Shavuot (Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks) is the festival of the giving of the Torah. The Torah, which is commonly known as the Pentateuch, consists of the first five books of the Bible: Bereshit (Genesis), Shemot (Exodus), Vayikra (Leviticus), Bamidbar (Numbers), and Devarim (Deuteronomy). The Torah is an integral part of the new covenant. The new covenant will become effective on Shavuot some time in the future. Many christians talk about the new covenant, or testament. It is often used to refer to a collection of books written by the Apostles. It is also used when some christians participate in a ceremony known as communion. While we all talk “about”' this new covenant, most folks do not know the terms that make up this new covenant. Since most folks consider the new covenant as an important part of their religion, it becomes clear that we "ought" to know the terms of this new covenant. Since this is a legal document and has an impact on our lives, we certainly should be intimately familiar what the terms of this covenant. First let me tell you what the new (renewed) covenant is not. It is not the collection of books commonly known as the new testament. How do we know this? We know this because a covenant, or testament, is a contract between two parties. Webster's unabridged dictionary puts it this way: "In law, a writing, under seal, containing the terms of agreement or contract between parties..." Since this collection of books merely quotes the terms, and since most of the writings do not contain the terms of this covenant, it would be poor scholarship to refer to this collection of books as the "new testament". The ceremony commonly known as “communion” is not the new covenant because this ceremony does not mention the words that make up this agreement. While this ceremony mentions the seal of the new covenant (the cup of wine which represents Messiah’s blood), it is does not mention the actual words that make up this agreement. So, what exactly are the words, or terms, of this new (renewed) covenant? The words, curiously, are found in the collection of books sometimes referred to as the old covenant (Messiah called it the Torah, Neviim, and Ketuvim which we translate in English as: The Law, The Prophets, and The Writings. These Hebrew words are referred to, by Jews, as an acronym: Tanach). The prophet Yirimiyahu (Jeremiah) wrote down the words of this agreement in: [b]Yirimiyahu (Jeremiah) 31:31-34 - “Here, the days are coming, says ADONAI, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra'el and with the house of Y'hudah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, violated my covenant, even though I, for my part, was a husband to them" says ADONAI. For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra'el after those days says ADONAI: I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their G-d, and they will be my people. No longer will any of them teach his fellow community member or his brother, Know ADONAI; for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest; because I will forgive their wickedness’s and remember their sins no more."[/b] I have added, in parenthesis, Strong's definition of some of the words. I would also like to call your attention to the names of the parties that made this covenant. The first party is called "the house of Israel". The second party is HaShem. HaShem is referring to Himself as YHVH (the yod-hay-vav-hay name). So, if you are not of the house of Israel or HaShem, then this new (renewed) covenant has no effect on you! On the other hand, if you are convinced that the new (renewed) covenant applies to you, then somehow you must be a part of the house of Israel because you are obviously not HaShem. Romans 11:19 says that by faith in Yeshua, a gentile is grafted into the house of Israel. You are not a separate entity. There is no “church” and “Israel.” There is just Israel. By faith in Messiah you are counted among the tribe of Judah. The gentile has become a clan of Judah. Just as Caleb the Kennizzite took inheritance amongst the tribe of Judah, so to will all other gentiles. This covenant, between the house of Israel and HaShem, is quoted, verbatim, in Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 8:8-12. This is the only other place where the words, or terms, of the new (renewed) covenant are spelled out. If you carefully read this contract, or if you were to take this contract to your lawyer, you will learn that this contract has not yet taken effect. This contract becomes effective when everyone knows HaShem. Until everyone knows HaShem, we will have to be content with looking forward to the time when this contract is put into effect. The actual terms of this new (renewed) covenant appear to be the same terms of the covenant that HaShem made with the house of Israel at Sinai. We can deduce this by noticing that the Torah (instruction or law) will be written on our hearts instead of stone. This refers to HaShem's command when He gave the Torah: [b]Devarim (Deuteronomy) 32:46 - "He said to them, Take to heart all the words of my testimony against you today, so that you can use them in charging your children to be careful to obey all the words of this Torah."[/b] We should also notice what is being written on the hearts. It is Torah. It is HaShem’s instructions or laws. The implications of this are staggering! This means, that when this is done, we will no longer disobey HaShem. We will no longer sin! There is one further implication that can not be ignored. Since HaShem’s people were obedient in the Garden of Eden, and we will be obedient in the kingdom of Heaven. This begs the question: What ought we to be doing now? Obviously, we ought to be obeying HaShem by writing His Torah on our hearts and thereby obey it. HaShem's obvious desire is for us to be obedient to His instructions now! Many folks believe that HaShem's Torah was abolished. They believe that it was replaced with something better. The writer to the Hebrews anticipated this when he commented on this new covenant. If we look carefully, we will find out that the problem with the old covenant was with the people, not with HaShem's law: [b]Hebrews 8:1-13 - "Here is the whole point of what we have been saying: we do have just such a Cohen Gadol as has been described. And he does sit at the right hand of HaG'dulah in heaven. There he serves in the Holy Place, that is, in the true Tent of Meeting, the one erected not by human beings but by ADONAI. For every Cohen Gadol is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so this Cohen Gadol too has to have something he can offer. Now if he were on earth, he wouldn't be a Cohen at all, since there already are Cohanim offering the gifts required by the Torah. But what they are serving is only a copy and shadow of the heavenly original; for when Moshe was about to erect the Tent, G-d warned him, "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain. But now the work Yeshua has been given to do is far superior to theirs, just as the covenant he mediates is better. For this covenant has been given as Torah on the basis of better promises. Indeed, if the first covenant had not given ground for faultfinding, there would have been no need for a second one. For G-d does find fault with the people when he says, 'See! The days are coming,' says ADONAI, 'when I will establish over the house of Isra'el and over the house of Y'hudah a new covenant. 'It will not be like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by their hand and led them forth out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, did not remain faithful to my covenant; so I, for my part, stopped concerning myself with them,' says ADONAI. 'For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Isra'el after those days,' says ADONAI: 'I will put my Torah in their minds and write it on their hearts; I will be their G-d, and they will be my people. 'None of them will teach his fellow-citizen or his brother, saying, 'Know ADONAI!' For all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest, because I will be merciful toward their wickedness’s and remember their sins no more."[/b] So, if there is nothing wrong with HaShem's Torah, or law, then there is nothing to fix in His Torah. Therefore, HaShem will fix that which is broken: the people. After He fixes His people, He will again give us His Torah on a new heart. Shavuot, therefore, is the festival of the giving of the Torah. Thirty-three hundred years ago, HaShem gave us His Torah written on stone, on Shavuot. Two thousand years ago, G-d gave us the Living Torah, Yeshua HaMashicah (Yeshua the Messiah), who taught us great insights into the written Torah. On a future Shavuot, HaShem will renew His covenant when He writes His Torah on our hearts. When He does this, we will spend eternity walking with HaShem. We have the down payment of the Ruach Elohim that guarantees it. Let’s celebrate this Shavuot and all the rest of our days by renewing our commitment to obey HaShem and all His Torah.