The Blood
A Written compostion of the Heavenly Calling Network Study Group

Part 2
The Blood
What Levi was to Israel, Israel was to be to the world. This ideal was not attainable under the Old Covenant; Israel could not keep it, and therefore Israel did not become the priestly nation to the Gentiles. The law of the Old Covenant but led Israel to Christ

(Gal.3: 24); it made manifest the need of the New Covenant. It was not possible for them to be a blessing to the nations in their own strength, but only through Christ. This is true of the individual; we cannot be a real blessing to anyone save through the Lord Jesus.

What Israel were unable to be under the Old Covenant, they are to be enabled to be under the New Covenant.

Isaiah, speaking of a future day, foresees this priesthood being exercised.

"And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vine-dressers, but ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord, men shall call you the Ministers of our God; ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves"
(Isa.61:5, 6).

"And they shall bring all your brethren an offering unto the Lord out of all nations . . . to My holy mountain, Jerusalem . . . and I will also take them for Levites, saith the Lord" (Isa.66:20, 21).

Israel has not yet been made a nation of priests for the blessing of the Gentiles. What, then, has been the position of the Gentiles? Have they been left altogether without a hope? Without a guide? Has the failure of Israel been permitted to deprive the Gentiles of blessing?

The position of the Gentile who sought blessing during the time Israel were under the Old Covenant is described in Isaiah lvi.:

"Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it, that keepeth the sabbath from poluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. Neither let the son of the stranger that hath joined himself to the Lord speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from His people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs . . . also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, every one that keepeth the sabbath from poluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer . . . The Lord God, which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, 'Yet will I gather others to him, besides, those that are gathered unto him"(Isa.66:1-8).

Because Israel had not become the channel of blessing to the Gentiles, the provision was made that the individual Gentile might voluntarily take upon himself to observe the conditions of the covenant, and the promise was given that he should be blessed with Israel. Thus the failure of the Jew brought the Gentile into closer relationship with Israel's blessings; he could be blessed with Israel in contrast to being blessed only through Israel.

The period covered by the Gospels was also under the Old Covenant, thus Israel still held the prominent place. The Lord said:

"I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt.15:24).

Any Gentiles who received blessing at that time received it only on the grounds of un claimable--if we can use such a term--grace. The Lord was not sent to them, neither were the disciples:

"Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and, as ye go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand' (Matt.10: 5-7).

This kingdom would not only see David's greater Son as the acknowledged King of Israel--Israel in possession of their promised land, but, also, Israel made what God had intended them to be, a kingdom of priests amongst the nations. The proclamation, being thus restricted, was not because the Gentiles had no place, but rather with the view to the ultimate blessing of the Gentiles;

"Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision, for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written . . ." (Rom.15: 8, 9).

After that the Lord Jesus had confirmed the New Covenant through His blood, the preaching was again sent first of all to Israel; this time it was the message of the New Covenant, with its good news of forgiveness of sins. The period of the Acts was under the New Covenant.

The restitution of all things that the Prophets had spoken of now depended on Israel's national repentance and acceptance of their Messiah (Acts 3:19-21). The Lord Jesus is seen to be the One of whom:

"Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me" (Acts 3: 22).

In many respects, Moses' work was just the opposite to the Lord's, for Moses' life manifested the impotence of the law, but in one particular, at least, his ministry was like unto the Lord's. Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant, as the Lord was the mediator of the New Covenant (see Heb.12:18-26). Moses shed the blood of the Old Covenant, and gave to Israel the Passover, as the memorial. The Lord from heaven did all this in the terms of the New Covenant. It remained now for Israel to accept the New Covenant, as they did the Old by the mouth of Moses; if this was done, the foundation had been laid by which they could have been made the kingdom of priests, as was promised. To Israel first came this message:

"Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities" (Acts3:26).

As it became apparent that Israel were not in the attitude of heart to receive the New Covenant, a similar principle with respect to the Gentiles began to operate, as had been provided under the Old Covenant. Because the Gentiles could not yet be blessed through Israel, they were enabled to be blessed with Israel.

