This lesson emphasizes the paramount importance of keeping God’s covenants and the grave consequences for those who break them. It covers the five essential components of every covenant between God and His chosen people. The Old Covenant given through Moses was broken by the Israelites’ disobedience, prompting God to establish the New Covenant through Jesus Christ, which allows all believers to become spiritual children of Abraham. At the Second Coming, those who deeply understood and engraved this New Covenant’s revelation will be blessed and gathered, while those who did not will be cast out, mirroring the fates depicted in Revelation 6 and 7. We must shed our old mindsets to fully embrace this new understanding, keeping the covenant to dwell eternally with God.

 

Study Guide SCJ Bible Study

 

Results of Those Who Keep the Covenant and Those Who Do Not Keep It

Dt 28 (Jer 31, Heb 8, Rev 7)

 

I pray that everyone is having a good time, and we know that whenever we come before the Word, we have an opportunity to truly be cleansed by the Word, as the Word is like water. What passage states that water represents the Word?

Deuteronomy 32:2 says, “Let my teachings fall like rain.” And Jesus said in John 15:3, “You are already clean because of the words that I have spoken to you.” So every time we come before the Word, we’re being cleansed by that Word, not cleansed by a speaker. It’s not me doing it, but it is the Word of God.

And I’m blessed to be in a position where I can share that Word because guess who else also needs to be cleansed by the words coming out of his mouth? This guy, right? So the Word is for both of us.

Let us all be cleansed by the Word.

We’re really going to focus on the results for those who keep the covenant and those who do not keep it. We’ll understand through the Bible why God considers covenants so important and how we can apply that understanding to the covenant that we are being asked to keep in our time.

Our main reference chapters for today are Deuteronomy 28, which is the blessing and curses chapter for the covenant – the big one. And then there’s also Jeremiah 31, which we know is our origin, and Hebrews 8 and Revelation 7. The main important verse for today is Deuteronomy 28.

So, the intermediate results for those who keep the covenant and those who do not keep it.

Our hope is to be those who keep our covenant and receive the promised blessings. Does God keep His Word? Always. God has never broken His words, and if He promises blessings and someone meets the conditions to receive those blessings, they will receive those blessings. But blessings have their opposite too.

And God is also one who keeps His promises even about the things that aren’t so pleasant too. We really, really have to take this seriously and understand this deeply to protect ourselves too. It’s very important.

1. Main Content

What does the word “testament” mean? It means covenant.

How do we know this? It’s mentioned in Luke 22:20, depending on which version of the Bible you read. If you read the King James Version, it says “testament,” and if you read a more modern version like NIV, it says “covenant.” So they actually mean the same thing.

The Bible is split into two main parts: the Old Covenant, also known as the Old Testament, and the New Covenant, also known as the New Testament.

The old or original covenant was given to the physical Israelites, and the New Covenant was given to believers of Jesus.

Every covenant has five main parts:

 

1. The subjects, which are God and His chosen people.

2. The content, which often falls into two categories: law and prophecy.

2.1 Law refers to the aspects that need to be kept every day, such as treating others how you want to be treated, not coveting your neighbor’s wife, not stealing, and so on – things that are given to the people not to do.

2.2 Prophecy refers to the aspects that involve following specific instructions when certain events are fulfilled. For example, “When this takes place, do this. When that takes place, do that. And do not break my covenant. Especially keep it when these things are fulfilled.” This is the prophecy part, like in Deuteronomy 18, where it says, “I will send from among you a prophet, and you should listen to the words that I give him, or I’ll hold you to account.”

3. The time the covenant is made, such as the time of Moses and the Exodus for the Old Covenant, and the time of the first coming of Jesus for the New Covenant.

4. The time for which the covenant needs to be kept, either every day or at the proper time when specific things are fulfilled.

5. The consequences, which are either blessings for keeping the covenant or curses for not keeping it.

 

So, every covenant follows these five main categories: subjects, content (law and prophecy), time of establishment, time of adherence, and consequences (blessings or curses).

2. Core of Deuterinomy 28

We’re going to dive into a book, or rather a chapter, Deuteronomy 28. We’re really going to dissect that chapter, which is 68 verses long. Although we won’t read all 68 verses, we’ll understand the main points of the chapter and why it’s so important to comprehend how God considers and treats his covenants in the Bible. He considers them extremely important.

 

 

What is being said here that’s so important?

