When was the New Covenant made available to the human race?

The bible makes it very clear That the New Covenant or Testament could not even start until after Christ's Death.

Heb. 9:16-17, "For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth."

Now I do believe that the New Covenant or Testament took place on the day of Pentecost.

Even Christ told his Disciples that He must die before the Holy Spirit could live within and abide in them.

John 16:7, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you."

This fact is an extremely important aspect of truth that needs to be understood and embraced.

To have a good understanding of the New Covenant we need to know when it was established and made available to the human race.

* edited spelling and title.

I am saying that before the day of Pentecost that no one had the possibility of being indwelt by Christ Himself or The Holy Spirit.

Now the Holy Spirit was given out to certain individuals at certain times but even then He was never a permanent resident within anybody.

Heb. 11:39, "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."

Before the day of Pentecost it was impossible to receive this promise.

Even the Disciples themselves did not truly become Christians till the day of Pentecost.

Consider the fact that Judas Iscariot had also been given power to heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead but there had clearly been no change in his nature.

Look what Jesus said to Peter.

Luke 22:32, "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."

It was impossible for even them to experience the New Nature as the result of Christ Himself living and abiding in them before the day of Pentecost.

"I am saying that before the day of Pentecost that no one had the possibility of being indwelt by Christ Himself or The Holy Spirit."

actually, that's not correct. This scripture shows the disciples received the Spirit BEFORE Pentecost. The disciples where "filled" here, and "baptized" on Pentecost.

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
(Joh 20:19-22)

https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=46378&forum=34&0

Christ did give them the Holy Spirit so they could do miracles in His name.

They still did not receive the promise of the ever present Holy Spirit dwelling within them. It was also impossible for them to have Christ truly dwelling within them.

They could not yet participate in Christ's divine nature. Like all old testament saints their sins were only covered, not yet totally taken away.

They did not yet have a new heart or a new Spirit and where not yet converted. They where not new creations in Christ until the day of Pentecost.

Only after Christ death and resurrection was the New Covenant enacted. Until Pentecost they all lived under the old Covenant.

Actually, the verse I posted where Jesus breathed on the disciples to receive the Holy Spirit in John 20, happened after Jesus was resurrected. It's quite clear that this is when they were indwelt with the Holy Spirit.

You said: "They could not yet participate in Christ's divine nature. Like all old testament saints their sins were only covered, not yet totally taken away.

They did not yet have a new heart or a new Spirit and where not yet converted. They where not new creations in Christ until the day of Pentecost.

Only after Christ death and resurrection was the New Covenant enacted. Until Pentecost they all lived under the old Covenant."

I can't find any scripture to support what you are saying.

I disagree with you on this.

"What Jesus said in John 20:22 was simply a promise of the Holy Spirit; the disciples did not receive the Holy Spirit at that moment…The statement was a pledge…that would be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost." (John MacArthur)

The arrival of the Holy Spirit was predicated upon Christ’s glorification. "But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John. 7:39). The completion of Christ’s earthly work, the Ascension (which had yet to occur) was on Jesus’ mind when He prayed in John 17 (verses 1-5, 24) to regain the glory He had with the Father before the world began.

If the Holy Spirit was fully given in John 20:22 as some believe, the results are disappointing. Little spiritual change appears to occur as the disciples are still meeting behind locked doors in fear, they are found in their old employment playing their old comparison games. Furthermore, Jesus still needs to restore Peter from his sin of denial and Thomas’ faith is predicated on his sight, not the internal witness of the Spirit. This is a far cry from the events recorded in Acts after the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost which includes, by contrast, suffering for Christ, great boldness and unceasing proclamation of the Gospel.

"What Jesus said in John 20:22 was simply a promise of the Holy Spirit; the disciples did not receive the Holy Spirit at that moment…The statement was a pledge…that would be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost." (John MacArthur)

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. (Joh 20:22)

It doesn't say "receive a pledge of things to come". It says "Receive the Holy Spirit". We should take Jesus at His word.

What the disciples and other believers received in Acts was what John spoke of when he said:

I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (Mar 1:8)

In the book of Acts, each time a disciple received the Holy Spirit, it was evidenced by a visible outward sign; most notably tongues and prophesying. So are you saying that when a believer is converted they should manifest one of these outward signs as evidence of their salvation?...because that is what happened in Acts when someone received the Holy Spirit.