The first Gentile to be blessed was the Ethiopian, to whom Phillip was directed; this man had evidently taken hold of the Old Covenant, as described in Isaiah 66, so that when the New Covenant was proclaimed, he received the great privilege of being among the first to be blessed. Later, the Gentiles were brought more and more into blessing, especially under the ministry of Paul, but from the commencement to the end of Acts, the order was always "to the Jew first." In every city it was only after they had judged themselves unworthy of eternal life that the Apostles turned to the Gentiles.

Romans was the last epistle written during the period of the Acts. In the eleventh chapter, the position of the Gentiles blessed with Israel is illustrated by a wild olive branch grafted into the good olive tree of Israel's covenant blessings, and thereby rendered a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive (verse 17). This unnatural process was designed to provoke Israel to emulation:

"Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? . . . for if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?" (Rom.11:12-15).

The inclusion of the Gentiles with Israel was only until the time when Israel were received. Thus, there was at that present time an election according to grace (verse 5), in which were included many Gentiles. These constituted the "Israel of God" (Gal. 6:. 16), the firstfruits of "My people" (Jer. 31:3. 1). They were counted as the "children of promise" (Gal.3: 29; 4:28). Israel in the flesh received the promise of the covenants (Rom. 9: 3, 4). The Gentiles in the flesh were strangers from the covenants of promise (Eph.2:12), but the ministration of the New Covenant was spirit (2 Cor. 3: 8), thereby enabling the disability of the Gentile flesh to be lost sight of. But, as always, those born after the flesh persecute those born after the Spirit, so it proved in those days (Gal. 4:29). The Jews and Gentiles who had received the New Covenant suffered at the hands of the earthly Israel.

We find then, that when the New Covenant is made with Israel, they will be a kingdom of priests to the nations, but pending that time, the Gentiles have been blessed with them. This is the relation of Gentiles to Jews, the present dispensation of the mystery being excepted. In the Church which is His Body, there is no distinction, of the twain there is being made one new man (Eph. 2).

This is what I am getting at. The New Covenant by its very name directs your attention to that covenant that has been rendered old, so also does the occasion of the institution of the memorial ordinance of the New Covenant direct us to the Passover.

The purpose of the Passover is given in Ex. 13. It was instituted on the day when the Lord made the Old Covenant with Israel (Heb. 8: 9), not the day when Israel agreed to keep the terms of the covenant (Ex. 19).

The Passover was given in order that they might:

"Remember this day in which ye came out of Egypt" (Ex 8:3).

What the Passover was to the Old Covenant, the Lord's Supper is to the New. It was instituted on the same night as the Lord became the anti type of the Passover, when He made provision for the New Covenant:

"This cup is the New Covenant in my blood, this do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me" (1 Cor. 11:25).

Both the Passover and the Lord's Supper were continued as a remembrance, with the object of being a testimony to those who should witness them:

"And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt, and it shall be a sign unto thee . . . thou shalt, therefore, keep this ordinance in his season from year to year" (Ex. 8: 8-10).

"For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till He come" (1 Cor.11:26).

"Shew" in the latter reference is kataggello, to "preach" or "proclaim," as in Acts 4:2. This was not therefore intended in the first place as a private devotion, but rather as a testimony. The subject to be shown was that aspect of the Lord's death that related to the New Covenant:

"For this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matt. 26:28).

We have observed that although this blood of the covenant has been shed, and sins have been borne away, yet the New Covenant remains to be made with Israel:

"And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is My Covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins) (Rom. 11: 26, 27).

The day when the New Covenant is made is the day when the Lord shall come again to Zion to turn Israel's heart to Himself. The hope that was to be before those that remembered the Lord's death in this way was "until He come" (1 Cor. 11:26). What this coming is, is defined in the same epistle (1 Cor. 15) as the "parousia," various aspects of which are the hope of Israel's heavenly and earthly callings.

