Special Guest Rabbi Ed Bez: Covenant Changes Everything (Part 2)

Peace gets talked about like it is a vibe or a temporary break from conflict. We go somewhere deeper. Rabbi Ed Bez joins us to unpack the biblical idea of covenant through the Hebrew word breet, then lands on Ezekiel’s stunning promise: God will cut a covenant of shalom, an everlasting covenant. Shalom is not a greeting and it is not simply “no fighting.” We talk about shalom as wholeness, completeness, and God’s work of putting a scattered life back together.

We also trace how the prophets (Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36 and 37, Isaiah 55) point toward the new covenant fulfilled in Jesus Christ. One of the most helpful frameworks Rabbi Bez brings is the legal concept of a codicil: an amendment that supplements and explains an existing will. That lens shifts how we read “law and grace,” because Jesus does not trash God’s earlier covenant promises. He fulfills them by clarifying God’s intent, like when he deepens the commands about murder and adultery to include what happens in the heart and in our words.

From Noah’s rainbow reset to Abraham’s inheritance and legacy to Moses’ call to live clean, we connect biblical covenants to spiritual growth that is practical and personal. If you have been craving a faith that heals instead of fragments, this conversation will give you language, Scripture, and next steps. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves Bible study, and leave a review so more people can find Life Around The Fire.

Transcript

Welcome And Purpose Of The Show

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Hi folks, and welcome to another episode of Life Run the Fire. My name is David Uttari and I'll be your host today. We are a podcast that is devoted to spiritual growth. And what we mean by spiritual growth is this growth in our relationship, first and foremost with God, then in our relationships with one another. We have today in the studio a real privilege in inviting Rabbi Ed Bez to come and bring to us a portion of scripture concerning the covenant of God or the word covenant. And brother, such a rich anointing almost taking place right now. I didn't want to add too much to what's going on. I just want to invite you to continue on, if you would, please, to part two.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Brother David, thank you so much. Thank you for the ministry that you have in these podcasts. I believe that they need to be expanded, that there needs to be a greater audience to hear the wisdom, the revelation, the understanding, the unfolding of God's plan and purpose in the earth. And I'm again thankful. I appreciate. Thank you, Pastor David, for allowing me to come back and do part two of a little mini-series on covenant. And I apologize if I got a little over energetic last time, but there was a real, genuine, tangible presence of the Almighty here in this uh broadcast studio. So just want to pick up where we left off. We're kind of establishing the idea of

Setting Up A Covenant Mini-Series

SPEAKER_00 2:15

covenants, and there are there's so much material that I've prepared. We are unlikely to get through all of it yet again today, but to the degree that we can. In our last broadcast, I had introduced to you their two principal and primary passages from the prophetical literature, from Jeremiah and from Ezekiel. Those two brothers were extremely eschatological. Their prophetical utterances, while they had some historical fulfillment within a reasonable period of time from their lives, most of their prophetic utterance, Brother David, actually has come down through generations, and in this case, uh down almost two and a half millennia. That word is still being unfolded and being fulfilled, including the passage that I want to begin with today. There's two passages, then we can maybe dissect a little bit more about what covenant is. I want to look into the Hebrew word breet, br-i-t, brete, which is the Hebrew word for covenant. It's extremely meaningful. It's not just some kind of a cheap agreement. It's not like you're gonna go and rent a car from enterprise and sign a contractual agreement. It's much weightier that word brete in the Old Testament. And perhaps we can explore that in just a moment. But Ezekiel chapter 37, verses 26 through 28. I will cut a covenant of shalom. I love thou cut a covenant of peace with them. It will be an everlasting covenant with them. Oh, hallelujah! One of the chief tenants, one of the chief components of the new covenant is

