Bible Overviews (page 2)

*Understanding the Bible*
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THE COVENANTS OF THE BIBLE

Please turn to and read Luke 22:20. What does Jesus mean by 'covenant' and more specifically by 'the new covenant'? Covenant is a very important concept in the Bible and we can trace God's plan of redemption right through the Bible by investigating the covenants. So what is a 'covenant' in the Bible?

First, what a covenant IS NOT: it is not a mutual agreement between God and man; nor is it a negotiated treaty.

Second, it IS - always initiated by God; grounded in HIS love, law and justice; and the result of HIS sovereign grace and promise.

In His covenants God

(a) offers fellowship with man, and

(b) commits Himself irrevocably.

We can even go so far as to say that ...

GOD NEVER HAS FELLOWSHIP WITH ANYONE EXCEPT BY A COVENANT

At the beginning of the Bible we find God and mankind relating in harmony, with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God sets man happily to work looking after His creation. Man acknowledges God as his Ruler. This relationship is often referred to as the Covenant of Works between God and man. But this does not last as mankind exert its independence of God. Adam and Eve are thrust out of the garden.

But God has not given up on mankind. So after the Fall, spread across the history of the OT there are 5 more salvific covenants (ie they are to do with salvation) which God makes with His People or with individuals. They are 'salvific' because they express God's mercy towards those with whom He is setting up the covenant. Hebrew scholars recognise these covenants too, they are not a Christian invention. But they are revealed as Christian, as we recognise that they are all pointing ahead to what Jesus the Christ will do. They each reveal some aspect of the salvation which Christ will bring in total.

These 5 covenants are with Noah (antiquity), Abraham (c.2000 BC), Moses (c.1200 BC), David (c.1000 BC) and Jeremiah (c.600 BC). Each has at least one salvific feature.

By investigating the characteristics of these covenants we are can discover how God progressively revealed what He was going to achieve through His Son.

It is as if God refracted the light of His plan through the prism of history at its various stages. We suggest you work through the covenants in the table below by looking up the references and identifying the characteristics suggested.

COVENANT WITH	SCRIPTURES	CHARACTERISTICS	JESUS IN THE NEW COVENANT
NOAH	Gen.6:7,8 then 17,18 (whose idea was this covenant?) then 9:9,11-13.	a new start under God's mercy and favour	1 Pet.1:3 'In His great mercy He has given us new birth'
ABRAHAM	Gen.12:2,3 then 15:1-7,18. God confirms the covenant in Gen.17:2,6-8.	a new people a new homeland new life (Isaac) out of death and hopelessness (Abraham's great age and Sarah's womb)	Luke 1:17 'to make ready a people prepared for the Lord'. Phil.3:20 'our citizenship is in heaven. Eph.2:5 'dead .... but made us alive'
MOSES	Ex.2:24,25 then 6:2-8 then to Mount Sinai 19:5	God's own people redeemed from slavery	1 Pet.2:10 'but now you are God's people' (Titus 2:14) Rom.6:6 'no longer slaves to sin' (Rom.8:2)
DAVID	2 Sam.7:1-5 then 11b-14a,16. Now Ps.89:3,4 then vs.28,29 and vs.35-37.	a new king with an everlasting kingdom we will live in security	John 18:37 'you are right in saying that I am a king' 2 Pet.1:11 'into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ' John 10:28 'no-one can snatch them out of my hand'.
JEREMIAH	Jer.31:31-34	a new covenant a new relationship a new understanding *based on the foundation of the forgiveness of sins 'For* I will forgive ..' see also 33:8**	Luke 22:20 'my blood of the new covenant' 1 Thess.4:8 'God, who gives you the Holy Spirit.' 1 John 5:20 'The Son of God has given us understanding,' Col.2:13 'He forgave us all our sins.'

Do you see how God's plan of salvation in Christ is progressively revealed through the characteristics of these covenants? See how those characteristics noted in the third column of the table all apply to what Christ did for us in the new covenant.....

Does not God give us a new start under His favour (Noah)?

We are a new people born out of death and hopelessness (Abraham), aren't we?

Surely we have been redeemed from slavery - to sin and death (Moses)!

We have a new King whose Kingdom will last forever and in which we are secure (David)!

And in the new covenant we have a new relationship with God through Christ, with a new understanding because of the Holy Spirit's work (Jeremiah).

And it is all based on the forgiveness of our sins (Jer.31:34 'For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more') This is the foundation of the new covenant. See also Jer.32:37-41 particularly v.40.

The forgiveness of sins is fundamental

Although Jer. 32:40 speaks of God making a new covenant with "them", it is better to say that God's new covenant is with Christ rather than with us. This is because it is Christ alone who has obeyed God's law completely and perfectly: Only He has kept the Old Covenant. But the wonder of the Gospel is that He did it on our behalf.

Jesus is the New Israel

Jesus is the new Israel - succeeding in all in which Israel failed. We are incorporated into the new covenant through faith in what Christ has done for us. We are in Christ and in His covenant. So the new covenant is absolutely secure because it depends on Christ's perfect law-keeping, not on ours!

Finally please read Hebrews 8:6 and 9:15 and lastly 7:22 "Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant".

A very useful paperback book is 'Understanding the Bible' by John Stott, pub by Scripture Union, 192 pp, ISBN 1 85999 225 0. This includes chapters on the purpose, story(2), message, authority, interpretation of, and use of the Bible.

2 Cor.9:15 "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"

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