NO COVENANT FOR GENTILES?!!

[Arial]

There are a number of threads started on the forum by @jeremiah1five that put forth the heresy that non-Jewish believers have no covenant with God. That the New Covenant is only for the Jews. He refers to non-Jewish believers as the Gentile church, and often speaks of it with contempt, even suggesting that they will array themselves against Israel in battle and Jesus will burn them up. All this is presented as though it is from the very mouth of God. I am not coming against the poster but against the teaching and directing this thread to that teaching by the @ above, and because it is a rule to do so.

This is a terrible and dangerous teaching, capable, if possible, (which means it is not possible praise to the God who keeps His people), of shaking the very trust one is to have in God. As though if we are not Jewish, we believe in vain. The purpose of this post is to put that to rest by Scripture itself.

The teaching re-erects the dividing wall between Israel and the other nations that Jesus has torn down. Eph 2:11-22 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands---remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

In His flesh, Christ tore down that wall. To deny this, is to take away from the power and glory of Christ.

The church of Christ, the body of Christ, is invisible, in that it is not contained only within visible congregations. It is made up of all the called in Christ, all believers. And it is not divided into Jewish believers and Gentile believers. The New Covenant is not only for Jews as is claimed. The New Covenant is a covenant with believers. There is no such thing as the Gentile church, so even though those threads claiming such a thing exists, is often placed in apologetics, there is no whole counsel of God apologetics involved in the teaching. Even though many scriptures on the subject of covenant and the New and Old covenants, and on non-Jews being in covenant with God could be brought to bear, I will not fill the thread with reams of them. They can be brought forth as necessary if there are any comments. The one given in Eph summarizes the issue perfectly. Operating from a premise of something that does not exist (a Gentile church) renders everything said about it null and void. It is nothing more than using scripture as confirmation bias, while ignoring or twisting everything into that bias in interpretation, those scriptures that deny the existence of a Gentile church.

Why is covenant, and being in a covenant with God so important? Why does not being in a covenant with God pull the rug out from under everything we are taught on the person and work of Jesus in the Scripture? Why does removing the covenant relationship between the non-Jewish believer and God shatter the very thing we are told to do and were told to do at creation---to trust God, put our faith in Him and through this faith and trust, obey Him?

Covenant is a very personal relationship between parties---the one who makes the covenant, and the ones in that covenant with the covenant maker. In the covenant of redemption, or the covenant of grace as the New Covenant is called, we have a different type of covenant than the Mosaic covenant and that has a different goal, and accomplishes that goal. The Mosaic covenant contained a written code of laws, and a penal code for disobedience, and blessings/promises for obedience. It was between God and national Israel alone. In it was such an intimate personal relationship if faith were attached to the obedience, that in the Psalms in particular we see expressions of this Father/child, covenant language. What we see in the OC regarding Israel is what a covenant relationship is---how God relates to His covenant people---and how faithful He is to His promises. It is His promises that are the anchor to our faith.

What was in the OC and what purpose was it serving if there was also to be a New Covenant? To dig into that is far too comprehensive to include in this thread and is not the purpose of this thread. So briefly we know things from the NT that were shrouded in mystery when the old was in place. The OC was temporary. It gave perfect obedience to God as a way of eternal life, but it did not itself provide eternal life, but rather brought awareness of what righteousness is and therefore what sin is, and it condemned rather than saved to eternal life. In short, it made it known that we are helpless to achieve righteousness---and only perfect righteousness attains to eternal life----in ourselves and our need for a rescuer. It was temporary until the fullness of the Gentiles would come in. This could mean the full and exact number of the Gentiles, and it does, but it is not restricted to the Gentiles. When saying "Gentiles" it most likely means until the time for the Gentiles those outside natural Israel who were not in a covenant relationship to Him, to be brought into covenant with Him. The New Covenant. The promises given in the OC in large part had to do with keeping the land, and having God as covenant protector and provider, but it also had to do with the Redeemer coming from their midst, which was prophesied many times over.

