What’s
in a PROMISE?
An Exploration of God’s Covenants
Norman Moll
Midland, Michigan
September 1, 2012
Come with me on a journey in time and space
To a time before there was a planet earth
To a time before there was a galaxy
To a time before there was a universe
To a time before there were any angels
To a time before “any thing made that was made”
In that place far, far away and long, long ago what do we find?
Darkness? No!
Light - the “true Light” (John 1:9), the “Light which lighteth every person that comes into the world.” (Also 1 John 1:5)
We find God, the eternal self-existent, uncreated, unchanging God.
And we find love, for “God Is Love” (1 John 4:8).
If we could penetrate the light, if we could observe God in this primeval state, what would we see? What would we discover? What would we learn about God?
Imagine with me the scene:
As our eyes gradually adjust to the brightness we see that God is not a single being but three! The three are in conversation, a conversation marked by respect, rapt attention, animation, joy, exuberance, excitement, and an intensity of life beyond our ability as fallen humans to comprehend. Everything about them is wrapped in love. It bathes their words, fills their countenances, overarches their thinking and provides the foundation for their decisions.
Their Love is exhibited in practical ways. We see it in their desire to serve each other, in the humility each exhibits in considering the thoughts of the others, in their affirmations of respect and admiration one for another. The other-centeredness of their relationships constitutes an undivided circle of beneficence.
The unconditional commitment to Love that this Divine relationship exhibits , that binds together Father, Son and Holy Spirit into one indivisible God, provides the basis for a critically important definition – the definition of COVENANT
While never spelled out on paper “covenant” is there defined and exemplified in the Godhead. It is the basis for all interpersonal interactions in which God engages.
Consider an example: if you have a child or a grandchild whom you love, you are in covenant relationship with them. As a parent would risk one’s own life to save the life of his or her child, as genuine unselfish love places the interests of the other before their own, so it is with God and His Covenant.
Covenant is the basis for the golden rule: treating others as we would wish to be treated should our roles be reversed.
Jesus referred to this principle in the Sermon on the Mount when
He said
Matthew 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Notice the last phrase, in which Jesus suggests that this commandment is the basis for the entirety of Old Testament scripture.
Again Jesus refers to this covenant principle in his final discussion with the leaders of Israel: A lawyer from among the Pharisees asks Jesus, Matthew22:36-40 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Some have suggested that Jesus is here giving a new commandment which coming later must therefore supersede God’s original Ten Commandments given on Mt. Sinai, among roaring thunder, the flashing lightning and the proclamation by the voice like a trumpet. In actuality Jesus is only quoting the words God spoke to Moses and which Moses repeated and recorded in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. Could we expect anything less of the God who proclaims, “I am the Lord, I change not. . .” Malachi 3:6
Since God is Love, and God is unchanging, God’s love is unchanging. And since God’s covenant is based on love, the foundation of God’s character as expressed in all the actions of the Godhead, therefore we should anticipate that God’s covenant is also unchanging. Indeed sixteen times we find in the Bible one of God’s covenants being described as an “everlasting” covenant.
Perhaps this is a good time to review the covenant concept as we humans use it. What are some examples of covenants?
A marriage license
A marriage certificate
A purchase agreement
A Immigration Certificate
A land contract
A mortgage deed
A certificate of Title
A will
A peace treaty
In each case the covenant reflects an agreement between parties. In some cases the parties are equals in other cases one is superior and the other inferior. Covenants generally require certain actions by the parties in order for the covenant to remain binding. When covenant conditions are violated the contract is voided and the signers, the parties to the covenant, are released from their covenant obligations.
While we like to think of human covenants as being completely trustworthy and secure this is really not the case.
1. For many covenants the death of one of the signers releases the other party. For instance a marriage only lasts as long as both parties live.
2. Since covenants depend on the law of the land for their legal standing, if the government fails or is toppled in war the covenants agreed to under that rule may lose their standing.
3. In spite of penalties included in some covenants it is not out of the question for one party to rebel and fail to fulfill his contractual agreement. In a land contract if the purchaser fails to pay according to the agreed upon schedule the land reverts to the original owner and the purchaser forfeits all that he has invested in the land up to that point.
Because of these facts for God to enter into a covenant with humans is highly significant. Since God lives forever, his death is not a concern. God’s law is unchanging and his rule is forever so a change of government is not a consideration. Finally God is trustworthy. He is true to His Word. Indeed only God is capable of establishing and fulfilling with 100% certainty any covenant. Hence only God can offer an everlasting/eternal covenant. Yet that is what He has done not just once but repeatedly down through time.
