A) WHAT A COVENANT IS AND IS NOT.

B) GOD’S LAW.

C) THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW COVENANT.

D) ALL COVENANTS MUST BE SEALED.

E) BIBLE COVENANTS IN THEIR ORDER.

F) WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

G) OBJECTIONS.

H) THE RENEWAL OF A COVENANT.

 

 

A) WHAT A COVENANT IS AND IS NOT

 

 

A COVENANT is a PROMISE by which parties BIND themselves to each other for the fulfillment of certain conditions.  In other words:  “My Word Is My Bond.”  Thus, the human agent enters into a Covenantal agreement with God to comply with the conditions specified in God’s Word.

 

The biggest problem in understanding a Covenant, is that it is almost exactly like a contract, or treaty, or agreement in writing (which is basically a contract).  Therefore, in order to better understand a Covenant and its differences from a contract or treaty, we must first determine their differences.

 

The dissimilarity between a Covenant and a contract or treaty, is that a contract specifically, or treaty, un-specifically, anticipates an ending; while a Covenant does not.  A Covenant is non-negotiable, whereas a contract is, and a treaty can be changed as circumstances change.  In addition, any contract is contestable, and a treaty can be violated, whereas a Covenant is not contestable and can only be violated by man, never God.  This concept is better understood by looking at the reason for our God’s Covenant in the first place.

 

 

B) GOD’S LAW

 

 

God’s Law (the Ten Commandments) is not a promise (or Covenant), but a non-negotiable requirement (or else Satan did not sin).  Thus, the Covenant between God and mankind is for mankind to agree that God’s Law is righteous; whereas Satan teaches it is not.  The Ten Commandments are only the reason for the Covenant, not the Covenantitself.  Under the Old Covenant, the conditions by which eternal life could be gained were the same as under the New Covenant -- PERFECT OBEDIENCE.

 

God’s Law is not the product of sin, but the product of Love.  God’s Ten Commandments have always existed (see my Bible Study:  “TEN COMMANDMENTS, THE.”).  When God reaffirmed the Ten Commandments to the Israelites, He first showed them His redeeming Love (Exo. 20:2).  Through God’s Law the godly come to know how to reflect God’s Love, compassion, fidelity, and other perfections.  The Decalogue is not merely a list of Ten Laws, but primarily Ten Principles of Love.  There is no dichotomy between Law and Love, because one cannot exist without the other.  The Decalogue details how human beings must express their love for their Lord and for their fellow beings.  Christ’s New Commandment to love God and fellow beings (Mark 12:28-31), is nothing else than the embodiment of the spirit of the Ten Commandments already found in the Old Testament (see Lev. 19:18; Deu. 6:5).

 

The Moral Law of God is a revelation of God’s Will for human conduct.  The purpose of Christ’s redemptive mission was not to terminate the function of the Law, but to enable believers to live out the principles of God’s Law in their lives (Php. 4:13).  Through Christ, God does what the Law by Itself could not do -- namely, He empowers believers to live according to the fact, “That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us,” Romans 8:4.  The new life in Christ enables the Christian to keep the Moral Law of God as a loving response to His mercy.  This is the very thing that the Law by Itself cannot do, because being an external standard of human conduct; it cannot generate a loving response in the human heart.

 

Covenant breaking, through disobedience, is unfaithfulness to an established relationship.  When the covenant is broken, what is broken is not the condition of bestowal, but the condition of fulfillment.  According to Jeremiah 11:3 & 8 & 11, the “covenant” is the “words” of the Ten Commandments.

 

 

C) THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW COVENANT

 

 

The major difference between the Old and New Covenants, is not one of methods of salvation, but of shadow versus reality.  The Old Covenant was “symbolic” (Heb. 9:9) of the “more excellent” redemptive ministry of Christ (Heb. 8:6).  The Old Covenant -- indeed the Mosaic Law -- was a Covenant of grace that offered salvation on the basis of grace through faith, just as does the Good News found in the New Testament.

 

Hebrews 8:6 is very telling in letting us know the difference between the Old & New Covenants.  It tells us that the New Covenant is “a better Covenant,” and “established upon better promises.”  And verse 7 tells us:  “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.”

