The Word about the Covenant-Making GOD

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"The Word and the Prophets" - God created good, made mankind (Adam) as image-bearers to have dominion, to multiply, fill and subdue. The Garden would spread as the temple of God over all the earth, and God would be shown to be the great King. Sin brought death and hinders the growth of the kingdom. Adam had failed because he had broken covenant, but God made a promise to deliver mankind from sin and death through an offspring of man. God re-establishes the covenant with creation (image-bearing and re-creation) with Noah. Noah fails as the new Adam. Covenant with Abraham for a nation, land, and blessing. Abraham has faith, but he too fails, yet we move closer to the picture of what the Offspring would be and how he would deliver from sin and death (through faith). Covenant with Moses narrows further to the people Israel, some of the children of Abraham. The people fail immediately, but do have the covenant that allows them to live holy before God in the promised land. They can make typological sacrifices for their atonement. The Law is here. The prophets called the people to obedience and faith, but they would still have to look forward to the better Adam, the true Son of God who would deliver.

Notes
Transcript

“The Word about the Covenant-Making GOD”

Good morning! My name is Greg Wood
I am glad to be with you this morning.
I get to talk with you on the subject of God revealing Himself through His Word, the Bible. You’ve already heard about God’s greatness and enormity in the beginning, at Creation. Now I want to look at the rest of the Old Testament.
I have a handout / guide for you to fill out as we go.
First, let’s pray.
First, let’s pray.
God reveals Himself to us in stories, true stories about His activity and interactions with His creation.
Yesterday (last night) you heard about God revealing Himself through the story of Creation. In it, God shows that He is the Ruler over all creation, the Great King. The earth was without form and void, it was chaotic, but God subdued the chaos.
Imagine your school notebook being shredded and scattered, and a loudhorn blaring with awful tones, all while you are trying to study. That’s chaos. And the picture is that at the beginning, God defeats the chaos.
Plus, He not only subdues the chaos, this surd evil, He makes mankind, male and female, in His own image, meaning they are his representatives with some commonalities to their Creator. As His image-bearers, God gives them the mission to continue what He has done with Creation, namely to fill and subdue. God puts man in the Garden with the job to work it, care for it, expand its borders to the whole earth. In doing this, Adam is to rule under God, and obey God. Adam is commanded to eat from all the trees (including the Tree of Life) except one, the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is God’s Word to Adam. And His Word to Him is good, and it carries with it a warning that if Adam ate from that tree, “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” ().
We can call this the Covenant with Creation. On the one hand is the promise of life for mankind, and on the other hand is the curse of death. The rests of the story will hing upon what Adam does with God’s Word to him.
And we know what happens… You tell me.
The woman, later named, Eve is tempted by the serpent, later shown to be the incarnate Satan, to disbelieve God’s Word is good, and she begins to believe that God’s nature is not good.
The man, Adam, sides with his wife instead of God. Instead of subduing the serpent and cutting off its head so that the holiness of this Garden-temple Paradise would be defended, and they could then continue outward from there to the whole earth, Adam eats the fruit of this tree.
What did the tree of the knowledge of good and evil display? Eating it represents humanity attempting to determine its own way apart from God. Eating its fruit meant Adam and Eve would reject what God said was good and evil, and re-write the rules for themselves. “God doesn’t know best and want the best for me, I will decide what is best for myself.”
Don’t we say the same thing? When we sin, we reject God’s Word, His rule. We want to be great on our own, apart from God, divorced from the relationship to Him as our Great King, our Lord.
[Pause Here]
What is the essence of sin?
Despising the glory of God (, sin is a falling short of the glory of God)
Unbelief of His Word (, , ).
How has life challenged your personal belief in the truth of God’s Word?
For me, my own depraved heart wanted to throw off God’s authority to selfishly seek pleasure in sin.
Plus, after becoming a believer, it was at Mercer under the influence of unbelieving bible professors.
So Scripture teaches us that God is Creator, God is ruler.
But Satan hasn’t defeated God, and mankind is still His chosen plan for displaying His glory on the earth.
So, God curses the serpant, and in so doing makes the promise of how Satan will be defeated. God will not do it right then and there, directly. Rather, God desires to defeat him through mankind, through the offspring or seed of the woman. So, once again, God speaks the truth to Adam and Eve.
Do they believe God’s Word? Look at to find out.
So Adam names his wife Eve. And we know that in the Bible, names are very significant, telling us about the person, and in this case we learn something about Adam, who named Eve. What does that footnote at the end of the verse say? Eve sounds like the Hebrew word for life-giver.
Adam believed God! He trusted what God said this time, namely that God would defeat evil Satan by the offspring of Eve. He trusted that God’s mission would still be accomplished, nat by Adam’s strength or success, but by an offspring. God’s mission would succeed!
