Covenant: New Covenant in the OT

COVENANT:
THE THREE COVENANTS OF SALVATION

ABRAHAMIC
COVENANT
~1900BC

MOSAIC
COVENANT
~1445BC

NEW
COVENANT
605-586BC => ~33AD

To whom was this covenant cut (Ge 12:1, 2, 3)?

Abraham
in ~1900BC

Who else was
included?

Abraham's Descendants

What did God promise Abraham?

Nation
Seed
Land

Who is the seed according to (Gal 3:16)?

Seed =
Messiah

How long was the land promised to Abraham (Ge 13:15)?

Forever

What were the conditions of the Abrahamic Covenant (Ge 15:12, 18)?

Unconditional

What happened when Abraham was promised the a seed like the stars?

He believed and was declared righteous.

How did Abraham enter into this Covenant? (Ge 15:6)

By faith
He was saved when he believed

What was preached to Abraham when God presented the promises of this covenant? (Gal 3:8)

The Gospel

Who did Abraham ultimately believe in (Gal 3:16)?

The Messiah

Abrahamic Covenant:

Unconditional

Everlasting

Never invalidated

Declares God's promises of a...

Nation
Seed
Land

These promises are still valid for they have NEVER been abrogated.

Remember that anyone who lived prior to the coming of Messiah was saved in the same way Abraham was... by believing in the promise of the Seed (cf Habakkuk 2:4, cp Ro 1:17). Believers in the OT looked toward the Cross, whereas NT believers look back to the Cross.

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SUMMARY
Study following columns for more explanation of the following truths

Abrahamic:

To Abraham/see
Nation, Land, Seed = Jesus, Forever,
Unconditional

Old Covenant

To Israel so Israel would be holy
Thru Moses
Conditional
Tablets of stone

New Covenant

To Jews first
Law within on heart
All would know Him
Forgive iniquity

Not remember sin

Return to the land God their God
They His people
fear in hearts
give one way
Everlasting Unconditional
Put Spirit within
Cause to walk in His statutes

Includes Gentiles bc Jesus broke down dividing wall: The Law.

Where and when was the Old Covenant (OC) given (Ex 19:2)?

Mt Sinai

After Israel had been delivered from Egypt
in ~1445BC

(400/430 years after the Abrahamic Covenant)

Who was the OC given to (Ex 19:3, 4)?

Nation of Israel

Through whom was the OC given (Ex 19:3, 4)? What is the term for his role?

Moses
Mediator

What type of covenant was the OC, unconditional or conditional (Ex 19:5, 6)?

Conditional

What were the conditions OC (Ex 19:5, 6)?

IF...THEN

“If you obey my commands and covenant then you shall be my possession”

What did God command Israel not to do regarding the people in the Land? (Ex 23:32, 33)

Do not cut covenant with them or their gods

Do not let them live in the land

Why not covenant with them?
They would make Israel sin against God. If they served their gods, it would surely become a snare

What was the response of the people to the OC conditions ?

We will do all!

Gave their oath

How would you sum up the problem with the OC?

It could direct their conduct but not change their character

Note: Wiersbe observes that "Jewish history is punctuated with a number of 'covenant renewals' that brought temporary blessing but didn't change the hearts of the people. The book of Deuteronomy records a renewal of the (Old) covenant under Moses, before the people entered the Promised Land. In addition, before he died Joshua led the people in reaffirming the covenant (Josh 23:1ff-Josh 24:1ff)... the Old Covenant tried to control conduct, but the New Covenant changes character so that people can love the Lord and one another and want to obey God's will. (Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament)

Where was the OC written (Ex 24:12)?

Tablets of stone

What was the purpose of the tabernacle (Ex 25:8?

God might dwell among them

Now look at Deut 28-30 where God amplifies the conditions and promises of the Old Covenant

Note: Deuteronomy (from LXX "deuteronomion" ("second law" related to Dt 17:18) - this is a misnomer because it applies and expands the Law given at Sinai). This "book of remembrance" is given by Moses to Israel on the plains of Moab after 40 yr in the wilderness, just before they enter the promised land of Canaan. Moses seeks to arouse Israel’s loyalty to Jehovah and His Law warning them to "beware lest you forget"

Israel is to remember (1) when they prosper, it is God who has caused it & (2) when they disobey, God will discipline them as He did when the previous generation failed to believe Him at Kadesh-barnea. Deuteronomy is a call to obedience as a condition to blessing. Similarly, in James 1:22 (note) we see God's desire is unchanged "Prove yourselves DOERS of the Word and not merely HEARERS who delude themselves."

