Covenants: Old and New

1. Introduction

a. Last week we looked at .

b. (ESV) — 1 But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

c. (ESV) — 5 But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

i. Circumcision was the initiation rite into old covenant

ii. Covenant is contract. A treaty.

d. (ESV) — 19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,

e. Key: Source of the conflict is over one question: What is the nature of the new covenant? Is the new covenant that we have in Christ an extension/ amendment of the old covenant or is it a replacement of the old covenant?

i. Today my objective is for us to wrestle with that question.

2. Six common components of an ancient near eastern covenant:

a. God communicates to people in terms that they can understand and accept.

b. Their covenant practices are somewhat foreign to us today.

c. Two Greek words for covenant. In relationship to God: διαθηκη

3. One: Act of initiation into the covenant

a. The covenant initiation usually involves the shedding of blood.

b. (ESV) — 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. 7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.

i. Making a pathway through the sacrificed animals. Walking through the blood.

ii. But Abraham falls into a deep sleep (not unlike Adam)

c. (ESV) — 17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,

i. Two fires pass through the sacrifices. One a flaming torch. The other a smoking pot. (no less burning. It’s cooking something)

ii. God, apart from Abraham, walks through the pathway initiating the covenant.

d. Remember the Passover?

i. (ESV) — 7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.

e. Red Sea

f. (ESV) —8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

i. Moses sprinkling blood as they walked past?

g. Old Covenant: Circumcision

h. New Covenant: Baptism

i. Question: If Circumcision was the initiation into the covenant?

i. (ESV) — 15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.

ii. If a covenant made with God cannot be annulled or added to, then how can circumcision no longer be required?

4. Two: Promises of the suzerain (ruler) in the covenant to the ruled people.

a. (ESV) — 21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.

b. (ESV) — 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

5. Three: Requirements of the ruled party to the suzerain (ruler)

a. (ESV) — 7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”

b. (ESV) — 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”

6. Four: The sign of the covenant

a. A sign is what you do in order to show that you are still faithful to the covenant.

b. (ESV) — 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

c. (ESV) — 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

d. Question: What is the sign of the new covenant? The Lord’s Supper. Communion

i. (ESV) — 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

1. As often as you… (open ended)

e. Question: What was the sign of the old covenant?

i. (ESV) — 13 “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.

ii. (ESV) — 16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. 17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’ ”

1. The Sabbath was the sign of the old covenant

iii. Who is the old covenant specifically between? “People of Israel” and God.

1. How does one become an Israelite and enter the old covenant?

iv. How do we enter into the new covenant? The sign?

7. Five: Blessings if they ruled people are faithful and obedient to the terms of covenant

a. (ESV) — 1 “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. 3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

8. Six: Curses if the ruled people are unfaithful and disobedient to the terms of covenant

a. (ESV) — 58 “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. 60 And he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.

9. Interesting note: They made two copies of the covenant. One copy in the temple of the ruled people’s god and one copy in temple of the suzerain’s god.

a. (ESV) — 15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written.

10. Two covenants: What are we to make of them?

a. Is the new covenant an extension of the old? Or is the new covenant a replacement of the old?

i. How you answer this question has huge implications on your theology and the practice of the gospel.

1. Old: You are made righteous by the keeping of covenant law.

2. New: You are made righteous by the free and unmerited gift of God in Christ.

ii. (ESV) — 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

b. Again: So what are we to do with these two covenants?

11. (ESV) — 31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

a. The new is fundamentally different than the old.

b. It begins with a new heart. God’s character is now a part of your DNA.

i. New creation, new heart, new mind (the mind of Christ)

ii. (ESV) — 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

iii. – “We have the mind of Christ”

12. (ESV) — 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

a. The first covenant was not faultless. That was why we needed the New!

b. So is the new an extension of the old? Does God build upon a faulty foundation?

i. No the new is not like the old.

13. (NIV) — 12 For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also.

a. Jesus our new High Priest was not a Levite. The new covenant has a fundamentally different priesthood. The covenant law has to change too.

14. (ESV) — 18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

a. The law made nothing perfect. We draw near to God with a better hope! The righteousness of Christ (not of the law).

15. (ESV) — 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

a. Paul’s Question: So what are we to do with this covenant born at Mt Sinai?

b. (ESV) — 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.”

16. Conclusion: Scripture does not speak of the New Covenant being an extension of the old. God is intent on doing a new and perfect thing.

a. (ESV) — 18 “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

b. Question: If even a mere man-made covenant cannot be annulled or added to, then how could the old covenant have come to an end?

i. (ESV) — 15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.

c. A covenant is for life.

i. Marriage vows: “Until death do us part.”

ii. As long as both parties in the covenant are still alive, the covenant remains.

d. (ESV) — 1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.

e. So, who was the covenant made with? Who were the two parties in the covenant?

i. One was Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

ii. One was Yahweh.

iii. Point: For that covenant to end one of the parties has to die.

f. Two thousand years ago One of the parties in that covenant died on a cross.

i. And with His death a covenant came to an end.

ii. Key: But from His blood a new and far more glorious covenant was born.

1. Scripture records that with Jesus’ death the earth shook, the veil of the temple was torn in two.

2. The Father walked out the temple and passed through the blood.

a. The New Covenant was made!

g. (ESV) — 4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law (old covenant) through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.