Furthermore all of God’s covenants have their origin in the covenant that exists among the three members of the Godhead. Before anything created existed, God existed, love existed, covenant existed – Everlasting God, everlasting love, everlasting covenant. Inherent in that everlasting covenant was the character, the self-sacrificing love, the trustworthiness of the one Eternal Triune God.
Let’s review references to covenants in the Bible beginning with God’s Universal, Everlasting Covenant of Love.. The Bible gives us descriptions of covenants God made with Adam and Eve, with Noah, Abraham, Isaac Jacob and David. The Covenant with Israel at Sinai, the so-called “Old Covenant” is especially important and detailed. It includes not only the ten commandments but all of the instructions given to Moses and recorded in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And then there is the New Covenant which we will consider in detail.
Consider the Everlasting Covenant references in the Bible:
• Total sixteen, three refer to “the” everlasting covenant
• All involve God as the covenant maker
• First use – Covenant with Noah following the flood:
Genesis 9:15--17 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
• God’s covenant with Abraham recorded in Genesis 17:7-19
I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. . . 13 my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
19 God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
• To Israel at Sinai
Exodus 31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
1 Chronicles 16:15, 17 also Psalm 105:10 Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. . . and hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant,
• To David – regarding his throne (fulfilled only in Jesus due to the failure of David’s heirs)
2 Chronicles 23:5 (NIV) If my house were not right with God, surely he would not have made with me an everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part; surely he would not bring to fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire.
• God promises to make an everlasting covenant with his people: Isaiah 55:3, 61:8, Jeremiah 32:40 and Ezekiel 16:60, and 37:26;
• Failure to keep God’s law results in the breaking of “the” everlasting covenant: Isaiah 24:5
• The covenant by which salvation is made possible referred to in Paul’s benediction, “the” everlasting [new] covenant:
Hebrews 13:20, 21 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
From these texts we observe that:
• Both Old and New Testaments contain references to “an” or “the” “everlasting covenant.”
• No one covenant is referred to exclusively as “the” everlasting covenant.
• We may therefore conclude that all of these covenants are part of one grand, eternal, covenant of love and peace between God and his entire creation.
What
then are the foundational elements found in common
among all of God’s Covenants with
the inhabitants of planet earth? WHAT
IS THE DNA OF GOD’S COVENANT?
Bible scholar Skip MacCarty in his book “In Granite or Ingrained?” tackles this question and other important questions regarding Covenants. Indeed these questions are important to us all as they relate to our understanding of the Everlasting Gospel, the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath and the Adventist understanding of the Great Controversy. Frankly I have found my own knowledge of this issue incomplete and lacking depth. I suspect that this is true for other Adventists as well.
Our Evangelical friends offer arguments, which on the surface seem unassailable, in favor of the conclusion that the Ten Commandments were for Old Testament Israel only having been replaced by Jesus’ command that we love one another, that the New Covenant makes the Sabbath obsolete, that obedience constitutes salvation by works. That we are saved not by works but by God’s grace.
According to these teachings the New Covenant has replaced the Old Covenant and with the New Covenant comes freedom from the legalism of the Sinaitic Covenant.
Can these teachings be true? And if they are not true how do we defend our Adventist beliefs.
Let’s start with some definitions:
What is the New Covenant?
The first use of the term occurs in Jeremiah 31:31 where we read:
Jeremiah 31:31, 32 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; my covenant which they broke, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord:
According to this scripture the New Covenant will be unlike God’s covenant with the Israelites made at Sinai, a covenant which God’s people are stated to have broken.
We should bear in mind that Jeremiah wrote these words probably around 596 B. C., long before the coming of Christ the Messiah, long before the beginning of the New Testament period. Continuing the passage notice what God says:
Jeremiah 31:33, 34 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. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Did you notice the reference God makes to His law? To what law is this referring? Since Jesus’ walk on earth is still 600 years in the future it would certainly seem to be the Ten Commandment Law.
In the Book of Hebrews we have three additional references to the New Covenant. The main one, in chapter 8, is a recapitulation of the texts we just read from Jeremiah.
Skip MacCarty, who is a personal friend and someone I admire greatly has made a careful study of all of the covenants referenced in the Bible. In talking with Evangelicals one discovers that they tend to disregard all references to Old Testament Covenants except those which refer to the covenant given at Sinai, in so doing they miss important clues to the puzzle.
Let us look at the New Covenant as recorded in Hebrews 8 (as well as Jeremiah 31) and seek to identify the key points God makes and thereby identify the DNA of the Covenant. This is the essence, the basis, the foundational aspects of God’s New Covenant.