What is God's primary charge to Israel in (Dt 28:1)?

Diligently Obey
(KJV - hearken diligently)

How does this correlate with what God called Israel to be? Ex 19:5, 6?

God's possession
Kingdom of priests
A holy nation

God desires -
a Holy People -
Set apart

(cf Lev 11:43, 44, 45, 1Pe 1:14, 15, 17)

What did God promise Israel for obedience (Dt 28:2, 63)?

All the blessings (read Dt 28:2-14) would come upon them

God would delight to prosper & multiply them (Dt 28:63)

Note: God's purpose for Israel was to be a separated, holy nation who would be the LORD's light to the pagan Gentiles (see Dt 28:8,9)

What did God promise if they disobeyed (Dt 28:63, 64, 65, 66)?

He will delight to
Make them perish

Torn from the land

Scattered
Made to serve false gods

No rest
Eyes would fail
Trembling heart

Despair of soul
No assurance of life

(Note most of chapter speaks of judgments)

What does this show about God?
He is holy - calls His people to be holy and is faithful to His covenant promises to bless and to curse Israel

What was the message of Deut 29?

God reminds them He had been faithful to Covenant for their 40 years in the wilderness (food, clothing, protection, etc) & He calls them to "keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do" (Dt 29:9)

What does He warn them of?

Of the dangers of turning away from God to serve the gods of the nations.

What is the cause of the judgment to the land (Dt 29:25, 26, 27, 28)?

Forsook God of the Covenant and sought after other gods

What did God reiterate regarding the land if they disobeyed?

Uproot from the land

What promise does God give in the midst of His prophecies of judgment (Dt 30:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)?

Restore, gather, bring back to the land - the key = He will circumcise their hearts (a prophetic picture of the new heart in the New Covenant)

What was Jehovah's desire for and clear instruction to Israel in (Dt 30:19, 20)?

He set before them

Life & death
Blessing & curse

Choose Life
that you may live in the land He promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Let's look briefly at Israel's history for context...
Jacob > 12 sons > Israel > 3 earthly kings > Solomon last to rule over 12 tribes

At Solomon’s death, what happened because of his sin (cf 1Ki 11:11, 12, 13)?
931BC
12 tribes split

10 North = Israel

2 South = Judah

What happened to Northern 10 tribes (cf 2Ki 17:6ff) ?
Captured & taken into exile by the Assyrians in 722BC

Why were the 10 Northern tribes taken into captivity (cf 2Ki 17:7ff)?

Disobedience to Old Covenant

Sin against God

Worshipped idols

Curses of Deuteronomy
Fulfilled

Jeremiah 31

When was Jeremiah prophesying?
Before and during siege of Jerusalem
Before 605 BC
Thru 597BC
After 586BC

Note: 3 attacks by Babylon on Jerusalem

605: Daniel taken
597: Ezekiel +10K

586: Fall of Jerusalem

Jeremiah prophesied for 40+ years (before, during, after the fall of Jerusalem) during the reign of 5 different kings of Judah. Jeremiah is not chronologically arranged (Ezekiel by contrast is relatively chronological)

What did God promise in the midst of pouring out His wrath (Jer 31:31)?

A New Covenant

To whom was the NC promised (Jer 31:31,33)?

House of Israel
House of Judah
(even the 10 North tribes)

What does the Hebrew word “New” mean?
New in quality = a different nature from the old = something never seen or done before

What are God's NC promises (Jer 31:33,34)?

Law on heart

God their God

They His people
(Restoration of oneness that was lost in the garden of Eden when sin entered the world)

All know the Lord

Forgive iniquities

Remember sins no more

What happened to Judah in 586BC?

Jerusalem fell
Judah > Babylon
Torn from land as God had promised

And yet what had God promised Abraham?

A Nation
The Land

How did the NC address Israel's longevity as a nation (Jer 31:35, 36, 37)?

Israel would never cease to be a nation

What assurance was given with this promise? (Jer 31:35, 36, 37)

If the fixed order of the moon and stars departed then Israel would not be a nation

If heavens could be measured, then Israel would be cut off as a nation.

Israel has never and will never cease to be a nation

What is God’s promise concerning the land (Jer 32:37, 41)?

37 Bring them back to the land & in safety

41 Faithfully plant them in the land.

Where did promise of the land originate and how long was the promise valid?

