I sent my bio into the one who was doing all this, and somehow it didn't get in the program, so some of you know nothing about me. So, Phil, you want to tell everybody about me? Just a few words of introduction, I think. This other gentleman's coming back, as I tell you. My name's Stan Mansfield. Actually, I grew up here in Brevard, so I'm a local. I've been involved in Bible college ministry for between 25 and 30 years. I was an academic dean at a Bible college in Bellevue for 11 years until that turned in a different direction and I was let go. Some of the people who were involved in that asked me to lead the effort to start a new Bible college, and so Shepherds Bible College came about because of that. We started in South King County, opened an extension here in Bremerton. Six or seven years ago, apparently, that wasn't enough on my plate. So I ended up getting asked to pastor Charleston Baptist Church. So for six and a half years now, I've been pastoring and running a Bible college. It made me think of that as teaching. It just made me think of when teachers give tests and those kind of things. Don't worry, I'm not going to give a test. I just was reminded of one of my high school teachers, first day of classes, here's my grading system. Front row A's, second row B's, third row C's. Most of you don't like to get too close. You're all back row Baptists. Let's pray and get started. Our gracious Father, we just thank you so much for this opportunity we have to gather. The freedom we have in this country to gather openly. our hearts go out to those around the world who are being persecuted because of their faith, and just ask for your comfort and your protection. But we thank you for the freedom we have, and we thank you even more for the freedom we have in Christ, and that you have given us your word. We just ask that this time together, we just want to be a mouthpiece, that we would, because of this time, understand your word, The theme this weekend has to do with the biblical Jesus. I think most people, when they think of Jesus, tend to think of the human Jesus in the Gospels. I think last night we got a good reminder from Pastor John G. that Jesus as God has existed from eternity past. In the Gospels, what we have is the incarnation, God becoming flesh. But my focus in this workshop is on how Jesus, the coming of Jesus, fits into God's purposes and God's plans, which he actually spilled out, I believe, in numerous ways, but a significant means of spelling out his purpose and plans was through several key covenants that he made. So we're gonna be looking at four covenants that God made with the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, the First Testament, and looking at how Jesus is the fulfillment of each of those. We're gonna begin with the covenant that God made with Abraham, There's several key passages to look at, and we're gonna have to go fast. I've preached this as a series of four sermons, so we're gonna have to condense about three hours into 45 minutes. I did it this morning at Men's Bible Study. Genesis 12, but we need to understand the background first. The background starts in Genesis 1 with creation. And if you read through the creation account, Genesis 1, the first three verses of chapter two, there's some words that get repeated. One of those words that gets repeated several times is God blesses. God blesses one of the creatures, God blesses man, God blesses the seventh day. We see one of the things that that chapter communicates is God's desire is to bless mankind. And yet in chapters two through 11, we don't see God blessing. We see God cursing. in the wicked, disobedient anger. And then we get to Genesis 12, which some Bible scholars have called Genesis 12, the true beginning of the Bible. And I'll explain that in a minute. Genesis 12, the first three verses. Now the Lord said to Abram, go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land which I will show you, and I will make you a great nation And I will bless you, and make your name great, so you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Now typically when authors want to make sure you understand something, they use repetition. We see that a lot in scripture. Catch what the emphasis was in these three verses? Blessing. God chooses Abraham to bless him. Now the first thought that might occur in light of the background is, did God give up on his holy standard? And we'll see as we go through the several different passages dealing with Abraham the covenant that that's not true. But we also need to look at, he's promising to make Abraham a great nation and a great name. And a great nation gets amplified just a few verses later when Abram obeys, goes to the land of Canaan, and God says in verse seven, to your descendants, you receive, I will give this land. It takes people and land to form a nation. But these promises to Abram weren't just about the nation of Israel. Actually, the rest of the Old Testament really is seeing God make a great nation from Abram. from Abraham. But then the last line in verse three shows us that God's purposes are much broader than just Abraham. Verse three, the last line says, and in you all the families of earth will be blessed. God chose Abraham in order to bring the blessing that he desired ultimately to all nations. The next chapter, the end of chapter 13, gives some expansion of those promises where God now says your descendants will be beyond number. You can't count them, just