The Two Covenants
[Ill.u.s.tration.]
Abraham Sending Away Hagar. "Cast out the bondwoman and her son." Gal.
4:30.
1. What two covenants are contrasted in the Bible?
"In that He saith, A _new_ covenant, He hath made the first _old_. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." Heb. 8:13.
2. By what other terms are these covenants designated?
"For if that _first_ covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the _second_." Verse 7.
3. In connection with what historical event was the old covenant made?
"Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day _when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt_; because they continued not in My covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord." Verse 9. See Ex. 19:3-8.
4. When G.o.d was about to proclaim His law to Israel, of what did He tell Moses to remind them?
"Tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles" wings, and brought you unto Myself." Ex.
19:3, 4.
5. What proposition did He submit to them?
"Now therefore, _if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people_: for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." Verses 5, 6.
6. What response did the people make to this proposition?
"And all the people answered together, and said, _All that the Lord hath spoken we will do_. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord." Verse 8.
7. In this covenant with Israel, what obligation was imposed upon the people?
"Now therefore, if ye will _obey My voice_ indeed, and _keep My covenant_." Verse 5, first part.
8. What was the Lord"s covenant which they were to keep as their part of this covenant?
"And He declared unto you _His covenant_, which He commanded you to perform, even _ten commandments_; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone." Deut. 4:13.
NOTE.-The ten commandments were the "covenant" to which the Lord referred, when, in proposing to make a covenant with Israel, He said, "If ye will obey _My voice_ indeed, and keep _My covenant_,"
etc. Ex. 19:5. The ten commandments were termed G.o.d"s covenant before the covenant was made with Israel: hence they cannot be the old covenant itself. They were not an agreement made, but something which G.o.d commanded them to perform, and promised blessings upon condition they were kept. Thus the ten commandments-G.o.d"s covenant-became the _basis_ of the covenant here made with Israel. The old covenant was made _concerning_ the ten commandments; or, as stated in Ex. 24:8, "concerning all these words." A covenant means a solemn pledge or promise based on conditions.
9. After the law had been proclaimed from Sinai, what did the people again say?
"And all the people answered with one voice, and said, _All the words which the Lord hath said will we do_." Ex. 24:3.
10. That there might be no misunderstanding, what did Moses do?
"And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, ... and he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people." Verses 4-7.
11. What did the people once again promise to do?
"And they said, _All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient_." Verse 7.
12. How was this covenant then confirmed and dedicated?
"And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. And _Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words_." Verses 5-8.
13. How does Paul describe this dedication of the covenant?
"For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and _sprinkled both the book, and all the people_, saying, This is the blood of the testament which G.o.d hath enjoined unto you." Heb. 9:19, 20.
NOTE.-We here have the complete account of the making of the first or old covenant. G.o.d promised to make them His peculiar people on condition that they would keep His commandments. Three times they promised to obey. The agreement was then ratified, or sealed, with blood.
14. Within less than forty days after the making of this covenant, while Moses tarried in the mount, what did the people say to Aaron?
"_Up, make us G.o.ds, which shall go before us_; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him." Ex. 32:1.
15. When Moses came down from Sinai, what did he see?
"And it came to pa.s.s, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw _the calf_, and _the dancing_: and Moses" anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount." Verse 19.
NOTE.-The great object and secret of the old covenant is revealed here. The people did not realize the weakness and sinfulness of their own hearts, or their need of divine grace and help to keep the law; and so, in their ignorance, they readily pledged obedience to it. But almost immediately they began to commit idolatry, and thus to break the law of G.o.d, or the very conditions laid down as their part of the covenant. In themselves the conditions were good; but in their own strength the people were unable to fulfil them. The great object of the old covenant therefore was to teach the people their weakness, and their inability to keep the law without the help of G.o.d. Like the law itself, over which the old covenant was made, this covenant was designed to shut them up to the provisions of the new or everlasting covenant, and lead them to Christ. Gal. 3:23, 24. And the lesson which Israel as a nation had to learn in this, each individual now must learn before he can be saved. There is no salvation for any one while trusting in self. Unaided, no one can keep the law. Only in Christ is there either remission of sins or power to keep from sinning. The breaking of the tables of the law signified that the terms of the covenant had been broken; the renewing of the tables (Ex. 34:1, 28), G.o.d"s patience and long-suffering with His people.
16. Wherein does the new covenant differ from and excel the old?
"But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the mediator of _a better covenant_, which was established upon _better promises_." Heb. 8:6.
17. What are the "better promises" upon which the new covenant was established?
"This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, _I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; ... I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more_." Jer. 31:33, 34. See Heb. 8:8-12.
NOTE.-These are simply the blessings of the gospel through Christ.
They are promised upon condition of repentance, confession, faith, and acceptance of Christ, the Mediator of the new covenant, which means salvation and obedience. In the old covenant there was no provision for pardon and power to obey. It is true there was pardon _during the time of the old covenant_, but not by _virtue_ of it. Pardon then, as now, was through the provisions of the new covenant, the terms of which are older than the old covenant.
18. In what statement was Christ promised as a Saviour and Deliverer of the race as soon as sin entered?
"And the Lord G.o.d said unto the serpent, ... I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and _her seed_; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." Gen. 3:14, 15.