Covenants Part 7- Exodus 19 and 20: A Sudden Change of Approach?

What we have been describing in the last article is how Old Testament characters were relating to God in a way akin to how we do under the New Covenant. It is like they were adopted into the family of God but before Christ came. God calls Moses and develops relationship with him, in this way. He introduces Himself as the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. He gives him a specific job to do. Moses is to lead the Israelites out of oppression in Egypt and into the land promised to Abraham, Issac and Jacob. Initially all goes well, and despite doubts and complaining, God always graciously uplifts the Israelites and leads them on. 

Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.    (Exo 19:4 KJV)

God’s promises to Abraham and Moses were being fulfilled. It was essentially grace at work.

However….

Things seem to change quickly and very substantially when we proceed further into Exodus. The Old Covenant is instigated. A new element to the relationship appears. God seems to change the way He chooses to relate to the Israelites. Previous encounters with God had seemed, if certainly not light, then relatively informal and spontaneous. Now there is procedure and rule piled high. There are formal warnings of punishment and a general curse for those who transgress these rules and procedures. There is angry and sudden retribution for violation of the rules. We are suddenly under the regime of ‘The Law’. From Exodus Chapter 20 through to the end of Deuteronomy, we see a code of conduct spelt out in ever increasing detail for the Israelites to observe. It is exacting and spontaneity-crushing stuff. This Law is appealed to, both by God and by the Israelites, right through to the New Testament. There the Old Covenant is declared to be obsolete (see Hebrews 8v13, presented at the beginning of article).

Why God bought in the Law (also called the Mosaic Law and the Old Covenant) is worth examining. He is the same God (Hebrews 13v6) but He seems to be acting differently to the way He did with either the faithful Old Testament ancients or with New Covenant believers in Christ. A nurturing and resilient love and commitment, as experienced by the patriarchs, seems, for a period of many hundreds of years, from Sinai to Jesus, to have given way to an exacting, scrutinizing and demanding perfectionism. We then return in the New Testament to a call to friendship with God (John 15v15).

Did God suddenly lose His temper with humanity (in this case the Israelites) for no real reason other than He had finally had enough? Or can we find the reason? Does God reject people in this way, in the way we reject one another? This question has huge implications! Please keep reading.

Covenants Part 6- Relationship or Procedure as a Starting Point

The old covenant is based on our natural nature without new birth and it's performance. We are trying by ourselves to meet the behavioral requirements of God. God knows that this will never work. It seems though, that in the days of Moses, He gave us a chance to prove Him wrong!

I have heard the old covenant of law described as "the preference of procedure over relationship". 

The old covenant requires our adherence to masses of procedures and rules. Relationship with an all consuming, jealous God can seem threatening. The old covenant is about mankind adhering to rules and procedure. This can seem safer, less threatening, less all consuming. The new covenant is about promises from God and relationship with God. The old covenant is about our performance, the new is about God's initiatives to us, regardless of our performance at the time.

Which 'P&R' do you want? Promise and Relationship; or procedures and rules?

In the books commonly called 'the Old Testament', there are relationships between individuals and God. Not every book in the Old Testament emphasizes the Old Covenant. Indeed the Old Covenant did not kick in until several hundred years in to Old Testament history.

Both before and after the Law was given, there are people who experienced God first hand, i.e. relationally. 

Old Covenant encounters emphasizing Promise and Relationship, and not procedure and rules

The broad sweep of biblical history involves the Creation and Fall as set out in Genesis chapters 1-3. Subsequently we see God make initiatives and promises to men. Men such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses. Chapter 11 of the New Testament book of Hebrews records many heroes of the faith, including these men. They are mentioned because of their faith and not because of their rigorous attempts to uphold legalistic righteousness. Rahab the prostitute is in the list and so is Samson the womanizer. Does that excuse prostitution or depravity? No. But it did allow God to overlook them at the time and still work with these individuals! 

