ryan.the.calvinist

I hope I don't tick off my Presbyterian brothers... esp. since I like their churches (as a whole) generally more than Reformed Baptist ones... In light of my diving into Covenant Infant Baptism arguments, I found this defense from Dr. James White regarding Hebrews 8 and the New Covenant to be useful. He asserts that the Old Covenant was a mixed covenant - that the covenant sign was correctly administered to those whose hearts were changed (like David) and those whose hearts remained corrupt (like Ahab). The New Covenant, however, is not a mixed covenant.  ALL in the New Covenant know the Lord.  The text looks not to a future fulfillment, but is speaking as a present reality.  The New Covenant is better now; It won't be better later, it is presently better, in a similar way that Christ is a better mediator now, and the sacrifice of Christ is better now than the sacrifices under the Old Covenant. I must say, this is what I keep coming back to in my focus on ...

Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.         And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? (Isaiah 5:1-4 ESV) I have read most of the Bible... but am only now tackling some of the Old Testament books I have never read front to back - Jeremiah, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezekiel, and Isaiah to name a few.  Presently, I am going through Isaiah. I used to try and find passages and verses that had special life application and draw wisdom...