Let’s look at this chapter in more detail. How did the chapter start? What did it talk about?

The first word was “If.” How important is “if”?

“If” sets up a conditional statement, which means that there are two possibilities for this covenant.

Keep or not keep. So what about a person who keeps?

“Follow my commands I give you today. The Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All of these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God.”

“You will be blessed in the city.” And continuing until verse 6, “The fruit of your womb will be blessed, the crops of your field and land, and the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks, your basket and your needing straw will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.”

God really desires to bless his people, but first, they must obey that covenant. And there’s something wonderful about those who keep the covenant because God promises that something else will happen for them.

 

 

This verse suggests that if you obey, you will have victory. Your enemies will be defeated, and they will flee in seven ways. 

It is crucial to keep this in mind, especially for the time of the second coming.

Those who obey will have victory, and their enemies will flee from them in seven ways. Wonderful.

Now, upon skimming through this chapter, we observe that verses related to blessings continue until verse 14. However, the chapter consists of 68 verses in total.

This implies that from verse 15 to verse 68, the text outlines curses. This is a significant portion dedicated to curses for breaking the covenant.

The message is clear: God does not play games when it comes to His covenant. From verses 15 to 68, the chapter focuses on curses for violating the covenant.

 

 

So God is very serious about keeping his covenant. He represents that if someone disobeys, they will be cursed. And God keeps his promises, right?

What about verse 25? What’s the result for those who disobey in battle?

“You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven.”

So they will be defeated, and they themselves will flee in seven ways. This is very important.

Keep the covenant, and your enemies will be defeated, and they will flee in seven ways. Break the covenant, and you will be the one who flees in seven ways. This is very important.

I will mention this many times. We’ll see this again. So, if you keep the covenant, your enemies will flee in seven ways. And if you don’t keep the covenant, you will be the one that flees in seven ways. Let’s understand now a little bit more about how important it is to God to keep the covenants.

3. Covenant between God and the Chosen People

Let’s revisit when the first covenant was established, what happened when they broke it, and why it’s important for us to keep the new covenant that God is establishing. There’s a passage we often discuss that talks about the establishment of the first covenant.

What is that passage? It discusses the establishment of the first covenant.

Exodus 19:5-6. Ah, how did you know? Obviously, I’m kidding. We go over this passage frequently.

So hopefully, that passage came to everyone’s mind. If it didn’t, let’s review it further. We need to review more if it did not immediately come to mind.

 

ONE – The First Covenant (Old Testament)

Ex 19:5-6:  God —> Moises —> Israelities

The first covenant, the covenant of the Old Testament, was given from God through Moses to the Israelites, as stated in Exodus 19:5-6. Moses was the mediator of that covenant, acting as the lawyer, guarantor, or notary. His job was to facilitate the giving of a covenant between God and His chosen people, the Israelites.

Covenants are between God and the chosen people. Only the chosen people receive covenants from God. The most important part of the covenant is found in the very next chapter, Exodus 20:3. Let’s all say it together: “You shall have no other gods before me.”

Note the use of a small “g” for “gods.” This is rule number one, the first one, emphasizing the importance of God in the first covenant.

The people accepted that covenant, even having the blood of the lamb sprinkled on them as confirmation. God kept it very serious, as seen in Exodus 24. Moses wrote down everything the Lord had said. The next morning, he built an altar and set up 12 stone pillars representing the 12 tribes of Israel. Young Israelite men offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord.

Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said, we will obey.” Moses then took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all of these words.”

The people accepted God’s covenant because they felt it was important, and blood was used to confirm it, sprinkled on them.

Unfortunately, only a couple of chapters later in Exodus 32, the golden calf incident occurred. In 1 Kings 11, idol worship was done by the Israelites, with Solomon bringing false gods into Israel, breaking the covenant in the biggest way. This was when God decided that Israel would be judged for these actions.

Let’s read God’s heart about this.

 

 

The chapter title “Israel Unrepentant” in chapter 6 is referring to the Israelites. In the previous verse 6, it states, “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” This indicates that God’s desire was for His people to truly know Him and keep His covenant.

However, the Israelites did not know God and continued to offer traditional burnt offerings and sacrifices, thinking that this would make them righteous in God’s eyes. But God said, “No, keeping my covenant is what would have made you righteous.” Like Adam, they broke the covenant and were unfaithful to God.

So, God decided it was time to start something new. As discussed in previous lessons, God promised the creation of a new thing.