[Pause Here]
I mentioned God’s mission. Another way to say that is “why we are here.”
Scripture tells us why we are here.
What is God’s mission? What is He seeking to accomplish in the World?
Be fruitful and multiply and fill and subdue. Be fruitful and multiply this image of God.
In other words… Put God on display! Represent God!
How is he doing that still under the Fall?
In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
(the praise of the glory of His grace in Christ)
(the display of the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus).
(God’s name be hallowed, God’s kingdom come, God’s will be done)
So we are to glorify God with our lives. We do that is by enjoying Him… But, I don’t have time to go into that.
Now, if this is God’s mission, what would you expect to see in the Scripture?
What would be at the center of all of the Bible’s story?
Answer: What we’ve already seen in these first 3 chapters of Genesis, namely God’s glory coming through humanity ruling under God’s rule.
I like the way one theologian worded it:
“God, whose attributes hold in tension his holiness and mercy, glorifies himself by establishing his universal rule over his volitional creatures on earth through Jesus Christ and his covenant people. This in-breaking of God’s rule involves battling against spiritual adversaries in heavenly places and political, social, and religious powers on earth and destroying them in his righteous judgment while saving his elect.” [1 Bruce K. Waltke and Charles Yu, An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), 144.]
“To put it another way, the Bible is about God bringing glory upon himself by restoring Paradise after humanity lost it through a loss of faith in God that led to rebellion against his rule.1” [1 Bruce K. Waltke and Charles Yu, An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), 144.]
The Bible’s storyline continues, and in all these pages God is revealing more about who He is and how He will accomplish the display of His glory on the earth through mankind. Or to put it another way, Genesis through Revelation shows us the inbreaking of God’s Kingdom.
How would I say the OT storyline to students?
The Old Testament is the story of God, who is Creator and King. After mankind sinned, God the King works to bring us back into His kingdom, and He forms His kingdom out of chaos and over a sinful people by his word and Spirit. God does this through promise, covenant-relationship, and redemption (paying the price to pull us back close to Him). So, His faithful people should then advance this kingdom further into the whole world for God’s glory. [adapted from G.K. Beale’s A New Testament Biblical Theology]
How will God accomplish His purpose? How will the promised Seed of the woman accomplish the work Adam failed to do? What will he be like? When will he come?
This story is set on the backdrop of the Covenants. What is a biblical covenant? Covenant (Heb. berîṯ) means “a solemn commitment of oneself to undertake an obligation.” More especially, God authors the covenants and graciously obligates himself to fulfill blessings to elect beneficiaries, usually on the basis of their trust in God as demonstrated by their obedience to do his will.1
1 Bruce K. Waltke and Charles Yu, An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), 287.
In other words, a covenant with God means He promises to bless, and the people pledge their loyalty. And importantly, God seeks an intimate relationship, and we pledge our loyal love to Him.
Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration come into view with the covenants God makes with humanity. And with these covenants as the bones, God is putting on flesh, building up the plot-line, creating tension in the story that will adequately display His glory. If people knew this story, they wouldn’t think Christianity is boring!
Covenant with CreationCovenant with Noah (fallen Creation and re-creation)Covenant with AbrahamCovenant with Moses (or Cov at Mt. Sinai)Covenant with DavidNew Covenant
Table 2.1: The Major Covenants
Covenant Main Scripture Texts
1. The Covenant with Creation
2. The Covenant with Noah
3. The Covenant with Abraham /15/17/22
4. The Covenant at Sinai
5. The Covenant with David /
6. The New Covenant //
We have already reviewed how God revealed Himself and truth under the Covenant with Creation. Now let’s look at the others.
Quote from Gentry & Wellum:
  God judged the entire human race and made a new start with Noah. This too ended up in chaos and evil, as is clear from the story of the Tower of Babel.
Finally, he made a fresh start with Abraham. He would restore a creation and humanity ruined by pride and rebellion by using Abraham and his family as a pilot project. The people of Israel would be a light to the world, an example of what it meant to be properly related to God and to treat each other properly according to the dignity of our humanity. They would be blessed for obedience, cursed for disobedience. We may call this the Mosaic covenant, set forth in Exodus and restated in Deuteronomy.
But the people of Israel did not keep the Mosaic covenant. That is why the biblical story begins talking about a new covenant. This time it would be possible to keep this covenant.1
1 Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum, God’s Kingdom through God’s Covenants: A Concise Biblical Theology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015), 51–52.
So then, what were the Prophets doing?
The prophets were calling the people back into covenant with God. Usually there were operating under the Sinai Covenant (i.e., Mosaic Covenant). So they connected life to the Law of Moses.
