Just a Thought - 08/12/2020

In 1961, my dad purchased a brand new Volks-wagon beatle automobile in Trinidad. I was just a child of 7 but I do remember the excitement we all experienced when this shiny new light-olive colored car pulled up in front of our home. Originally operated by the German Labor Front, a Nazi organization in Wolfsburg, Germany, The Volkswagenwerk or "The people's car company" was commissioned by Adolph Hitler to work with Austrian automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche in the manufacture of an affordable car for the German masses. This little marvel of German engineering was specifically designed to answer everyone's transportation needs while providing state of the art luxury. During my later years in high school I enjoyed the pleasure of driving that little beatle everywhere.

Some of you I'm sure would remember that back then, powered windows and doors, power steering and power brakes, air conditioning, high horse power engines and even automatic transmissions were not at all popular. And yet, the cars served our purpose. In 1980, after securing my first teaching position in advanced level mathematics, I purchased my first car. By then, the beatle had completely and faithfully served its purpose and grown worn. My brand new car, a 1980 sky blue Mazda GMC 323 became my pride and joy. I still have pictures of that little beauty. It carried me the same places the beatle did, but with powered windows and doors, powered brakes and steering, automatic transmission and oh yes, powerful air conditioning and central heating systems. My new Mazda still had many of the standard features as the old beatle - four wheels, a steering system, comfortable leather seats and see-through windows all around. They both had gasoline powered motors and electric lights with turning indicators.

Why am I telling you all of this?

Hebrews 8:8: "...Because finding fault with them, He says: '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..."

Hebrews 8:13: "In that he says 'A new covenant,' he has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away."

Hebrews 9:15: "And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."

The word "new" in these above three verses is translated from the Greek Kaine.. While the word does mean 'new' as opposed to 'old', it carries a far deeper meaning. The emphasis in the use of this word that compares covenants is not as much on chronological age as it is on 'quality.' In other words, when compared to the Old Covenant, the New Covenant is of a far better quality. In comparing the beatle and the Mazda, they are both of the same kind and have the same necessary parts, but the New is so much better and has so much more going for it, that it renders the old one obsolete. So, the apostle Paul wanted to emphasize BETTER rather than NEW. The Old Covenant was but a pale shadow of the New in terms of what God is working out on behalf of His children. Again, the Old Covenant is nothing more than a list of promises and of the hope that is derived by those of us who understand the terms of the New Covenant.

You may have noticed that I am using the terms "Old Covenant" and " New Covenant" rather than "Old Testament" and "New Testament." Is there is difference? For all practical purposes, we often use "covenant" and "testament" interchangeably. In other words, can we refer to the OT as the Old Covenant and the NT as the New Covenant? Your home work assignment is to share with me what you think. If you think there is a difference, let me know what that difference is. I do not want you to give me dictionary definitions or share the opinions of others, but rather, your own personal understanding of the biblical meanings of those terms. NO PLAGIARIZING OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER!! I would be much more pleased to receive your deeply thoughtful and usual wrong responses than for you to provide me with someone else's understanding bearing no original thought of your own.

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen!

Just a Thought!

Pastor Chandroo