Ezekiel’s Covenant Of Shalom

SPEAKER_00 4:17

a sense of shalom and peace. And that's just not a greeting in Hebrew, or you know, we say shalom when we arrive, it's kind of like hello, and we say shalom, and it also means goodbye. It's kind of like aloha, hello, and goodbye. It's much deeper. The word shalom, Pastor David, is much more meaningful. It has the idea of wholeness and completeness. So this covenant that we're going to be speaking about, which has all of there are residual components from all of the previous covenants, the one he made with Adam, the one he made with Noah, the one he made with Abraham, the one he made with Moses and David, all of them were not abolished. We we we looked at that in Matthew 5 in our first session. They weren't abolished. But there are residual components that go into the making up of the terms of understanding. And now we know they're terms of endearment. But more importantly, the principal ruling covenantal agreement is this is going to be an everlasting covenant, and it will be a covenant of shalom, wholeness and completeness. And God knows, Brother David, I need wholeness in my life. I need completeness in my life. I don't need this disjointed components of myself. And how many of us go through our life hurt, injured, wounded, bruised, broken? But shalom is not just the absence of conflict. Shalom is the presence of wholeness and completeness. And that's part of what this new covenant is all about. The law of God, the Torah written in our heart, is designed not to put us under the oppression, under a some kind of a benevolent dictator that's speaking down at us, these rules and regulations, these rigid forms and demands of obedience. But rather, there is this covenant of shalom. He said, I want to piece you together. I want your whole, as Paul would write, as Rav Rabbi Shaul said, that the whole, that your whole being would be preserved, your whole body, soul, and spirit. Every component of you will be will become a would come under the terms of the covenant of Shalom. I will cut a covenant of Shalom with them. It will be an everlasting covenant with them. I will give them and multiply them. I will set my sanctuary amongst them forever. Oh, so be it. Let God take up residence and establish his sanctuary within the midst of his people. Hallelujah. And that was the pattern in the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the central piece of all of the tribes that were strategically placed by tribes around the temple, around the tabernacle, around the presence. He said, I will set up my sanctuary amongst them forever. Hallelujah. My dwelling place will be over them. I will be their God. They

Shalom Means Wholeness Within

SPEAKER_00 7:41

will be my people. Then the nations will know. Then I am Adonai, who has set apart and sanctified Israel. When my sanctuary is established within the midst of them, the nations will know when the sanctuary is established. Brother David, I believe that's a part of what God is attempting to do. That we can become a people that are so decontaminated. If you know anything about the tabernacle, there were so many of the rules and regulations had to do with keeping the temple clean, keeping the court clean, washing hands, washing feet, washing parts of the sacrifice, decontaminate. God does not like his house or his presence polluted. He doesn't like pollution. He doesn't like contamination. So then moving on, I want to read one last passage and it's from Isaiah. And of course, these Isaiah, Ezekiel, these are the primary prophetical voices as it comes as it relates to the understanding better what covenant is all about. That in Isaiah chapter 55, and I want to read just one verse, 55, and I believe verse three. Incline your ear and come to me. Listen, so that your soul may live. There's that precious word, an everlasting greet with you, a covenant with you. The trustworthy loyalty to David. Behold, I made him a witness to the people, a leader and a commander for the peoples. Behold, I am summonsing you as a nation who once did not know me, but now you are a nation that knows me. Now that you know me, run to me. Because Adonai your God, the Holy One of Israel, is here to be glorified in your midst. Oh, hallelujah.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Thank you, Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

So just reviewing for those of you that have listened, Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, Ezekiel 37, Isaiah 55. These prophecies found their ultimate fulfillment in the new covenant, the renewed covenant, where Jesus Christ inaugurates the rewrite or a codicelle. Very important word, Brother David. I don't know if I have time, the word codicell, it's legal language. And that's my understanding, and I do need to stop. I feel that it's important that people understand that the inauguration of the new covenant is not an

