Old Covenant -- New Covenant

From the very beginning, God always desired a relationship with mankind.  He breathed into Adam His own breath/spirit (ruah) so that there could be communion of spirits between God and man.  But man desires the God-spirit + something else.  And the "something else" usually begins to quench the communion between God and man.

Our own experience testifies to what happens when a covenant between man and woman begins to diminish:  one of the partners desires his/her spouse + something else or someone else.  Then there is a distance between the original pair; the covenant relationship begins to fade.  At first, we desired every word that came forth from the mouth of the beloved, but later, we begin to hear less, or discredit, the words that issue forth from the other.  We question; we wonder if our partner knows what he/she is talking about; we think we know a better way; we begin to distance ourselves and diminish the original communion of souls we once had.

And the same process goes on with our children:  when a child is born, our first thought, more or less, is Adam's when he first saw Eve -- at last, this one is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.  There is total communion between child and mother; when the child is in pain, the mother is in pain.  When the child is content, so too is the mother.  Later, however, the child begins to pull away from communion of spirit with the parents and go his/her own way.  She questions whether the parent really knows what he is talking about; she eats from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and chooses by the appearance of good instead of by the wisdom of her parents.  There is no longer a communion of spirit, but 'brother against brother,' so to speak, as each vies with the other for control.

When a child cannot be controlled by a look, or by communion of spirit with the parent, another system must be instituted until the child is mature enough to gain wisdom for himself.  The relationship of child to parent for a time must be one of command and obedience, in order to protect the child from harming himself and others.  Many parents want their children to 'love' them or to be their 'friend,' but this attitude toward parenting often leads to disaster because children are not yet ready for that kind of relationship with the parent.  As a child matures, though, the relationship must change; the parent is no longer 'in charge,' but standing back, supportive and encouraging as the child begins to find his/her own way in life.  The love and desire for communion has not changed, but now the parent waits for those feelings to emerge from within the child himself. 

Reflecting on the natural growth process helps us to grasp the Old Covenant-New Covenant relationship of God and mankind.  God has not changed in His desire for communion with mankind, but man had to 'grow up' before he was ready for communion with God.  Yahweh had to teach, to guide, to mentor Israel into an understanding of who He is and what He wants for them before they were ready to accept an "adult relationship" with the Most High.  The New Testament is the story of that relationship. 

Jesus said, "Salvation is from the Jews."  God could not teach mankind as a whole because He had to find a person, a family, a tribe, a nation who would listen and obey Him under the 'old' covenant before they were ready for a new relationship:  I no longer call you servants but friends, Jesus said to His disciples. 

A new kind of relationship is given to us, an adult exchange of love and respect and appreciation, just as we experience with our adult children.  But even now, under the New Covenant, many people are not yet ready for this kind of relationship with the living God.  Rather, they prefer the Old Covenant relationship where they were told what to do and when to do it.   If they follow the rules, they are safe and do not have to engage further with a Person Who loves them beyond all measure. 

Each one of us must go through the "growing up" process in our faith/relationship with God.  At first, we follow what we are told.  Later, though, when we are ready, He will send His own Spirit-breath into us, and we will know the absolute freedom of relationship and love, the divine exchange of Spirit to spirit.  And just like falling in love, we will rejoice in a new relationship that need never grow old or distant.