In my book, The Eschatology of the Restoration of All Things, I go into this topic in detail, tracing the roots of teachings like the rapture and millennial concepts back to dispensationalism, which also produced Zionism. The separation of God’s people into a heavenly and an earthly people, along with associated doctrines, has historically induced fear and foreboding, and is at the root of present strife in the middle east. However, I encourage you to seek God for yourself, maintaining an open heart and engaging in a personal exploration of these matters. While everyone is entitled to their views and opinions, I hold strong convictions based on what God has shown me, which reshaped my understanding of future events.

From a restoration perspective, I now see a clearer picture of God’s plan to restore all things, with us, the sons of God, actively participating in the process. This viewpoint challenges notions like the rapture as a rescue mentality: Jesus is already with us, enabling us to engage in the restoration of all things. The kingdom of God is not confined to the Earth but expanding into the cosmos, presenting an exciting prospect for the future which some are entering into even today.

Key takeaway

Focus on the present, not the future. Jesus is already with us, enabling us to engage in the restoration of all things.

Recent posts from Freedom ARC

295. A New Perspective on the Millennium (1)
294. To celebrate or not to celebrate?
293. Expanding God’s Government of Peace
292. Is God Shocking People into Embracing Love?
291. Can Yoga be ‘Christian’?
290. Discovering the Reality of Salvation

Our Patreon patrons give a small amount each month and can join us for our monthly group Zooms, get exclusive or early access to Mike’s teaching and enjoy further patron-only benefits. Or you can use the blue button to support our work with a one-time gift*.
Thank you!Note: This donation is securely handled through PayPal but you do not need to have a PayPal account yourself to make a one-time donation.
For repeating donations, if you do not have (or want) a PayPal account please support us through Patreon instead.

295. A New Perspective on the Millennium (1)

Mike Parsons

The only mention in the Bible of a thousand-year period, often referred to as the Millennium, is in the book of Revelation. Neither Jesus nor Paul refer to it. Yet a whole theological framework around the Millennium has been constructed over time, depending on particular eschatological viewpoints.

My perspective aligns with the belief that the Book of Revelation, including the mentioned thousand years, is a portrayal of events that were in their future but have already occurred in our past. I see it as part of the period of the restoration of all things, where the kingdom of God fills the earth. This is not a specific time frame but an ongoing process.

The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them. (Isaiah 11:6).

That scripture often quoted from Isaiah 6 needs to be understood in its context. The Old Testament does not speak of a thousand-year Millennial period, and once again this has been viewed through a specific theological lens. Instead, I interpret passages like this as covenantal, signifying the removal of the division between Jews and Gentiles. Paul asserts in Ephesians 2 that the partition between Jew and Gentile has been removed, and now there is one new man in Christ. The destruction of the Temple, which Jesus prophesied, marked the end of the old Covenant, making way for the full establishment of the New Covenant. This isn’t about a literal thousand-year period but a shift in the relationship between God’s people.

The thousand year period refers to the new covenant union found in Christ, where distinctions based on ethnicity, gender, or social status are dissolved. It signifies a new era where believers are all one in Christ. The focus is not on some future thousand-year period but on the transformative events during a significant 40-year period prophesied by Jesus, culminating in the destruction of the Temple, which ushered in this new age.

To be continued…

Key takeaway

The Book of Revelation, including the mentioned thousand years, is a portrayal of events that were in their future but have already occurred in our past.

Recent posts from Freedom ARC

294. To celebrate or not to celebrate?
293. Expanding God’s Government of Peace
292. Is God Shocking People into Embracing Love?
291. Can Yoga be ‘Christian’?
290. Discovering the Reality of Salvation
289. One New Man In Christ
288. Enoch’s Secret to Walking with God
287. Unconditional Love, Grace, and the truth about salvation

292 Is God Shocking People into Embracing Love?

Mike Parsons

We have to be careful to ensure that what may seem like disorder or hardship is not part of God’s plan to bring about a realisation that the world has moved away from the loving values that He espouses. Timing is important when it comes to heavenly legislation, as the apparent issues can help people recognise that their way of life and the systems they depend on may not align with God’s values. This awakening relates to wider political and financial situations, as well as individuals’ lives. It leads to questions about genuine happiness and success.

