"Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us,
but our sufficiency is from God,
who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant,
not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."
(II Cor. 3: 5-6 esv)
If according to Hebrews 8 we are currently under the new covenant, why was the prophecy of Jeremiah 31: 34 not fulfilled “And no one shall teach his neighbor, nor any one his brother, saying: Know Jehovah; because everyone will know Me”? Is it not because the totality of good things that are consequences of the new covenant are not received in the church age? I don't see how anyone can deny that the new covenant's blessings have not yet been fully realized. As we showed in the previous chapter, the chief blessing of the new covenant is not only the forgiveness of sins but the complete riddance of sin, or completed salvation and redemption. These are only realized in part during the church age as we saw in the previous chapter. Further, as we will see, the promise of a new heart and spirit is one of the chief effects of the new covenant, and that it is this divine work that will insure that those who are transformed in heart, soul, mind, and spirit will always and fully keep the commandments of the Lord.
Barnes in his commentary on Hebrews 8: 11 writes:
"For all shall know me - That is, all those referred to; all who are interested in the new covenant, and who are partakers of its blessings. It does not mean that all persons, in all lands, would then know the Lord - though the time will come when that will be true; but the expression is to be limited by the point under discussion. That point is not that the knowledge of the Lord will fill the whole world, but that all who are interested in the new dispensation will have a much more full and clear knowledge of God than was possessed under the old. Of the truth of this no one can doubt. Christians have a much more perfect knowledge of God and of his government than could have been learned merely from the revelations of the Old Testament."
Yes, Christians do have "a much more perfect knowledge of God" than believers in the old testament had, generally speaking, but they will have a perfect knowledge of God only when they are glorified and receive all the fullness of the new covenant's blessings. For now every believer must say that he still "sees through a glass darkly," expecting that in the eternal state he will see things perfectly. (See I Cor. 13)
The commentators at Precept-Austin (See here) say:
"All will know Me - This will come to fruition when Messiah returns and all Israel is saved (Ro 11:26+). All the Jews who enter into the Millennial Kingdom will be believers in Messiah and all will know Him. Old Testament passages allude to the fulfillment of this knowledge of God which will occur in the Millennium, Habakkuk writing this will be so “For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea." (Hab 2:14+) Isaiah adds "They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea." (Isaiah 11:9+)"
That is exactly right. The same commentary adds:
"Warren Wiersbe notes that "Hebrews 8:11 quotes Jeremiah 31:34+. It refers to that day when Israel shall be reunited with Judah (Heb. 8:8) and shall rejoice in the promised kingdom (Jer. 31:1–14+). In that day, there will be no need to share the Gospel with others because everyone will know the Lord personally." (BEC)"
So, is it not clear that the time when all Jews, and all Gentiles, know the Lord is not yet?
Already, Not Yet
In the previous chapters we have noted how there are many things promised to come to pass but which come to pass in stages. What Christians now have is but a down payment, firstfruits, or foretaste. They are examples of the biblical principle of "already, but not yet in fullness." Christians are saved now, but not saved yet in every respect. Christians are redeemed now, but much of redemption is in the future, as we have seen. The kingdom is realized now, but now to the same degree as it will be in the age to come. Hebrews 2:8–9 says, “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death” (ESV). In this passage, we have a “now” (we see Jesus crowned with glory), and we have a “not yet” (not everything has been subjected to Christ). Jesus is the King, but His kingdom is not yet of this world (see John 18:36). Further, as we will see, the work on the spirit or psychology of redeemed men, though begun in initial salvation, or in regeneration, is not yet a completed work, for even though God has changed the heart, mind, and spirit, it is still to be changed even more as we will see.
In "Eschatological Problems X: The New Covenant with Israel" John F. Walvoord (See here) writes the following excellent words (emphasis mine):
"While certain aspects of this covenant correspond to spiritual blessings realized by the people of God in this age, it is not difficult to see that the provisions of the covenant are not fulfilled in any literal sense in this age. Those who follow the amillennial or postmillennial interpretations freely admit the need for a spiritual or non-literal interpretation. Even in a spiritual interpretation, however, it is necessary to assign meaning to the symbols used and statements made. The covenant is specifically made with Israel—a name which is never used in the New Testament in reference to Gentiles, as brought out in previous articles on eschatological problems."