like you can't count the sands of the sea. It also gives a little bit more idea of the borders and how expansive it was. Abraham is told to look in every direction, and God says, all the land you can see, I will give you. But at this point, it's still just promises God's making. It's in chapter 15 that God makes a covenant. In chapter 15, it really is divided into two parts. The first six verses have to do with that promise of people. And here God says, if you can count the stars, that's how your descents will be. And it tells us that Abraham believed God, and God counted to him as righteousness. So we get our first clue here, that faith is important in the working out of God's desire to bless. But then in 7 through 21, the focus changes from people to land. And God has Abram take some animals and cut them in two and lay them apart so it essentially makes a pathway. And that really, Abram knew what God was asking him to do. That was a means in that time and culture in which people would confer a covenant retreat. The two parties would walk between the slain animals, and each party would take an oath of, may I become like these animals if I don't fulfill my duties in the covenant. Well, after Abraham finishes the preparations, he falls into a deep sleep. And it tells us in verse 17, when the sun had set, it was very dark, and behold, There appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces, symbolic of the presence of God. Abraham doesn't walk between the pieces. Only God does, indicating that this covenant is unconditional. It's only dependent on God. Abraham doesn't have to do a thing for God to fulfill the covenant promises. And on that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, to your descendants, I have given this land. And then he gives boundaries to that land. Chapter 17, he's getting older and still has no children. But God renews the covenant to him when he's 99 years old. But this renewal also involves some additional expansions that are significant. In verse 70, it says, I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your descendants after you. I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for everlasting possession, and I will be their God. Purpose of God's covenant with Abraham wasn't just to make him a great nation with countless descendants who would inherit this land. It was to establish a relationship where God would be God to him and to his descendants, and they would be God's people. And that will get clarified. I think there was at least a beginning understanding that Abraham would have of what that means to have God be his God and his descendants be their people, but that will get clarified further with the next covenant. But we see addition here that it's not just blessing, it's for the purpose of relationship. That becomes more clear. The next passage after 17, as normally looked at when people are looking at key passages in the Abrahamic covenant, is chapter 22, but I believe chapter 18 is another significant one. Chapter 18, the Lord appears to Abraham. Initially lets him know that by this time next year, your wife Sarah's gonna give birth to a child. And then as they start to leave, the Lord says in verse 17 of chapter 18, shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do? What he's about to do in the context is go down and destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because they're wickedness. I think it's significant that this is in the context of this announcement, you're gonna have a son. Shall I hide from him what I'm about to do? Since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of earth will be blessed. There's that idea again that's more than just the nation of Israel, it's for that blessing to go to all nations. For I have chosen him so that he may command his children in his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abram what he has spoken about him. Here we get God's purpose in choosing Abram. To raise up children who will follow the Lord in order that God will have a righteous people that he can bless. And we see that emphasis on being the right kind of people in chapter 22, when God, it specifically tells us that God tested Abraham. And we'll see in a minute what the test is about. But he tells him to go take your son, your only son, and offer him as a burnt offering. And Abraham obeys. And he takes him. And he's about ready to bring the knife down to slay his one and only son, the one who'd be the bringing about the fulfillment of God's promises. And God stops. Verse 12. Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. Here's a testimony, truly fear God. If we had time, I'd love to discuss that whole biblical concept of fear, but we won't get through. But then God speaks to him again in verse 16. By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed, I will greatly bless you and will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sandwiches on the seashore, and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies, and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. True fear of God leads to obedience of God. Now I know you fear me, now I'm gonna renew and confirm, make sure, firm these covenant promises because you obeyed. And this really, what he says in chapter 22 is a repetition of the initial promises in chapter 12, of making them a great nation, possessing the gate of their enemies, but then chapter 12, it ended with, and in you all nations will be blessed. But