God talks with Abraham and enters into a covenant with him. God promises to bless the whole earth through Abraham and calls him an exalted father. Abraham is asked to believe this even before he has a child. He and his wife are very old.

Reading Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians, in particular Chapter 3, we can see that there is a strong link in Paul’s thinking between the way God related to Abraham and the way He relates to us through the Gospel. The link is that both are based on a promise, and not good works. What exactly is the New Covenant promise? In a word, redemption. Redemption of everything the Devil has stolen and corrupted. Firstly, our relationship with our heavenly Father in all it's wonder and splendor. It is a complete package. Redemption, sanctification, provision, intimacy, security, righteousness, joy, peace, goodness etc. Also, in this age, persecution and suffering for righteousness' sake.

Let’s go back to Genesis 15v6.

And (Abraham) believed the LORD; and (the LORD) counted it to him for righteousness.    (Gen 15:6)

(Remember this verse is quoted by Paul twice and also by James to help them develop their doctrines in the New Testament. It must be significant!).

God is after people who take His relational initiatives seriously. For those who do, righteousness will pretty much sort itself out as time goes on. Hebrews 11 records people who had a living, current relationship with God. Yes it was imperfect, but it was definitely there. The New Covenant revolves around this one thing; a living fellowship, first with God, second with each other as believers (see 1 John 1v1-4).  

To people who hear from God and obey Him in this way, even imperfectly and intermittently, God always seems to show ongoing forbearance and commitment. He treats them as a patient and loving father would treat his children. We can see this in lives of men like Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and David. All these men lived and died before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

Covenants Part 5- The Old Covenant Examined

But God found fault with the people and said : "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.    (Heb 8:8 NIV)

"Behold the days are coming, says 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 I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts: and I will be their God, and they will be my people. (Jeremiah 31:31-33 NKJV)


By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.    (Heb 8:13 NIV)

Believers in Christ are saved by the eternal Covenant of Redemption. It was agreed upon amongst the Godhead before the foundation of the world. It was sealed by God the Son, the Son of Man, the Man who was God, Jesus Christ. It was sealed in His Blood. It was sealed in eternity, and it was sealed in human history too. 


This Covenant would be 'New' for the Jews whom Jeremiah was addressing. It would be 'New' for many of the Hebrews addressed in the epistle of that name; but not for God, who had arranged it from before the foundation of the world. 


The New Covenant does not dispense with the behavioral  requirements of God. Instead it meets them using a different approach- that of a changed heart, indeed a new heart. The old covenant asked us to keep rules. The New (but eternal) Covenant is different. Instead of striving to meet God's rules, we surrender to Him at the deepest level and allow him to plant a new life, and a new heart, within us. The Word of God, Jesus Christ, sows a seed into our hearts. We allow it to bring forth a new birth within us. Allowing the Word, the very Life of God, into our heart is the only way for us to be eternally acceptable in God's sight. God knows that only that seed will produce the fruit He requires. 


"Unless the Lord of Sabaoth (Hosts) had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom. And we would have been made like Gomorrah."   (Romans 9:29)


We need the seed!

Covenants Part 4- What can we deduce from Jesus’ teaching on Commemorating the New Covenant?

We have looked at the Covenant of Redemption; how it was an agreement within the Godhead made before time. Also we pointed out that we did not make a contribution to this covenant because it was a matter between the Father and the Son, and we had not been created yet. We made it clear that Jesus paid the price of the covenant by performing the work. Then we pointed out that we are asked not to contribute works to this covenant, but to believe in the one who did the work of redemption, Jesus Christ.

Now I need to say, as the Book of James reminds us forcefully, that that belief, if it is real faith, will result in good works. But first we need to believe. Everything starts and flows from our life in communion with God. Everything starts and flows by faith, working through love. Back then to the emphasis on believing, and what we can learn from the rituals Jesus used and authorized.