"Until He come" (1 Cor. 6:16) is in the Text Rec: "achris hou an elthe," literally "until He may come," the sentence being rendered hypothetical by the presence of "an," "a partical expressing possibility, uncertainty or conditionality" (Green). Some of the later revisers have omitted the "an," but this is not the only instance where this particle is connected with the Lord's coming or events related thereto:

"Till the Son of man may come" (Matt. 10: 23).

"Until they may have seen the Son of Man coming" (Matt. 16:28).

"Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away until all these things may be fulfilled" (Matt. 24: 34).

In the case of the last reference we know that generation did pass, and the things foreseen in Matthew 24 did not receive their complete fulfillment. What was implied was that they might have been fulfilled.

"Till He may come." What proviso was there made with the promise of His coming?

""Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, Whom the heaven must receive until the times of the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:19-21).

The only condition was Israel's repentance. The period of the Acts was a time of expectancy and yet of uncertainty, there was the possibility of Israel's national repentance and of the immediate return of the Lord Jesus. Not only might the things of Matthew 14 be fulfilled in their day, but also "all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began."

This atmosphere of uncertainty entered into their very lives at that time:

"Judge nothing before the time until the Lord may (an) come" (1 Cor. 4: 5).

"But this I say, brethren, the time is short, it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none" (1 Cor. 7:29).

"Your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. 5:23).

The preaching to the Jew first was necessary that the opportunity might be afforded them of fulfilling the condition of the Lord's coming, but every fresh step Israel took along the road of rejection led away from the hope of the Lord's return. As the years of the Acts passed the probability of the immediate parousia of the Lord became increasingly remote.

You have seen that Acts 28:25-28 was the direct negation of the conditions necessary for the New Covenant to be realized (Heb. 8:10); it was also the negation of the conditions necessary for the Lord's return in those days. The New Covenant, therefore, ceased to be possible for the time being, and the ordinance of the New Covenant ceased to testify of an imminent hope. As a fact the Lord Jesus has not yet come, and Israel instead of having entered into the blessings of the New Covenant are scattered throughout the world.

The New Covenant ordinance of the Lord's Supper was given to remind believers of the blood of the New Covenant by which they were redeemed, to show forth that death, and to keep before them the hope of the Lord's return in a dispensation when it could be said He might come. Acts 28:28 seems to be the boundary line after which the hope of the New Covenant expressed in Jer. 31:31-33; Heb. 8:8-13 and Acts 3:19-21 must be postponed until the change of 2 Cor. 3:16.

Matthew 26:26-29 (( And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. )))and Mark 14:22-25 (( And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.)) both record the Lord Jesus taking the bread and the cup of the Passover supper and explaining their significance in relation to the New Covenant, yet in neither is it mentioned that He instituted an ordinance.

These two Gospels are especially suited for that proclamation connected with the earthly geometry of New Covenant blessings, and for the still future proclamation of that gospel (Matt. 24: 14; Mark 13:10). Luke is the only Gospel to record the fact that an ordinance was then instituted (22:15-20). (( And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. ))

Luke laid the basis of Paul's ministry which, during the time of the Acts, embraced the heavenly geometry of New Covenant blessings. Paul is the only other writer who received instructions concerning this observance, and these instructions were given to those who were a sort of firstfruits of the ministry of the New Covenant, and whose blessings were in the heavenly geometry of the New Covenant. So it would suggest that the Lord's Supper was given to these blessed with heavenly things, while the Passover was still perpetuated by Israel after the flesh, until the day when their hearts will be turned to the Lord to receive the earthly blessings of the New Covenant.

The authority to open the testimony of the kingdom after the Lord's resurrection was given to Peter. The twelve were the first to whom the Lord gave the instructions concerning the New Covenant memorial "This do in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19). It might have then been asserted that these should be looked to for guidance as to the manner of the Lord's Supper rather than to Paul. But what does Paul claim?

"For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread . . ." (1 Cor. 11:23).

