After all of this breaking of the covenant between the people and God, God foretold of another covenant.

We read of it in Jeremiah 31:31-34: “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. 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 shall all 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.”

Continue reading "How Do You Understand the Covenants of the Bible? (Part 6)"

God does not forget His covenant with the children of Israel, but in order to receive the blessings of the covenant, the people had to return to the LORD. God gives a strong warning to those who break the laws and the covenant in Deuteronomy 17:2-5: “If there is found among you, within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing His covenant, who has gone and served other gods and worshipped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, and it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination has been committed in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones.”

Continue reading "How Do You Understand the Covenants of the Bible? (Part 5)"

In Exodus 31:12-17, God made another covenant with the people.  This is a separate covenant from the one between God and the children of Israel and it is a sign that God is their LORD: “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: “Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the God who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.”’” It is a perpetual covenant throughout all their generations forever. Again, as noted previously, perpetual and forever are translated from the same Hebrew word. This covenant would never be replaced. It was based on the law of the weekly and annual Sabbaths. As we explain in our free booklet, “And Lawlessness Will Abound”:

Continue reading "How Do You Understand the Covenants of the Bible? (Part 4)"

Genesis 27 relates the events where Jacob, by deception, and at the urging of his mother, stole the blessings from Esau. While Jacob was afraid of his deception being discovered, he went along with the scheme of his mother.

During this episode, Isaac asks three times who Jacob is because of his uncertainty, but finally blesses him, assuming he is Esau. Genesis 27:27-29 states: “And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said: ‘Surely the smell of my son is like the smell of a field Which the LORD has blessed. Therefore may God give you Of the dew of heaven, Of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, And blessed be those who bless you.’” Notice that Isaac was calling on God to bless Jacob and that he would be a leading nation. This is all a part of the covenants and their blessings passed down through Isaac from Abraham.

Continue reading "How Do You Understand the Covenants of the Bible? (Part 3)"

In much of the Scriptures, there is mention of covenants.

For a start, what is the meaning of the Hebrew word for covenant? Every instance in the Old testament is translated from the Hebrew word בְּרִית bĕriyth. A few times the Hebrew word is translated as confederate or league, but in most of those places, covenant could have been used instead. The word bĕriyth is from a root with the sense of “cutting”, because pacts or covenants were made by passing between cut pieces of flesh of an animal sacrifice. So actually, the expression “make a covenant” literally means “cut a covenant.” This becomes very obvious in the covenant of circumcision. Genesis 15:9-11, 17-18 shows the passing between cut pieces of flesh. Genesis 15:9-11 reads: “So He said to him, ‘Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’ Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.”  Genesis 15:17-18 continues: “And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between the pieces. On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates…’”

Continue reading "How Do You Understand the Covenants of the Bible? (Part 2)"

Much confusion exists about the biblical covenants. In fact, there are many covenants mentioned in God’s Word. We discuss those in our free booklet, “And Lawlessness Will Abound.”  

In there, we state, first of all, what a covenant is:

“The word ‘covenant,’ as used in the Old Testament, is a translation from the Hebrew word ‘berith.’ The meaning of this term is ‘covenant, agreement or contract.’… Webster defines a ‘covenant’ as a ‘usually formal, binding agreement between two or more persons, to do or not to do something; a document containing the terms of the agreement.’” The word “berith” is also defined, by Strong’s, as a “compact.”

When the New Testament speaks of covenants, it uses the Greek word “diatheke,” which conveys the same meaning as the Hebrew word “berith.” Strong’s defines it as a contract or as a devisory will or testament. The dual meaning of the word for both a covenant and a testament is important, as explained below. We also show in our above-mentioned booklet that the new covenant is a marriage agreement between Christ and His Church. Christ will marry His Church at His return—the marriage will be consummated between Spirit beings. But it is not only a marriage agreement. We added this:

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The literal act of littering is not directly and expressly addressed in the Bible, but neither are such areas as smoking, vaccinations and other matters. But there are many principles that show that we can learn from God’s Word even if a specific area cannot be found in Scripture.

 We will find out in this Q&A that littering is something that we must take seriously. There may be those who see this question and think that it is so obvious that it need not be addressed in the Church of God. But it does because we can all fall short in this area even though it may be considered a little thing.  After all, Christ said: “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much” (Luke 16:10).  As a spin-off to littering, we will also address neatness and tidiness.

Continue reading "Is the Act of Littering Addressed in the Bible? If not, does it make any difference whether or not we engage in littering?"

Since the beginning of the Bible, God has made it clear that we are to observe the Sabbath, for He re-created the surface of the earth in 6 days, after a catastrophe caused the earth to become void and empty, and He then rested on the seventh day – the Sabbath, which He created for mankind (Genesis 1:2-2:3; Mark 2:27-28).  The Bible reveals in Genesis 1:5 that the days start and end at sunset, in the evening: “God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening (sunset) and the morning were the first day.”

Many Scriptures associate the meaning of the word “evening” with “sunset” as for example in Leviticus 22:6-7: “The person who has touched any such thing shall be unclean until evening… And when the sun goes down he shall be clean.” We are also told in Leviticus 23:32 to keep God’s Sabbath “from evening to evening.”

Continue reading "How Do We Keep the Sabbath in Far Northern and Southern Regions Where the Sun Doesn’t Set Certain Times of the Year?"

Following our two-part series, entitled: “Was Jesus Really Born in Jerusalem?”, we will in this Q&A answer the question as to whether Mary was a virgin.   We had touched upon this question in our last Q&A, under “(1) Mary was a virgin,’ but we will address this issue here in more detail.

For example, one writer penned the following:

“The virginity of Mary, as Matthew claims, depends on an incorrect reading of a prophetic text (Isaiah 7:14). The original Hebrew reads ‘a young woman shall conceive’, but Matthew has chosen an inexact Greek translation which renders it ‘a virgin shall conceive’. At this point, Matthew agrees with Luke; yet he is the only one amongst all the other biblical writers who knows anything of Mary’s alleged virginity.”

Continue reading "Was Mary a Virgin Until After the Birth of Jesus?"

In the first part of this series, we looked at the proposition that some theologians believe that the four accounts about Christ’s birth contradict each other. We showed that the Bible does not contain errors, and that the gospel accounts complement, rather than contradict each other.

While different scholars may have their own, and varied views, on the matter about Jesus’ birth, the Church of God, historically, has explained that the Bible interprets the Bible in all matters!

And so, let us look at the two different writings in Matthew and Luke and see where they have the same information and are in complete agreement.

1. Mary was a virgin

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin, as we read in Matthew 1:18, 23 and 25:

 ^“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit… Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name “Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”’… [Joseph] did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.”

Continue reading "Was Jesus Really Born in Bethlehem? (Part 2)"