 

This is not saying that God’s Covenant was faulty, but that the people whom He made it with made it faulty when they broke it; symbolized by Moses throwing down the first two tables of stone, written by the finger of God, and breaking them on the ground (Exo. 31:18 & 32:16 & 19).  This becomes clear by reading Hebrews 8:8:  “For finding fault with them.”  There you have it.  The “fault” is with the “them,” equaling the “people,” not with the Covenant.

 

Also, Hebrews 4:2 explains it as:  “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them:  but the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”  We can see that the “fault with them,” was because of their lack of “faith.”  But we must continue on with verses 8 through 10:

 

“[8] For finding fault with them, He saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: [9] Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; [WHY?] because they continued not in My Covenant, and I regarded them not [God did not give up; the people did], saith the Lord. [10] For this is the [NEW] Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My Laws into their mind, and write Them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people.”  This is not God forcing them; but rather, the people (you) allowing God’s mercy to touch their/your hearts that you decide to Covenant with God and “keep” His Commandments (Rev. 12:14).

 

Hebrews 4:10 explains what had already been explained in Jeremiah 31:31-33; which teaches us that the only difference between the Old and New Covenants is “obedience” to the Law of God being placed in their hearts as opposed to the people professing that they could do it themselves (Exo. 24:3).  Compare with Hebrews 8:8 & 10 & Second Corinthians 3:3 & Romans 7:22.  It is not a difference between “Law” and “Grace (Love).”  Rather, the difference -- if any -- is that one fails to internalize God’s Law, which results in disobedience; whereas a successful internalization of God’s Law results in obedience.  “But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people.”  Jeremiah 31:33.  SIMPLY STATED:  Loving God enough to obey Him is better than a head knowledge and attempting to obey Him.

 

For those who argue that the people of Israel did not understand this principle, here is Deuteronomy 6:6:  “And these words, which I Command thee this day, shall be in thine heart.”  Yes, the people were at fault.  But the fault was not attempting to keep God’s Law.  Rather, it was by attempting to keep God’s Law without the help of internalizing It through the power of letting God into their hearts.

 

Thus, it was always God’s purpose that His Law would be in their/our hearts.  Therefore, the only difference between the Old and New Covenants, one was to do it by themselves; whereas the other was to do it with the internalization of His Law with God’s help.  Otherwise, there is no difference.

 

This is clearly spelled out in Deuteronomy 5:29:  “O that there were such an HEART in THEM, that THEY would fear Me, and KEEP ALL MY COMMANDMENTS ALWAYS, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!”  It was ALWAYS God’s intention that the Israelites would have the New Covenant experience.

 

In reality, the New Covenant is called the New Covenant, because the Israelites, and people that do not internalize God’s Law into their hearts, never experience that process.  Again, “For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them:  but the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”  The Law of God is not a bunch of does and don’ts, but an experience of a loving relationship with the God of the Cosmos.  Learning about His character and the character that he wants you to have.  Which is the same as His (Php. 2:13; Col. 1:27).  Thus, the New Covenant is about a total heart change.

 

It's like me putting 10 laws on my refrigerator for my kids to perform during the day.  But as love grows in the family, my ten laws are internalized and no longer need to be posted for my family; but for any that come into the household (Gal. 3:24).  “For we know that God’s Law is spiritual [internalized],” Romans 7:14.  “Wherefore God’s Law is Holy, and the Commandment Holy, and just, and good.”  Romans 7:12.

 

 

D) ALL COVENANTS MUST BE SEALED

 

 

In order for a Biblical Covenant to be established, there must be a “sealing” of such a Covenant.  In order to “seal,” or acknowledge that the two parties have agreed upon a Covenant, a “token,” or “symbol,” is to established in a confirmation of such; or to be more specific, “ratification that the agreement has taken place.”

 

In the Old Covenant, the blood of an animal was used (Exo. 19:5-8; 24:5 & 7-8; Heb. 9:13).  In the New Covenant, the blood of Christ is used (Hebrews 9:12 & 14).

 

It is important to realize that although the New Covenant was not ratified until the Blood of Christ was shed, by faith one believed in the Coming Messiah (Gen. 3:15); thus internalizing God’s Law in their hearts.