Abrahamic Covenant

Everlasting

How long
would the OC last?

Not everlasting

What did God promise in (Jer 32:38, 39, 40)?

They His people

God their God

Give 1 heart, 1 way to fear Him always

Everlasting covenant

Will not turn away

Put fear in hearts > will not turn away

How did Jeremiah describe Judah's heart in Jer 17:9, 10?

Deceitful
Desperately sick

Since the heart of every problem is the problem of the heart, let's look at how God addresses the "heart issue" in Ezekiel 11

Ezekiel 11

597BC Captive to Babylon
593BC Prophetic call

Note: In this chapter Ezekiel is prophesying before the destruction of Jerusalem in 586BC

the date being ~592BC

In Ezekiel 8 the prophet is transported by the Spirit from captivity in Babylon to the Temple in Jerusalem. In Ezekiel 8 the Shekinah glory of the Lord begins to depart from the Temple and by Ezek 11:23 the glory departs the city to the Mt of Olives east of the city. (Click study on the Glory of the LORD which chronicles the tragic departure of the Lord from His sanctuary, wherein He had sought to dwell among His people.

What did he ask God when one of the leaders died as Ezekiel prophesied (Ezek 11:13)?
Would God completely eradicate even the remnant? (see also Ro 9-11 for the fate of the Jews and the "remnant")

What was God's response? (Ezek 11:16, 17, 18)

Gather scattered tribes & give the land & they would remove detestable idols

How would they be able to remove all the detestable things? What is God's promise (Ezek 11:19, 20)?

Gives one heart, a new spirit within
Take away heart of stone & give heart of flesh (~ "new" heart)

Not ruled by a deceitful heart

Ezekiel 36

Note: In this chapter Ezekiel is prophesying after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586BC and continues this message of hope for 15 yr in Ezekiel 36-48! (Click chart summary of the book of Ezekiel)

What did the NC promise in Ezek 36:24? (Context: Jehovah will do this to prove Himself holy)

God will...

Take, gather, bring Israel from nations into their own land

What is God's promise in (Ezek 36:25)?

Sprinkle clean water on & cleanse from all filthiness & idols

Note: "Sprinkling water" speaks of cleansing from sin. Under the Old Covenant any Jew who became defiled by touching someone or something unclean had to be cleansed before returning to the camp. This cleansing was accomplished by either bathing in running water or being sprinkled with water prepared for that purpose. The writer of Hebrews applies this picture when he describes "our hearts (as having been) sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water" (Heb 10:22-note) Water cannot change our heart but in context gives a picture of the forgiveness God provides in the New Covenant.

What wonderful NC promise does God give in (Ezek 36:26, 27)?

God will...
Give a new heart

Put new spirit in

Remove heart of stone

Give heart of flesh

Put His Spirit within > cause them to walk in His statutes

What would be the people's responsibility (Ezek 36:26, 27)?

Be careful to observe His ordinances

What was the promise of the NC in (Ezek 36:28)?

Live in the land (given to forefathers)
Be God's people
He their God
(Oneness of covenant)

What is the New Covenant of grace?

The Gospel of Christ - The good news of Jesus Christ

How does Ro 1:16 (note) amplify this truth?

Gospel is power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew 1st & also Greek

Why the Jew first? (Jn 1:11)

Jesus came to His own but they did not receive Him.

Note: Many in the modern church have missed this Biblical motif and fail to take the gospel to the Jews. Paul said that he witnessed to the Gentiles that it might provoke the Jews to jealousy and might save some of them (Ro 11:13,14- note) Remember that the Messiah instituted the New Covenant with His Jewish disciples (Mt 26:26, 27, 28) in ~33AD.

What did Jesus say to the Canaanite woman in (Mt 15:24)?

"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel"

Ephesians

What was problem with Gentiles?
(Eph 2:11; 12 -see note)

1) Separate from Christ
2) Excluded from commonwealth of Israel
3) Strangers to the covenants of promise - including the New Covenant promises!
4) Having no hope
5) Without God in the world

Note: Jews called the Gentiles uncircumcised because circumcision was a sign of Abrahamic Covenant and Gentiles were not included. Until Christ came, the only way Gentiles could link into the Jews was by becoming a proselyte, forsaking paganism & being circumcised. Salvation was of the Jews.

The Law separated Jews from Gentiles and made them different in their worship and lifestyle - could not eat what Gentiles ate, had to regard 7th day as the Sabbath, etc. This set them apart. So the Law was a barrier and aid no Gentile could come and worship God unless he conformed beginning with circumcision.