Symbolism in Holy Communion

We can see this emphasis on faith in the finished work of Jesus modeled in the Holy Communion.

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."   Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.   This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.    (Mat 26:26-28 NIV)

Jesus started this ritual, and commanded that it be continued. Jesus was to offer his body and shed his blood of the covenant. He would fulfil the Covenant of Redemption. This has now been done. The covenant commitments have been performed (John 19:30) at indescribable cost. We still celebrate and remember today as Jesus asked us to.

It was Jesus who shed the blood. We merely celebrate and remember by using the token of wine. It was Jesus who allowed his body to be broken. We merely remember by breaking bread.

The price we pay is simply symbolic identification and association with what Jesus did.

This illustrates for us that we do not work for our redemption and salvation. We believe and commemorate and proclaim what has been done for us. We use symbolism and tokens. The work has been done. We partake in a finished work by believing and identifying with it symbolically. In the Christian life, we stand in faith on a victory won for us. We do not fight for a victory. We stand on and we proclaim a triumph we have come to believe in.

 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their (mortal) lives unto the death.    (Rev 12:11 KJV)

We overcome by first believing and then standing. The only fight is in the maintaining of belief. We fight the good fight of faith. If there are trials and obstacles, whether inward or outward, we need to see the answer in pressing in to a deeper faith and rest in God, in His love, wisdom, powerfaithfulness and goodness. 

We need to see that we are invited and positioned to live in a flow of life from the Throne of God, and never to be made adequate in only ourselves. The flow is to us and out into the world around us. 

Application

What does this mean in practice? It means we learn to come to God in faith, opening our hearts to Him in worship, fellowship and prayer. We learn to recognize, enjoy and encourage His presence; ever deeper. We then live our lives from this place willingly and naturally.

It means we stand against temptation when it comes. We do not look for victory. We believe we have already within us the victory over sin, the world and the devil. This is the truth. We simply stand against the devil and evil. When circumstances seem hard, we maintain our faith in and confession of God’s goodness. We continue to commune with Him. If we fail in any way, we confess and ask for restoration quickly, rather than lingering in doubt about God’s existence or goodness. 

Our battle is an identity battle. We must believe and stand in faith in who we actually are in God's evaluation. God has accounted righteousness to us, by faith, along with Abraham (Gen 15:6, Rom 4:3, Gal 3:6, James 2:23).

We are righteous and we stand by that righteousness.

Symbolism in Baptism

The symbolism of baptism is similar in this way to that of Holy Communion. It is Christ who died and Christ who was raised by the power of the Holy Spirit. What we do is identify with these costly events by a brief and painless physical act. Yet we are aligning ourselves with events which cost the Godhead everything that was dear to them.We die to sin and an old corrupted identity and are raised to newness of life by belief and symbolic identification. The belief is the weightier part.

Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.    (John 6:57 NIV)
 

Only Christ has truly living and truly righteous substance to give. He gives of himself. We feed on him. We believe and receive, supernaturally. What we receive is eternal life. A life which is worthy of everlasting endurance. A life which will be eternally enjoyable.

Speaking of which....

The Curry Symbolism

 

This one is not Biblical but works for me! I like curries and was tantalized by a description on a restaurant menu recently. I was offered ‘tender lamb bound in a rich and fragrant ragout’. Naturally I ordered and indeed enjoyed. Such was my passion that the manager said he would make sure the same curry was available when I was next likely to visit.

I had also been reading the New Living Translation. This is its rendition of John 10:10b.

My purpose is to give (you) a rich and satisfying life   (John 10:10b NLT) 

I am always on the lookout for a rich and satisfying curry! Your symbolism may differ. Our life in Jesus should be rich and satisfying, whether enjoying your favourite foods or ministering to the poor, or wherever God leads you and whatever he leads you to do..It is an imparted life. If your life is not these things, seek God’s face repeatedly until it is and remains so.  Don’t settle for appearances, superficial procedures or just abstract concepts. Don't worship your own history with God either. Pursue present heart realities.

