“Throughout history, the law became a stumbling stone for Israel. This excessive dependence upon external righteousness remains visible even today within many religious communities. Israel’s error was not the law itself, which is holy and good, but the attempt to attain righteousness and salvation through the works of the law rather than through faith. Yet this tendency is not unique to Israel. The same principle of self-righteousness can become a stumbling stone even for those who are already within the new covenant.”

In that coming day, the LORD will cleanse the land and remove its iniquity “in a single day.” From that moment forward, there will no longer be merely a remnant within Israel, but the whole nation — “from the least to the greatest” — will know the LORD. Israel will finally be preserved in holiness as a priestly nation and become an example to all peoples during the reign of Messiah over the earth.

Do we really have two covenants in opposition and contrast, or rather one eternal covenant with different facets that progressively unfolds and renews itself in order to fulfill God’s purposes and demonstrate His faithfulness?

“Abraham staked his entire life—and that of his covenantal son—on the dream given to him through promises: the city whose builder and maker is God.”

Passover & the Return of Messiah: The holy plot twist, and what it means for the next time He'll part creation to make a passageway.

If we want to have clarity today and endurance through our remaining tomorrows, we would do well to become literate in the prophets ourselves, remembering a critical principle: The Scriptures are no ordinary texts vulnerable to the scrutiny of our own wavering criticisms; we must submit to the Scriptures. The Scriptures are under no burden to submit to us.

“The prophets and the apostles had access to that pain, they embraced it as their own, they felt it, and contrary to any intuition it obviously sustained them. It is counterintuitive and paradoxical indeed that pain could sustain, and build-up character. Unless that pain is the expression of undying love…”