What is the promise(s) of the New covenant? Eternal life. An eternal covenant and something only God can give. And this covenant has no written code, as the old did, it is through faith alone, and that faith is counted as righteousness. John 5:39-40 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The NC promises eternal life in the kingdom of God and the restoration of all things. Romans 8:18-25. It promises a new heaven and a new earth, where there is no sin, no evil, no deceiver, inhabited by only those who are made righteous by the washing of the blood of the Lamb, all creation restored and the lion lies down with the lamb. And most glorious of all, where God dwells with us, and we with Him just as Adam and Eve did before they fell. All sorrow gone, all tears wiped away, no more death, no more sickness.

If the non-Jewish believer is not in this covenant relationship they have no covenant promise, they have no hope, no reason to press forward to attain the prize. No reason to persevere for the hope of their preservation is not a promise to them. No reason for joy, no reason for worship or prayer, no reason to trust God and nothing to trust in. And we know that is not true for the Bible tells us so. The New Covenant is not made with Jew or Gentile, it is a covenant made with believers. Those called by God, given to the Son, sealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit, to be adopted into His household. He is Father to all who believe in the person and work of Jesus.

 

[Josheb]

There are a number of threads started on the forum by @jeremiah1five that put forth the heresy that non-Jewish believers have no covenant with God. That the New Covenant is only for the Jews..

Both premises are laughable on their face.

There were no Jews in existence when God promised Adam and Eve the woman's seed (Christ) would crush the head of the serpent (the devil). Nor were there any Jews in existence when God initiated His covenant with Abraham and all the mentioned of the covenant in the Law (when Jews did exist) are references to the earlier covenant (when there were no Jews).

There are NO Jews (or Gentiles ) in Christ.

Romans 1:1-7
Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that, of course, is why Paul must be marginalized. We can't have God making covenants with Gentiles so Paul must not have known what he was talking about. They are called of Christ (but have no covenant). A covenant-less call.


pfffft!

Romans 3:27-30
Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.


Did you know there is not a single verse in the entire Bible that explicitly states there is a covenant with Gentiles?

Did you know there is not a single verse in the entire Bible that explicitly states there is a covenant with Jews, either?


These facts will not make any difference to Judaizers.

 

[jeremiah1five]

Have faith in God.

 

[Arial]

Both premises are laughable on their face.

There were no Jews in existence when God promised Adam and Eve the woman's seed (Christ) would crush the head of the serpent (the devil). Nor were there any Jews in existence when God initiated His covenant with Abraham and all the mentioned of the covenant in the Law (when Jews did exist) are references to the earlier covenant (when there were no Jews).

There are NO Jews (or Gentiles ) in Christ.

Romans 1:1-7
Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that, of course, is why Paul must be marginalized. We can't have God making covenants with Gentiles so Paul must not have known what he was talking about. They are called of Christ (but have no covenant). A covenant-less call.


pfffft!

Romans 3:27-30
Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.


Did you know there is not a single verse in the entire Bible that explicitly states there is a covenant with Gentiles?

Did you know there is not a single verse in the entire Bible that explicitly states there is a covenant with Jews, either?


These facts will not make any difference to Judaizers.

Romans 9:22-25


What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25As indeed he says in Hosea,


“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

 

[Mr GLee]

Have faith in God.

Coming from God and not from dying mankind ?

Cant have faith (understanding) in or towards eternal God unless the powerful one first gives us his power or faith that works in us

Dying mankind will not be found with any righteousness of their own.

Of then in. Completing the circuit

Philippians 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

His power not of our own selves (powerless) lest any man boast in false pride

 

[EarlyActs]

There are a number of threads started on the forum by @jeremiah1five that put forth the heresy that non-Jewish believers have no covenant with God. That the New Covenant is only for the Jews. He refers to non-Jewish believers as the Gentile church, and often speaks of it with contempt, even suggesting that they will array themselves against Israel in battle and Jesus will burn them up. All this is presented as though it is from the very mouth of God. I am not coming against the poster but against the teaching and directing this thread to that teaching by the @ above, and because it is a rule to do so.