here, the wording is slightly different. In your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. There's a lot we can talk about in terms of Abrahamic covenant in relation to a number of things, but what I want to get to here quickly is how this covenant is fulfilled. And I think that last phrase here is key. In your seed. Remember, the covenant with Abraham is ultimately not just to make Abraham a great nation, or even to bless the nation of Israel. It's ultimately to bring blessing to all. Two passages to look at here. One is in Luke chapter one, and we won't actually, well, I'm not gonna turn there for time reasons. But Mary, in what's known as the Magnificat, where Elizabeth comes to visit her after the angel had already appeared to Mary and said, you're gonna give birth to a son. She's marrying, and in her praise, she praises God for remembering She is recognizing that the son she's gonna give birth to is gonna be the son of God is a fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. Zacharias, in his prophecy at the end of the chapter, says some similar things, recognizing that God is about ready to fulfill his promises to Abraham. But turn next to Galatians chapter three. Starting with verse six, Paul quotes from Genesis 15. Even so, Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it's those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, all the nations will be blessed in you. Quoting Genesis 12, three. Paul is saying that was preaching the gospel, the good news of people being blessed because of Jesus. And he goes on to explain that it was in your seed, singular, verse 16. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say unto seeds, as to many, but rather to one, and to your seed, that is, Christ. And he goes on to talk about bringing salvation to Gentiles through faith, similar to the faith of Abraham. So God's coming with Abraham was the first step in his plan to bring blessing through salvation to all nations through Jesus. I mentioned Genesis 12, some say it's the true beginning of the gospel. I mentioned that the rest of the Old Testament involves God making a great nation of Abraham and blessing the nation. But then the New Testament is blessing all nations through Jesus. But the next covenant that helps clarify things a little bit more of God's plans and purposes and desires is the second covenant he makes is with the entire nation of Israel. That just as God had promised to Abraham in chapter 15, they've been enslaved for 400 years in another nation. And then beginning of Exodus, he raises up Moses to become the deliverer who would lead them out of slavery. And in chapter six, God says this to Moses. I appear, verse three, I appear to Abram, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name, Yahweh, I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned. I have heard their groaning of the sons of Israel because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. So God delivers them out of slavery in Egypt because he's being faithful to his covenant to Abram. But he goes on to say, say to the sons of Israel, I am Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments, and I will take you for my people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for a possession I am. Here again we see God's desire. He redeems them with an outstretched arm to take them as his people, to be their God. Delivers them through a series of plagues from Egypt, and then because of rebellion, They turn back and they wander in the wilderness for 40 years until that generation dies off, everyone except Joshua and Caleb, and Moses until the very end. And chapter 19 is really the prelude to the covenant that God gives at Mount Sinai in chapter 10, or chapter 20, which begins with the Ten Commandments, what we know as the Ten Commandments. But I think this prelude is important to give us the purpose of this covenant at Mount Sinai. Verse four, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians. Now I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. Now then, if you indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Now sometimes it's taught that in the Old Testament, Israelites were saved by obeying the law, where in the New Testament we're saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. No, God doesn't have two different ways of salvation. This passage makes clear, God, in His grace, redeemed them and brought them to Himself as His people, and then gave the covenant, not as a means to earn salvation, He gave the covenant relationship that God had already established by faith. But I also want to call attention to two phrases in here in verse five. If indeed if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be, notice verse six, my own possession, verse six, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. What is a priest? I think most people's concept of the priesthood is an intermediary that, especially in the Catholic Church, you go to the priest, and then the priest is your intermediary to God. Of course, we know that Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ. But in the Old Testament, priests were intermediaries in the other direction as well. Speaking the law, teaching the people the law. And it's in that aspect of the priesthood that's in view here in calling Israel to be a kingdom of priests. Again, it's not just about the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel is supposed to be a missionary nation. They're