Covenants Part 3- How Do We Enter in to the Covenant of Redemption? How do we live in the good of it?

For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.    (1 Tim 4:10 KJV)

We have seen that God, being Trinity, hatched a plan to redeem us before we were created. We have seen that Jesus the Christ agreed to the plan. We have seen that Jesus fulfilled the role of sacrificial offering and made redemption unto eternal life a possibility.

In the above verse from Paul's letter to Timothy, there is the surprising statement that Jesus Christ, as God, is the Saviour of all men. The word translated all is Greek 'pas' and it indeed means 'all'. It then goes onto say 'especially those who believe'. The word translated 'especially', or 'specially' in the KJV, is 'malista'. It means 'chiefly, especially, particularly'.What are we to make of this?

We could ask the question, 'for whom is salvation unto eternal life a possibility?' From the verse above we can see that it is a possibility for all men. However, and from the same verse, we can see that it is a realized possibility only for those who believe.

For those who believe, and for them only, the possibility of salvation becomes the reality of salvation.

What are we believing in? The Covenant of Redemption, which is actually the New Covenant.

Further evidence that Belief is the sole means by which we appropriate the New Covenant 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.    (John 3:16 KJV)

Our part is to believe. We must believe in Jesus and therefore in what he has accomplished. We must believe in our hearts and also confess with our mouths before other men (Rom 10:9, 10).

Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.    (John 6:29 KJV)

We enter the Kingdom by believing and acknowledging before men our belief (again, see Rom 10:9, 10).

There is a general pattern, or flow, which applies both at salvation and subsequently. We are saved by believing. By believing Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the World. We walk out our salvation by the complete transforming of our beliefs so they accord with the Word of God. We then acknowledge and display our new beliefs by expressing them with our lives.

Notice carefully that we do not strive to improve ourselves before we receive grace to change from God. Again this applies at salvation and subsequently. How does this grace work? We change by allowing God to change our idea of who we are. We are then encouraged to live out who we have now realized we really are. This is the meat of repentance: changing our inner map of who we are. It is fairly easy to change progressively into Christ's likeness if we do it in step with God; at His initiative and by His wisdom, power and strength.

Anything which makes demands on us to change without the presence of God will fail to produce real and lasting change.

Often when we are saved or hear other preaching, there is, alongside the true Gospel, a hidden message which seems to demand self-improvement.

When I got saved, I was invited to seal my commitment to Christ by taking Holy Communion. I took Communion, having just asked God in prayer how I was to go through the door into His Kingdom? I received the new birth and became a believer. I was indeed forgiven and given new life. However I was also set up for strife. the next morning I was already in a sweat about 'how I keep this Christian life up?' We do not, I believe, need to make a commitment to Christ. We need to believe in him. I believe it is far better to invite people to believe or have faith in Christ than to make a commitment to him. In the first instance this is all we can do. We believe and receive. Believe in his sufficient sacrifice and receive New Birth into a New Life. This is all supernatural of course. Our faith is in a supernatural God starting a supernatural life in us, having supernaturally cleansed our sins, guilt and shame away.

Our commitment to Christ at the point of new birth is not really worth anything. Allowing him to work in us will bring commitment by bringing new identity and security. It is more about receiving from God than about resolving to live right. It is more about yielding to Him than about striving to get things right.

The Bible contains one other pivotal covenant apart from the Covenant of Redemption. That other covenant was brought in under Moses. It is the Covenant of Law, or the 'Old Covenant'. this one does place the onus on us to live right. We bring some of our natural strength to the table. Sooner or later we fail. We can wrongly bring the underlying self reliance involved in the Old Covenant into life under the New Covenant. Calls to us by preachers to 'not be cowards' and come to Christ miss the point. Without Christ in us we are cowards, period. Peter found this out. Calls to 'commit' to following Christ, likewise, miss the point. The Christian life is a received life. We are exhorted to live out what we have received and what we will then continue to receive.