Remember all those blessings and cursings at the end of Deuteronomy? The prophets leaned on those and warned them of the consequences of breaking the covenant. They would pronounce blessing for obedience or cursing for disobedience.
Ultimately, though, they looked to God to rescue from the consistent failures of patriarchs, families, judges, kings, and priests. Ultimately they heard from God that His chosen Seed was coming, and that He would make a new covenant with the people.
God was going to bring about the restoration to His Paradise through the Seed of the Woman, the Offspring of Abraham, the Offspring and Lord of king David: Jesus Christ.
Messiah in the New Covenant
How would I say the NT storyline to young students?
Jesus's life, death, and resurrection started the era of Jesus's reign over the new creation., in which He gives grace to those who have faith. Jesus calls us to the missions work of expanding His kingdom further into the whole world for God's glory. [adapted from G.K. Beale’s A New Testament Biblical Theology]
More specifically, I want to help you see that the earliest depictions of God show He is a covenant-maker, and these covenants are recorded in the Bible.
What is a covenant? "Covenants are relationships God establishes with people on the basis of his promises. The covenants are a series of treaties or agreements that God has made with his people at different stages in their history. Typically, they contain promises that will be fulfilled if the people remain faithful to him; but even if they do not, they will never be completely abrogated." [Gerald Bray, “Covenants,” in Lexham Survey of Theology (ed. Mark Ward et al.; Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).]
Gerald Bray, “Covenants,” in Lexham Survey of Theology (ed. Mark Ward et al.; Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).
Gerald Bray, “Covenants,” in Lexham Survey of Theology (ed. Mark Ward et al.; Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).[Gerald Bray, “Covenants,” in Lexham Survey of Theology (ed. Mark Ward et al.; Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).]
Gerald Bray, “Covenants,” in Lexham Survey of Theology (ed. Mark Ward et al.; Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).
It is within that context of covenant that God relates to and comes near to some or all of mankind. Plus, He directs mankind’s relationship with Him and with one another. Sometimes the scope is all of humanity (Adam and Noah), sometimes it is with a man and his offspring (Abraham), sometimes the nation of Israel (Sinai), and sometimes just with a king and his child that will be enthroned forever. Best of all, God even makes a covenant with all His chosen, born-again children.
Here’s where we’re going:
God and Truth in the Covenants
Truth in the Covenants
Messiah in the Covenants
Furthermore He gives mankind a mission - a purpose - that spans the entire span of history and into eternity. So, we will find in His Word that God is speaking the truth to us - perfect objective truth. And because God speaks the truth, and because He is good, He expects us to believe what He says and trust Him.
We will follow the sequence of six (6) covenants revealed in the OT, starting in Genesis for the first four (4), move into 2 Samuel, and then into Jeremiah for the final covenant being foretold.
Read just enough to cause the question or problem with the Law to become clear
Galatians 3:10–14 ESV
10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Gal. 3:10
Do you rely on works of the law? If so, you’re cursed.
Book of the Law requires abiding by all things in it (perfection). First 5 Books of the Bible (“The Law”) recorded for the Israelites their history (how they came to be) and portrayed to them God’s character and relationship to them. Another way to say that is, “Who is God, what has He done, who has he made us (Israel), and what should we do?” The answer, for the Israelites, came as we will see in the Law which showed them how to live as the chosen image-bearers of God in the promised land, under God’s rule. Plus, after their exodus from Egypt God would have a covenant relationship with them specifically, giving them what became known as the Law. The Law, summarized in the 10 Commandments, is what God would use to show them what was the real condition of their hearts.
“The righteous shall live by faith.” Where is that quoted from? Habbakuk 2:4. Is that part of the Law? No, he was a prophet. What did prophets do? Covenant mediators, so they reminded people of what God had said, what He expected of them, and what they should do. Habbakuk wrote between 640-615 B.C., well before Jesus. Moses got the Book of the Law from God around 1440 B.C. So, they had about 800 years of living under the Law, and no one succeeded.
That’s why the prophets kept coming back to the earlier covenant with Abraham, who was justified by faith, and the prophets kept pointing forward to a day when the Last Adam, the better Adam who would represent us before God and have His righteousness counted to us, and our sins counted to Him.
Where will you seek life: a) by faith; or b) by the Law? If truly by the Law, then you will have to do it perfectly, and you will fail and be cursed. But if by faith, you will look outside of your abilities, to God’s abilities.
But Jesus did come under the Law, in that covenant relationship with God. He obeyed the Law perfectly, and because He was rejected and killed by His own people. So, He suffered so He could become a curse for us, meaning the Law’s condemnation was upon Him instead of us, so that now the covenant relationship we can have with God is by faith, like Abraham.