supposed to be a kingdom of priests to the nations around them. And of course, one of the primary ways they do that is by living in obedience to the law, a kingdom of priests in a holy nation. We don't have time to turn there, but you might want to jot down Deuteronomy 7, verses six through 11, repeats the idea that they're a holy people, and then it goes on to talk about that as a Israel, look at the God they have. They have a God different than ours. They have a God that's close to them. That tells them how they're supposed to live. Right after, so chapter 20 gives the 10 commandments. The very first commandment is, you shall know the gods before me. There again, this covenant's again about the same thing, similar to the Abrahamic covenant. A covenant for a relationship, where he is their God. There is people. What does that mean? What does it mean to have God as your people? Well, he spells out how they're to live under his authority. In the book of Deuteronomy, 40 years later, after they've wandered the wilderness, and all the nations, all the peoples have died off except for the three. The book of Deuteronomy is essentially a renewal of the covenant from Sinai with a lot of expansion to it. explain it further. But after the first four chapters, which kind of give the historical prologue, chapter five repeats the Ten Commandments, with a little bit of difference in terminology. Then chapters six through 11 really are expounding upon the primary obligation of the covenant, before chapters 12 through 26 give all the detailed stipulations. The primary obligation of the mosaic, the Sinaitic covenant, is expressed very early in chapter six. I, no, no. Started quoting the wrong verse. The Lord, your God, is one. Actually, that verse in Deuteronomy 6.4 is The Hebrew is such that it can be translated several different ways. I think there's a number of scholars that believe the most accurate way in light of the context is that it says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And in the context, what's being, talked about here isn't a multiple of gods, or that there's a plurality of gods, it's, or that God has a multiple personalities. Yeah, there is a trinity, but that's not what you hear. It's, there's all these other gods around them, but Yahweh is to be their God, He alone. And that flows out of that theological statement, then, is what's known as the Great Commandment. You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. What that command is about isn't we ought to have these warm, fuzzy, emotional feelings towards God. Really, the idea expressed in the Great Commandment is loyal allegiance. He alone is to be their God. They're to be devoted and obedient to Him and Him alone. And that gets spelled out in the rest of chapter six through 11. Similar to the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant is all about relationship, the time of relationship that the people of God are to have, and loyal allegiance to Him as their God. And how the people of God are to be. Now we see throughout Israel's history, we see numerous times where they would rebel and consequently would face judgment, ultimately came to exile, driven away in fulfillment of the covenant curses in the latter part of Deuteronomy. Now turn with me to the Book of Matthew. One other thing I just see in my notes that I didn't mention is right after the covenant's first given in Exodus, they're given instruction to build a tabernacle. The purpose of the tabernacle is for God to dwell in the midst of his people. Matthew chapter five. Jesus says, start reading verse 17, that doesn't look right, that's chapter four. Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. Now the law in this context would be the entire, what we call the Pentateuch, Torah, Genesis through Deuteronomy. But he's also talking about all of Scripture. The Hebrew Scriptures divide into three parts, sometimes they just say the Law and the Prophets, and not say, and the Writings or the Psalms, for the third part. But, I came to fulfill the Law, but that includes the Mosaic Covenant. I didn't come to abolish it. He goes on to say, Until heaven and earth are passed, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished. And it speaks of it in the context of righteousness. Jesus came to fulfill the law through righteous life as well as through his death to make a righteous people. One more passage real quickly, 1 Peter chapter two. Verse nine. Verse nine is a quote from Exodus 19. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. Peter's saying is, New Testament believers are God's people, just like the nation of Israel that was a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Now the church is God's people. That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Just as the nation of Israel is to be a kingdom of priests, the church, we are a kingdom of priests to declare excellencies of God. world around us. Much more could be said. We're gonna see, we're gonna actually come back a little bit since to this covenant when we get to the fourth one. But the third covenant that God made is with David. In 2 Samuel chapter seven. Yeah, I think there's advantages and disadvantages to paper Bible verses. 