Introduction: A Radiant Intention
Across history leading up to current times, myself as well as many of you have been taught to divide the story of God: Old Testament vs New Testament. Law versus Grace. Chosen people of Israel versus the Christ-centered Church. Commandments given at Sinai versus the Death on the Cross at Calvary.
However!! I believe this fragmentation has caused all of our generations to miss the larger revealing picture — that there is actually ONE continuous story,
ONE thread,
ONE divine revelation unfolding through time.
“Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
Deuteronomy 6:4
To recover this Oneness is to recover the heart of the biblical drama: a God who reveals light, a people who struggle with embodying the light, a Messiah who transforms humanity from within through healing, and a destiny in which humanity shines with the radiance of the Law written within
“Behold, days are coming when I will make a new agreement — not like the agreement I made with their fathers — for they broke My agreement — but this is the covenant I will make: I will put My Law WITHIN them. Yes, I will write it on their heart. I will be their God and they will be My people.”
Jeremiah 31:30-32
The Radiant Covenant as I’ve named it proposes this single truth:
that the chosen people were meant to be an example, a light unto others via their devotion to and relationship with the One, True, Living God. We are talking about the Creator of the whole universe!
“Now then, if you listen closely to My voice, and keep My covenant, then you will be My own treasure among all people, for all the earth is Mine.
So as for you, you will be to Me a kingdom of teachers and a holy nation.’”
Exodus 19:5-6 TLV
HOWEVER.
Human nature governed under supernatural Law is a spiritual pressure-cooker. No man on Earth is perfect. And after we fall below a moral expectation, all we feel is guilt, shame, trauma, fear, or death. If we understand the historical context of the times when God gave his divine instruction to Moses, there was war. famine. powerful rising empires and kingdoms. spiritual ideals were appealing, but God’s promises spoken through His Prophets felt more and more like a pipe-dream. Many of the time tried living up to the standard, but failure was inevitable when staring in the face of war and slavery.
Therefore, Israel’s heart weakened, their faith wavered, and thus their calling became impossible to attain, dooming the rest of humanity who already worshipped anything and everything but the One Creator. Can we say God failed? Did Man fail?
Unlikely. God is whole & one, and humanity is a new creation never seen before. The Torah (Law) creates structure and obedience; however, the Law doesn’t heal what breaks. Usually, it always shames it. And that just doesn’t work on the Human Heart.