Occasionally, when systems and personal lives collapse, people are forced to search for better outcomes. During struggles on a local or global level, conscience and God can prompt individuals to look past their current circumstances. Trying to make a nation “great again” (whether America or ‘Great’ Britain) is flawed because true greatness comes from reflecting God’s love, not from human strength or pride. The pandemic revealed the deceptive nature of previous beliefs about life and relationships. Instead of asking for a return to the old ways, we should pray for the ongoing outworking of the awakening. This will help people fully grasp the truth and emerge from the darkness of deception. Sometimes, darkness makes light more visible and effective, leading to a positive transformation.

Obviously we would not want the world to be in chaos and anarchy, but sometimes it is only terrible things that can shock people out of their existing mindsets and beliefs systems to enter into something better.

Key Takeaway

Collapse as Catalyst for Change: In moments of system breakdowns or personal crises, people are compelled to look beyond their immediate circumstances. Sometimes only severe disruptions can jolt people out of existing mindsets.

Recent posts from Freedom ARC

291. Can Yoga be ‘Christian’?
290. Discovering the Reality of Salvation
289. One New Man In Christ
288. Enoch’s Secret to Walking with God
287. Unconditional Love, Grace, and the truth about salvation

289. One New Man in Christ

Mike Parsons

When Jesus came, at that point all were spiritually dead in Adam. He represented not only the Jewish people but all mankind, taking away the sins of the world (Greek kosmos) through His death and resurrection. When He went into the grave, we went with him, as He overcame sin (lost identity) and death. In John 14 Jesus speaks of ‘preparing a place’ which refers to preparation for a marriage relationship (and is not about going to heaven to build mansions for us) so that we can be in Him and He in us.

“On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I in you.” John 14:20).

The cross and the resurrection, coupled with the Holy Spirit’s coming, marked the birth from above for all mankind: the new creation – the one new man in Christ, where there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. The gospel is announcing that Jesus, through His death, overcame sin (our lost identity) and death, bringing life and immortality. The good news is the reconciliation of the entire cosmos to God, where all sins are forgiven and death loses its sting. This reconciliation, described in Colossians, encompasses all things through the blood of the cross.

…that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19).
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Colossians 1:19-20).

Top takeaway:

Cosmic Redemption Through the Cross: Colossians 1:20 reveals the cosmic significance of Christ’s finished work. All things were created through Him and for Him, and reconciliation has been achieved for all creation through the blood of the cross.

Recent posts from Freedom ARC

287. Unconditional Love, Grace, and the truth about salvation
288. Enoch’s Secret to Walking with God

Note: This donation is securely handled through PayPal but you do not need to have a PayPal account yourself to make a one-time donation.
For repeating donations, if you do not have (or want) a PayPal account please support us through Patreon instead.

286. Unconditional Love in Action

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott –

Two Covenants

We live in a new age, in a New Covenant that Jesus made with the Father. We and all mankind are included in it. Jesus warned his disciples of the religious and political spirit that would be like leaven, yet my experience, through the churches and movements in which I have been involved, is that our understanding of the New Covenant has invariably been tainted with Old Covenant concepts.

Unconditional love requires absolutely no sacrifices or offerings but an Old Covenant mindset always requires something: it requires our obedience, our obligation, our duty – which are all dead works and none of them have any value whatsoever before God. The Father does not require them (and actually He never did, which may be a shock to a lot of people. I will come back to that!).

Operating under an Old Covenant works-based performance-orientated mindset towards God will wear us out; we will never be at rest if we think we have to earn His love and favour. There is no guilt, shame or condemnation within unconditional love: they are just religious concepts which will keep us coming back for more religion.

Foundations

The book of Hebrews is almost entirely about the differences between the two covenants. It was written to people who were so accustomed to the Old Covenant ways of thinking that they were in danger of missing out on the benefits of the New. And Hebrews 6:1-2 are very misunderstood verses. I totally misunderstood them for most of my life and taught the concepts they contain as foundations of the New Covenant.

What that passage actually says is this:

Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. (Hebrews 6:1-2).

So the Old Covenant was immature, and the New Covenant will bring us to maturity, but only if we don’t lay another Old Covenant foundation. What is that Old Covenant foundation? Repentance from dead works, faith towards God, instructions about washings (baptisms), laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. All those things are Old Covenant understandings and mindsets which have nothing to do with the New Covenant. And yet most of those things are what we habitually teach: repentance, faith, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection and judgment. Those subjects are part of most churches’ foundation courses (they were certainly the basis of ours).