Introduction: Hebrews 8:6, 8-12 . . . He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. . . 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: 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; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord;
Sanctification: I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and
Reconciliation: I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Mission: And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
Justification: For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
We should first note that God is making the New Covenant with the same group with whom He made the first – Israel and Judah. Had the Old Covenant been exclusively for Israel and Judah what hopes would Gentiles have for salvation with the New Covenant? Of course we would suggest that the New Covenant is intended for the benefit of Spiritual Israel, but what about the Old Covenant? Who was it intended to benefit? Was it only the descendants of Jacob?
Exodus 19:5 and 6 states that it was God’s intention that Israel in keeping the covenant would become “a holy nation and a kingdom of priests.” Priests to whom? Certainly not to themselves if every Israelite were a priest. Could this be a hint that they were to be priests to the peoples of the world?
Ezekiel 36:23 looks forward to a time when God will sanctify His great name. This would be accomplished by His people becoming holy, sanctified and no longer profaning God’s holy name by their failure to reflect His character. Then “the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.”
Psalms 67: 1-2 is a prayer prayed by Israelites who understood their God-given role: “May God be gracious unto us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your [God’s] ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.”
Isaiah 51:4 Through Israel’s witness God intended that the law would go out from Him; His justice would become a light to the nations.
That the Sabbath was intended by God to be kept by people of all nations is shown by the reference to “the stranger within thy gates” in the 4th commandment (Exodus 20:10) and the reference to the “sons of strangers who keep the Sabbath” in Isaiah 56:6-7 “whose sacrifices and burnt offerings, made on my altar, God says he will accept, so that His House (temple) may be called a House of Prayer for All People.”
Similar conclusions may be drawn from a study of texts related to God’s Covenant with David: 1 Samuel 23:5; 1 Chronicles 16:7-33; Isaiah 55:3-5.
Isaiah’s prophecy regarding the work of “my servant Israel (which has a dual application to Israel, God’s people and to Christ) is also significant:
Isaiah 49:3, 6 And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. . . And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
Throughout the entire old covenant historical era God’s covenants with His chosen people commissioned them to extend the gospel invitation to the whole world. Isa. 45:22, Psalms 47:7-9
Are the provisions of the New Covenant present also in the Old (Sinaitic) Covenant? This is an important question since if they are present the failure of Israel to keep the Old Covenant is not the fault of God and His Covenant, it is the fault of the people. So let us examine the Old Testament (the Old Covenant) looking for the elements of the New Covenant – sanctification, reconciliation, mission and justification.
• Sanctification: Adam and Eve were created in God’s Image and therefore were holy until they sinned. To regain holiness, to be sanctified is not humanly possible, but God offers: “I am the Lord, who makes you holy.” Lev. 20:8 Through the work of the Holy Spirit God desires to write his law in our fleshly hearts (not the granite of a stony heart) so that we might be “eager [and able] to do what is good.” Ezekiel 36:27 In Exodus 31:12-13 God specifies that keeping the Sabbath is a sign between God and His people that “I am the Lord that doeth sanctify you.” That a grace based sanctification was readily available within the provisions of the Old Covenant can be seen in Deuteronomy 30:11-16 “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. . . No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so that you may obey it. . . To love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws.”
• Reconciliation: Sin brought separation from God. Restoration of the Edenic divine-human love relationship is and has been God’s number 1 goal from the moment sin entered earth and heaven. This is the goal behind every covenant God has made: “I will be their God and they will be my people.” As free moral agents we have a choice. True love is based on a free choice. God’s intention for all intelligent created beings is that they choose to return their Creator’s love. How important is it for us to have a love relationship with God? John 17:3 “This is eternal life to know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” We see this goal expressed by God in his words to the Israelites, Leviticus 26:12 “I will walk among you and be you God, and you will be my people.”
• Mission: As with reconciliation, God’s desire is that all persons know Him. Jeremiah 9:23-24 “Let him that glorieth glory in this that he understands and knows me, the Lord who exercises loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight says the Lord.” Ezekiel 36:23 “’The nations will know that I am the Lord,’ declares the Sovereign Lord, ‘when I shew myself holy through you before their eyes.’” We saw earlier that the priesthood of God’s people was intended to be the means of spreading the everlasting gospel to the entire world, a goal largely unmet by God’s people in the Old Testament.
