ch 2. (cont.) 1. The Role of the Spirit in the New Covenant.

It was instituted by the Death of Christ.

1Co 11:25  In the same way He took the cup also, after supping, saying, "This cup is the New Covenant in My blood; as often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me."

Now it is realized by the Spirit in the terms of the following:
Eze 36:26  And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27  And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them.
Eze 37:14  And I shall put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. And you shall know that I Jehovah have spoken and have done it, says Jehovah.

Now compare these Scriptures 
Jer 31:31  Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah,
Jer 31:32  not according to the covenant that I cut with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of Mine they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Jehovah;
Jer 31:33  but this shall be the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel: After those days, says Jehovah, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
 K&Ds Commentary on the Whole Bible in Esword
Jer_31:33-37
The character of the new covenant: "I (Jahveh) give (will put) my law within them, and write it upon their heart." בְּקִרְבָּם is the opposite of נָתַן לִפְנֵיהֶם, which is constantly used of the Sinaitic law, cf. Jer_9:12; Deu_4:8; Deu_11:32; 1Ki_9:6; and the "writing on the heart" is opposed to writing on the tables of stone, Exo_31:18, cf. Jer_32:15., Jer_34:8, Deu_4:13; Deu_9:11; Deu_10:4, etc. The difference, therefore, between the old and the new covenants consists in this, that in the old the law was laid before the people that they might accept it and follow it, receiving it into their hearts, as the copy of what God not merely required of men, but offered and vouchsafed to them for their happiness; while in the new it is put within, implanted into the heart and soul by the Spirit of God, and becomes the animating life-principle, 2Co_3:3. The law of the Lord thus forms, in the old as well as in the new covenant, the kernel and essence of the relation instituted between the Lord and His people; and the difference between the two consists merely in this, that the will of God as expressed in the law under the old covenant was presented externally to the people, while under the new covenant it is to become an internal principle of life. Now, even in the old covenant, we not only find that Israel is urged to receive the law of the Lord his God into his heart, - to make the law presented to him from without the property of his heart, as it were, - but even Moses, we also find, promises that God will circumcise the heart of the people, that they may love God the Lord with all their heart and all their soul (Deu_30:6). But this circumcision of heart and this love of God with the whole soul, which are repeatedly required in the law (Deu_6:5; Deu_10:12, Deu_10:16), are impossibilities, unless the law be received into the heart.

Compare these Scriptures: 2 Cor 3:1-6; Romans 7:5-6; 2:29; Romans :3-4

Ch 2 (cont.) The Promise of the Renewed Presence of God.

Central to the prophetic Hope in the O.T. was the promised Return of God's Presence.

Eze 37:27  And My tabernacle shall be with them. Yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Mal 3:1  Behold, I will send My messenger, and He will clear the way before Me. And Jehovah, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Angel of the Covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He comes, says Jehovah of Hosts. 

The Hope of the restored Temple. Isaiah 40--48; Isaiah  2:2  And it shall be, in the last days the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it.
Isa 2:3  And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go out the Law, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. 

Zecariah 14:16  And it shall be, everyone who is left of all the nations which came up against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, Jehovah of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
Zec 14:17  And it shall be, whoever will not come up from all the families of the earth to Jerusalem to worship the King, Jehovah of Hosts, even on them shall be no rain.
Zec 14:18  And if the family of Egypt does not go up, nor come in, they shall have no rain, but the plague with which Jehovah shall strike the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
Zec 14:19  This shall be Egypt's offense, and the offense of all the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

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Ch.2. [cont.] The Presence of God in the Old Testament

In Genesis chapters 2 and 3,we see the  Presence of the Creator in the garden of Eden with those he had created in His own Image. The Hebrews saw themselves as the people of the Presence of God because the Eternal God had chosen to live among them when He dwelt on earth.

The Presence of God in the Tabernacle and the Temple. 

 
The Burning Bush in Ex 3 has the Living God communicating with Moses in the backside of the desert near Mt. Sinai. Then he is instructed to deliver Israel from the Bondage of slavery in Egypt and bring them there  to Worship God.
After delivering Israel and crossing the Red Sea, Moses received the Laws and regulations of the Covenant with God on that Mountain.The Ten Commandments. Ex 20-24    He received the plans  for the Tabernacle as God revealed it to him. Ex. 25-31
The Presence of God descended in glory on the tabernacle in the form of a pillar of Cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

The Disastrous Episode of Ex 32, the making of the Golden Calf causes God to refuse to go with them but to send an angel instead. This Moses refuses in Ex 33:15--16.
Finally God leads them towards the Land flowing with milk and honey - Canaan. There He will chose a place as a dwelling for His Name. Deut  12:11

1 Kings 1:11 the Glory of the Lord descends and fills the TEMPLE of Solomon. This was the Focal Point of Israel in the Promised Land. Gods Presence was Israel's Distinguishing mark. It was on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Psa 68:15  The mountain of Bashan is God's mountain; the Bashan range is a mountain of peaks.
Psa 68:16  Why do you gaze in envy, O mountain range, at the mountain God has chosen for His resting place? Yes, Jehovah will dwell in it forever.
Psa 68:17  The chariots of God are myriads, thousands of thousands; the Lord is among them, in Sinai, in the holy place.
Psa 68:18  You have gone up on high; You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts for men, yes, for the rebellious also, that You might dwell among them, O Jehovah God.

ch 2 God Revisits His People - The Spirit as the Renewed Presence of God

Questions to answer before reading the Blog.