This is a terrible and dangerous teaching, capable, if possible, (which means it is not possible praise to the God who keeps His people), of shaking the very trust one is to have in God. As though if we are not Jewish, we believe in vain. The purpose of this post is to put that to rest by Scripture itself.

The teaching re-erects the dividing wall between Israel and the other nations that Jesus has torn down. Eph 2:11-22 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands---remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

In His flesh, Christ tore down that wall. To deny this, is to take away from the power and glory of Christ.

The church of Christ, the body of Christ, is invisible, in that it is not contained only within visible congregations. It is made up of all the called in Christ, all believers. And it is not divided into Jewish believers and Gentile believers. The New Covenant is not only for Jews as is claimed. The New Covenant is a covenant with believers. There is no such thing as the Gentile church, so even though those threads claiming such a thing exists, is often placed in apologetics, there is no whole counsel of God apologetics involved in the teaching. Even though many scriptures on the subject of covenant and the New and Old covenants, and on non-Jews being in covenant with God could be brought to bear, I will not fill the thread with reams of them. They can be brought forth as necessary if there are any comments. The one given in Eph summarizes the issue perfectly. Operating from a premise of something that does not exist (a Gentile church) renders everything said about it null and void. It is nothing more than using scripture as confirmation bias, while ignoring or twisting everything into that bias in interpretation, those scriptures that deny the existence of a Gentile church.

Why is covenant, and being in a covenant with God so important? Why does not being in a covenant with God pull the rug out from under everything we are taught on the person and work of Jesus in the Scripture? Why does removing the covenant relationship between the non-Jewish believer and God shatter the very thing we are told to do and were told to do at creation---to trust God, put our faith in Him and through this faith and trust, obey Him?

Covenant is a very personal relationship between parties---the one who makes the covenant, and the ones in that covenant with the covenant maker. In the covenant of redemption, or the covenant of grace as the New Covenant is called, we have a different type of covenant than the Mosaic covenant and that has a different goal, and accomplishes that goal. The Mosaic covenant contained a written code of laws, and a penal code for disobedience, and blessings/promises for obedience. It was between God and national Israel alone. In it was such an intimate personal relationship if faith were attached to the obedience, that in the Psalms in particular we see expressions of this Father/child, covenant language. What we see in the OC regarding Israel is what a covenant relationship is---how God relates to His covenant people---and how faithful He is to His promises. It is His promises that are the anchor to our faith.

What was in the OC and what purpose was it serving if there was also to be a New Covenant? To dig into that is far too comprehensive to include in this thread and is not the purpose of this thread. So briefly we know things from the NT that were shrouded in mystery when the old was in place. The OC was temporary. It gave perfect obedience to God as a way of eternal life, but it did not itself provide eternal life, but rather brought awareness of what righteousness is and therefore what sin is, and it condemned rather than saved to eternal life. In short, it made it known that we are helpless to achieve righteousness---and only perfect righteousness attains to eternal life----in ourselves and our need for a rescuer. It was temporary until the fullness of the Gentiles would come in. This could mean the full and exact number of the Gentiles, and it does, but it is not restricted to the Gentiles. When saying "Gentiles" it most likely means until the time for the Gentiles those outside natural Israel who were not in a covenant relationship to Him, to be brought into covenant with Him. The New Covenant. The promises given in the OC in large part had to do with keeping the land, and having God as covenant protector and provider, but it also had to do with the Redeemer coming from their midst, which was prophesied many times over.

