The Biblical Covenants: A Framework for Understanding the Plan & Purpose of God

Importance of the Biblical Covenants A proper understanding of the biblical covenants is vital for knowing God and for understanding the plan He is working out through time. The covenants provide a framework for understanding the whole of Scripture, especially God’s older testament.

God’s Revelation of Himself through the Covenants According to Walton, God’s revelation through His covenant program provides “an overarching plan of God’s revealing his character, his will, and his plan. In so doing, God provides a foundation for relationship with him (knowing God and being like him), a means by which that relationship might be achieved (salvation), and the structure that will define that relationship (kingdom)” (John Walton, Covenant: God’s Purpose, God’s Plan, p. 29).

How We Often Read the Bible Old TestamentNew Testament

How We Ought to Read the Bible The Word of God

Why do we as Christians need to study the OT today? Because 2/3 of our Bible is in the OT. Because the NT can only be properly understood against the background of the OT. Because the Bible of the New Testament writers was the Old Testament. These writers often quote from the Old Testament, and they assume that you are familiar with its characters and content. Because the same God is the author of both Testaments. You cannot know well the character of God unless you study the OT. Because many Old Testament prophecies are fulfilled in the New Testament (and many are not!)

Why do we as Christians need to study the OT today? Because when you read the Gospels you are reading about events that took place under an Old Testament economy. Because many of the Old Testament's teachings are timeless principles. Because not everything is restated and reapplied in the New Testament. Because two basic yet essential themes of the Bible begin in the Old Testament: –Kingdom –Covenant

Two Important Hermeneutical Principles Progress of Revelation – God’s revelation was given over time, not all at once. “The plan and will of God is progressive in its development. God leads His people along step by step through the different circumstances and stages of history. He graciously provides them with the revelation they need to face the changing face of history.... God deals differently with His people in different periods of time because He has a different purpose for them in the progressive development of His plan of redemption” (William D. Barrick, “The Mosaic Covenant,” in TMSJ 10/2 [Fall 1999], p. 216, n. 16). The impact of this principle for us is that we will examine the covenants in the order in which they appear in Scripture and therefore in the flow of history in which they were given by God.

Two Important Hermeneutical Principles Context – Textual (what the text says) and Historical (the time and place in which a covenant is given). –For example, when we read about the New Covenant in Jer 31, we are not going to import ideas from 2 Cor 3 and Hebrews 8 back into that context. Instead, we will examine carefully what the text of Jer 31 says in its own historical context.

Definition of a Covenant A covenant is a solemn and legally binding agreement between two parties to do or not to do certain things. In the Bible such covenants could be negotiated: –between individuals (e.g. Jonathan and David in 1 Sam 18) –between families (e.g. Jacob and Laban in Gen 31:43-48) –between nations (e.g. Israel and the Canaanites, Exod 23:32; 34:12, 15) The marriage relationship (Prov 2:16-17; Mal 2:14) and international trade agreements (1 Kings 20:34) also employ the term covenant.

The Divine Covenants But the covenants that are the most theologically significant, and the ones that we are going to be looking at in our study, are the covenants between God and men. Because of God’s great superiority to man, His covenants are not negotiated. God alone sets forth the conditions, and His faithfulness ensures that the stipulations of His covenants will be carried out.

The Divine Covenants in Scripture Noahic – A covenant with all mankind, including both the redeemed and the unredeemed, in which God promised never to destroy the earth by flood again. Instead, God would provide a regular cycle of seasons for as long as this earth remains. Abrahamic – God’s covenant with Abraham is the foundation of all of His covenants with Israel, specifying a land, a multitude of descendants, and Abraham as a means of blessing for the other nations. Mosaic – The Mosaic Covenant which was the means by which God would fulfill the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant. It set Israel apart to God as a holy nation. It regulated the entire life of the nation. God promised blessing to the nation when they were obedient to the stipulations of the covenant, and curses upon them when they were disobedient. And it would be through this nation that all the other nations would recognize who the true God was. This covenant was initially made with Israel at Mt Sinai.

The Divine Covenants in Scripture Priestly – In the priestly covenant God promised a perpetual priesthood to the line of Phineas that carries all the way through to the future millennial kingdom. Deuteronomic – In the Deuteronomic Covenant God renewed His covenant relationship and requirements with the new generation of Israelites that were about to enter the promised land, promising blessing for obedience and curses for disobedience.

The Divine Covenants in Scripture Davidic – God’s rule upon the earth through the nation of Israel included the idea of an earthly kingdom, a monarchy. In the Davidic Covenant, God promised to David that such a rule would always remain in his family, that David would never lack a man to sit upon the throne of Israel. New – In the New Covenant God promised an enablement whereby His covenant people would have His law written upon their hearts and would finally fulfill their designated role as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to the rest of the world.

Important Concepts Concerning God’s Covenants with the Israelites These covenants were established by the Divine Sovereign (God) on behalf of His people (Israel). The authority of the covenants resides in God and God alone; there is no human “wheeling and dealing” involved. Each one of the covenants is made with Abraham or his descendants (i.e. Israel), not with anybody else. Psa 147 says, “He declares His words to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any nation; And as for His ordinances, they have not known them.”

Important Concepts Concerning God’s Covenants with the Israelites No Israelite was ever saved from his of her sin by obedience to covenant stipulations. –God had already chosen and redeemed the people of Israel before the covenant was made at Sinai. –The covenant stipulations were given as instruction for maintaining the relationship between Yahweh and His people, not for establishing it. God remains faithful to His covenants despite the people’s unfaithfulness.

Important Concepts Concerning God’s Covenants with the Israelites None of the covenants superceded or nullified a previous covenant. Each covenant advanced God’s program without abrogating earlier covenants. –For example, the Mosaic Covenant did not nullify the Abrahamic Covenant; rather, the Mosaic Covenant was to be the means by which the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant would be fulfilled. –The subsequent covenants also built upon the themes that were first laid out in the Abrahamic Covenant.

AbrahamicMosaicPriestly Deutero- nomic DavidicNew NATIONNATIONNationNationNATION SEEDSEED LANDLandLANDLand BLESS- ING Blessing KING- DOM KingdomKingdom Kingdom Thematic Progression in the Covenants

Next Time: The Noahic Covenant Gen 6 – 9