A New and Better Covenant
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Introduction
Introduction
One distinction of a Reformed Baptist Church is to view scri
Do we practice what we are preached?
It is important for us to study the Bible with the aim to understand how God fulfills His promises. Particularly His promise to save sinners.
The pursuit of studying the Bible in this way is called Covenant Theology.
God has always dealt with men through divine promises or covenants.
Basic definition of Covenant - an oath, bond or promise involving two or more parties, whether human or divine.
Men may make covenants with one another
Can be conditional or unconditional
Men have a great need for God to make divine covenants with them
Chapter 7.1 of the 2LBC - “The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their creator, yet they could never have attained the reward of life but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant.”
Divine Covenant - oath, bond, or promise made by God to man out of grace
A distinctive of a Reformed Baptist Church is to have a covenantal view of scripture
God has given us time as a means by which to measure and record history
The divine covenants in scripture are how we see God’s plan of redemption unfold on the landscape of history.
A covenantal view of the unfolding of God’s plan of redemption throughout redemptive history strengthens our faith in the truth that God fulfills His promises.
To summarize… “Covenant Theology is like a road map that tells us where the Bible is going.” - Chris Griggs
The New Covenant
The New Covenant
Context of Jeremiah
A prophet given the responsibility by God to proclaim both impending doom and gracious restoration of Israel
Prior to Babylonian exile that lead to destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC.
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.
34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
3 Observations in this passage
3 Observations in this passage
The New Covenant is distinct from the Old Covenant.
The New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant.
The New Covenant contains better promises and consequences.
*DEFINE COVENANT AND COVENANT THEOLOGY*
*DEFINE COVENANT AND COVENANT THEOLOGY*
When we boil everything down our faith is tied to one unchanging truth. God fulfills His promises.
It is important for us to study the Bible with the aim to understand how God fulfills His promises. Particularly His promise to save sinners.
The pursuit of studying the Bible in this way is called Covenant Theology.
God has always dealt with men through divine promises or covenants.
Basic definition of Covenant - an oath, bond or promise involving two or more parties, whether human or divine.
Men may make covenants with one another
Can be conditional or unconditional
Men have a great need for God to make divine covenants with them
Chapter 7.1 of the 2LBC - “The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their creator, yet they could never have attained the reward of life but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant.”
Divine Covenant - oath, bond, or promise made by God to man out of grace
A distinctive of a Reformed Baptist Church is to have a covenantal view of scripture
God has given us time as a means by which to measure and record history
The divine covenants in scripture are how we see God’s plan of redemption unfold on the landscape of history.
A covenantal view of the unfolding of God’s plan of redemption throughout redemptive history strengthens our faith in the truth that God fulfills His promises.
To summarize… “Covenant Theology is like a road map that tells us where the Bible is going.” - Chris Griggs
1st observation - NC is distinct from the OC.
1st observation - NC is distinct from the OC.
NC is
NC is unconditional. OC was conditional.
NC cannot be broken. OC was broken.
Verses 33-34 tell us how this New Covenant is different than the former covenant.
This conditional covenant is based on the work Adam was commanded to perform in the garden and the restrictions God gave him concerning the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evi
The debate over the continuity or discontinuity between the Old and New Covenants is centuries old. But I would argue that it is on this threshold of these different and distinct covenants that we have the fullest view and appreciation of our salvation in Jesus Christ.
The distinction between these two covenants begs the question: “Why do we need a New Covenant?”
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
gen 1:2
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Had Adam obeyed these commands (conditions) he would have been blessed
To answer this we must first look at the opposing covenant mentioned in verse 32.
He did not. Enter a second kind of covenant
Promise of the Redeemer
Promise of the Redeemer
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
The promise of this seed that would come to redeem God’s people is the first mention of the gospel and introduces a new kind of covenant. A covenant of grace.
Noahic Covenant (Unconditional)
Noahic Covenant (Unconditional)
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,
9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you,
10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth.
11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
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.
14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,
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.”
17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
Made with Noah and all people after him after world was destroyed because of it’s corruption
gen 9:
Is perpetual
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,
9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you,
10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth.
11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
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.
14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,
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.”
17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
Abrahamic Covenant (Unconditional)
Abrahamic Covenant (Unconditional)
Abrahamic Covenant (Unconditional)
Abrahamic Covenant (Unconditional)
Abrahamic Covenant (Unconditional)
Abrahamic Covenant
Abrahamic Covenant
Revealed from
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Gen 15
Gen 12:1-3
God calls Abram out of Ur and first mentions his promise to bless Abram and make him a great nation
God formally covenants with Abram
Promises descendants and land
God passes between slaughtered animals to seal the covenant
Covenant of Circumcision (Conditional)
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,
2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”
3 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him,
4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.