 

That the New Covenant was valid in the days of Adam, Abraham, Isacc, and Jacob, is evident from the fact that it was then confirmed both by the promise and by the oath of God -- the “two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie.”  Hebrews 6:18.

 

 

E) BIBLE COVENANTS IN THEIR ORDER

 

 

Bear in mind that when God’s Word mentions a “testament,” that can also mean a “covenant.”

 

The New Covenant is the most important of all Covenants, and was planned before this world’s existence between the Father and the Son when Jesus offered Himself as “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Zec. 6:13; 1Pe. 1:20; Rev. 13:8).  This simply means that this Covenant was “ratified” (and all of God’s Covenants need to be ratified) by a blood sacrifice (in the New Covenants case, Christ’s Blood).  This Covenant was first proclaimed to man in Eden, when after the fall, God stated that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15), ratified by the animal sacrifice (Gen. 3:21; else, where did the “coats of skins” come from in Gen. 3:21?).

 

The next Covenant to come onto the scene is when God then says to Noah “with thee will I establish My Covenant,” Genesis 6:18, the ark being the visual confirmation of Noah’s agreement and God’s promise.  God would preserve it, and Noah and his family would build it and get into it (Gen. 7:1).  This was ratified by blood in Genesis 8:20 (all-be-it, after the fact).

 

Next, another Covenant was established with Noah and his sons (Gen. 9:8-9), with the “token” (or ratification) of it being the rainbow (Gen. 9:12-13).  The Covenant God expressed to Noah was the most universal among the Biblical Covenants, in that it not only was with all humanity, it also included the animals and nature.  Also, this was a one-sided arrangement.  The Lord didn’t impose any requirements or stipulations upon those with whom He was establishing the Covenant.  He simply was not going to destroy the earth with water again, period.  Unlike other Covenants, nothing was conditional about it.  God simply promised not to destroy the earth by a flood again.  Thus, the only One Who could break this one is God Himself.  Should He do so, with all Covenants made with or by God, death is required.

 

In Genesis 9:16 the New Covenant is called the “everlasting Covenant” for the first time.  Here we can see that the New Covenant has existed and will always exist between those whom God deems obedient to it.  Hosea 6:7 & Hosea 8:1, show us some insight into how God feels about His “New Covenant.”  “But they like men have transgressed the Covenant:  there have they dealt treacherously against Me.”  Hosea 6:7.  “Set the trumpet to thy mouth.  He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed My Covenant, and trespassed against My Law.”  Hosea 8:1.

 

This brings us to Abram, who is the next one that God establishes His “everlasting,” or “New” Covenant with (Gen. 17:2 & 4 & 7 & 9-10; Luke 1:72-73), the “token” of which was “circumcision” (Gen. 17:10-11).  Prior to this was a Covenant for the obedience of Abraham to God in Genesis 15:9-10.

 

Note:  The Bible incorporates the term “everlasting covenant” sixteen times.  Out of them, thirteen are specifically applied to the Covenants with Abraham, Israel at Sinai, and David.

 

Then comes Isaac (Gen. 17:19 & 21; see also Gen. 26:3-5), and then Jacob (Exo. 2:24; see also Psa. 105:8-10), “circumcision” also being the token by which they were “ratified.”  “There is hope for us only as we come under the Abrahamic Covenant, which is the Covenant of grace by faith in Christ Jesus.”  6BC:1077.   In other words, before the First Coming of Christ, persons were saved by looking forward to and believing in the Sacrifice of Christ to come, and why He had to die (God’s Law was broken and only God could redeem one from that breaking of It); and after Christ had Come, those who are saved are those who look back at that Ransom.

 

Next are the people, or Nation of Israel in Exodus 6:4.  The ratification was also “circumcision” in the past tense, for God states that He “remembered,” Exodus 6:5, His Covenant with them.  However, in the “future tense” of this Covenantal agreement, the “token” would be mankind’s “obedience” in placing a “lamb’s blood upon the door posts” (thus, the showing of “obedience”) of their homes, dressing and eating it thereafter (Exo. 12:5-11), while God’s part would be to “pass by” such rendered homes.

 

This brings us to Exodus 19:5-8, where the Old Covenant is then ratified by the “blood” of “oxen” (Exo. 24:5 & 7-8).  Hebrews 8:6-13 states that the New Covenant (called the “second” -- verse 7) is “better,” and has “better promises,” verse 6, than the Old Covenant (called the “first” -- verse 7), and is therefore classified as “faulty;” only to the extent that the Law of God was not internalized and loved.