Also, notice this passage:

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, (Act 8:14-18)

These people in Samaria had already received the word of God concerning Jesus Christ. Tuc, if I take what your saying to be true, then these people could not be saved by their faith in Jesus. They had to wait until the apostles laid hands on them to receive the indwelling Spirit. Thus faith in Christ is not enough.. one must have faith plus the laying on of hands by an apostle to be saved. In other words, it makes the apostles the actual dispensers of salvation through the laying on of hands.

This thread is about when the New Covenant was made available to the human race.

You are free to start a new thread about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and outward signs if you so wish.

The new Covenant is in reality Christ himself dwelling and living within the believer.

Col. 1:26-27, "Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:"

Now how could the New Covenant start in John 20:22?
Christ is standing there. He had not yet been glorified.
He could NOT impart His very life to them at this time.

Thomas was not there when John 20:22 took place.

Peter had not yet been restored.

It is simple, no old testament Saint never knew the reality of Christ Himself dwelling and abiding in them. It was impossible.

I say again that the New Covenant did not start before the day of Pentecost.

Hi Tuc,

You said: "You are free to start a new thread about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and outward signs if you so wish."

That wasn't my intent. What I wrote was just the logical conclusion of what you have stated. So the passage I quoted from Acts 8; do you think believers in Samaria who had believed Phillips preaching about Christ..... do you think they were saved when they believe or when the apostles laid hands on them to receive the Spirit. I'm trying to find out how this passage fits with what you are saying.

Thanks....

The New Covenant was made available to all of mankind on the the day of Pentecost.

All I am saying is that no one in Samaria or anywhere else could ever experience the reality of Christ before that event.

If you have questions about Acts 8 please start a new thread.

Hi Tuc,

If you don't want to answer the question, that's ok. When someone post a scripture or teaching regarding something they believe, there are always implications to what they believe. What I get from what you are saying is that what the disciples received at pentecost was the "infilling" of the Spirit and not the Baptism of the Spirit. You are saying that essentially the disciples were still "in their sins" until pentecost, as you state here:

"They could not yet participate in Christ's divine nature. Like all old testament saints their sins were only covered, not yet totally taken away."

Since you equate the receiving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost with the removal of sins...I'm trying to ask you to explain how this works. When I bring up Act's 8 it's in relation to this discussion and what you are putting forth. So I'm trying to understand if you think those in Acts 8, who have believe in Jesus Christ, were still in their sins until they received the Holy Spirit, which then removed their sins? Does that make sense? I'm trying to take what you say happened in Acts 2 with the disciples, and see how that is understood in the other accounts in Acts; particularly in Acts 8.

Again, I'm not diverting the topic or trying to start a new one, just trying to understand what you are saying. I apologize if my post came off as trying to divert your thread. Definitely wasn't my intention.

Lets us look at The New Covenant

These Scriptures talk about the New Covenant.

Jer. 32:39-40, "I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good, and I will put the fear of me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from me."

Ezek. 36:25-27, "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean, I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols. Moreover I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances."

Deut. 30:6, "And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou may live."

Jer. 24:7, "And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart."

Jer. 31:31-34, "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: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Ezek. 11:19-20 "And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God."

Heb. 8:8b, "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: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people."

Rom 6:3-7, "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin."

The disciples like all old testament saints did have their sins covered but they were not totally taken away until the day of Pentecost.

No old testament saint could truly receive Christ Himself
living within them as a reality.

I do not consider the Disciples as true Christians because it was impossible for them to have Christ within them before.

Now Acts 8 took place after the day of Pentecost so the New Covenant was totally available to any person who beloved.

Look at Acts 15:8, "And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith."

The Gentiles entered the New Covenant by faith and instantly received a new and clean heart.

Look at what AbideinHim just posted

"The Christian life is not an imitation of Christ, but a direct new creation in Christ, and the union with Christ is so complete that He imparts His own nature to us and lives His own life in us. This, then, is not an imitation but simply the outgrowth of the nature implanted within.

