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Under the covenant
agreements that God made with Abraham and
the Israelites, three practices were
instituted by God to serve as signs of
obedience which the Israelites were expected
to follow throughout all their generations,
circumcision (Gen. 17:9-14; Lev. 12:1-3),
the Passover (Exod. 12:13-14; Lev. 23:4-8),
and their Sabbath observances (Exod. 31:13, 17;
Ezek. 20:12, 20).
Circumcision:
God directed Abraham to circumcise all
the males of his household, including
himself, Ishmael, and his servants in
Genesis 17:1-14. This was to be an
everlasting covenant (Gen. 17:8). Every male
born into his family was to be circumcised
on the eighth day after his birth as a sign
of the covenant God made with him (Gen. 17:9-14;
Acts 7:8).
The Mosaic Law
repeated the requirement of circumcision
(Lev. 12:2-3), and Jews continued to
practice circumcision into the New Testament
times (Josh. 5:2-3; Luke 1:59; Acts 16:3;
Phil. 3:5).
Failure to keep a
covenant sign was a serious matter:
In Exodus 4:24-26, God was about to kill
Moses because he had not circumcised his son
according to the covenant God made with
Abraham and his dependents. Moses’s failure
to circumcise his son shows that Moses had
not been acting like a member of the
covenant community, a serious offense. Moses
could not effectively serve as the deliverer
of God’s people until he had fulfilled the
conditions of God’s covenant with Abraham
(see Gen. 17:10), and one of those
conditions was circumcision. Before they
could go any farther, Moses and his family
had to follow God’s covenant commands
completely. The Lord sought to put Moses to
death but Zipporah performed the
circumcision to save her husband’s’ life.
Under Old Testament law, failing to
circumcise your son was to remove yourself
and your family from God’s covenant
blessings. Failure to meet God’s requirement
had imperiled both his life and ministry and
showed the seriousness of the covenant sign
of circumcision.
The Passover:
If a Gentile wanted to keep the Passover
and the other Jewish feasts they had to be
circumcised and become a Jew.
Exodus 12:43-49
says, “And the LORD said to Moses
and Aaron, “This is the statute of the
Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, but
every slave that is bought for money may eat
of it after you have circumcised him. No
foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. It
shall be eaten in one house; you shall not
take any of the flesh outside the house, and
you shall not break any of its bones. All
the congregation of Israel shall keep it. If
a stranger shall sojourn with you and would
keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his
males be circumcised. Then he may come near
and keep it; he shall be as a native of the
land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat
of it. There shall be one law for the native
and for the stranger who sojourns among
you.’” (cf. Lev. 23:4-8)
The
Sabbaths:
The first time God
commanded anyone to keep the seventh day
Sabbath was after the exodus, just before
God entered into the Mosaic Covenant with
Israel on Mount Sinai (Exod. 16; 20:8).
The Covenant was made up of three parts:
the Ten Commandments (the “Ten Words”), the
ordinances, and the system of worship, which
included the priesthood, the tabernacle, the
offerings, and the festivals (Exod. 20-40;
Lev. 1-7; 23).
The Mosaic Law, or the
Old Covenant was given specifically to the
nation of Israel (Exod. 19; Lev. 26:46; Rom. 9:4).
The Sabbath was meant for Israel alone
because it served as a ceremonial sign of
the covenant (Exod. 31:16-17; Ne. 9:13-14;
Ezek. 20:12, 20). Keeping the Sabbath showed
those around you that you were keeping the
covenant God made with Israel. The reason
there was a death penalty for breaking the
Sabbath was because, to break the Sabbath
was tantamount to breaking the covenant with
God (Exod. 35:2; Num. 15:32-36). The Sabbath
was said to be an everlasting covenant with
the people of Israel and an important sign
of the Mosaic Covenant (Exod. 31:16).
During the time of the Old Covenant,
even the “stranger” in Jerusalem was
expected to keep the Sabbath.
A
stranger could choose to live in Israel but
just like here, they had to keep the laws of
the land. If they were out trying to buy and
sell in the city, they would be tempting
God’s people to sin by breaking the Sabbath
command (Ne. 13:15-21).
God always
intended for Israel to be a light to the
Gentiles to show them that Yahweh, the God
of Israel was the one true God and that they
too could be blessed if they served Him.
God loved the Gentiles and provided for
them (Deut. 10:18), and instructed the
Israelites to love foreigners as themselves
(Lev. 19:33-34; Deut. 10:19), particularly
because they had been foreigners in Egypt.
This included providing for needy immigrants
(Lev. 23:22; Deut. 24:19-22) and not
mistreating or oppressing them (Exod. 23:9;
Deut. 24:14-18; 27:19) but treating them
equally under the law (Num. 15:15-16; Lev. 24:22).
Those who became followers of Yahweh
would be Israelites in God’s view (Jer. 12:16).
Israel was to be a living
example and witness to the whole world in
following Yahweh, the only true God!
The world would see the infinite superiority
of the worship and service to Yahweh, the
true God (Deut. 4:6-9; 7:12-15; 28:1-13;
Isa. 49:3-7; 61:9; 62:1-2). One by one the
nations would unite with Israel in serving
their one true God (Isa. 2:2-3; 11:10; 14:1;
Isa. 19:18-22; 45:14; 55:5; Isa. 56:3-8; 60:1-12;
Jer. 3:17; 16:19; 33:9; Zech. 2:11; 8:20-23).