So when I used to read Hebrews 6:1-2, I just thought the writer was enumerating the elementary principles of Jesus that we needed to lay – but in reality they were exactly the opposite of that. Now I realise that these were the very foundations that the writer advises us not to lay again in the New Covenant! It is so important that we do not mix covenants by embracing Old Covenant understandings. Let’s not lay that Old Covenant foundation in the New Covenant: the only foundation of the new covenant is love.

The completeness of the fulfilled promise

Look at the passage again in the Mirror Bible:

Consequently, as difficult as it may seem, you ought to divorce yourselves from sentimental attachment to the pre-figuring doctrine of the Messiah, which was designed to carry us like a vessel over the ocean of prophetic dispensation into the completeness of the fulfilled promise. A mind shift from attempts to impress God by your behaviour to faith righteousness in Christ is fundamental. There is no life left in the old system: it is dead and gone – you have to move on. All the Jewish teachings about ceremonial washings (baptisms), laying on of hands (in order to identify with the slain animal as a sacrifice) and all teachings pertaining to a sin consciousness, including the final resurrection of the dead in order to face judgment, are no longer relevant. [All of these types and shadows were concluded and fulfilled in Christ, their living substance. His resurrection bears testimony to the judgment that he faced on humanity’s behalf and the freedom from an obstructive consciousness of sin that he now proclaims.] (Hebrews 6:1-2 Mirror).

‘The completeness of the fulfilled promise’ – that is Jesus. He is the fulfilment of every promise and covenant: everything is fulfilled in him. He is the conclusion, the completeness of everything that God said, to bring us into the reality of that today. And yet for most of my life I unknowingly tried to live in that same Old Covenant system by doing the very things that I should have left behind. If only the children of God, right throughout the world, would come into a revelation of this reality: that we would not have a sin consciousness but a righteousness consciousness instead!

The Law of Moses

Every church I have ever been in has always focused on sin. But we know that the more we try not to do something, the harder it is not to do it. That is why the Law was ineffective. It is impossible to keep the Law: Jesus made that very clear. And if you failed in one thing, you failed in it all. From the very beginning of the birth of the church, the religious spirit, operating in the Judaizers, tried to get believers back under the Law of Moses (and is still pursuing the same agenda today). But as I mentioned earlier, the whole Old Covenant system of sacrifices and offerings associated with the Law, which was instituted by Moses, was never God’s idea.

For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17).

“What are your many sacrifices to Me?” says the Lord.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle; and I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats.” (Isaiah 1:11).

For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. (Jeremiah 7:22).

If God accepted their sacrifices and offerings, and if He accepts ours, it is only because He accepts us!

And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant which I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put My laws upon their hearts, and write them on their mind,” He then says, “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will no longer remember.” Now where there is forgiveness of these things, an offering for sin is no longer required. (Hebrews 10:15-18).

The Mirror Bible again:

So when Jesus, the Messiah, arrives as the fulfilment of all the types and shadows, he quotes Psalm 40:6-8, and says, “In sacrifices and offerings God takes no pleasure; but you have ordained my incarnation! None of the prescribed offerings and sacrifices, including burnt offerings and sin offerings were your request…”
Having said what he did in the above quote, that the prescribed offerings and sacrifices were neither his desire nor delight, he condemned the entire sacrificial system upheld by the law. (These only served to sustain a sin-consciousness and was of no redemptive benefit to anyone.)
Also by saying, “I am commissioned to fulfil your will,” he announces the final closure of the first in order to introduce the second. (Grace replaces the law; innocence supersedes sin-consciousness.) (Hebrews 10:5-6, 8-9).

Mankind is declared innocent. You are innocent. Let that sink in.

The verdict of the judge, in light of the victory of Jesus through the cross, is that all mankind is innocent, not guilty, justified and righteous. That is unconditional love in action; and that is God in action. The cross was an amazing love transaction that dealt with the legal consequences of mankind’s lost identity. Jesus conquered sin and death with love. Love released full and total, unconditional forgiveness.

Forgiveness is as unconditional as love; no works are required.

Each of this series of blog posts is adapted from Mike’s latest FREE video series on ‘Unconditional Love’.
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