• Justification: God’s gracious act in Christ to remove our sin and grant us a right standing before Him, imputing a righteousness to us that is not of our own making, the righteousness of Christ. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:12. It may come as a surprise to learn that the first time the Bible refers to God as one who forgives sins, or even announces that forgiveness is available is on the occasion of the second giving of the Ten Commandments when in answer to Moses’ request God allows him to see His back (but not His face). Remember what God proclaimed as he passed by Moses? “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” Exodus 34:6-7. it is significant that “wickedness” can also be translated as “perverse iniquity,” and “rebellion” referred to sin so heinous that there was no sacrifice prescribed for it in the entire sanctuary service. Yet God willingly forgives rebellion even when the repentant sinner is the most hardened and the situation seemingly hopeless.
So with all the gracious provisions of the New Covenant contained in the Old Covenant, what was the outcome? Why was God forced to say “they broke my covenant?” What happened?
I need not repeat the history in detail. After solemnly promising “All the that the Lord has said we will do,” they were into Golden Calf Idolatry before Moses even came down from the mountain and his meeting with God. Their unbelief and lack of faith resulted in what could have been a trip to Canaan lasting a few weeks stretching out into 40 years so that no adult that started the trip finished – except for Joshua. Once in Canaan they failed to carry out God’s plan for clearing the land of the Gentiles with the result that pagan worship soon crept into the land. Rejecting God as their ruler they demanded a king so that they could be like their neighbors. Other than David and Solomon who had their own shortcomings, God-fearing kings were hard to come by especially in Israel. Eventually idolatry and the failure to observe the Sabbath caused God turn His people and His Nation over to their enemies for punishment. First Israel fell to the Assyrians and then Judah to the Babylonians. But even after all this God was ready and willing to forgive and give them another chance. Some progress was made in that idolatry disappeared from the land after the return from captivity, but heart religion never really caught on. Keeping the rules which were added to and multiplied became the goal to the exclusion of a loving relationship with their God and Creator.
What might have happened if Israel had not broken their covenant with God? (In Granite of Ingrained pp. 20 -22.)
So what have we seen? The Old Covenant contains the DNA of the New Covenant. The primary difference between the two being the coming of the Messiah. The Old Covenant pointed forward to Jesus sojourn on earth with the Sanctuary Services, the Festivals and the Sacrificial System. The New Covenant has as its foundation the life and sacrificial Death of Jesus the Great High Priest of his people. The veil has been removed. The Holy Spirit has been given so that Jesus Spirit can be with us individually forever. The Sabbath which was to have been the sign of God’s sanctifying power in individual lives is still God’s intended means for re-establishing the relationships which were lost when Adam and Eve sinned. God’s love is still the basis for his dealings with us as fallen humans. We have seen it demonstrated in the Cross of Christ. We have seen it at work in His resurrection. We have recognized its presence in the lives of the Apostles, all of whom, except John, died martyrs for the cause of Christ. We have heard it in the hymns sung as the flames snuffed out the lives of the Reformers. We see it today in the faces of those who discover God’s truth for today and are baptized. And I pray that it is reflected in each of our lives.
I’m thinking of the words of that song we used to sing as youth:
“Do we live so close to the Lord today
Walking to and fro on life’s busy way
That the world in us can a likeness see
To the man of Calvary?
“Can the world see Jesus in you?
Can the world see Jesus in me?
Does your love for Him ring true
In your life and service too,
Can the World see Jesus in you?”
Today have we allowed the DNA of God’s New Covenant, the Everlasting Covenant that has existed from eternity past, to become our own? Sanctification: Have we allowed God to write his law on hearts so that it is ingrained in our very being and our actions are the natural outgrowth of partaking of the divine nature? Reconciliation: Does our relationship with God reflect that fact that we have become his child and he is our father so that mutual love flows between us? Mission: Are we sharing with the world the Good News of the Eternal Gospel message – God is Love? Justification? By faith have we allowed the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant to cover our sins?
What Describes Your Experience with God?
The Old Covenant or the New?
The last two chapters of Revelation provide a glorious glimpse into the climax of the plan of salvation.
I wish we could end today by traveling forward in time, hopefully not too far, and there see that grand consummation.
The groom has come to the home of his bride, the church, to take her home “to the place He has prepared for her.” The marriage of God’s people to their loving groom has transpired. The wedding feast has been served. The New Jerusalem has become their permanent home. Gone are the “troubles of de world” – the tears, death, disease, famine, sorrow, crying, and pain. Gone forever is sin and its destructive effects. The eternal Sabbath of God has begun. The cosmos has been recreated, with the beauty of Eden restored to this earth. On every leaf of the forest, on every stone of the mountains the Creator’s name is written. You and I have imbedded in our foreheads the name of God, the name of the City of God, New Jerusalem, and Jesus’ New Name. From our Creator flows life, light, and joy that fills not only the New Earth but also the entire universe. All is peace, harmony and gladness.
Everywhere one looks the same message is seen,
God is Love