Recap
- Last week we looked at how foundational the covenant with Abram in Genesis 15 was to the rest of the Bible.
- Genesis leads us to the conclusion that the answer to the problem of the fall and to sin is the covenant with Abram.
- There were 3 things awesome about the covenant with Abram:
1. God would condescend to a weird ceremony to strengthen Abram’s faith.
2. God alone makes the oath and walks between the animals. Abram does nothing.
3. The curse God undertakes is not theoretical, God undergoes the curse himself.
- The new covenant which comes to fruition in the life and work of Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of this covenant with Abram.
- So if Genesis 15 is the major turning point in the Bible, and the rest of the history of redemption is rooted in the promise of Genesis 15, how does the Mosaic covenant and the law relate to the Abrahamic covenant?
Q. Are the Mosaic covenant and the Abrahamic covenant different?
- The Abrahamic covenant is based on promise. The Mosaic covenant is based on successful completion of the stipulations.
- Leviticus 18:5
Q. What happened to the Abrahamic covenant when Moses instituted the law?
- Galatians 3:15-18 “To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls or adds to it once it has been ratified. 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. This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise, but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
- So we can conclude that the Mosaic & Abrahamic covenant operate under two different principles and that the Abrahamic covenant is not annulled by the Mosaic covenant.
Abrahamic Covenant in More Detail
- Promised land, seed, and blessing
- All the families of the earth would be blessed through Abram and his descendants.
- We learn 2 additional things in Genesis 17 about these promises to Abram:
1. These descendants would include kings.
2. The result of the Abrahamic covenant was that YHWH would be the God of Abram’s descendants and they would be God’s people.
Principles of Mosaic Covenant
- In the covenant with Abram, YHWH takes the responsibility of fulfilling the covenant by himself. YHWH swears the oath and YHWH alone suffers the sanctions of the covenant if the stipulations are not met.
- Exodus 24:6-8 “And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that YHWH has spoken we will do and we will be obedient.” And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that YHWH has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Q. Who takes the oath here and who suffers the sanctions of the covenant if the stipulations are not met?
- Israel swears the oath and Israel alone suffers the sanctions of the covenant if the stipulations are not met.
Q. What would happen if Israel kept the covenant?
- Israel would continue to dwell in the land of Canaan and would be blessed and prosperous.
- It is important to note that Israel would not earn eternal salvation, the Mosaic covenant could only provide temporal rewards, not eternal reward.
Q. What would happen if Israel did not keep the covenant?
- They would be exiled from the land of Canaan. They would not be damned to hell for breaking the Mosaic covenant. Now they are sinners and have failed the moral law and are condemned, but not as a result of the Mosaic covenant. Daniel was a believer suffering the sanction of the Mosaic covenant, but because of his faith in God’s promises Daniel’s eternal salvation is secured.
Republication
- There is a parallel between the Mosaic covenant and the covenant with Adam. Both were giving a land and the law.
- The land is a place where God dwells. Israel is a land of milk and honey paralleling the paradise of Eden. Isaiah 51:2-3 “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. For the Lord comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving, and the voice of song.
- While Israel looks back to Eden it also looks forward to the New Heaven and New Earth. The restoration of Israel is what is looked forward to by the prophets when they describe the day of the Lord, or last days. Revelation combines imagery from both the restored Israel and Eden when it describes the New Heaven and New Earth.
- Failure to keep the law results in exile in Eden as well as Israel. In both cases though they were given a promise of grace. Adam was given the promise of the seed of the woman who would crush the seed of the serpent. Israel was given the promise of a mediator and atonement pictured in the priesthood and the sacrificial system.
- The Mosaic law communicates the failure of Israel to follow the covenant. It points to the need for grace.
Galatians 3:21-24 “Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the come faith could be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”
Q. What does the law teach us?
- The kingdom of god must be earned by perfect obedience. God cannot allow sin and must banish it from His presence.
- Humanity cannot keep God’s commandment. The entire record of the Old Testament is of a privileged blessed people who continually fail to follow God’s commandments.
- The law drives us to the conclusion that our only hope lies in mediation and atonement found in the sacrificial system.
- By driving us toward Christ, we learn the perfect obedience required to earn heaven.
Fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant
- Earlier we said that Israel was a picture of Eden, but it also looked forward to the ultimate consummation of God’s kingdom in the New Heaven and New Earth.
- As a result we see Abraham’s covenant being fulfilled in two stages. One under the Mosaic covenant which is a picture in type and shadow of the ultimate fulfillment that results from the New Covenant.
- Abraham is promised descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sand on the sea. Abraham is also promised the land of Canaan and given a precise Google maps description of the extent. Israel is to extend from the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates.
- 1 Kings 4:20 “Judah and Israel were as many as the sand of the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
- Abraham is promised not only people as his descendants but kings. Genesis 49 tells us these kings would come from Judah. David from the tribe of Judah fulfills this prophecy and ultimately is confirmed in the Davidic covenant.
- However, land, seed, and kings were always envisioned as something permanent. Genesis 17:8 says that the land will be an everlasting possession. The Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel 7:16 says this covenant will be everlasting.
- So while there was partial fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, it was never complete. Sin led to exile, the Davidic dynasty ended with Jehoiakim imprisoned in Babylon. The people were disbursed throughout the earth. At no point do we see all the nations of the earth blessed through Abraham.
- This is the point the author of Hebrews is trying to make in chapter 4 when he talks about Israel’s failure to achieve Sabbath rest.
- All of this was the result of Israel’s failure to live up to the standards of the Mosaic law.
- What is needed is the New Covenant which leads to a permanent king under Jesus, a people who are Abraham’s true descendants, because like Abraham they respond to God’s promises in faith, a land that will ultimately include the whole world.
Similarities Between Covenants
- I will be your god and you will be my people is a phrase that is used throughout the Bible. The point of the Mosaic covenant was for YHWH to be their God and for them to be God’s people.
- God desires a relationship with man, they are his representatives created in His image to perform a task that will bring glory to God.
- According to Jeremiah the point of the New Covenant is the same thing: Jeremiah 31:33
- Revelation ends with a picture of the new heavens and new earth: Revelation 21:3
- So regardless of the difference between the two covenants, the central point of everything is for YHWH to be god to a people. We can call this the Emmanuel principle. God passionately desires to be with His people.
Why the Mosaic Covenant?
1. Jesus comes as the second Adam. He comes as the obedient vassal to successfully complete Adam’s task. As the Mosaic covenant is a republication of the Adamic covenant and Israel is a picture of Eden, the situation provides the setting whereby Jesus could fulfill the role of man’s task.
2. Israel and the Mosaic law provide context to communicate the meaning of what God is trying to accomplish through Jesus. Jesus could have been born in Zimbabwe and died an unjust death to atone for the sins of the world and brought back a book of systematic theology with everything logically defined for us. However, God chose to communicate this to us through a story because it would be relatable, understandable, and meaningful to us. This is why Jesus uses parables. This is why we are taking this approach to the Bible in small group.
3. The works principle acts as a pedagog convicting us of sin and convincing us of our inability to satisfy God’s demands.
4. Through the sin and folly of Israel, we see God’s mercy and passionate desire to be with His people. We see Him preserve and protect the remnant. We see Him promise a seed and we see Him bring life out of infertility and old age. We see the hesed or lovingkindness of God expressed in His fierce loyalty to His people. The story of God’s works allows us to trust Him and have faith in Him.
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