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Covenants are one of the most
important themes in the Bible because they
act as the skeletons upon which the entire
redemptive story is built.
Covenant:
A
covenant was an agreement between two
parties that laid down conditions and
guaranteed benefits, depending upon a
person’s keeping or breaking the covenant.
It was sealed by some form of witness (Gen. 21:22-32; 31:44-54;
2 Sam. 18:3-4; Mal. 2:14).
Covenants between God and the
people he created, however, differed from
purely human covenants. They were not
agreements between equals, because God was
always the one who gave, and people were
always the ones who received. No human being
could negotiate an agreement with God or
make demands upon him. God’s promises
originated in his sovereign grace alone, and
those who received those promises could do
nothing but accept his directions.
Through One Man to the World:
From
the time of the earliest recorded covenant
(God’s covenant with Noah, and with the
human race through him), features of grace
are prominent. The covenant originated in
God’s grace and depended upon God’s grace
for its fulfillment. The rainbow was the
sign, or witness, that sealed the covenant
(Gen. 6:18; 9:8-17).
Having
promised to preserve the human race (Gen. 9:15-16), God then revealed that he had a
plan of salvation for it. This plan again
was based on a covenant that originated in
God’s grace. In his sovereign will God chose
one man, Abraham, promising him a multitude
of descendants who would become a nation,
receive Canaan as their homeland, and be
God’s channel of blessing to the world (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:18-21; 17:2-8; Acts 3:25).
God confirmed his promise to
Abraham by a covenant ceremony. The ancient
custom was for the two parties to kill an
animal, cut it in halves, then pass between
the two halves, calling down the fate of the
slaughtered animals upon themselves should
they break the covenant (Gen. 15:9-11; Jer. 34:18). But in Abraham’s case, only God
(symbolized by a smoking fire-pot and a
flaming torch) passed between the halves of
the animal. He alone made the covenant and
guaranteed its fulfillment (Gen. 15:17).
Abraham, however, had a responsibility
to respond to God’s grace, and his response
would determine whether he would enjoy the
covenant benefits. A truly spiritual
relationship could exist only where people
responded to God in faith and obedience. The
rite of circumcision, which God gave as the
sign and seal of the covenant, gave Abraham
and his descendants the opportunity to
demonstrate such faith and obedience. Those
who responded to God’s grace by being
circumcised kept the covenant; those who did
not were cut off from it. The covenant
depended upon God, but only those who were
obedient to God experienced the communion
with God that was the covenant’s central
blessing (Gen. 17:9-14)
Developed
through Israel:
Once the promised
nation existed and was on the way to its
promised homeland, God renewed the covenant
made earlier with Abraham, this time
applying it to the whole nation. Since Moses
was the mediator through whom God worked in
dealing with the people, the covenant is
sometimes called the Mosaic covenant. It is
also called the Sinaitic covenant, after Mt
Sinai, where the ceremony took place.
God, in his sovereign grace, had saved
the people of Israel from bondage in Egypt
and taken them into a close relationship
with himself. Grace was again the basis of
God’s covenant dealings (Exod. 2:24; 3:16; 4:22; 6:6-8;
Exod. 15:13; 19:4-6; 20:2). As in the covenant with Abraham, so
in the covenant with his descendants, the
central blessing was communion with God; for
he was their God and they were his people
(Gen. 17:7; Exod. 6:7; Lev. 26:12). Again, the
people would enjoy this blessing only as
they were holy in life and obedient to God
(Exod. 19:5-6). The people understood this and
agreed to be obedient to all God’s commands.
They were in no position to argue with God;
they could do nothing but surrender
completely to his will (Exod. 24:7-8).
The two parties to the covenant were then
bound together in a blood ritual. Half the
blood was thrown against the altar
(representing God) and half sprinkled on the
people (Exod. 24:3-8).
But this blood
ritual was more than just a dramatic way of
swearing loyalty to the covenant. The
Passover had shown the people of Israel that
blood symbolized life laid down to release
those under condemnation of death (Exod. 12:13). Blood was linked with release from
the penalty of sin; therefore, the blood
ritual at Sinai was an indication to Israel
that it began its formal existence as God’s
covenant people in a condition of ceremonial
purity (Heb. 9:19-22).
