We are continue to reflect on Michael J. Gorman’s The Death of the Messiah and the Birth of the New Covenant: A (Not So) New Model of the Atonement.
The Lord’s Supper
The accounts of Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper refer back to Jeremiah —
(Mat 26:27-29 ESV) 7 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
(Mar 14:24-25 ESV) 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
(Luk 22:20 ESV) 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
(1Co 11:25-26 ESV) 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Luke and Paul explicitly reference the “new covenant,” an obvious reference to Jeremiah 31. They add “in my blood.” How is the new covenant “in” the blood of Jesus?
Jesus seems to be saying that the promises given by Jeremiah — forgiveness, relationship with God — will be brought about by the crucifixion. Part of this is Passover imagery. Jesus is the Passover lamb, the blood of which marks God’s children and so protects them from the death angel. (I’m expanding on Gorman here, but I think he’d agree.)
The original Passover lamb was sacrificed, not so much for atonement (that’s the Day of Atonement), but as a meal that marked off God’s people as protected — all so that God could take them to the Promised Land. The blood of Jesus — and the cup that represents the blood — thus marks us off as a people under the protection of God.
Thus, in the Gospels, Jesus is declaring that his blood, his crucifixion, will mark off his people as protected so that they may travel to the Promised Land — as a consequence of God making a new covenant with his people.
“Blood of the covenant”
In Matthew and Mark, Jesus speaks of “the blood of the covenant,” an allusion to Exodus 24. This is rarely mentioned in the commentaries, and only briefly mentioned by Gorman, but I think it’s at the heart of what Gorman is teaching.
The Israelites were at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Moses had just read the Ten Commandments and many other commands of the Law to the people.
(Exo 24:3 ESV) 3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.”
Sacrifices were then made.
(Exo 24:6-8 ESV) 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Both Israel and God (represented by the altar) were sprinkled with the sacrificed blood. It was a form of blood-oath. Both sides were symbolically announcing that they would forfeit their lives if they broke the covenant.
Today, we tend to see covenants as a matter of contract, but the ancients saw it as much more. This was a treaty between God as king and Israel as a vassal state. The King had chosen to be gracious to his vassal and bind himself to give blessings to his people.
In a way foreign to the modern mind, the blood represented both a cleansing (“washed in the blood”! — and notice the similarity with the sprinkling of blood on each Day of Atonement as well as the cleansing of the tabernacle by the sprinkling of the blood of sacrifices) that allowed God and sinful Israel to draw near to each other, but also an oath of the most serious kind. This is much more than an agreement. Indeed, the prophets later refer to this ceremony as a marriage. (Which again demonstrates the need for Israel/the church to be cleansed in preparation.)
Covenants have an element of mutuality. God binds himself just as Israel became bound. God himself was taking a blood oath to honor his end of the treaty (just as he did when he covenanted with Abram in Gen 15. See The Story: Father Abraham Had Many Sons, Part 2 (The Blood Oath)).
This was followed by a meal — a very strange meal —
(Exo 24:9-11 ESV) 9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.
In the ancient world, worshipers of a god would often enter his temple and eat a banquet. The thought was that they were sharing fellowship with the god. They ate in his honor, and the god mystically was present and sharing in the banquet.
Well, for Israel, God very nearly sat literally at the table with them during this fellowship meal. And I believe Moses is implying that, for this moment, heaven and earth merged — as will happen when Jesus returns — so that God stood above the sky as he stood among the leaders of the people on the mountain.
The comparison with the Lord’s Supper should be obvious. Jesus really did eat in the presence of the 12 apostles, representing Israel. Heaven came down for a moment, as Divinity lowered himself to Humanity just so he could share a meal — a meal that sealed the new covenant as surely as God’s “covenant of blood” in Exodus 24 sealed his covenant with the Israelites.
This is a passage the Westerners skip, but to the Jews, it was a critical part of their relationship with God.
(Zec 9:9-17 ESV) 9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. 12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. … 16 On that day the LORD their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land. 17 For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.
In a prophecy associated with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Zechariah declares that God will save Israel “because of the blood of my covenant”! Because of God’s blood oath at Mt. Sinai, he sent Jesus as king and to be crucified.
And I just love “like the jewels of a crown they shall shine in his land.” That’s us! We’re saved so that we can adorn God’s world like jewelry.
The new covenant in the blood of Jesus
So, speaking in atonement terms, how does “blood of the covenant” work to effect forgiveness and salvation? Well, God binds himself to a covenant to do exactly that. (It doesn’t have to be complicated, you know.) The covenant is sealed with blood and a common meal.
Jesus, when he initiated the Lord’s Supper, was saying exactly that. The new covenant, promised by Jeremiah, is now here. This is the meal where the representatives of Israel eat with God, and you’ll soon see the sacrifice and sprinkling of blood that will cleanse God’s people as well as confirming his commitment to the new covenant.
It actually makes quite a lot of sense if you think in terms of Torah and the Ancient Near East. I’m sure the apostles figured it made a lot of sense. The Gospel writers thought it was so obvious as to need no explanation.