How are they brought near? (Eph 2:13- note)
By blood of Christ

How did Jesus rectify this sad state? See Eph 2:14-note; Eph 2:15-note)

Jesus broke down the barrier of the dividing wall

He abolished in His flesh the enmity = the Law

What was the dividing wall or barrier a picture of?
Barrier ~ Law

What did barrier do?
Separated Jews and Gentiles

What was the mystery revealed (Eph 3:6 - note)?

Gentiles are fellow heirs & fellow members of the body (church) & fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus thru the gospel.

Note: Gentiles who have entered the New Covenant can now share in all the gracious promises of God in the OT (except those directly concerned with the specific future of Israel as a nation). Thus it is appropriate for believers to claim and apply the blessings promised in the Psalms, etc, for themselves.

What truth do many Gentiles believers not understand regarding our relationship to Jews?
Ro 11:17,18-note

Gentiles are grafted into the promise of life in Jesus thru the Jews, who were the only members of the early church for the first 8 years. Thus Gentiles should not be arrogant regarding the Jews.

Note: Israel knew that the New Covenant was to be for the house of Israel and Judah but were blind to the fact that it was also to be to the Gentiles. They were ignorant of the mystery which was Jew and Gentile in one body. Because Jew and Gentile are in one body and the New Covenant comes there is death to the Old Covenant, the Law, that separated them from one another.

After the cross the Jews were saved first (Acts 2:38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 36, 47). Eight years later, Cornelius was the first Gentile to be born again (Acts 10:1-48)

The Jews, the natural branches of the olive tree, "were broken off" by unbelief. The root is Abraham and the immutable promises God made to him in the Abrahamic Covenant which in turn come through his "Seed" Christ. Thus “Salvation is of the Jews” (Jn 4:22).

Hebrews 8

How does Heb 8 pull this together?

Who is our High Priest according to (Heb 8:1,2-note)?
Jesus Christ
Seated at the right hand of throne of Majesty in heavens

What comparisons are made in this chapter?
Tabernacle erected by Moses & True Tabernacle in heaven

How did Moses erect the tabernacle (Heb 8:5-note)?
Pattern after the tabernacle in heaven

Earthly = shadow & copy

What is the comparison between the ministry of Moses and Jesus in (Heb 8:6-note)? Why the difference?

Jesus > excellent
Better covenant

Better promises

Why was a second covenant necessary (Heb 8:7 note)?

First was not faultless

Where did the fault lie -in the Law or in the people? (Heb 8:8, 9-notes)
The People --
They did not continue or remain true to first covenant

(disobedient & followed other gods)

Note: Delitzsch writes that “there is no period of the history of Israel before the captivity, in which more or less idolatry was not united with the worship of Jehovah, except the time of David and the first years of Solomon, during which the influence of Samuel still continued to be felt”

How did God respond

(Heb 8:9-note)?

Did not care for them

What is God's "solution" (Heb 8:10-note)?
The NC > His Laws placed in their minds and written on their hearts

What is the capstone of the NC prophesied in Jeremiah (Heb 8:12-note)?

God would show mercy and (literally) "not at all, no never" remember their sins!

Note: What men need more than anything else & what the Old Covenant pictured but could not give is provided. Under the Old Covenant, sins could never really be forgotten, because they were never really forgiven. They were only covered, a shadow and anticipation of the forgiveness in Jesus. For those who belong to His dear Son, whether they believed under the OC or NC, God forgets every sin!

What is the condition of the OC in light of the revelation of the NC (Heb 8:13-note)?
Old Covenant = God made it obsolete (worn out)
Growing old
Ready to disappear (as if the Law would be a shadow one might try to grasp at but could never lay hold of because it had vanished into thin air)

Note: God thru Jeremiah had made the 1st Covenant "old" not Gk word 'archaios', old in point of time, but 'palaios' = old in point of use, worn-out, antiquated, useless, outmoded. Thus even in Jeremiah’s time, the insufficiency of the 1st Covenant was recognized & the need for a new one declared

What great truth in the NC made the OC obsolete? (Clue: Where was each written?)

OC: tablets of stone
NC: men’s hearts

God's Law is now written on our hearts - Are we free to live lawlessly?

Absolutely Not!
We have a new heart with His law & Spirit actually within us, the Spirit continually motivating and enabling us to walk in His statutes

Have you entered into the NC so that His law is written on your heart causing you to walk in His statutes?