 

We then have the last one, where Jesus seals it with His blood on the cross, and He spells this out in Matthew 26:28, at what is known as the “Last Supper.”  Prophesied in Daniel 9:27.

 

 

F) WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE

 

 

The major difference between the Old and New Covenants is not the method of salvation (which is perfect obedience), but the manner in which salvation is offered; which is, the representation of Christ’s Sacrifice by the blood of animals (Old Covenant), or the better one (New Covenant), the precious blood of Christ Himself; already offered.  Both Covenants conditions being, perfect obedience to God’s Law.  And how does one do that?  “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” Colossians 1:27.

 

Therefore, we can now understand the difference between the Old and the New Covenants:  One is of a shadow (or type) versus reality (anti-type).  One was ratified by the blood of animals (only representing the true), while the other by the actual blood of our Lord.  One is love of Laws, while the other is one of Love to God’s character (as manifested in the establishment of His Law in your heart).

 

The Old Covenant is stated as “symbolic” in Hebrews 9:9, and of a “more excellent” redemptive ministry of Christ, as brought out in Hebrews 8:6.  Consequently, it was necessary for Christ to Come “once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of Himself,” Hebrews 9:26.  The obedience called for by the Sinaitic Covenant was meant to be a loving response to God’s provision of salvation, not a means of salvation.  For Christ was to be seen in the sacrificial system; just as much as we see Christ in the cross of Calvary today.

 

The New Covenant puts God’s “Law’s into” our “mind” and “hearts” (Jer. 31:31-33; 2Co. 3:3; Heb. 8:10), while the “Old is ready to vanish away,” Hebrews 8:13, because it failed to internalize God’s Law into one’s heart.  The Old Covenant “had also ordinances of Divine service, and a worldly Sanctuary,” Hebrews 9:1, whereas the New Covenanthas Jesus’ blood, and a Sanctuary in “Heaven Itself” (Heb. 9:24-28), and as such has “better promises,” Hebrews 8:6.  However, don’t be so quick to discount the ability of the Old Covenant, for as stated clearly in Hebrews 9:1, It was “of Divine service,” or in other words, Divinely appointed and set up.  But as has been clearly brought out, the people failed to internalize It into their lives.

 

So we see that the Old Covenant was established between God and Israel at Sinai, being ratified by the “blood” of “oxen.”  While the New Covenant was established “from the foundation of the world,” First Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8, being ratified by the shed blood of Jesus Christ (even though futurist, God’s promise to be a Sacrifice was sufficient).  Therefore, the New Covenant actually existed before the Old Covenant (has always existed).

 

Understanding why the Old Covenant is called the “first” and the New Covenant the “second,” now becomes simple.  The “everlasting [or New] Covenant,” Hebrews 13:20, is called the “second” Covenant, because the blood by which it was sealed, or ratified, was shed after the blood of the “first” [Old] Covenant.  The Old Covenant then, vanishes away (ends, Heb. 8:13) at the cross.  Nevertheless, both were established to bring us into a loving relationship with our Lord; shown by obedience to His Commandments.

 

Wherefore, the New Covenant was instituted (symbolically) and ratified forever by the blood of Jesus at His death (Heb. 12:24; 13:20; Mat. 26:26).  It went into effect permanently (by ratification only; for It always existed in order for you to internalize God’s Law into your heart) when our Lord died.  “For a testament [or Covenant, same thing -- see margin] is of force after men are dead:  otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth,” Hebrews 9:17.  After the death of Christ nothing could be added or taken away from the New Covenant.  “Though it be but a man’s Covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto,” Galatians 3:15.  This is a VERY IMPORTANT point.

 

This is why Jesus introduced the Lord’s Supper on Friday night before He died, so that foot washing and the sacraments would come under the New Covenant (Mat. 26:28).  The New Covenant consists not in the replacement of the Ten Commandments with so-called simpler and better Laws, but in the internalization of God’s Laws (all of Them) into our hearts (Jer. 31:33; 2Co. 3:3; Heb. 8:10).  Once Christ died, these and the Ten Commandments were established and COULD NOT BE CHANGED OR ABOLISHED.  By the way, if They could have been CHANGED OR ABOLISHED, then Christ did not have to have died for something He should have or could have just changed any time He wants to.