An Analogy

Military aviation sometimes makes use of in-flight re-fueling. The aircraft flies up to the tanker plane, tops up and flies off until more fuel is needed. With God, we are to be permanently hooked up to the re-fueler. Our very life should seem increasingly impossible without Him. We need to learn to abide. We need to believe, and then act like, all things are prepared and freely given, for our life in God.

I recently spent a brief time with a couple of missionary pioneers who have achieved a great deal in God. However, he was keen to point out that he had no sense of personal credit for what they had done. It was God. Not I, but Christ in me. A motivated, focused person like Paul needed to be brought to the end of his own strength (2 Cor 1:8- 9) so that Christ might be all in all.

I am not saying we do nothing. But what we do is done by yielding to God's initiative and strength within us, living out of His power and resources. This is the nature of New (Redemption) Covenant life. The focus is on believing and resting, not working and striving. We also call the New Covenant the 'Covenant of Grace'. We also call the Old Covenant the 'Covenant of Works'. While it is true that the New Covenant results in good works, the emphasis is in the grace of God; His willingness to bless and empower us before we have done anything for Him.

Christ's wrestling was to lay down his life in self-giving. Our wrestling is to forge relational intimacy and trust with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. As we succeed, both righteousness and rest will follow. There may well be a fight or two along the way.

Next I want to re-enforce my main point, the principle of a Finished Work. By looking at the very few religious rituals which Jesus endorsed or started, we can see that the substance of our redemption has already been completed.

Covenants Part 2- Jesus is both a Guarantor and the Performer of the Covenant of Redemption

We have discussed in Part 1 how the Godhead made a covenant plan for the redemption of man before time began. The Father covenanted with the Son. We call this the Covenant of Redemption, a term theologians have used for a long time. Jesus, with the Father, was therefore the guarantor of the covenant. 


You might ask, ‘does God make oaths to Himself?’ Yes, he does. See Hebrews 4:3 or Psalm 110 for examples. 

A covenant is a solemn and potentially scary business. If we enter into one we may feel a sense of foreboding and fear in case we violate it. This is especially true if the other party is very powerful or very demanding. God is certainly very powerful. From much of the Bible He seems to also be very demanding (e.g. Matthew 5:20 onwards).


So all this business about covenants can make us feel burdened and not relieved or light hearted.

But we are not the guarantors of the New Covenant, the Covenant of Redemption.

A guarantor is someone who underwrites an agreement or contract. They ensure that the agreement can be relied upon; made to stick. The buck stops with them. They take the final responsibility for upholding the integrity of the agreement. Jesus took upon himself this role in the Covenant of Redemption. 


As far as redemption is concerned, Jesus had promised the payment for our sins before time itself began.

Jesus also paid the price in full personally. We are not drawn upon in terms of responsibility or performance.

The Cost of Performing the Covenant Requirements

Jesus Christ is God and man. At the incarnation he put on the form and limitations of mortal man. This is a central truth of the Incarnation. 

A man cannot create the universe. Man is a created being. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ created all things (John 1:3, Col 1:16). We can deduce that the acts of Creation involved Jesus Christ in his Deity .

The Incarnation and the Passion would involve Jesus in the weakness and vulnerability of his humanity. For this reason, it would be a more costly business for God to redeem us than it would be for him to create us. He would experience the human state with all its frailty.  The cost and effort for Jesus is is illustrated prophetically in several verses from Psalms and Isaiah. There we often see that the symbolism of God's 'hand' is used for acts of creation. For acts of salvation, the word 'arm' is more often used. Christ had to exert his will, in his humanity, sacrificially, and to the maximum, to make redemption available to us.

Jesus wrestled with the Father one final time in Gethsemane but there was no other way.

And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.   

And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words.    (Mark 14:36, 39 KJV)

He went through with it, having been strengthened by an angel.