God’s Sanctuary And A Clean People

SPEAKER_00 10:54

abandonment of the old covenant, but it is a codicell. And what is a codicil? A codicell, and I think I actually wrote down the legal language so that I got it right, but my understanding of the New Testament is that it is a codicil. And let me see if I can scroll to it here quickly. If you don't mind. I would love to, Brother David, as you feel okay with, but I found it. Codicell. A codicell is a legal document that amends, supplements, or explains further an existing will. Instead of rewriting the entire will, a codecil makes minor adjustments, like changing the beneficiary, updating an executor, altering a specific request. A person that creates a codicell, their purpose is to modify or explain more specifically the provisions in the original will. That is what the new covenant is. That the new testament is not an abolishing, we don't trash all of the wills and the testaments, but there is a it's a code of cell, it's a legal document. The new covenant, the new testament is a legal, got uh uh a legal contractual addition to the, as it says here, it was a to create, modify, and explain in more specific detail the provisions of the original will. That's what Jesus came, that's what he meant. I didn't come to tear up the old will, I am here to enlighten you so that you can have a fuller understanding of what the intent of the original will was. And the early chapters of Matthew, we call it the Beatitudes. That's he, how many times does it say, you have heard it say it said by Moses, but I say unto you, he's not he's not dissing Moses, he he's he's not dismissing Moses, he's not making Moses to look stupid or simple. He says, Moses said to you that you should not kill. But he said, I want to make sure that you understand in the codicilic language of covenant, what it means to kill is not necessarily to physically kill a human being taking their life, but sometimes the unkind words that you use when you call them an idiot, a fool, when you use some kind of a cultural linguistic thing, when you call someone a pejorative word, you call them you idiot, you stupid, you dumbo, or you ugly, you're fat, you're you're you're you're you're uneducated, you're you're you're trash. And how many of us have ever heard those kind of and that kills something? That that is an act of murder. So that's not doing away with the original will, thou shalt not

Isaiah’s Everlasting Covenant Invitation

SPEAKER_00 14:47

murder, but it's expanding, it's enlightening us to understand what God's full heart was in intent when it relates and talk about adultery. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Jesus said that's what Moses said, but let me give you a codicilic view of what if a man looks upon another woman and lusts after his heart, there's already set in process the act of adultery already in seed form. Well, it's a codicil is such an important understanding because it makes better and greater sense out of the covenant he cut. The covenant he cut with our father Abraham will never be undone. It was a deal he cut because it was unilateral. There's only one covenant in the Old Testament that had was bilateral. All of the other ones were unilateral, saying that I am going to keep the God. God said, I'm going to keep the terms of this covenant, whether you do or not. Right. Hallelujah, which makes it eternal, which makes it we live in. Can you imagine someone willing to stick to the terms of a covenant, whether we violate or whether we're in alignment with it or even in agreement with it? How the great love, how people confuse law, saying that we don't need law, we need grace. Yes, we need, but grace is understanding that God is going to be faithful to his covenant agreements and promises, irrespective of whether, but we do bring him great joy. And I think it's important to me, and I know it's important to you, Brother David. I know that you and your lovely wife Jessica and all of those that you love dearly, that you're committed to bringing pleasure to the heart of God. You want to please him. You want to put a smile on his face. And that's done when we can get in alignment with his covenants and with the codicelic, the codicel, which is an expansion, not a not an abolition, not a destruction, not a tearing up, not a dismissal, but a fulfillment. Full filling. Filling full. Our understanding of these covenants get filled, and we have more. And till the day he comes, we will every day is going to be an unfolding

The New Covenant As A Codicil

SPEAKER_00 17:25

of a better understanding of what covenant actually means. So let me just briefly give a sweep because I promise we'd be talking about covenant. There are five covenants that provide the skeletal framework and context for practically every concept, every idea, every story in the Old Testament is framed in covenant. And if we can have a better understanding of these five covenants, I think that it is fundamental to our better understanding of the Bible. And that's what you want. You want people to feel the anointing of the Holy Spirit, but you also don't want them to be biblically illiterate. You want them to know more perfectly what the Word of God is saying to them. And part of that is getting a structure that will support what they think, what they believe, how they feel, how they act and react. And I believe these Old Testament covenants establish promises that look forward to a fulfillment that we recognize happens in Yeshua, happens in Jesus. And it's important. So much of the New Testament is concerned with showing exactly how Jesus Christ fulfilled these covenant terms and what life should look like for people who want to live under the new covenant. Inaugurated by the death and resurrection of Yeshua. Hallelujah. So what are those covenants? I guess we can just quickly. Number one, the Noah covenant. There are those that believe, Brother David, that there's an Adamic covenant. In some souls, that sometimes that that is added as the sixth. I'm gonna I'm gonna bypass that just for this particular session and just talk about the Noah covenant from Genesis chapter nine. This is a covenant God establishes with Noah after the flood, in which he resets and renews the blessings of creation. Why would we not want that? We are supposed to be. You're in Christ a what? A new creation. Who is it that resets us? There is a covenant God made with Noah. Every time I see the rainbow, even now, when I see a rainbow, it is it speaks to my spirit that God is resetting, hallelujah, and re-establishing hallelujah. That he's resetting and renewing the blessings of creation, reaffirming God's image in humanity and the work of dominion. Because you know what he said? He said, now you need to go out there and get it right this time. We have been given a responsibility to be caretakers, creation caretakers. We've been given authority. It was given to Adam, it's now being renewed. Hallelujah. And the covenant of the rainbow. So those of you, the next time you see a rainbow, you just make a declaration. God is resetting, recalibrating. Oh, and how often I need my inner life recalibrated and reset. How many of you know that sometimes we need a reset button? We all