Zechariah 9:10-11 Peace to the nations: The Messiah that came to Jerusalem 2000 years ago will come again. We see the dual prophecies of the Messiah, as both, suffering servant, and the returning conquering king. The prophecy of the first coming of the Messiah, when He is rejected and dies for the sins of the world, presents the Second Coming of the Messiah, when He comes in glory and power to rule and judge the nations.
After the Second Coming is when there will be peace in all the world.
Jesus entered Jerusalem as Israel’s King, the choice to accept or reject Him, was up to the people. Jesus was rejected by the Priesthood as King and died for our sins fulfilling the Isaiah’s prophecy regarding the suffering Messiah (Isaiah 53). The Messiah was killed, for the sins of Israel and for the world, bringing salvation not only to Judah, but the whole world.
Zechariah 9:10 Chariot, horse, battle bow: At the Second Coming, the nations of the earth are gathered together against Jerusalem, its at this point, the Jewish nation finally understands the Messiah, is no other than Jesus Christ, who had come to them and entered the city on a donkey at His first coming. It is during the second Coming they recognize Him and He returns in glory and power. The Kingdom of Christ will then be established, and peace will brought to the nations. His dominion will be throughout the earth, from sea to sea.
Zechariah 9:11-12 I will: The LORD calls to the Jewish people to return to their Stronghold and there is complete restoration in the nation of Israel.
Jeremiah 23:5-6 Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Ezekiel 39:25-28 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name—after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid. When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.
Zechariah 9:13 Judah, My bow: Judah is the Lord’s instrument of war against the nations. In the end, the nations despise Judah and Jerusalem, because they are sign of Messianic rule against the nations. Through God’s covenant relationship and promises the Lord will elevate an obedient Israel above the nations. The nations rage against Judah, and the Lord will judge the nations.
Zechariah 9:14 Blow the trumpet: Is when the Lord will appear in his Second Coming. The Lord returns in Glory and power to establish His kingdom and rule over all the earth.
Zechariah 9:15 Will defend them: In that day Israel will be empowered to defend herself against the nations, this is described in Zechariah 12:8.
Zechariah 12:8 In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them.
Zechariah 9:16 God will save them: When Christ returns, the nation of Israel will know that Jesus the Messiah, was God in the flesh, who died on the cross for the sins of the nation. In that day, the whole nation of Israel will recognize their Messiah and turn to the Lord. The flock of His people, the Jewish nation, are described as Jewels of a Crown, it’s at this point God keeps His covenant to bless the Jewish people, who now know their Messiah.
Zechariah 9:17 How great: The Messianic era will surpass any period known on the earth, in beauty and glory. The people will radiate, both men and women, both grain and wine will be a blessing to humanity in the age to come.
Zechariah 9:16-17 to the Gentiles (the Church), which was grafted into the blessings of Israel (Romans 11:11-36), this can also be an encouragement. For in the end all God’s actions lead up to the final triumph. And it is at this time that the Jewish people will be triumphant.
Some interesting thoughts on the “blood of the covenant” in the LS institution! Thanks.
“but also an oath of the most serious kind. This is much more than an agreement. Indeed, the prophets later refer to this ceremony as a marriage”.
I doubt Ancient Near Eastern covenants were somber and grim(unless I’m misunderstanding you).
Grace,
Do you really believe there are no Jews in the The Church? You call it the, “Gentiles (the Church)”. The scriptures state that the Gentiles were added to (the Church), the church was in existence prior to the Gentiles being added. Gentiles could not have been added to something that did not exist. What existed then was made up of totally Jews, The Messiahs hand picked and those whom they taught. In fact the church of today has never been referred to in scripture as The Gentiles Church.
You wrote this, which is not a quote from scripture, and it does not convey the same message that is found in Zechariah 9:9-17. In the text of that scripture it identifies that the time will begin with the event in, “behold, thy king cometh unto thee, he is triumphant, and victorious, lowly, and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of an ass.” Jews were obedient and followed the Messiah and the Gentiles were grafted into the kingdom, with the full benefits and identity as The Jews, just as you mentioned in your writing below.
Zechariah 9:16-17 to the Gentiles (the Church), which was grafted into the blessings of Israel (Romans 11:11-36), this can also be an encouragement. For in the end all God’s actions lead up to the final triumph. And it is at this time that the Jewish people will be triumphant.
Zechariah 9:17 How great: The Messianic era will surpass any period known on the earth, in beauty and glory. The people will radiate, both men and women, both grain and wine will be a blessing to humanity in the age to come.
It seems to me that you have excluded any Gentiles in this Messianic era, because you identify that the Jewish people will be triumphant, if that was your intention then unless you are a Jew you won’t be a part of this Messianic era.
Zec 9:16-17 JPS Jewish Publication Society
(16) And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people; for they shall be as the stones of a crown, glittering over His land.
(17) For how great is their goodness, and how great is their beauty! Corn shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the maids.