Paul, being at that time a minister of the New Covenant especially commissioned to go to the uncircumcision, was the one chosen to write of the Lord's Supper, for there the Jew and Gentile met in a common communion and with the prospect of a mutual participation in the hope of Israel. The continual insistence on the fact that Paul's authority came from the ascended Lord was occasioned by the resentment of the Jews to his ministry as recorded in the Acts.

Paul's references to the Lord's Supper are confined to 1 Corinthians where it is dealt with twice. The context of both passages has to do with eating. First, the eating of things offered to idols (1 Cor. 10:19-21), and secondly, the propriety desirable when they gathered to eat (1 Cor. 11:22, 33-34). The question of approval is the dominant theme of both (1 Cor. 10:5; 11:19).

The first reference is introduced by the example of the many in Israel of old who, while they were partakers with the rest, yet failed to be well pleasing to God:

"Moreover brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ: but with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples . . . neither be ye idolators as were some of them . . . they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the age are come" (1 Cor.10:1-11).

The analogy is then drawn in respect to these believers who were made partakers of the Lord's Table:

"Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men, judge ye what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? . . . for we are all partakers of that one bread . . . the things that the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils . . . ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of devils" (1 Cor. 10. 14-21).

A compromise between the Lord's Table and anything else was not approved. The Gentiles who had been brought out of idolatry and made partakers of the Lord's Table had to leave all their old associations. The Jews, with the failure of their fathers brought to their notice, were warned of the things not well pleasing.

The second reference is introduced by a sad picture:

"When ye come together, therefore, into one place, ye cannot eat the Lord's supper, for, in eating, every one taketh before another his own supper, and one is hungry and another is drunken" (1 Cor. 11: 20, 21).

To prevent this they were told, contrary to modern ritualistic practice, to eat at home before they came together:

"When ye come together to eat, tarry one for another, and if any man hunger, let him eat at home" (1 Cor. 11:33, 34).

The ministry of the New Covenant during Acts was accompanied by confirmatory signs and miracles; the Corinthian church, although charged with being carnal, were richly endued with these powers. These supernatural happenings were not only used in grace but also in condemnation. With the eating of the Lord's Supper was associated the evidence of the Lord's approval or disapproval:

"Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord . . . he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep" (1 Cor. 11: 27-30).

Sleep here is koimaomai, to sleep unintentionally, a word frequently used of the death of the saints, you can see the first occurrence in Matt. 27:52; also Acts 7: 60; 1 Cor. 15:6, 18, 20, 51; 1 Thess. 4:13, 14, 15. In eating of the Lord's Table unworthily many of the believers had fallen ill, while others had actually died.

The Lord's Supper must not be disassociated with the New Covenant or with a dispensation when the hope of the New Covenant was still probable. When this was the testimony evidential signs were given both to confirm the truth and to judge among the saints. If this testimony is to be given today and this ordinance is to be kept, then we should expect these signs to still obtain.

The New Covenant ministry of the Apostle Paul, with its accompanying miracles, continued until Acts xxviii; there he is seen bound for the hope of Israel (verse 20), still exercising miraculous power (verses 3-9), still testifying to the Jew first (verse 17), and still basing the testimony concerning the Lord Jesus upon the law of Moses and the Prophets (verse 23). The Jews at Rome were no exception, for with the rest of their nation they rejected the testimony. They hardened their hearts lest they should be converted and the Lord should heal them. When this occurred in other cities Paul had turned to the Gentiles in order to provoke his own people to repentance, but on this last occasion he did not simply turn to the Gentiles, but his ministry henceforth was to the Gentiles first and foremost (Eph. 3:1).

The duration of Israel's blindness had been foreseen:
"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:24)

This is the condition we find Israel and Jerusalem in to this day. The end of the times of the Gentiles is also the time when the Lord shall come and the New Covenant shall be made:

"Blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved . . . there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer . . . for this is My Covenant unto them" (Rom. 11:25-27).