I. God’s Word - Record of Covenants

I. God’s Word - Record of Covenants

I. God and Truth in the Covenants

A. God and Truth in Covenant with Creation

Genesis 1:28–30 ESV
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.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
Gen 1:28
Genesis 2:15–17 ESV
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.”
But this covenant was broken by Adam when He failed to carry out the mission to fill and subdue the earth.
And that pattern is one that we will see is repeated, as shown in the prophet Hosea.
Hosea 6:7 ESV
7 But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.
[Read only the proto-euangelion]
Do you know the story of the Fall? Do you remember that Adam and Eve were tempted not to believe what God had said about what was good for them, and instead chose to not trust that God was good?
And do you remember what God said in the curses about how God would have a child of Eve who would crush the serpent’s head? Though Adam failed, God’s mission wouldn’t fail. God’s kingdom would spread. Here we are at least 6000 years later and it is pushing onward and outward.
Genesis 3:1–24 ESV
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 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.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. 22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
Gen 3:1-15
Genesis 4:1 ESV
1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”
gen
Genesis 4:25 ESV
25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”

B. God and Truth in the Noahic Covenant

Genesis 6:5–8 ESV
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Genesis 8:20–9:1 ESV
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 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. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” 1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
Gen 8:20-9:
Genesis 9:7 ESV
7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”
Genesis 9:7–11 ESV
7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.” 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.”

C. God and Truth in the Abrahamic Covenant

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.”

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV
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.”
Genesis 15:1–6 ESV
1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 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.
Genesis 15:17–21 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, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

D. God and Truth in the Sinai Covenant

Exodus 19:3–9 ESV
3 while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” 7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord. 9 And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord,
Exod 19:3-9
And what follows is the writing of the 10 Commandments on the tablets of stone in exod 20
And are the Book of the Covenant which Moses writes down from the Lord.
And the covenant is confirmed in .
Exodus 24:3–4 ESV
3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
Exodus 24:3–8 ESV
3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 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.” 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.”

E. Davidic Covenant

E. God and Truth in the Davidic Covenant

E. Davidic Covenant

2 Samuel 7:12–16 ESV
12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”

It is the Davidic king, then, who is called to be God’s devoted servant/son, even functioning sometimes in priestly terms, instructing the nations in the ways of the Lord and inviting them to come under Yahweh’s rule (see fig. 11.3, which captures this point by first picturing the Davidic covenant as a subset of the old covenant, and second by showing that Israel’s sonship role is now narrowed in the king as the corporate head of the people).