All this
ceremonial procedure emphasized once more
that the covenant with Israel, following the
covenant with Abraham, was based on divine
grace, not human effort (Gal. 3:17-18).
Nevertheless, the people had to keep their
part of the covenant if they were to enjoy
its benefits (Exod. 19:5; cf. Gen. 17:9). God
had no obligation to bless his people when
they disobeyed his covenant commands, though
in his mercy he was patient with them (Lev. 26:27-33;
Deut. 4:25-31; 7:9-10; Ne. 9:33; Heb. 3:16-19).
Note on the Form
of The Covenant:
The covenant between
God and Israel was of a kind that people of
the time understood. It was similar in form
to the common Near Eastern treaty by which a
sovereign overlord made a covenant with his
subject peoples.
Such a treaty was
not a negotiated agreement. It was an
authoritative document prepared by the
overlord, declaring his sovereignty over his
people and laying down the order of life he
required of them. The features of these
ancient documents are well illustrated in
the book of Deuteronomy, which was written
in the form of a covenant document.
Towards a Specific Goal Through David:
After the promised nation had become
established in the promised land, God
revealed the next stage in directing his
covenant purposes towards their ultimate
goal. The promised offspring of Abraham
through whom God would send his salvation to
the world was Jesus the Messiah (Gen. 12:3; 12:7;
Gal. 3:16; 3:29).
God
prepared Israel to produce the Messiah by
choosing from the nation one person, King
David, and promising that his dynasty would
be the channel through which the Messiah
would come. God gave David this promise by
means of a covenant that followed on from
his earlier covenants, namely, those with
Abraham and with the nation Israel (2 Sam. 7:12-17; 23:5; Ps. 89:3-4; 89:28-37).
Jesus therefore was the
true fulfillment of all God’s covenant
purposes. The Abrahamic covenant led to the
Sinaitic covenant, which in turn led to the
Davidic covenant, which led finally to Jesus
Christ, the Savior of the world (Luke 1:32-33; 1:72-73; Acts 13:17-23).
The New Covenant:
Former
covenants, then, were but a preparation for
that saving work of God through Christ which
the Bible calls the new covenant. Or, to put
it another way, the new covenant fully
develops the features consistently displayed
in the former covenants.
Like the
former covenants, the new covenant
originates in the sovereign grace of God
(Rom. 3:24; 5:15-21; Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). Through it God makes unworthy sinners
his people and promises to be their God (Heb. 8:8-10; 1 Pet. 2:9-10). But if
people are to enjoy that life-giving
relationship with God which is the
covenant’s central blessing, they must
respond to God’s grace in faith and
obedience (Gal. 3:14; Heb. 5:9; 1 Pet. 1:2).
Also, since faith involves perseverance,
they must continue in the covenant (Col. 1:23; cf.
Heb. 8:9).
Yet there are
great differences between the old and new
covenants. All former covenants were
imperfect – not in the sense of being wrong,
but in the sense of being incomplete. They
belonged to the era before Christ and
therefore could not in themselves bring
salvation. Only the atoning death of Christ
can do that. Therefore, until Christ came,
there was always the need for a new
covenant, one that carried with it better
promises (Heb. 8:6-9; 8:13; 10:9-10).
The new covenant, in contrast to the
old, is not concerned with a particular
nation, nor is it concerned with any nation
as a whole. Rather it is concerned with
individuals, regardless of their nation. It
does not demand obedience to a set of laws,
but puts God’s laws in people’s hearts. It
does not need priests to mediate between God
and individuals, for all believers know God
personally and have direct fellowship with
him. There is no remembrance of sins through
repetitive sacrifices, for all sins are at
once removed and are gone forever (Heb. 8:10-12).
Jesus Christ’s atoning
death is the basis of the new covenant. He
is the mediator through whom God makes the
covenant, and he is the sacrifice whose
blood seals the covenant (1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 9:15; 12:24). Through that same blood,
sin is forgiven completely, so that God’s
people enter the covenant not with mere
ceremonial cleansing, but with Actual
cleansing (Matt. 26:28; cf. Heb. 9:19-22).
This is an eternal covenant, for there will
never be another to follow it. Covenant
grace is fully revealed, and the blessings
that flow from it are eternal (Heb. 10:16-18; 13:20).
From: The
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
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