MP 422 Transition Period
Transition Period: A period of time between one thing and another.
If you haven't noticed yet, Grace Bible Institute is different than most Bible Colleges in that we divide our studies not between Old and New Covenant Studies, but between Israel's Prophecy Program and the Body of Christ's Mystery Program.
You should divide separate the Old and New Covenants, because they are not the same. The problem is that most people in the body of Christ today do not know who the New Covenant is written to.
The phrase New Covenant appear only four times in scripture, and only in two books that are both written to Jews. The first time is in the book of Jeremiah (part of the Old Covenant) and it is a prophecy about the new covenant that is better than the old one:
Jeremiah 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
If I was to ask a nine year old who the new covenant was made with after reading that verse to them they would say 100 times out of 100, that it was made with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.
If I was to ask a Seminary graduate the exact same question, he or she, would say it was made with the body of Christ, and they would begin to wax eloquent in Greek and Hebrew about how that what Jeremiah really meant was that God had really made a New Covenant with with the Church, the body of Christ.
The other three times the words New Covenant are mentioned in scripture are all in the same book entitled, get this, HEBREWS. Who do you think the HEBREWS are?
They are Jews from the house of Israel, and the house of Judah, not the Church, the body of Christ. Lets look where these only other verses that mention the phrase New Covenant are found:
Hebrews 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
The author, not Paul, said God found fault with Israel and that in the future the days shall come when he will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
Hebrews 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
Notice what is said by the writer of the book of Hebrews concerning the old covenant, he said that in his day (the author's) that the old covenant ws decaying, waxing old and was ready to vanish away.
He did not say it had totally vanished away at the time of his writing this epistle. This proves an early date for the writing of this epistle as opposed to a later one as many suppose.
Hebrews 2:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
At the point where these two programs meet (Mystery and Prophesy) is where you will find what we have labeled as a transition period. A transition from Israel's Prophecy Program to the Church's Mystery Program.
Did Israel's program come screaching to a halt when they crucified the Christ? Scripture doesn't support that. Israel's program did not come to and end at the Jewish Feast of Pentecost?
Pentecost was not the birthday of the Church as many falsely teach with no support for it from the scriptures at all. Israel was baptized with the Holy Spirit on that day as promised in Joel 2 but that was a fulfillment of something old, not the begining of something new.
The mystery program given to the apostle of the Gentiles didn't come about until after Saul of Tarsus got saved, which was still a ways off.
If the Church began on Pentecost, someone forgot to tell the twelve apostles because they kept right on fulfilling prophecies connected with Israel.
The church was added to, it did not begin. You cannot add something to something that does not exist yet. People who had gotten saved on Pentecost were added to the remnant/little flock mentioned in the gospels.
Israel's program was not transitioning into the Church the body of Christ. The Body of Christ was a new creature made possible by Christ being raised from the dead. All who believe in Jesus Christ's death, burial and resurrection since Saul believe become a member of the body of Christ.