Yet, in Old Testament history, there is a major problem in this regard. As with the previous covenant mediators, the Davidic kings are not obedient. The Davidic house does not effect God’s saving reign, which leads the prophets to anticipate the need for God to provide a greater King (e.g., Isa. 7:14; 9:6–7; 11:1–10; 42:1–9; 49:1–7; 52:13–53:12; 55:3; 61:1–3; Ezek. 34:1–31). In this way, the biblical covenants tell a story: not only do they teach us who God is and what he expects of us; they also demonstrate that God must act in sovereign grace to provide an obedient Son, who will fulfill the roles of the previous covenant mediators by bringing God’s rule and reign to this world by inaugurating a new and better covenant.

F. God and Truth in the New Covenant

Jeremiah 31:31–34 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. 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.”
Ezekiel 36:25–29 ESV
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.
Ezek 36:36-

In the New Testament, it is clear that the new covenant texts are applied to Christ and the church, which includes within it both Jews and Gentiles (cf. Luke 22:20; 2 Corinthians 3; Hebrews 8; 10). Even though the new covenant is made with the “house of Israel and Judah” (Jer. 31:31), Scripture applies it to the church through the work of Jesus Christ, David’s greater Son, the true Israel and the last Adam.

No doubt, Christians still await the consummation of the age, but even now we enjoy the firstfruits of the new creation and participate in the promised “age to come” realities.

II. Prophets Mediated Covenants

A. Prophets and the Sinai Covenant

B. Truth in the Noahic Covenant

C. Truth in the Abrahamic Covenant

D. Truth in the Sinai Covenant

B. Truth in and the Davidic Covenant

C. Prophets and the New Covenant

III. Messiah in the Covenants

“The rest of this theology will fill in what is meant by the petition “Your kingdom come.” As we shall see, it entails that God establishes his rule over his elect covenant people through the kingship of Jesus Christ, who by the Holy Spirit places God’s imperative rule upon the hearts of those whom Christ has freed from the slavery of Satan, sin, and death.” [Bruce K. Waltke and Charles Yu, An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), 144–145.]
Bruce K. Waltke and Charles Yu, An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), 144–145.
Read just enough to cause the question or problem with the Law to become clear
Galatians 3:10–14 ESV
10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Do you rely on works of the law? If so, you’re cursed.
Book of the Law requires abiding by all things in it (perfection). First 5 Books of the Bible (“The Law”) recorded for the Israelites their history (how they came to be) and portrayed to them God’s character and relationship to them. Another way to say that is, “Who is God, what has He done, who has he made us (Israel), and what should we do?” The answer, for the Israelites, came as we will see in the Law which showed them how to live as the chosen image-bearers of God in the promised land, under God’s rule. Plus, after their exodus from Egypt God would have a covenant relationship with them specifically, giving them what became known as the Law. The Law, summarized in the 10 Commandments, is what God would use to show them what was the real condition of their hearts.
“The righteous shall live by faith.” Where is that quoted from? Habbakuk 2:4. Is that part of the Law? No, he was a prophet. What did prophets do? Covenant mediators, so they reminded people of what God had said, what He expected of them, and what they should do. Habbakuk wrote between 640-615 B.C., well before Jesus. Moses got the Book of the Law from God around 1440 B.C. So, they had about 800 years of living under the Law, and no one succeeded.
That’s why the prophets kept coming back to the earlier covenant with Abraham, who was justified by faith, and the prophets kept pointing forward to a day when the Last Adam, the better Adam who would represent us before God and have His righteousness counted to us, and our sins counted to Him.
Where will you seek life: a) by faith; or b) by the Law? If truly by the Law, then you will have to do it perfectly, and you will fail and be cursed. But if by faith, you will look outside of your abilities, to God’s abilities.
But Jesus did come under the Law, in that covenant relationship with God. He obeyed the Law perfectly, and because He was rejected and killed by His own people. So, He suffered so He could become a curse for us, meaning the Law’s condemnation was upon Him instead of us, so that now the covenant relationship we can have with God is by faith, like Abraham.

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