5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.
7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring,
13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.
14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,
6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance,
12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.
13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”
14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
God places a condition on Abraham in the form of a covenant sign
The hebrew word for covenant literally means “to cut”
That all males would be circumcised
whether born or bought
Anyone not circumcised would be cut off from his people
**THIS COVENANT ESTABLISHES WHO GOD’S PEOPLE WILL BE AND THEIR PHYSICAL BLESSINGS TO BE ENJOYED AS GOD’S PEOPLE**
Key Truths about Abrahamic Covenant
Key Truths about Abrahamic Covenant
Dual in Nature
Physical Nature (Descendants and Land)
Descendants as numerous as “stars of heaven and the sand of the seashore” (Gen 22:17)
Land for these descendants to inhabit ()
Spiritual Nature (the promised seed)
All nations would be blessed by Abraham…by his seed.
Galatians 3:16
These Promises have been fulfilled
These Promises have been fulfilled
These Promises have been fulfilled
These Promises have been fulfilled
Physical
Descendants
10 The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven.
20 Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy.
1 kings 4:20
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,
b. Land
Land -
43 Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. 44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. 45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
2. Spiritual
fulfilled in Christ
16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
Mosaic Covenant
Mosaic Covenant
God calls Moses to lead His people out of bondage into the fulfillment of His physical promises to Abraham.
24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
Abraham.
2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’ ”
Once out of Egypt God makes a covenant with His people (Deut. 28-29)
This covenant was conditional
Required the obedience of Israel
This covenant is marked by blessings and curses
Obedience brought blessing
Disobedience brought curses
A summary of blessings and curses from scripture
Blessings
“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. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.”
his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you
high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon
you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.”
• Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field
• The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated
before you
• The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn
to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk
in his ways
• The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.”
up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God,
which I command you today, being careful to do them, and if you do not
turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right
hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.”
Curses
Curses
“But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.”
commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall
come upon you and overtake you.”
• Cursed shall you be in the city and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall
you be when you come in and cursed shall you be when you go out.
• The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. And your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away.
horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. And your dead body shall be food for
all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to
frighten them away.
• “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you.
are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to
keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you.
• Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you...and he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.
heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your
enemies whom the Lord will send against you...and he will put a yoke of iron on
your neck until he has destroyed you.
• Whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God. And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God. And as the
Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take
delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked
off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
Key Truths about the Mosaic Covenant
Key Truths about the Mosaic Covenant
God should have destroyed Israel from day one, but he doesn’t. Why?
The promises to Abraham were not yet fulfilled
God’s reaction to golden calf:
25 “So I lay prostrate before the Lord for these forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had said he would destroy you. 26 And I prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin, 28 lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” 29 For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’
deut 9:2
Israel did not earn the fulfillment of these covenant blessings
God just fulfilled them
43 Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. 44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. 45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
10 The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven.
20 Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy.
Through God’s fulfillment of His promise to Abraham His people are now enjoying the blessings of that promise
BUT…now that God has fulfilled His side of the bargain it is up to Israel to earn the right of perpetual enjoyment.
This of course they could not do.
Jeremiah 3:1-
1 “If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the Lord. 2 Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom. 3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have the forehead of a whore; you refuse to be ashamed. 4 Have you not just now called to me, ‘My father, you are the friend of my youth— 5 will he be angry forever, will he be indignant to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could.” 6 The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? 7 And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. 9 Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”
2nd Observation - NC is Better than OC
2nd Observation - NC is Better than OC
Better in nature, not class
Car/horse illustration
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.
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
NC is unbreakable because it is in Christ
“Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I will give you as a covenant for the people...”
“The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name...
give you as a covenant for the people...
name...
And now the Lord says... “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
And now the Lord says... “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to
raise up the tribes of Jacob and bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make
you a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the
earth.”
And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land...
Christ makes OC obsolete
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land...
3rd Observation - Better promises and consequences
3rd Observation - Better promises and consequences
Promise to write Law on our hearts
Not just a conscience knowledge
Law in OC was placed before Israel in stone. Law of NC is placed within.
Live according to the Law in light of the Gospel
Able to please God (3rd use of the law)
Promise that each member would know the LORD
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
Not saying do not teach
Not emphasizing facts, but an inner commitment to God
Promise that members would come from all backgrounds
Social classes
Ethnicities
Cultures
Consequence of having sin forgiven and remembered no more
wife illustration
Implications
Implications
Informs ecclesiology
Baptism of disciples alone
members of NC are members of Church
Individual application
Not born into NC, but reborn
Not generational, but regenerational
Knows no cultural, societal or ethnic boundaries
Neighbors, coworkers, family friends