We live Christlike because we have the Christ-life. God is not satisfied with anything less than perfection. He required that from His Son. He requires it from us, and He does not, in the process of grace, reduce the standard, but He brings us up to it. He does not let down the righteousness of the law, but He requires of us a righteousness that far exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, and then He imparts it to us. He counts us righteous in sanctification, and He says of the new creation, He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous (I John 3:7).

Lord, live out Thy very life in me."

This is true Christianity.

When do you say that this Christ-Life was made available to all of mankind?

*edit added statement

Here is what Ron Bailey, a very respected teacher here on SI wrote in his book THE BETTER COVENANT.

"Judaism regards, quite rightly, the Sinai Covenant as the beginning of the nation's unique identity. Judaism also regards the Jewish feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, as the anniversary of the giving of the Law. It is called the feast of weeks because it takes place after 7 times 7 days after Passover. Christians know it better as the 'fiftieth day' or in Greek, Pentecost. Christ died at the time of Passover, and fifty days later "when the day of Pentecost had fully come..." there was an amazing event which included fire and wind, those ancient attendants of the Exodus, and God arriving in the person of the Holy Spirit to take up residence in his new temple. The same God who had been resident in the Person of his Son had come to take up residence in a New Covenant people. Initially it would be a remnant of the house of Israel and the house of Judah but soon it would include a unique and secret ingredient; ...the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, Eph 3:4-6 NKJV. The new temple of the Church was created to fulfil God's desire that his house would be a house of prayer for all nations.
\tIn this chapter we examined the references in which Christ referred to himself as 'the Temple' and saw the significance as he claimed to be the place where God was in residence. We saw the dreadful finality with which he disowned the physical Temple of his day and that once 'broken' the Sinai Covenant could never be restarted. We examined the special emergency measure of the sacrifice of the 'red heifer' and saw that once 'broken' this pattern too could never be restored. And we saw the significance of the Day of Pentecost as the anniversary of Sinai and the plain declaration that the New Covenant was now 'up and running' and that God was again 'resident' in his Temple."

And

"Twice more Christ pinpointed the day when things would change dramatically with that same simple pattern of words, in that day... John 16:23, 26 These instances speak again of amazing intimacy with God in prayer. Did the disciples connect the coming of the Spirit with the inauguration of the New Covenant? Probably not while they were in the upper room, but when the day came and the promises began to be fulfilled they saw plainly that Christ had done a new thing in inaugurating a New Covenant. They saw that the two covenants were mutually exclusive and that the beginning of the new was the death knell to the old. During their vigil in prayer they surely recalled the things that he had said and looked forward to that day.
\tIn the Upper Room the ten-day countdown had begun and the days followed one upon another until... When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind... Acts 2:1-2 NKJV. The 'day' had arrived; the New Covenant was in force. Peter stood to answer the question 'what does it mean?' and took his cue from the prophecy of Joel; But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Acts 2:16-17 NKJV. 'That' distant day had arrived, as the older version declared... this is that...
\tIn this chapter we made the connection between the promised New Covenant and the promised coming of the Spirit. We noted the distinctive 'inwardness' of the New Covenant and the way in which Christ emphasised this in his teaching about the coming Spirit. We marked the key distinctive in the comparison of the prepositions 'with' and 'in' and saw that this is the essence of the New Covenant that has a better mediator and is based on better promises."

Here is an quote from the book THE LOST SECRET OF THE NEW COVENANT by Malcolm Smith.

"I in You, You in Me.

