Page 270 - Through New Eyes

The New World 271
believers have fuller access than anyone had in the Old Cove-
nant. Also, formerly Jew and Gentile had been separated, with
the Jews as priests to the nations, and only Jews allowed to draw
near into the courtyard and eat Passover. Now, however, all be-
lievers are in Christ, and in Christ there can no longer be such
distinctions. Thus, the Jew-Gentile distinction was obliterated
(Ephesians 2:11-22).
As a result of the elimination of these distinctions, the dis-
tinction between priestly Garden and lay-Israelite land is broken
down. Also, the distinction between an Edenic land and other
lands is eliminated. In fact, since the Gentile lands are often pic-
tured as the sea, “there is no longer any sea” (Revelation 21:1).11
Moreover, with the outpouring of the Spirit, and immediate ac-
cess to heaven anywhere, there can no longer be any central
sanctuary on the earth (Hebrews 9:8; 10:19-22; 12:18-24; Matthew
18: 20). 12 The central sanctuary is in heaven, where Christ is.
These fundamental reorganizations mean that the kind of
cosmic model found in the Old Testament will no longer do. We
no longer have five environments with five different degrees of
access to God (Heaven, Firmament-Heaven, Sanctuary, Land,
World). 13 Now all believers have the same access, and all unbe-
lievers are outside. There are only two environments.
The concept of the “world” changes in the New Covenant.
Formerly, the “world” included converted and unconverted Gen-
tiles, all those outside the Land. Now, however, “world” implies
the realm outside the Kingdom altogether. The New Testament
speaks of “worldliness” and of the “world, flesh, and devil” in a
way not found in the Old Testament.
Practically speaking, the distinction between places of wor-
ship (sanctuaries), places of family life (homes), and places of
work (world) is still valid. The distinction no longer has any-
thing to do with nearness to God, however. There are no more
ho~ places on earth, only designated places.
The radical character of this change is pointed to by Jesus in
His curse upon old Jerusalem:

that upon you may fail the guih of all the righteous blood shed
on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of
Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between