Thus from the pronouncement of Acts 28 until some future time the New Covenant could not be made with Israel, and consequently the probability of "He may come" no longer remained as an immediate hope. What then is the place of the New Covenant and its accompaniments during this present period? To discover this it is necessary to examine the scriptures written after Acts28:28, and written for the present dispensation (Eph., Phil., Col.).

In the prison epistles of Paul the New Covenant is not mentioned. "Covenants" occur but once, and that in a negative sense:

"Wherefore remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh ,. . . that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise" (Eph. 2: 11, 12).

This occurs in a context where the past dispensational distance of the Gentiles is set in contrast with their present nearness in the "one new man." No mention is made of Gentiles being blessed with Jewish blessings, but rather that from Jew and Gentile alike there is being taken out a company that is to be blessed in the heavenly places (verse 6).

No mention is made of the hope of the parousia in these epistles, or of such related things as Sinai, the Heavenly Jerusalem, Mount Zion, or of things promised in the Old Testament. In their place another calling is spoken of, "All spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. i. 3), and other things are revealed not promised before in the Scriptures:

"Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ among you, the hope of glory" (Col 1:27, 28).

With the change of Acts 28: 28 and the revelation of a new place of blessing and of a new hope (Eph. 1: 18; Col. 3: 4) Paul also received a change of ministry. Instead of claiming to be a minister of the New Covenant as in 2 Cor. 3:6, he now states:

"I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you . . . even the mystery) (Col. 1:25,26).

Exercising this ministry Paul was given instructions as to how the believers should now walk in accordance with the revelation of the Mystery. Much that was required under the earlier ministry is restated, but those things that were peculiarly related to the New Covenant and its hope are not repeated. No mention is made of the Lord's Table, or of signs, tongues or healings.

The Gospel of John is considered to be the latest writing of the New Testament. Chapters 8. To 17 Were spoken at the Last Supper, but no mention of the New Covenant is made or of any memorial ordinance. This Gospel is specially fitted for the testimony of salvation at this present time, and had it been required that this ordinance should have been observed by the believers to whom it ministers, it is reasonable to expect that it would have been stated.

To those believers who were blessed under the New Covenant the observance of the Lord's Supper was a means whereby they could testify to their faith in the fact that the blood of the New Covenant had already been shed for them, and that they were keeping it with the earnest hope that the Lord might come to bring all these blessings of the New Covenant to pass. Today, the believer who by grace has been led to see the truth of the Mystery, the very non-observance of the Lord's supper is a witness to the fact that he has a calling that is unconnected with the New Covenant, and that the hope of his calling is distinct from the parousia. The question of the observance of the Lord's Table is not one that necessarily applies to every believer; that would savour too much of the spirit of "What shall this man do." It is but part of a larger subject. If the believer is enlightened into the truth of the Mystery that God desires His own to acknowledge today, and sees it to be distinct from the New Covenant, then the course that is consistent with such an acknowledgement is one that testifies of the Mystery without participating in anything that would hinder others from being enlightened into the same truth.

While the Mystery is distinct from the New Covenant, yet there are principles that are parallel. The life which the Lord Jesus laid down for the New Covenant was also laid down for the sin of the whole world. Salvation is found only in Him:

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven, if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever, and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6:51).

The Lord Jesus is a mediator for us:

"For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5).

Not the Mediator of the New Covenant, nor the bread of the New Covenant ordinance, yet all that they could typify and much more. The goal of the New Covenant will not be reached until Israel's heart is changed (Heb. 8:10).

The goal of the prayers of the Mystery is:

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend. . ." (Eph. 3:17, 18).

Whatever the calling may be, it ever leads to Christ. The calling of the Mystery is more glorious, because it will be realized in the place where Christ is now exalted. The hope of the New Covenant awaits the time when He leaves that place, and returns to take away ungodliness from Jacob:

"And so, all Israel shall be saved . . . for this is My Covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins" (Rom. 11: 26, 27).

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