 

TWO –  The Second Covenant (New Testament)

We can explore this further in Galatians 3. Although we don’t have time to read Galatians 3 today, please make a note to read it for yourself, Galatians 3 and 4, to understand the relationship we’re going to briefly describe here. God came to Abraham, right?

In Genesis chapter 15, God said to Abraham, whose name was Abram at the time, “You will have a great many descendants.” So we have God, who came to Abraham and told him that he would have numerous descendants in the future.

The covenant God made with Abraham is everlasting, which means it’s still in effect today. This is because God is not the God of the dead but the God of the living, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as Jesus reiterated in Matthew 22. The covenant God then made with the first Israelites was a sub-covenant to this one.

Moses received the first covenant, and it was given to the Israelites, who were part of the descendants promised by God. They were physically part of the descendants.

However, when they broke the covenant, God said, “I’m going to do something new.” God promised a new thing, which we’ll talk about in just a moment. This time, new people would be allowed to be considered as part of Abraham’s children, Abraham’s descendants.

Now, it is believers of Jesus who, though they may not belong to the physical bloodline of Abraham, belong to his spiritual bloodline. This is what we’re going to discuss now.

The new thing started with Jesus, who established a new covenant with believers in him, and they became part of Abraham’s descendants, but spiritually.

Does this make sense, everyone? The covenant with the Israelites came to an end, but the covenant made to Abraham is everlasting. That’s the relationship I want us to understand clearly.

Okay, let’s talk about that now.

 

 

Verse 22

The new thing that God promised in verse 22, as we discussed previously, is a figurative representation of a woman surrounding or returning to a man when she is pregnant. This represents her fully surrounding her baby. It is a prophecy about Jesus.

 

Verse 27 – Matthew 13:24-30

Jesus began the new thing with his ministry. His entire mission and coming can be summarized by these two main things:

 

ONE – The first, mentioned in verse 27, is the sowing of two seeds. Jesus sowed the good seed, which is God’s word, the seed of man. However, the enemy also came and sowed weeds, or lies, in the same field. This is the seed of animals or beasts.

 

TWO – The second thing promised was the seed of animals or beasts, sowed by the enemy.

We understand the symbolism of man and beasts from the parables.

If you haven’t received the parables worksheet we sent around, please request it from your evangelist. It covers almost all the parables we’ve discussed and is a helpful resource. Fill in the meanings and reference verses from your notes. This will ensure you have a comprehensive understanding of the parables, and any missing ones can be discussed with your evangelist during your next one-on-one.

So, the two seeds represent truth and lies, understanding and lack of understanding, as promised in verse 27.

 

Verse 31 – Luke 22:14-20

In verse 31, God promises to establish a new covenant. Jesus fulfilled this during the Passover, after his birth, which marked the beginning of his first coming. It was at the time of Passover that he fully established the new covenant.

 

 

Let’s understand what was happening here, towards the end of Jesus’ ministry. For three and a half years, Jesus had been sowing the good seed. 

Sowing the good seed includes everything he was doing – healing people, feeding people, preaching, gathering his 12 disciples, testifying the good news. All of this was part of Jesus sowing the good seed to create his field, essentially laying the foundation for those who would believe and follow him.

But now, nearing the end of his physical life, he knew he had to complete the prophecy of Jeremiah 31 by establishing a new covenant. So he gathered his disciples and asked them to prepare the Passover, knowing it would be his last meal with them, though they didn’t realize it yet.

During the meal, Jesus took the bread and wine, telling them, “This bread represents my body, broken for you. This cup represents my blood.” They should have remembered when Jesus said in John 6, “Eat my flesh and drink my blood to have eternal life.” But they didn’t fully understand that he was going to die soon, like the very next day.

Now it was time to establish the covenant through the bread and wine. Jesus said something critically important in verses 16 and 18 that we often miss: “I will not eat of this again, and I will not drink of this again, until the kingdom of God comes.” He was telling them to do communion in remembrance of this promise – that he would come again and eat and drink with them when God’s kingdom arrives.

We forgot this promise and treated the ritual as if it held power, when the true power lies in the promise itself. What book details this promise most fully? The book of Revelation, which Jesus wanted to share with his disciples but they weren’t ready. “There’s much more I’d like to tell you, but you simply aren’t ready for what I have to say,” he told them honestly.