 

The result of Christ’s Coming has been described as “setting aside,” Hebrews 7:18, making “obsolete,” Hebrews 8:13, and “abolishing,” Hebrews 10:9, all the Levitical services associated with the Old Covenant.  It is unfortunate that these statements are interpreted as meaning that Christ by His First Coming abrogated all the Mosaic Laws.  This interpretation, which is at the heart of the misguided thinking about the Moral Law [Ten Commandments] by most Evangelicals today, ignores the fact that the termination statements found in the Book of Hebrews refer to the Levitical priesthood [Which represented Christ] and Its services [showing the future Sacrifice of Christ] of the Old Covenant, not to the principles of God’s Moral Laws.  That God wants to put His Moral Law into our Heart’s (Jer. 31:33; 2Co. 3:3) is quite well Biblically established.  Thus, what was to be set “aside,” made “obsolete” and or be abolished, could not be referring to God’s Moral Law of Ten Commandments.  But rater, the sacrificial system of dying animals, representing the future death of our Lord.

 

 

G) OBJECTIONS

 

 

Some refer to Hebrews 8:10 as canceling the Law of God, i.e., “I will put My Laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts.”  Please explain to me how “putting God’s Laws into your heart” cancels them?  They are just moved from outside (knowing of them but not keeping them), to inside (loving them and deciding to obey Them).

 

By contrast, there is no suggestion of any “new” Laws in this statement or others you may bring up.  What the statement by our Lord is really referring to is “My [i.e., His] Laws,” which are already clear and spelled out to Paul’s intended readers (the Jewish people).  And in an interesting side note, the plural “Laws,” as used here and in Hebrews 10:16, does not refer to a diversity of Laws different from those found in the Old Testament, but in the content of the Decalogue.  We can know this for a certainty, because the Greek translation of the Old Testament passage in Jeremiah 31:33, used by the Apostle here, translated it as plural instead of singular (as it should have been).  And to confirm this, Deuteronomy 9:9 authenticates that the Ten Commandments are not the Covenant, but the reason for the Covenant/agreement, that [GOD’S LAW] cannot be changed or canceled.

 

In regards to Second Corinthians 3:1-3, verse three makes it clear that this is speaking of the Ten Commandments, i.e., “tablets of stone.”  Then Paul clarifies the reference to Jeremiah 31:33, “fleshy tables.”  The location does not cancel the item.  See also Second Corinthians 3:6, where again, God puts into our hearts, “not of the letter, but of the Spirit,” canceling neither.  Just changing the relationship.

 

 

H) THE RENEWAL OF A COVENANT

 

 

In the Book of Joshua, we can find laid out for us a perfect example of how a “Covenant” is renewed:

 

First, a preamble is mentioned where God presents Himself as “Thus saith the LORD God of Israel,” Joshua 24:2.  Then follows a long historical prologue where Joshua reminds the people of what God has done for them in the past (Joshua 24:2-13).  After this history, the Stipulations or Laws are enumerated (Joshua 24:14-15 & 23).  Then blessings and curses are mentioned (Joshua 24:19-20), as to what will happen if you obey or disobey.  Then witnesses are identified (Joshua 24:22 & 27).  Then a special provision is stated (Joshua 24:25-26).  Thus, the basic form of a “Covenant” was used to communicate with Israel and show them, not only God’s leading in their past, but what was required of them to uphold their end of the “Covenant” in the future.

 

Then, in the Book of Nehemiah, Chapter 10, verses 30-39, we can find what is required of the people (Israelites) to do as part of the renewing of the Covenant:

 

1) No Mixed Marriages;

2) True Sabbath Observance;

3) Debt Cancelation;

4) Sabbatical Year Observance;

5) Financially Supporting The Temple.

 

But in reality, INTERNALIZATION OF GOD’S LAW INTO YOUR HEART:  “Christ in you [the ability to obey], the hope of glory,”  Colossians 1:27, is the only true format for Salvation and a renewing of the Covenant with God that you broke by not putting your full trust in Christ in your life.