In understanding the covenant there are two phrases that are of supreme importance. The first is the expression "in Christ"; it is a phrase that indicates that we are vitally in and part of the historical events that took place and is presently true in Jesus our representative Man.
The second phrase that we find throughout the New Testament is "in the Spirit"; it indicates the dynamic experience of the power of the Spirit actually joining us to Christ and His work and making it real in our life. What originated in the love heart of God the Father was effected in history by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Son, and is received and experienced by the people of God through the work of the Holy Spirit.
The problem in the church today is we tend to focus on one of the phrases to the exclusion of the other. On the one hand the work of Christ is studied objectively, out there in history, with little or no sense of the Spirit making that work effective in our lives today. On the other hand many are fascinated by the Spirit's power with little or no interest in understanding what happened in the historical work of Christ in His making the New Covenant. The two phrases belong together; the Spirit is the presence of our covenant God in power making real and vital in us all that has been accomplished by Christ.
I cannot emphasize strongly enough the place of the Spirit in the covenant. Apart from the Holy Spirit there is no New Covenant. The lifestyle of the men and women in the New Covenant is that of loving even as they are loved by God; that is an impossible goal apart from the work of the Spirit. The supernatural gifts of the Spirit are part of the dynamic of the covenant people and are totally the work of the Spirit.
The Old Covenant Israel lived under was one of shadows, promises and hope. The New Covenant is called a "better covenant" founded on the work of the Lord Jesus and is primarily the covenant of fulfillment, of power in which God and His people are dynamically joined as one in the work of the Spirit.
The covenant seeks for union of two parties, something that the Old Covenant, although knowing the presence of God dwelling in their midst in a very real way, could ultimately only point to, anticipate and wait for. Ezekiel saw clearly that the Holy Spirit living within the believer would accomplish this union. He looked for the day when God would dwell not merely with, but within His people.
"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them." (Ezekiel 36:25-27 italics mine.)
Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah saw it as the day when the Law would be not an exterior command but an interior bent of life."

This is what Andrew Murray wrote in his book THE TWO COVENANTS AND THE SECOND BLESSING

"Here is the inmost secret of the New Covenant. It deals with the heart of man in a way of Divine power. It not only appeals to the heart by every motive of fear or love, of duty or gratitude. That the law also did. But it reveals God Himself, cleansing our heart and making it new, changing it entirely from a stony heart into a heart of flesh, a tender, living, loving heart, putting His Spirit within it, and so, by His Almighty Power and Love, breathing and working in it, making the promise true, "I will cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments." A heart in perfect harmony with Himself, a life and walk in His way---God has engaged in Covenant to work this in us. He undertakes for our part in the Covenant as much as for His own.

This is nothing but the restoration of the original relation between God and the man He had made in His likeness. He was on earth to be the very image of God, because God was to live and to work all in him, and he to find his glory and blessedness in thus owing all to God. This is the exceeding glory of the New Covenant, of the Pentecostal dispensation, that by the Holy Spirit God could now again be the indwelling life of His people, and so make the promise a reality: "I will cause you to walk in My statutes." With God's presence secured to us every moment of the day---"I will not turn away from them"; with God's "fear put into our heart " by His own Spirit, and our heart thus responding to His holy presence; with our hearts thus made right with God, we can, we shall walk in His statutes, and keep His judgments."

"When was the New Covenant made available to the human race?"

...Always....From Adam on.

...All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, [ The anti-Christ ] whose names are not written in the book of life

...." of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

The New Covenant was always available to the Human race, from before the fall, and all imputed mercy ever was derived from this one and only sacrifice of the God-Man [Son of God-Son of Man]...JESUS.

It was simply manifested in the bounds of time.

" But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons."

From Righteous Abel, through Noah, unto Abraham things remained the same; a typical BLOOD sacrifice by FAITH, both pointing backwards and forwards to that tortuous CROSS that He bore. Melchizedek, Jesus Himself, established the order of Faith/Priesthood to Abraham, but he remained in the blood-sacrifice type of worship, until Moses brought forth a more specific order of blood sacrifice and Priesthood.

The CROSS at Jerusalem was in a moment of time, yes, but of Eternal manifestation.

"It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two."

I believe that these TWO events were melded into one, at that moment; Jesus was slain BEFORE any man was, and on that Passover Day in 33AD, as a single Eternal Event. The Veil was torn here, though, and at Pentecost the Holy Spirit Himself availed Himself to all men, as to whoever would Receive His sacrifice.....but it has always been by Faith, and always been about ONE Sacrifice that God alone counted as worthy.

Yes Christ was slain before the foundation of the world.

But the truth is that no one could truly experience the reality of Christ Himself living and abiding in them until Pentecost.

To walk in the new covenant means that I now have my righteousness before God through what Christ did and not through my futile efforts at keeping carnal ordinances. It is to relate to God through the Holy Spirit. It is to have available to me now the same power that raised Christ from the dead through Pentecost and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

I could not agree more!!

My point is that the Disciples did not and could not experience the reality of Christ indwelling them until Christ died on the Cross and was risen from the dead. They were still living under the old Covenant.

I still believe that the real church did not exist before the day of Pentecost.