When were they finally ready? Unfortunately, only John remained by the time Jesus could reveal these words after his ascension, as the others had been martyred. But John, the last living representative, received the book of Revelation containing what Jesus wanted to say in detail at the Passover but couldn’t.

For us existing when Revelation’s prophecies unfold, we must fully understand these words, for what does Jesus ultimately want? To “eat and drink” – to have his words, his spiritual flesh and blood, truly understood and fulfilled when he returns, just as Moses’s temple items foreshadowed Jesus himself. The communion ritual was a symbolic remembrance until the promised reality arrives when all can spiritually consume Jesus’s teachings in their fullness.

Jesus wants us to understand all that was spoken, which is possible only when it is fulfilled through his second coming. Then we can truly “eat and drink” with him again as he intended.

4. Consequences of Covenant

Let’s discuss the implications for both groups at the time of the second coming. It’s crucial to truly comprehend who upholds it and who violates it during the second coming.

There is a passage from the book of Matthew that we will read, as it strongly emphasizes the significance of this matter.

 

ONE – Who keeps and does not keep. 

 

 

For context, Matthew 8 is when Jesus encountered the Roman centurion, whose faith level was greater than that of the Israelites.

Jesus said, “Oh, you don’t have to come to see my son. All you have to do is speak, and it will be done.” And Jesus said, “What? I have not seen anyone in Israel with this level of faith.”

And then Jesus gave this prophecy. Remember, there are two groups: those with real deep faith and those without it. So Jesus talks about these two groups of people.

 

Verse 11 – East and West —> Take their Seats

This is a prophecy that he says here. In verse 11, he says, “There will be those who come from where? East and the west.” This should actually tickle your ears. Your Bible spidey senses should be going off, hopefully.

If not, if we turn to Matthew 24:30-31, it says, “At the time the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with great power and glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other, gathering them from the east to the west.”

If you look at verse 27, it also says, “For as the lightning comes from the east and is visible in the west, so will be the coming of the son of man,” meaning that people will be gathered, not just from one place, but from all places because God’s goal is for everyone to be part of his kingdom. So from the east and the west, they will come and take their seats.

But there’s a second group of people. This is verse 11.

 

Verse 12 – Subject of the kingdom —> Thrown Out

Verse 12 talks about those who are supposed to stay but do not get a chance to stay.

Why? What happens to them? They are called the subjects of the kingdom.

What happens to the subjects of the kingdom? They’re thrown out, as mentioned at the end of verse 12. Oh, back at Matthew 8, everybody.

They are thrown out. Remember, their title is subjects of the kingdom, which means they were once in the kingdom or considered part of the kingdom, but now they’re thrown out. You can understand this with the context of the time these words were spoken.

Jesus was talking to a Roman centurion who was not a Jewish person. He was a Gentile, but his faith was greater than the people who were supposed to have the greatest level of faith. And the Israelites, like it says, “The kingdom of heaven will be taken from you and be given to those who will bear its fruit.”

But this is a prophecy, which means it has a reality at the time of the second coming.

We’ll see one more prophecy about who are the ones that are supposed to keep the covenant and what it means for them to keep it, and then those who do not at the time of the second coming.

 

 

The new covenant, God’s law, God intends to place it in two places. What are those two places?

On your mind and on your hearts.

Why on the mind?

To fully understand. And the heart? To fully believe and have a humble heart.

God intends to put it in our minds and hearts so that we can understand and believe, and understanding and belief lead to faith.

Certainly. Belief and faith are similar. It leads to action.

The proper actions.

Actions like keeping.

And if you have an eagle eye, hopefully everyone is developing an eagle eye, there should be a footnote at the end of verse 12, isn’t there? What does that footnote lead to?

Ah, is that an accident? Hebrews 8:10-12 is a direct quote from Jeremiah 31:31-34, word for word.

But Jeremiah is in the Old Testament, and it’s being talked about in the book of Hebrews in the future tense, which means it’s really a covenant for the time of the second coming.

This is when God truly intends for this to be fully kept, just as Jesus said in Luke 22. So, what does it mean to keep the new covenant?

Keeping the new covenant means engraving the word, especially revelation, in the heart, aka being sealed. Engraving revelation, not just the words of the verses, although that’s important, but understanding who, what, when, where, why, and how of fulfillment. Having a sufficient amount of oil, like the wise and foolish virgins.