Jesus Deepens The Commandments

SPEAKER_00 21:25

need them. I need them in my life. And that is a part of the covenant of preservation of humanity and provides also, it demonstrates that God knows perfectly how to restrain evil and violence. He knows how to do it. He might not do it with water. He said, I won't do it by water, but don't make no mistake about it. I will not allow evil to triumph. To God be there. That's part of covenant agreement. You and I know that evil, even those that array themselves against us. Hallelujah. We need that fear. Let God arise and all of his enemies be scattered. It's a part of the Noah covenant. Then the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis chapter 12 and Genesis chapter 15. This is the most central to the biblical story in it. God promises Abraham a land, descendants, and blessing. And that's the same blessing he says to you I want to give you your land. I want to give you your flock. I want to give you blessings. I want to multiply. I want you to. So who would not want that Abrahamic covenant to be a part of the new covenant, which it actually is? I think understanding Abrahamic covenant is paramount to understanding what it means that one day there would be a promised land. God has given you great and precious promises. It's your promised land. We're in a journey toward it. And he promised Abraham, wherever the soles of your feet will travel, I will give it to you as a land of inheritance, your seed. All of us want to know that we have a sense. You know whether David's seed means not only natural children. I have a son, I have a daughter, you have children. That's seed. But the prophetical meaning of seed is a term that we need to come to grips with, that is called legacy. God promised Abraham that you will always have someone raised up that carries on your message, your impact, your legacy. And I believe part of covenant agreement is that God, Brother David, when this life is over, you will not just be become worm food. You'll not just be your body put in the ground. But all of the efforts of the kingdom, all of these podcasts, all that you've been through, all of the years of shepherding and pastoring. Those of you that are also listening to this broadcast, your life is not in vain. That's the promise to Abraham. Abraham, I'm going to bless you. Hallelujah. You will have an inheritance and you will have, hallelujah, a legacy. It's so strong that it the Abrahamic covenant is mentioned more in the New Testament. I don't know if you knew this, but there's more mention of Abraham's covenant and Abraham in the New Testament than Moses. Moses is mentioned, but Abraham is primary in the New Testament. No, I do. So Abraham, it's the seed of Abraham. Hallelujah. We are actually called the seed of Abraham, and I'm very thankful because I need to know that my life is not in vain. Those of you that are listening, you need to know that your ministry, your efforts are not in vain. That there is an inheritance that you or your children and your children's children will inherit. You may not see it in total fulfillment, but that does not mean that promises die when you pass, that your legacy will live beyond. And that's a part of

Noah And Abraham Reset And Legacy

SPEAKER_00 25:19

the new covenant and the Mosaic covenant.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

