June 8th: God’s Covenants
Speaker: Duncan Wyncoll
This key doctrine provides a clear view of God’s dealings with men, and a firm foundation for church practice.
What is a Covenant?
· Lit. – ‘bond or fetter’; a ‘binding agreement’ made by 1, or between 2 parties
· A ‘pledged & defined relationship’ - The way that God binds himself to his people
We sing ‘O Jesus I have promised to serve thee to the end’…
- But God shows His fatherly love & eternal interest in us
- The extent of His condescension – that He should bind himself by promises
It’s also a precise & secure arrangement; security & assurance throughout life
Hebrews 8.6, 7
· ‘A better covenant’ – than what? Than the OT covenant; than the arrangement that God had with people from the time of Moses – which is described as ‘faulty…’
· The Covenant that God made with the Jews at the time of Moses – Old covenant
· New – refers to what was perfected when LJC purchased salvation for His people
· But it wasn’t really New – only in the sense that it was newly purchased
· Actually, it was the oldest arrangement of God for providing a ‘way of life’ for man
Set up by the Father & the Son in eternity past before the foundation of the world
· Father undertook to bless a vast company, & give them to the Son, if He would go into the world, live a perfect life as their representative & make atonement for sin. (Blood and righteousness)
· All decided before Creation & the Fall – this is the Covenant of Grace
Where else is this in scripture?
John 6.37-39 - ‘All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; & him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. & this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day’
Also John 17.2 & 12 & 18.9
How did the LJC secure those who were given to him?
Hebrews 9.12 – ‘Neither by the blood of goats & calves, but by his own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us’
Hebrews 12.24 – ‘Jesus the mediator of the new covenant’
· This Covenant was not revealed to the human race until after the Fall
· Adam & Eve were given a different arrangement –
Covenant of Works
Condition of perfect & perpetual obedience – which Adam owed to God apart from any such gracious blessing (it should have been his duty & desire).
- Symbolised in the Tree of the knowledge of good & evil – forbidden to eat.
- But the fall rendered Adam incapable of keeping the covenant. – (this is the Covenant of Works)
Note the differences between Covenants of Grace & Works
1. Works: God & Man; Grace: Father & Son
2. Works: It required the work of Man; But the Cov of Grace: Christ does all the work
3. Works: contained a penalty – a chilling reminder that disobedience would be punished; Grace: no penalty, but a free gift
Would/Could Adam & Eve have lived forever in the garden?
Reasons: Nature of Satan/Had Adam eaten of tree of Life, then he would have been wise… to avoid sin.
Psalm 49.12 - ‘Man being in honour, abideth not’ Lit. Adam being in honour, lodgeth not one night…
· Some say ‘Covenant broken on the very 1st day’
· God had to announce the better arrangement –
The Covenant of Grace
Gen 3.15 – Lord speaking to the Serpent - ‘& I will put enmity (hatred/hostility) between thee & the woman, & between thy seed & her seed; it (the seed/Christ) shall bruise thy head, & thou shalt bruise his heel’
1. His incarnation
2. His sufferings & death
3. His victory over Satan
What happened then?
This new & gracious Covenant continued to be published & demonstrated in magnificent ways
Noah – a picture of Grace: Belief & Trust
Abraham
· Romans 4 – 5 times it says ‘he believed in the Lord; & he counted it to him for righteousness’
· Genesis 15 – 5 animals divided into 2 (an ancient way of ratifying a promise) – 2 halves of a party. Not to walk between the 2, but after a long wait, a lamp passed between the animal pieces…
But Genesis 17.1 – ‘walk before me & be thou perfect’
· Upright, sincere, honest – same word used as when referring about Noah
· This would/should be the response of a grateful soul saved by Grace
The Covenant with Abraham has been misunderstood. Seen by some as an ‘ethnic’ arrangement
Abraham’s seed does not mean every literal child – i.e. see C of E, Presb & RC
But even Abraham knew that not all descendants would be blessed – Not Ishmael, but only Isaac
Hebrews 11 – shows how Abraham saw that these were figurative promises
John 8.39 – ‘Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.’
Paul makes the same point, Romans 9.6 – ‘For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel’
· Promise to Abraham refers to the great host of believers (from both Jews & Gentiles) that would be part of this Fatherly gift to the Son – as part of the Covenant of Grace
So, it’s wrong to bring babies to the altar, & speak of ‘covenant children’
· With hindsight we can see that this view fits history
· Israel contained a mixed multitude – some perishing in idolatry & sin
So, at the time of Moses…
· 2 Covenants had been seen in the world’s history
· Covenant of Works – made with Adam
· Covenant of Grace (really the oldest)
o Made between the Godhead; Announced to mankind after the Fall
o But enjoyed by all, from Adam to today (including the patriarchs)
But the Bible speaks of the Mosaic covenant – what was this? Why was it necessary? Was it different to the covenant given to Abraham?
People differ in interpretation
Mosaic covenant was a National covenant of works
(We know it was a Covenant of works – Hebrews says it was ‘weak, faulty & dead’)
But wasn’t this broken & finished in Garden of Eden? – well yes…
Why would God revive a discredited & hopeless arrangement?
Why re-establish something that had already failed?
Reasons
1. To spell out to the Israelites (& the whole of the human race) their great need of grace; people don’t see their need
2. People are self-righteous & want to believe in what they can do
3. A wake-up call of the moral law – God was saying: ‘Obey me & you will live…’
It was useless & wouldn’t work, but was issued & reiterated as if to say –
‘If you will not have my message of grace, free mercy & forgiveness, then here is the only alternative – you must succeed in the arrangement that Adam failed’
Almighty God gave the 10 Commandments – why?
· Standards, a warning in a permanent form, defining precisely Gods laws/standards
Gal 3.24 – ‘The (Moral) Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith’
So… People at the time of Moses – who could see that the Law could not be kept – would they have known about the alternative way of Grace? YES
Partly from what they were taught about Abraham
Partly from their system of worship – pictures of grace in the Tabernacle, & sacrifices
To prove this look at 2 passages
(Deuteronomy 29-30 – often called the Evangelical Covenant)
Moses speaks about the free availability of forgiveness following repentance
Deut 30.11-15 & 19
It is not hard, it is not unattainable, not difficult to understand
Paul shows that this was how Moses understood Grace
Romans 10.5-11 (esp. v.8) – a quotation of Deut 30
Moses was actually preaching justification by faith
Laying down the law, & unfolding Justification by faith
Really explaining that the ‘law covenant’ was an impossible route to salvation
Conclusion – (also read 1st verse of Hymn 567)
1. Covenant of Grace is between the Father & the Son
2. The Covenant of Grace has not changed now we are in a NT age
3. But it is - revealed more fully & wholly accomplished - & it is seen with greater simplicity, clarity, fullness & efficacy than was ever the case in any other era