2 Samuel 7, the background of this is God had explained, David had just brought the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of God's presence, to Jerusalem that he is making the capital city for the nation. And now he's going, I've got this big palace But God dwells in a tent. He wanted to build a temple for God to dwell in. And God tells Nathan to go and talk to David, and essentially said, you wanna build a house for me, but no, I'm gonna build a house for you. But when he says build a house for you, he's not talking about a building. He's talking about a kingdom, a dynasty. And if we were to read this whole passage, we'll see a lot of similarities between the covenant with David and the covenant with Abraham. Talks about people, we have land. But then, verse 11. Even from that day that I command a justice to be over my people Israel, and I will give you rest from all your enemies, the Lord also declares to you that the Lord, Yahweh, will make a house for you. And then he explains the house he's gonna make for David. When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendants after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. Raise up your descendants. I'll establish his kingdom. He will be the one to build a house for my name, and I'll establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I'll be a father to him, and he'll be a son to me. That typically is how kingship is often viewed. The king is often seen to be the son of God, or son of their God, the nation, that particular nation's God or gods. I'll be a father to him, he'll be a son to me. When he commits an iniquity, I'll correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men. But my loyal, steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it away from Saul when I removed him from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever. Your throne will be established forever. This adds another element to God's plans. God's plans also involve a king who will rule over his people. He made a covenant with David that a descendant of David would forever sit on the throne over God's people. Now, there's a number of passages we could look at, but we're running low on time, so I'll just mention. Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 are a couple passages that refer to God's covenant with David and point towards their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. Isaiah 9, verses two through seven also speaks of a son who will be born, will be the son of God. But turning to the New Testament, Luke chapter one, the angel Gabriel appears to Mary and says, do not be afraid, Mary, starting with verse 30 of chapter one. For you have found favor with God, and behold, you will conceive and you will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord will give him the throne of his father David. and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. Zachariah's prophecy also speaks of the fulfillment, not of the Abrahamic covenant, but the Davidic one. Jesus is to be that ultimate son of David to sit on the throne. That was more we could say about that before we move on to the final covenant, and I think this final covenant, it'll all get tied together. Jeremiah 31. This is referred to as the New Covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant. The next one is sometimes called the Mosaic Covenant, sometimes called the Sinaitic Covenant, and then the Davidic Covenant, now the New Covenant, starting with verse 31. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel in half of those days. I will put my law within them, and on their heart I will write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." There's that concept again, him being their God, them being his people. They will not teach again each man his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Now this new covenant makes it clear as to replace a different covenant. It doesn't replace the Abrahamic covenant. It doesn't replace the Davidic covenant. It replaces The Mosaic covenant. This one is not like the covenant I made with their fathers and dad, took them by hand and brought them out of Egypt. That would be the Mosaic covenant. Which they broke. Of the three covenants so far, Abrahamic and Davidic are both unconditional. It's only dependent upon God fulfilling the covenant promises. The Mosaic covenant was conditional. They would only receive these blessings if they were obedient. In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus at Passover feast institutes the Lord's Supper. And depending on which gospel you read, when he takes the cup, he says, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Or this is my blood of the covenant. Referring back, I think, to Exodus chapter 24, when God finished giving the Mosaic Covenant, the people were sprinkled with blood, and Moses specifically said, this is the blood of the covenant. I think Jesus is echoing those words. The new covenant is being instituted with blood. The Lord's Supper is essentially, Jesus is saying, my death is establishing the new covenant. just as the old covenant was instituted with blood, the new covenant is instituted with blood. Turn next to Hebrews chapter eight. Hebrews, the chapters before that have been showing how Jesus is superior to a number of things, including the Levitical priests. and ultimately showing that Jesus is the great high priest. And then in chapter eight he says, the point we've been missing in saying this is we do have such a high priest who has taken a seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty of the heavens. A minister in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. Verse six. He, Jesus, has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as