1. How did Jesus fulfill His promise to come and dwell again among His People again?...……………………………………………………………….

2. What do bereaved husbands or wives miss most about their departed loved one?...……

…………………………………..

3. Because God is a Relational Being and we are made in His Image; what does He want with us?  …………………………………………………………..

4. What did Jesus promise before He went back to heaven?...…………………………..

5. Where and when did this happen and how?...………………………………………………………………

6.  What does it mean that the Prophetic Word would be renewed? Read Joel 2:28-30; 1 Thess 5: 19-20; 1 Cor 11:4-5; 1 Tim 4:14

Ch2. God Revisits His People  --  The Spirit as the renewed Presence of God.

1. The Outpouring of the Spirit meant for Paul that God had fulfilled His promise to DWELL once again in and among His people.

2. Nothing take the place of "the presence "of a loved one who has departed. Ask Heather Fiecher whose husband has ust passed away.

3. God has made us in this way - in His personal image as relational beings.

4. The coming of  Holy Spirit to the Ephesian Christians Ephesians1:13 whom also you, hearing the Word of Truth, the gospel of our salvation, in whom also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  who is the earnest of our inheritance, to the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. 

Acts19: 1-7. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" 

Compare Galations 3:14so that the blessing of Abraham might be to the nations in Jesus Christ, and that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

So this is what Paul understood as the Outpouringg of the Spirit at Pentecost and the Book of Acts.

Compare Joel 2:28 And it shall be afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams; your young men shall see visions.
Joe 2:29  And also I will pour out My Spirit on the slaves and on the slave women in those days.
Joe 2:30  And I will show wonders in the heavens, and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 

1Th 5:19  Do not quench the Spirit.
1Th 5:20  Do not despise prophesying.
1Co 11:4  Every man praying or prophesying his head covered dishonors his Head.
1Co 11:5  But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonors her head; for that is even the same as if she were shaved.
1. Cor 12 :1- ……… 1Co 14:39  So then, brothers, seek to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in languages.
1Co 14:40  Let all things be done decently and in order.

Thoughts from "Paul, the Spirit and the People of God." by Gordon D. Fee.

Hendrickson Publishers.1996

Questions to answer before reading the blog on Chapter 1.

1. In the Old Testament where did God's Glory visit our forefathers Adam and Eve? ……………………………….

2. What single unique nation on earth did God live among them?...……………………………

3. Where did He dwell on earth and reveal His Glory?...……………………………………….

4. What does [echabod] mean in 1 Samuel 4...…………………………………………………

5. How is the Presence of God manifested in the world today...……………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

ch.1.  Theme : The Presence of God.

Reading Exodus 33:15-16 "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth." NIV.

N.B. 1. The LORD had said, "My presence will not go with you; and I will send an angel; because Israel had greatly sinned with making the calf idol. Now Moses was pleading with Go.d to change His mind.

2. The Israelite nation was identified as the only people on the whole earth where the Presence of God dwelt among them in the tabernacle in the Wilderness and then in Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.

3. The Most horrific thing to happen was when the Glory of the Presence of God departed from them in 1 Samuel 4. [Echobod] - the Glory has departed.The Ark of the Covenant had been captured by the Philistines; Eli,the High Priest, was dead and his two sons slain. Ezekiel also  saw the Departure of the Glory of the Lord from the temple in Jerusalem because of their idolatry and wickedness. See Ezekiel 10.
4.Today,  the Presence of God in the earth is manifest in the church and the life of the Individual Believer through the INFILLING and INDWELLING of the Holy Spirit.

1Co 6:19  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit in you, whom you have of God? And you are not your own,
1Co 6:20  for you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

2Co 6:16  And what agreement does a temple of God have with idols? For you are the temple of the living God, as God has said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

It is through the Temple Imagery that Paul shows that the Spirit of God in the church and in the Individual is the RENEWED PRESENCE OF GOD among His People.1Co 6:19  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit in you...
The Holy Spirit, for Paul, is not merely an impersonal force or influence or power. He is the fulfillment of the promise of God, Himself, that He would once again be present with His people.

Application: We should be looking more for the EVIDENCE of the Spirit of God in the believer and in every corporate gathering of believers. "Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them."