What is the promise(s) of the New covenant? Eternal life. An eternal covenant and something only God can give. And this covenant has no written code, as the old did, it is through faith alone, and that faith is counted as righteousness. John 5:39-40 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The NC promises eternal life in the kingdom of God and the restoration of all things. Romans 8:18-25. It promises a new heaven and a new earth, where there is no sin, no evil, no deceiver, inhabited by only those who are made righteous by the washing of the blood of the Lamb, all creation restored and the lion lies down with the lamb. And most glorious of all, where God dwells with us, and we with Him just as Adam and Eve did before they fell. All sorrow gone, all tears wiped away, no more death, no more sickness.

If the non-Jewish believer is not in this covenant relationship they have no covenant promise, they have no hope, no reason to press forward to attain the prize. No reason to persevere for the hope of their preservation is not a promise to them. No reason for joy, no reason for worship or prayer, no reason to trust God and nothing to trust in. And we know that is not true for the Bible tells us so. The New Covenant is not made with Jew or Gentile, it is a covenant made with believers. Those called by God, given to the Son, sealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit, to be adopted into His household. He is Father to all who believe in the person and work of Jesus.

The Servant was made a covenant for the nations--Isaiah. That draws Genesis references to the Seed all together in one line.

 

[Josheb]

The Servant was made a covenant for the nations--Isaiah. That draws Genesis references to the Seed all together in one line.

Yes, and those in Christ are God's holy nation (1 Pet. 2:9). Christians are the kingdom of priests God foretold in Exodus 19. The messianic prophecies are fulfilled by Jesus, not Israel.

 

[eclipseEventSigns]

There's so much spaghetti logic by everyone in this thread. The truth of the matter is not fully described by anyone...yet. The heresy that is being espoused has a kernel of truth that others do not appreciate. But it is heresy when it is taken to the level that has been very forcefully and haughtily described. But it matters not because no one is really in a teachable frame of mind. So it's just very earthly fighting with words.

 

[Josheb]

There's so much spaghetti logic by everyone in this thread. The truth of the matter is not fully described by anyone...yet. The heresy that is being espoused has a kernel of truth that others do not appreciate. But it is heresy when it is taken to the level that has been very forcefully and haughtily described. But it matters not because no one is really in a teachable frame of mind. So it's just very earthly fighting with words.

Got anything op-relevant to contribute to the thread? If so, then please do so because ad hominem fails.

 

[eclipseEventSigns]

Got anything op-relevant to contribute to the thread? If so, then please do so because ad hominem fails.

Same to you. Got anything relevant to say? Hmmmm?

 

[Josheb]

Same to you. Got anything relevant to say? Hmmmm?

That is not an answer to my question and yours was already answered before it was asked in Post 2. So let's try the unanswered question again.


Have you anything op-relevant to contribute to the thread? If so, then please post it.

 

[eclipseEventSigns]

That is not an answer to my question and yours was already answered before it was asked in Post 2. So let's try the unanswered question again.


Have you anything op-relevant to contribute to the thread? If so, then please post it.

That you don't recognize or accept my post as an answer to your irrelevant observations is telling everyone what is so plainly obvious.

 

[Arial]

There's so much spaghetti logic by everyone in this thread. The truth of the matter is not fully described by anyone...yet. The heresy that is being espoused has a kernel of truth that others do not appreciate. But it is heresy when it is taken to the level that has been very forcefully and haughtily described. But it matters not because no one is really in a teachable frame of mind. So it's just very earthly fighting with words.

OP relevance?

 

[eclipseEventSigns]

OP relevance?

You are calling out heresy. I'm pointing out the fact that all the others who are pointing the fingers and throwing stones are guilty of the same thing.

 

[Arial]

You are calling out heresy. I'm pointing out the fact that all the others who are pointing the fingers and throwing stones are guilty of the same thing.

Your first post states that there is spaghetti logic (whatever that is) in the thread. What is the spaghetti logic and how would you fix it? It would seem that is what your post should be.

The OP does point out a heresy if that is what you mean by "calling out". I do not see anyone pointing fingers and throwing stones. So what are you referring to? It did show up, but only after your first post.