he's also a mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. And then he quotes the new covenant, Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34, in verses eight through 12. And then verse 13, when he said a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete, but whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. The new covenant was established because of the failure. It wasn't that the old covenant was, there was a problem with the old covenant. The problem was with the people. And God spells out how he's gonna solve that issue with the new covenant. And chapters nine and 10 give further illustration of how this new covenant brings redemption through the blood of Jesus. But one of the questions that people sometimes wrestle with is, you know, the very last verse of chapter eight, verse 13, whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. The new covenant really is instituted in stages. We as New Testament believers who have put our faith in Jesus are under the New Testament, are under the New Covenant. Can we say, we all know the Lord, we don't need to be taught anymore? Why are you here? No. We are. The New Covenant has been implemented, but not fully in place. We're not under the old cover, we're part of the new cover. Paul talks about that as well in 2 Corinthians 3. We've been transferred, Paul says in Colossians, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved Son. We are beneficiaries, we've been cleansed by the blood of Jesus. to be able to, through faith, experience some of the blessings of God. But ultimately, the complete fulfillment, establishing a new covenant, doesn't come until Jesus returns to set up the eternal community. To close, we'll close with Revelation chapter 21. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and he will dwell among them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be among them. just as the mosaic of a tabernacle that was a symbol of God's presence among his people. Here he says, here's the tabernacle of God, Jesus. He will dwell among them. They shall be his people. Again, that's that idea of a relationship, a relationship between God and his subject people who are obedient to him. and then receive the blessings of God. God's plan from the very beginning was to bless people. But he could not bless a wicked and rebellious people. And he spelled out through these different covenants his plans ultimately for a Messiah would come to provide the once and for all sacrifice to do away with sin. so that through faith, just like the faith of Abraham, we could be declared righteous, and then through the indwelling Spirit begin to live in obedience where we're living, loving God, loyal allegiance to God in Him alone. So as we reflect on who is this biblical Jesus, He's our Savior, who's redeemed us. He's our Lord to whom we submit. and He's our King who's coming again. We look back at the cross. We look at the presence of Him sitting at the right hand of God in our seeking for us as the great high priest, as we seek to grow in our relationship with Him and our obedience to Him, but looking forward to the ultimate fulfillment of His covenant plans and His purposes when He comes to establish His eternal kingdom. and dwell among us as people. We're reaching the time, do you have any real quick questions that I can't answer? Hopefully this has been helpful. Our gracious Father, we do thank you that you are a faithful God, that you make promises, you make covenants, and you keep them. We thank you for your plan from ages past, a blessing. And in that plan of blessing, you provided Messiah as a means of redemption, for our sins to be forgiven, that we might be in right relationship with the Holy God. May we live our daily lives in loyal allegiance to you in all your glory. Amen. So a question kind of off the subject there. I read this in the New Romans, obviously, and they use or what do you think about the kind of heathens and priesthood and all that? That's an issue I've looked at into great depth. My initial thought would be that using unleavened bread would benefit the symbolism, but the ultimate symbol is it's symbolic of the death of Christ, the body of Christ dying for us. If you're not going to use it for a civil event, you can use anything, right? I guess part of my answer to that is there's some things that are very significant and other things that are... I guess part of my problem is... in every places and as we get sloppy pretty soon, everything's making us... If there's meaning in the bread and wine, maybe we should be doing something similar to bread and wine. I don't know. I mean, it's very clear... Yeah, but I guess the other side of it is, in that culture, the leaven and the unleavened had great significance. Our culture It's pretty clear in the scriptures. But it's not part of the culture. It's not something that people can go, this is contrary to Christianity. Christianity isn't much more part of our culture than we are either. I see your logic, but I'm just thinking, man, we ought to be able to follow that. That's what I'm saying. That's not the hell of it. I think my biggest concern would be not the bread, but the fact that they're using wine. If they're not using wine, which is symbolic of blood, to tell me that you have no connection with God. The bread is wonderful. Again, it doesn't make any difference. That's the whole point. It's what we do to remember, but we're not remembering it.