Jesus Christ the Son had to pay the price, and perform the requirements, of this covenant, and he had to do so alone.

Our Contribution?

We were not even created when the covenant was ‘drawn up.’ Therefore we did not ‘sign up’ to do anything.

God had foreseen all the possible outworking and consequences of the freewill he gave us. He knew we would become unable to save ourselves. The Godhead covered the cost, first by deciding to send the Son, and then by the Son going through with the agony of Gethsemane and the Cross at Calvary. This is a measure of His love for us and His commitment to us.

We could say that God has taken responsibility for having given us freewill by providing a cure, in the Gospel, for where that freewill would likely get us. We have the responsibility to choose to take the cure when we become aware of it.

The Gospel is the proclamation of the New Covenant. The New Covenant is the completion in time of the eternal Covenant of Redemption.

The Gospel is a divine safety net for humanity which had been decided upon before creation. I will look next at how we enter in personally to the Covenant of Redemption. How do we receive of its benefits and blessings?

Covenants Part 1- Redemption: The Original Covenant

Biblical Covenants

I want to look at the nature and role of covenants in the overall Divine plan for humanity.

What is a covenant? It is a solemn statement of intent, a contract, or an oath, a promise to abide by certain conditions or fulfill certain actions, often forever. It may require commitment from both parties involved. We can see that promises, oaths and covenants are very similar.

God’s dealings with us throughout history are punctuated by covenants, oaths and promises.

Why make the effort to examine the Biblical covenants? Done with the help of the Holy Spirit, it will take us on a journey of discovery. We will see the perversity of fallen man but also the mercy of God. A mountain of misunderstanding will be crushed which obstructs us from fully seeing and experiencing God. This will happen as we analyze the significant differences and similarities between the covenants God has made with men.

God certainly keeps the covenants He makes, and it is an absolutely serious business to make a covenant with Him. For an example of how serious God is concerning covenants, see Jeremiah 34, particularly verses 8-11, and 18-21. It is foolish for natural man, particularly in his fallen condition, to make an absolute promise of major and ongoing significance to God. Jesus discouraged us from doing it in Matthew 5:37. James re-enforces the point in James 5:12.

A Covenant was made within the Godhead from before the Foundation of the World

The first covenant made was actually not what is normally called the Old Covenant or the Mosaic Covenant (i.e. the one made under Moses). Neither was it one of the covenants mentioned in Genesis and thereafter in the Old Testament.

Why do I say this? Let us look at some insight from the New Testament writers.

The apostle Paul had a revelation of the ‘grand plan’ of God’s dealings with mankind.

Paul, a bondservant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness;    in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began;  but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;    

(Titus 1:1-3 NKJV)

We could paraphrase Paul by saying, ‘God, who cannot lie, promised us the hope of eternal life. He made this promise before time began.’

Now with God, a promise is as good as a covenant. A covenant has a severity about it but it is necessary because people are fallible and negligent. God is completely faithful and reliable to His word. God participated in covenant rituals for our sake, not for his. They help us to realise that He is serious and committed to what is being promised in the covenant. But if we really know God, His ‘yes’ or His ‘no’ are all we need.

We could therefore reasonably re-phrase Paul by saying, ‘God covenanted to us the hope of eternal life before time began.’   

John also had insight into God’s eternal strategies. 

 .... the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.  

 (Rev 13:8b NIV)

John is saying, ‘the absolute decision to sacrifice Jesus on the Cross was made before the creation of the world.’

Along with creation, a plan for redemption was made. We call this the Covenant of Redemption. I will look next at the role of Jesus as mediator of the covenant.

(I have re-written this one a few times in an attempt to clarify the main points. My posts are back following time as a student in Mozambique at Iris Ministries Mission School and then in the UK. Thanks to those who have encouraged me to continue! I promised to do some posts on the government and discipline of God but first I will complete this series on Biblical covenants.)