That's powerful, brother.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Thank you, my friend. So we go to the Mosaic Covenant, and I I think that's as far as we'll be able to get. I know that you have interest in the Davidic covenant, so maybe next visit I could just zero in on the Davidic covenant. But I want to talk a little bit about Moses because Moses is often linked with the word laws of the laws of Moses. Jesus called them the laws of Moses. Jesus didn't seem to have a problem with the laws of Moses because he recognized that they were important terms of the contract. And as difficult as it is to comprehend that all of these laws that looked so nitty-gritty and so, I mean, there's just so many laws over and over and over and over, constantly being reiterated. We just wonder what in the world is going on. And the real bottom line is God just wants a clean house and a clean people. All of the laws have to do with cleanliness. Think about it. Don't eat this, don't eat that. Even the laws of what biblically you should or should not eat. By the way, I do, I am not, I don't follow rabbinical eating laws, dietary laws. I tried my very best by God's working in my life to live by biblical kosher, biblical laws. Not all the laws have been added. You know, there's like 3,000 additional laws and rules that have been added. And those I'm not, I'm not uh I'm not a fan of the rabbinical components, just the biblical components. But the real bottom line, if you read carefully the laws of Moses, many of them have to do with how God's house needs to be kept clean. Even there are laws of latrine, even in the amongst the camp, you were not allowed to leave any human waste. It had to be properly taken care of. Because God was anti-contamination. He didn't like pollution, he didn't like, and he was always his laws were about living clean. Now think about living clean. What is wrong with that idea? You want to live in this world that is so now so wicked and perverse and unclean. You can't watch a newscast, you can't read a newspaper, you can't go on social media. Everywhere you turn, billboards on in this city are filled with all sorts of sexual innuendo and pollution. Our youngsters are so confused, they're addicted, there's drugs and alcohol and sexual liberation. There's not, they're they're not living clean. But part of the Mosaic covenant was living clean. Oh my gosh. And as a rabbi, that's what I teach about the laws of Moses. They're designed to help us make sure that his sanctuary is a place that's sanctified, set apart, respected, honored, that we don't do anything to pollute his presence. We don't drag into a meeting, a bad attitude. We don't drag into the service, you know, hatred. We don't drag into the service that we're having problems. We don't drag into the service and try to pass on a bad attitude. We come, we want to be clean. I want to live clean. I know you want to live clean. That is the essence of the Mosaic covenant is living clean. So to Noah, a symbol the rainbow, the beautiful rainbow. That is a promise of that God is willing to reset our lives. Second chances, third chances. Let's try it again. Righteous man will fall seven times, but get up. There's a reset. And I love that

Moses And Living Clean Today

SPEAKER_00 29:35

God has set reset as a part of his covenantal agreement. You know, our time has virtually slipped by. I wish I'd had a little bit more time and it's maybe stayed a little more focused. I do love the concept of covenant, Brother David. I maybe in God's timing as God speaks to you. I'd love to come back and talk a little bit more about the Davidic covenant and the new covenant as we understand it. But thank you, those of you that are listening. May you have a blessed and a wonderful day.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Thank you, Rabbi Ed.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

And there's a statement that one of the disciples made after they were walking with Jesus, this is after his resurrection, but they didn't recognize him at first. And they were talking, and he's explaining to them all these different things that were written concerning the Messiah. And then at the tail end of his time with these two gentlemen, he opened up their eyes, they saw who he was. And then they made this statement that's where they said, Didn't our heart just burn?

SPEAKER_00 30:48

Didn't our heart just burn?

SPEAKER_01 30:50

When he talked about this, didn't that just burn? Hallelujah. Well, brother, when you're saying my heart just burned as you were as you as you're sharing covenant, my heart just burned. Hallelujah. My heart's burning right now. Hallelujah. By virtue of the work of God, he's burning. His word is just burning inside of me. And so, Father, we thank you. Thank you, Lord. We thank you for who you are, for what you're doing, for how you're doing things. You alone are God. Once again, we declare you to be supreme above all. And we honor you. Holy Spirit, cause these words to be broadcast throughout the nations. When you blow on things, things grow.

Closing Prayer And How To Reach Us

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So I think you'd blow on these various podcast episodes and send them around the nations, as you've been so faithful to do for the glory of the Lord Jesus. And we honor and magnify his name. And we stand here and we say, Amen, amen, and amen. Amen. Folks, once again, we love you. And if you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, you can feel free to drop us a line at life on the fire at gmail.com. That's our email address. Or just type in LifeRun the Fire and look us up on the web. Either way, we would love to hear from you. In the meantime, God bless you. Adios, amigos.