The quote of v16 is vastly different than the Jewish version above.
Zechariah 9:16 God will save them: When Christ returns, the nation of Israel will know that Jesus the Messiah, was God in the flesh, who died on the cross for the sins of the nation. In that day, the whole nation of Israel will recognize their Messiah and turn to the Lord. The flock of His people, the Jewish nation, are described as Jewels of a Crown, it’s at this point God keeps His covenant to bless the Jewish people, who now know their Messiah.
“Do you really believe there are no Jews in the The Church?”
No, I do not believe there are no Jews in the church. There are several people I attend church with who are Messianic Jews.
What a silly question to ask. You’ve seen plenty of my comments and I have never said the church is only Gentiles. I was including the Gentiles as there are passages in the Hebrew Scriptures and the NT about Gentiles in the church.
What I was stating is that Gentiles who are grafted into the blessings through Israel can also be encouraged in the end times prophecy of Zechariah 9.
Seems you just want to argue with me because I disagree with Jay’s and most likely the CofC camp’s interpretation of Zechariah 9.
The context of Zechariah 9 is about the nation of Israel the Jewish people, the end times, the Lord’s Second Coming and the final battle.
Zechariah 9:11-17 Jerusalem, we used blood to seal your agreement, so I am setting your people free from that empty hole in the ground. Prisoners, go home! Now you have something to hope for. I am telling you now, I am coming back to you. Judah, I will use you like a bow. Ephraim, I will use you like arrows. Israel, I will use you like a sword to fight against the men of Greece. The LORD will appear to them, and He will shoot His arrows like lightning. The Lord GOD will blow the trumpet, and the army will rush forward like a desert dust storm. The LORD All-Powerful will protect them. The soldiers will use rocks and slings to defeat the enemy. They will spill the blood of their enemies. It will flow like wine. It will be like the blood that is thrown on the corners of the altar! At that time the LORD their God will save His people like a shepherd saves his sheep. They will be very precious to Him. They will be like sparkling jewels in His land. Everything will be good and beautiful! There will be a wonderful crop, but it will not be just the food and wine. It will be all the young men and women!
Grace, just a question. Do you see the end times eschatology in the terms of a “Darby” style or other dispensationalism (Revelation interpretation)? That would help me understand your basis for seeing the restoration of a physical nation of Israel, which would then in most dispensation viewpoints restore temple worship and sacrifice. Abram is the father of ALL who believe, outside of Israel. Of course, Israel was blessed, and Romans 9-11 makes clear the REMNANT continues to be blessed (note the Hosea and Isaiah quotes) through faith. Israel by and large has been hardened (Rom. 11:7). We Gentiles were grafted in (Rom.11:17). To Israel, who rejected the Messiah, Paul says, “God is abler to graft them in again (v.23), that is thru the Messiah, but not on the basis of a national/racial heritage. Yes, all Israel will be saved (v.26), but Israel is a nation of faith, not flesh.
Way too short to fully “flesh” out, but basic groundwork.
AMEN to John. See my comment on the next post (comment #3).
As I see it the most difficult portion of God’s Word for man to understand is that God is a Spirit and we who are physical have been reborn into the Spirit realm. In the Spirit realm we are in God’s image. The only time God was physical was as his Son. Mankind who have not been empowered by the Spirit cannot comprehend the Spiritual realm.
Therefore, there is a very great struggle within the physical man to apply Spiritual communications into his understanding of the physical.
Stephen, while being stoned to death, commended his Spirit into The Lord.
(Acts 7:59 KJV) And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
The Spirit did not die, but the physical did.
The promises that God made to his chosen, were to the Spiritual man who became his servant. It is only through the Spirit, that man can fully understand the messages about the spiritual realm, which were displayed to man through the only means that the physical man could understand, communications about his physical surroundings.
We can only become like God or His risen Son by becoming a born again Spiritual being, and our temporary home this physical body will display characteristics of what we have become on the inside. Of course, the opposite is also true, if our physical body does not display characteristics of God or Christ, then we have not become a spiritual being in God’s image.
I think the phrase “all Israel will be saved” means that there will be a day when the Jews at large will except Jesus as their awaited messiah through faith. Then they’ll say “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” as Christ prophesied.
R. J.,
As you speak of the phrase “all Israel will be saved” do you apply that to just the living Israelites when that day arrives that those living become to believe, or is that phrase applied to whole of the nationality of Israel? If it applies only to those who are alive who through some event become to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, how could that be construed to be “all Israel”? If it really does mean “all Israel” as a nationality that existed from Abraham, then must this also apply to Herod the Great, Achan, the son of Carmi, King Ahab the son of Omri, All of the wicked sinful kings of Israel, Judas Iscariot and the list of offenders of God’s rules which would create a very large record, all were Israelites, part of the nation. Most of these were just as rebellious to God as the nations God required them to destroy. Will those wicked men who were part of the Israelite Nation also be saved? If not, upon what basis will they be denied? Then is there another classification to the term “all Israel”?