 

[Mr GLee]

Yes, and those in Christ are God's holy nation (1 Pet. 2:9). Christians are the kingdom of priests God foretold in Exodus 19. The messianic prophecies are fulfilled by Jesus, not Israel.

Yes, Jesus the Christ, the anointing Holy Spirit of eternal God and not Jesus the Son of man, dying mankind. They must be distinguish one from the other or mankind worships the temoral creature seen above the unseen Faithful Creator. Spoken of in Romans 1 the wrath of the invisible Creator

I would offer fulfilled not after any man creature but after the unseen eternal Faithful Creator . . . . . the Holy Spirit of Christ .

An example below.The disciples were looking to the temporal things seen and not the unseen spiritual understanding in that parble .

A lesson he teaches all his disciples, eat the right kind of food, both kinds Body and soul . . . walk by faith after the unseen things of labors of God, or called a work of his powerful faith . The "let there be " and "it was God alone good" kind.

Not the temporal what the eyes see . Yoked with him our daily burdens can be lighter with a living abiding hope beyond the grave .

John 4:32-34King James Version32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work

The Father gave him meat to eat what I call hidden manna, our daily bread. The what is your will????? kind of bread

Manna literally "What is it"???????

 

[Josheb]

That you don't recognize or accept my post as an answer to your irrelevant observations is telling everyone what is so plainly obvious.

Thank you for your time but, reading nothing op-relevant in posts 8, 10, 12, and 14, and only attacks on the posters, I won't be replying further to your posts in this thread.

 

[Mr GLee]

Have faith in God.

Where and from whom would kind of faith come from? The unseen things revealed, come from God not from dying mankind the temporal seen.

 

[eclipseEventSigns]

Your first post states that there is spaghetti logic (whatever that is) in the thread. What is the spaghetti logic and how would you fix it? It would seem that is what your post should be.

The OP does point out a heresy if that is what you mean by "calling out". I do not see anyone pointing fingers and throwing stones. So what are you referring to? It did show up, but only after your first post.

Refer to post # 2 and post #6. nuf said.

 

[Josheb]

cheese peas! I cannot believe I forgot the following!

There are covenants implied prior to this occasion, but the first time the word "covenant" is explicitly used in the Bible is at Genesis 6:8

Genesis 6:18
But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

That covenant destroys all other people but the ones mentioned (all of whom are Gentiles, btw). An elaboration of that covenant occurs a couple of chapters later in Genesis 9.

Genesis 9:1-17 (excerpted for the sake of space)
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.... Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man. As for you, be fruitful and multiply; populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it." Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, "Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth." God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth."

This covenant is explicitly stated to be made by God with all Noah's descendants, and since the flood destroyed everyone but Noah and his seven family members, that means God made that covenant with all humans. The mention of "all flesh" precludes any interpretation of a select group based on other promise or the faith of the individual. The covenant is not made solely with humans; all the creatures of the earth and the earth itself are included in this covenant. It's not a Hebrew thing, nor a Jewish thing. This is what God told Moses to tell the Jews (assuming the tradition asserting Moses as the author of the Pentateuch is correct and true).

Now..... skipping ahead to the New Testament's epistolary, Peter tells us something about this covenant.

1 Peter 3:18-22
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you — not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience — through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.

2 Peter 2:4-11
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.

To John was revealed the following....

Revelation 10:1-11 (excerpted for the sake of space)
I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire; and he had in his hand a little book which was open............. Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, "Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel.... I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And they said to me, "You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings."

The messenger of God, whose crown is the rainbow, possesses a book filled with prophecies about many peoples, not just Hebrews or Jews.


The episode of the flood and the covenant God made with Noah, his family, and all mankind foreshadows two Christological conditions. The first is salvation through Christ's resurrection, and the second is judgment. The same God who saves also destroys. The same cross that saves also condemns. There is a covenant with the Gentiles. It is a covenant God initiated with all mankind, whether Hebrew, Jew, or Gentile. There is no Jew or Greek in Christ.