I certainly do agree that the new covenant has promises made to the Jewish nation as a whole, yet it also includes, as we will see, every individual believer, be he Jew or Gentile.
Wrote Walvoord:
"The covenant provides that God will be their God and Israel shall be His people. Obviously this involves more than ever existed in the Old Testament. It is a relationship to Israel as a group and premises a public manifestation of God’s blessing on them. Certainly this has no fulfillment in the present day or in any period since apostolic times. A most distinctive promise is that “all” will know Jehovah. This has never been true of the world and is not true today. The church in the world is given a commission to proclaim the Gospel to a world that knows not God, to teach the truth to those who have believed in Him. There is no evidence whatever that the day will ever come when all will know Jehovah until the full revelation is given by the personal return of Christ. The argument that this covenant is fulfilled in the present age hinges then on spiritualizing the key words, viz., Israel, and ignoring some of the most striking aspects of the covenant."
This is decisive. It tells us that the world will not become a utopia until the new covenant's blessings are fully realized. Further, as we will see, these blessings will ensure that there will never be any more sin or transgression in the world, either among the sons of the resurrection or among the ongoing human race.
Wrote Walvoord:
"The major passage in the Old Testament and the only one to use the specific term new covenant is found in Jeremiah 31:31-34: “Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that 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 bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith Jehovah. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith Jehovah: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their hearts will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.”
If anyone comes to know the Lord in this age, then he can thank God and he can ascribe it all to the new covenant. Yet, it will not be fully realized until all know the Lord.
Wrote Walvoord:
"Of the five references to the new covenant in the New Testament, two have reference to the Lord’s Supper, one refers to the new covenant as that which Paul ministered, one refers to the new covenant with Israel, and the final passage reveals that Christ is the mediator of the new covenant. The fact that the term refers to the Lord’s Supper which is for both Jew and Gentile is a clear indication that the new covenant as referred to in the New Testament is not entirely Jewish. In fact, only one reference clearly relates the term new covenant to Israel, and this is found in Hebrews 8:8. A study of this reference and its context is the key to the New Testament revelation on the new covenant with Israel."
I agree with this. Those Dispensational teachers who want to restrict the blessings of the new covenant to the Jewish nation only are in error. Every Gentile believer is saved by the blood of the new covenant. On this we will have more to say shortly.
Wrote Walvoord:
"In Romans 11:26, 27, a confirmation of the conclusions reached in the study of Hebrews eight is found. Here the new covenant with the house of Israel is quoted in part and referred to the future national restoration of Israel, as has been discussed in previous articles. If Romans 11:25, 26 refer to a future restoration of Israel as a nation, an event distinct from God’s program for the church, then the New Testament itself interprets Jeremiah 31:31-34 as referring to a future time. In other words, while Hebrews eight does not make any statement on the time of fulfillment of the new covenant with Israel, the Romans passage states this definitely. We may conclude that the New Testament does not ever state that the new covenant with Israel is now being fulfilled, but rather that it specifies that it will be fulfilled at the time of Israel’s restoration as a nation, in that day when “all Israel shall be saved.”"
I think that is very clear.
In "Conclusion" Walvoord wrote:
"Of the three views held by premillennialists, the view that the new covenant is exclusively and only for Israel was rejected. The use of the term new covenant in connection with the Lord’s Supper as celebrated by both Jews and Gentiles in the church was taken as evidence. Of the remaining views, the position that there are two new covenants, one for Israel to be fulfilled in the millennium and another for the church in this age, was found preferable. The sacrifice of Christ is the basis of any gracious covenant and remains the ground for fulfillment of God’s promised mercies both for the church and for the nation Israel."
The new covenant is both "already" and "not yet." It is for the literal nation of the Jews, but not for them only. Some blessings of the new covenant are especially for the Jewish nation at the time of Christ' return, but the chiefest blessing of salvation is for every individual believer.
In the next chapter we will look at the changes that God will bring about in the nature and psychology of glorified saints and of those sheep nations who will become the new human race. This will involve us in answering the question as to whether anyone will be able to sin in the ages to come and to whether they have "free will" to do so. Involved in that area of our subject will a discussion of how "original sin" will be dealt with, or removed; And, involved within that area will be a focus on two statements in the last pages of the Book of Revelation, one that says "behold I make all things new" and one that says "death will be no more." Following this we will have a chapter on several minor questions about the eternal state and a conclusion.
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