The end of the Old
Covenant:
Sadly, Israel failed to
keep the covenant God made with them and
never received all the blessings promised by
God if they were faithful. Because Israel
failed to keep the Mosaic Covenant, God made
a New Covenant for us to live by.
A
covenant sign represented obedience to the
covenant agreement. To break the sign was to
break the covenant.
Each covenant
has its own sign or seal to represent the
covenant. When Christ gave us the New
Covenant, all of the signs of the Old
Covenants came to an end.
Under the
New Covenant, circumcision takes on a whole
new meaning and becomes a matter of the
heart, and not the physical act of
circumcising the flesh. We are told in no
uncertain terms that the physical act of
circumcision is not required in the New
Covenant (Rom. 2:25-29; 1 Cor. 7:18-19; Gal. 5:2-6; 6:15).
The sign of the
Passover pointed forward to the true lamb of
God who’s sacrifice takes away the sins of
the world (Isa. 53:7-10; John 1:29). Christ
fulfilled the true meaning of the Jewish
sacrifice of the Passover lamb in his death
on the cross (1 Cor. 5:7-8). Christ Jesus is
the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of
the world (Acts 8:32; 1 Pet. 1:19; Rev. 13:8).
Like circumcision and the
Passover, the Sabbath too was meant to point
us to greater spiritual realities. The
Sabbath rest God wants us all to enter into
is the eternal rest of salvation (Matt. 11:28-30;
Heb. 4:1-11). Keeping any day as
holy is not required of us under the New
Covenant. The New Covenant plainly says that
the Sabbath and all the ceremonies of the
Old Covenant have ended (Col. 2:14-17;
Eph. 2:11-16; Gal. 4:10-11; 4:21; 5:1-4;
Rom. 14:5-12). We are to rest in Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith (Matt. 11:28-30;
Heb. 12:2).
The Old
Testament is a record of the nation of
Israel struggling and failing, over and over
again to keep its covenant with God. Jesus
Christ fulfilled all the requirements of the
Old Covenant Law on our behalf (Matt. 5:17-19;
Rom. 10:4), and gave us a New
Covenant in its place (Jer. 31:31; Matt. 26:28;
Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; Rom. 11:27; 1 Cor. 11:25;
2 Cor. 3:6-11; Heb. 7:22; 8:8-10; 9:15; Heb. 10:16; 12:24; 13:20).
The New Covenant has its own law.
In Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council
determined that the Gentiles did not have to
become Jews and keep the Mosaic Covenant.
The Mosaic Covenant (Acts 15:1-5) and the
covenant sign of circumcision were discussed
and deemed unnecessary (Acts 15:28-29). The
Apostles said that forcing the Gentiles to
keep the Mosaic Covenant would be like
placing a yoke around their necks that was
too hard to bear (Acts 15:10-11).
Christians are told to keep the law
of Christ.
The law of Christ
is what Christ said were the greatest
commandments in Mark 12:28-31, “Which
commandment is the most important of all?”
Jesus answered, “The most important is,
‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord
is one. And you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind and with all your
strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.”
The law of Christ, then, is to love God
with all of our heart and to love our
neighbors as we love ourselves (see: 1 Cor. 9:19-23;
Gal. 6:2; 1 Jn. 4:7-8; 5:3).
It
is important to notice that all three signs
of the Mosaic Covenant were said to be
everlasting, or eternal but have been
fulfilled and come to an end with the New
Covenant. It is also important to note that
unlike the Old Covenant, no one needs to
become a Jew and follow the Old Covenant
laws to be a Christ-follower (Exod. 12:48-49; Jer. 12:16). We have become
one new people of God in Christ Jesus, with
our own covenant law to live by.
Christians were never
told to keep any of the signs of the Old
Covenant. The Old Covenant signs of
circumcision, the Passover, and Sabbath-keeping
all met their fulfillment in Jesus Christ!
They were simply shadows pointing forward to
what Christ would do for us. They have never applied to the
Christian Church (2 Cor. 3; Heb. 8; Col. 2:16-17; Heb. 8:5; 10:1).
The New Covenant has
its own ordinances (signs), in baptism and
the Lord’s Supper.
Baptism
symbolizes the complete renewal and change
in the believer’s life and testifies to the
death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ as the only way of salvation. Baptism
carries with it a picture of Christ’s death
and resurrection (Matt. 3:11-13; 28:19; Mark 10:39; 16:16;
John 1:33; 3:22-26; Acts 2:38-41; 8:36; 10:47-48; Col. 2:12).
The Lord’s Supper, commonly referred to as
“communion,” is the special ordinance that
the Lord Himself instituted the night before
he died. The ordinance of communion
commemorates and typifies the suffering and
death of the Lord Jesus Christ until He
comes again (Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24;
Luke 22:19-20; John 6:53; Rom. 11:27; 1 Cor. 10:16; 11:23-25).
The New Covenant has its own
seal.
The New Covenant has its own
covenant seal, the permanent indwelling of
the Holy Spirit who is given to us as a guarantee of our
eternal inheritance (Eph. 1:13; 4:30;
1 Cor. 12:13; 2 Cor. 1:22).
The Holy
Spirit is God’s seal and not just His
sealing agent. God seals us when we put our
trust in the good news of the gospel of
Jesus Christ; not because we earn His seal
by keeping the Old Covenant law.
The Old Covenant was
given to the people of Israel alone and was
for a specific time and place. The New
Covenant of Jesus Christ extends to the
whole human race who together wait for our
Lord Jesus Christ to return again in glory.
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