The new covenant is revelation, and if one does not understand revelation, it’s really not possible to fully keep the new covenant. So first, understand and master revelation, then keep it. So, how does this play out at the time of the second coming?

We’ll look at two more passages, and then we will close, and we’ll look at these at a high level because we’ll dive into these in much more detail in the future. Is everybody up to date? Everybody caught up?

Okay, so two quick chapters, and talk about 2 different people at the time of the second coming.

Revelation 6 and Revelation 7. Now, there’s something I want us to understand about Revelation 6 that will really help us put things together.

 

In Revelation 6:

We see Jesus beginning to open the seven seals. He opens 6 of them in this chapter, and each time he opens a seal, events take place. A living creature says, “Come,” and a rider on a particular colored horse appears, and judgment occurs.

This happens four times, and then on the fifth occasion, we witness the souls of the martyrs, or those who were beheaded, crying out to God, “How much longer must we watch our brothers be slain before you bring us justice?” God responds, “Wait a little while longer.” He gives them white robes, which represent righteous acts.

Then, the 6th seal is opened, and we see people running into the rocks and mountains, and the sun, moon, and stars go dark and fall. This should remind us of what was prophesied to happen in Matthew 24 by Jesus. The sun, moon, and stars go dark and fall, and we know that the sun, moon, and stars figuratively represent chosen people of a particular era, specifically the chosen people of spiritual Israel, the very ones referred to as the “New Covenant.”

That’s what Revelation 6 is discussing. So, they go dark and fall, and these people are represented by those introduced in Revelation 1 to 3. They were called the seven stars and also the seven golden lampstands.

These are seven individuals appointed by Jesus, and they have a role to play at the time of the second coming. However, in Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus is writing them letters, asking them to repent, and he’s telling them about the things they are doing well and the things they are not doing well. “I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, and that you hate the teachings of the Nicolaitans, but I hold this against you. You have forsaken your first love. Repent and do the things you did at first.” This is quoting Revelation chapter 2.

Unfortunately, there are no words in Revelation that indicate they repented. Because we know that in the beginning of Revelation chapter 6, they begin to be judged, and by the end of Revelation 6, they are finished.

And they are fully joining with the rocks and the caves, which are not good places, spiritually speaking. Actually, there are no good caves, spiritually, because a cave is a place with no light that’s underground. So spiritually, a cave is not good.

So that pretty much ends spiritual Israel, because they were the representatives. They were the lamps that shined a little light in darkness, and they failed. When they failed, in Revelation 8 and 9, the trumpets begin to sound, and they are devastated.

Then in Revelation 13, a beast with seven heads and ten horns invades, and they are done, wrecked, destroyed. But in the midst of that, we have Revelation 7, which is the complete opposite of Revelation 6.

 

In Revelation 7

It seems like Revelation takes a break, an interlude of sorts. It’s different from chapters 6 and 8, which come before and after it. We’ll discuss the reason for this soon.

In Revelation 7, we are introduced to the four living creatures, angels holding back the winds momentarily to allow something else to take place. What needs to happen in Revelation 7?

There must be a harvest and a sealing of people, and from these, 144,000 will be completely sealed, comprising 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes. After this, a great multitude in white will also gather.

When one kingdom ends, a new kingdom emerges. This is why Revelation 6 and 7 are placed together, to make this comparison clear. In Revelation 7, there is the harvesting and sealing of a new people, and we can refer to them in various ways based on the parables we’ve learned.

They are the new heaven and new earth, the new kingdom and new people, the new spiritual Israel, the new set of 12 tribes open to anyone through belief, not just by birth. The great multitude in white will also gather at this location after being harvested and sealed.

These people will keep the covenant that the previous people could not keep.

Remember, I mentioned repeatedly that breaking the covenant would lead to fleeing in seven ways. How many stars and lampstands are there? It’s no accident in the Bible.

When they are defeated by the beast, they flee in seven ways. Defeated, really sad. But these people also have to fight, and the beast has seven heads. How many ways does the beast flee when defeated? Seven.

There are no accidents in the Bible. This is just a teaser, an introduction. We’re out of time, but we’ll dive into this again in much more detail, especially when we get to Revelation. It’s going to be awesome. You all look excited.

We’ll really delve into these details, and things will start to come together. But you must review. If you forget what we’ve discussed, it will be challenging to follow along as we have a lot of content to cover quickly. So, please review. It’s very important.

Memorization

 

Let’s Us Discern